NOVPUBThe world seemed to fracture at its seams. Time stilled, and the clouds above crystallized in an unnatural rigidity, losing their gentle drift.
A heavy, suffocating darkness flooded the sky, snuffing out all sunlight in a heartbeat. The icy winds froze mid-blow, leaving a surreal silence in their wake. Even Cedric stood motionless, a faint smile frozen on his weary face, utterly unaware.
"C-Cedric?" Aira's voice was barely a trembling whisper, her chest heaving with mounting panic. She desperately reached toward him, but a wall of invisible force held her back, her fingers clawing uselessly at empty air.
The oppressive darkness grew denser, wrapping around her like a shroud. An unsettling stillness pressed down upon her, deafening and absolute. With a sudden shiver, her gaze was irresistibly drawn upward.
High above in the blackness hung two immense, haunting eyes—twin orbs of eerie, luminous dark green. They stared down unblinkingly, devoid of warmth, devoid of malice, and most chillingly—devoid of any mortal emotion. They simply watched, ancient and indifferent, like the uncaring eyes of a primordial force.
A voice, deep, hollow, and resonant, seeped from every corner of existence, reverberating within her very bones.
"You sought to save a soul already damned. His soul isn't yours to keep but mine, as it always has been, as it always shall be."
Aira felt a wave of sheer dread surge through her veins, her heart quivering under the sheer magnitude of this presence. She clenched her trembling fists, forcing courage back into her voice.
"W-Who are you?? I…I won't let you take him," she uttered, her tone fragile but defiant. "He is not yours to claim!"
The eyes above remained motionless, unchanging, unfazed. The entity's presence was immense and indifferent, as if Aira's defiance meant less than nothing to it.
"Your will is insignificant. Mortal desires hold no sway here."
Before Aira's horrified gaze, Cedric's form began to change. A faint grey hue spread slowly across his skin, like embers dying in the wind. His flesh grew brittle, and flakes began to drift gently away, each fragment carried by unseen currents into the endless void above.
"No! No, Cedric!" Aira cried out in sheer panic, stumbling forward desperately, trying to hold onto the dissolving fragments of the man she loved. But no matter how she tried, her fingers grasped only empty air and fading ashes.
The entity's hollow voice filled her ears once more, steady and unmoved by her anguish.
"He is beyond your reach. Accept the inevitable."
"Never!" she screamed back, tears cascading down her cheeks. Her chest burned with anguish and rage.
She lunged forward, her fingertips desperately grasping for Cedric's hand. But the moment her skin touched his, she recoiled in horror. Cedric's flesh was suddenly ice-cold, colder than death, his skin paling rapidly.
Her eyes widened, tears spilling uncontrollably, as she watched with absolute helplessness while Cedric's body slowly crumbled into flakes of pale, grey ash.
"No… no, please!" she screamed, frantically trying to hold onto him, yet her fingers grasped only air and dust.
The entity's voice resonated with an indifferent cruelty,
"Your love cannot change fate, mortal. It never has. It never will."
"Cedric! Wake up! Please wake up!" she cried, frantically trying to channel radiant white mana through her hands, trying desperately to heal him. But each pulse of mana merely passed through his dissolving form, offering no salvation.
Cedric's features, his eyes still locked in a gentle, unaware smile, began to break apart. Skin, muscles, and bones turned into delicate dust particles floating away into the endless dark, leaving behind nothing but empty air.
Desperation surged within Aira's heart, her panic turning into a raging determination. Tears streamed down her face as she screamed, "NO! I won't lose you!"
She forced her trembling hands together, closing her eyes as she summoned all the power that coursed within her. Her body began to glow fiercely, a radiant white aura bursting forth, blinding against the oppressive darkness.
Time was her secret domain—her gift, her curse—and now it became her only weapon. Every muscle, every nerve, strained under the burden of bending reality, pulling desperately on the threads of fate, struggling to reverse Cedric's demise.
"Come back…to me…" she whispered desperately, her expression strained, pouring her heart and soul into her power, pulling at the threads of time itself. Reality rippled violently as she struggled to rewind the cruel destruction.
The entity's gaze remained steady, its tone impassive yet layered with an unspoken finality.
"You walk a path carved by something older than death... and time does not lend its power without demanding a piece of your soul."
But Aira refused to listen, gritting her teeth as her body strained under unimaginable pressure.
With every passing moment, as she pulled time backward, her skin began to wrinkle deeply, losing its youthful vibrance. Her lush auburn hair rapidly turned brittle and silver, her bones growing frail as decades seemed to pass over her body within mere seconds.
