They held onto each other for what felt like an eternity. For Leira, this was the safest she had felt since she met Kael, and for Kael, this was the first time he felt like he was getting the girl he had loved and never stopped loving back. Their heartbeats were in sync, their arms were the perfect fit for one another.
After this echo, Leira felt at peace. She felt like she was getting back to who she was, and the idea that this was the first time in all her lives that she had gotten to this point, she felt a mixture of pride and determination.
Slowly, their released themselves from each other's arms, and gazed into each other's eyes. They were equally filled with longing, love, acceptance, even remorse. And all they wanted in that very moment was to promise to finish this together, promise to stay beside one another, their mouths didn't say a thing, but their eyes had this conversation and they wanted more than ever to seal it… with a kiss.
Leira trailed her hand from Kael's chest to his shoulder, and then behind his neck, holding him in place to plant the perfect kiss. Kael let out a small smile, he placed both hands on her waist, and let her take the lead on what was about to happen next. Leira stood on the tip of her toes, and slowly leaned in towards Kael's face, her eyes were locked on his lips, mere inches away from his lips, his breath brushing against her cheek… her eyes caught a floating shard of glass, the last piece of glass from all the broken mirrors.
"Look." She said, her eyes widened with surprise.
Kael looked up at what she was looking at as their moment was abruptly interrupted by Leira's voice.
The shard floated down like a feather, slowly waking its way down, until it touched Leira's wrist and dissolved into her skin.
Her eyes glowed bright, as her skin began shimmering