Yet she pressed on, her radiant eyes burning fiercely against the endless dark.
"Please…" she whispered weakly, reaching out to Cedric's re-forming shape. His figure slowly regained solidity, the ash particles gathering into flesh once more. She felt a spark of hope, but the hope was fleeting. For every moment she fought, she aged drastically, her body rapidly deteriorating.
The entity's voice filled her ears, indifferent as ever.
"You attempt to rewrite destiny in vain. Such defiance yields only ruin."
Aira gasped, her vision fading, strength rapidly slipping from her grasp. Her body could no longer sustain her efforts, her form now aged and frail, barely recognizable.
She fell to her knees, gasping, her breath shallow and ragged. Her outstretched hand trembled, mere inches from Cedric's face—his expression still frozen in gentle, unaware peace.
"I…can't…lose you…" Her voice cracked with desperation.
But it was too late.
The moment her strength faltered, Cedric's form once more began dissolving rapidly into drifting ash, carried away by the unseen currents, beyond all hope of reclaiming. She watched helplessly, the last remnants slipping between her aged, trembling fingers.
The enormous green eyes watched her silently, their vast presence utterly cold, utterly indifferent.
"Please…don't take him..." Aira choked weakly, her voice a broken whisper, pleading futilely into the abyss. She didn't care who or what it was…all she wanted was to have him back, safe and alive.
But the entity made no reply. The endless darkness withdrew silently, vanishing into nothingness as suddenly as it appeared, leaving no trace behind but the echo of its immutable presence.
The oppressive blackness lifted, and warm, golden evening sunlight flooded the snow-covered mountain once again. The world returned to motion—snowflakes drifting gently, the wind sighing softly.
But Cedric was gone. Completely, irrevocably erased.
Aira, now old and weak, collapsed onto the cold snow, tears streaming down her wrinkled, aged face. Her sobs came quiet and broken, grief consuming her utterly. She lay alone on the mountainside, shattered by loss, her sacrifice rendered meaningless by an unknown force infinitely beyond her control.
It wasn't long before she struggled to even breathe and then at last…she took her final breath, her body turning lifeless.
Watching all this, Asher's mind was frozen, stunned and silent, his heart feeling as though it had been torn from his chest.
He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. His mind reeled, grappling with the scene he had just witnessed—the woman he had spent lifetimes blaming for betrayal had given everything, sacrificing herself to save him from an entity whose power was beyond comprehension.
What was this reality? He still couldn't believe all this was real yet why was it hurting him so much?
Just as his mind remained frozen in the echoing stillness, struggling to comprehend the devastating truth he had just witnessed—the world around him began to twist again.
The mountains, the snow, even the sunlight blurred and melted into a swirl of colors, collapsing like glass into dust. His breath hitched. His vision tunneled.
And then—
He found himself sitting upright in a small, elegantly furnished bedroom. The walls were painted a soft cream, decorated with delicate hand-painted flowers and a few toy dolls neatly arranged on shelves. The bedsheets beneath him were warm and thick, patterned with stitched little stars and moons.
But what stunned Asher wasn't the surroundings—it was his body.
His arms were small. Too small.
"What is going on..." he muttered under his breath, only to blink in confusion at the sound of his voice—soft, high-pitched, unmistakably that of a young girl.
Little hands shot up to his face. And across from him, in the dresser mirror, a pale, wide-eyed child with auburn hair and startled hazel eyes stared back in horror.
"No... no..." Asher breathed—no, Aira breathed—as she backed away from the mirror, clutching her face, her breaths short and ragged. The weight of familiarity hit both of them at once, the realization sharp and merciless.
She wasn't dead! But how was she here?
Without hesitation, she—they—scrambled to the balcony, her bare feet padding softly on the polished wooden floor. She flung the curtains aside and pulled open the glass doors, rushing into the open air.
And there, in the courtyard below, was a scene painfully familiar.
Elizabeth stood tall and proud, dressed in a neat, elegant dress. Her heels clicked against the stone path as she guided two children toward the estate's gates.
A boy—slightly older, lean but sturdy, with a fierce light in his eyes.
And beside him, an expressionless girl with rough features and sharp eyes.
Asher's heart sank like a stone.
"This can't be happening…" he muttered through Aira's lips, both minds reeling at once.
But there they were.
His little, younger self with Irina, the day he first saw Aira.
And somehow, impossibly, they had been sent back. Or at least, Aira had.
Back to the beginning.
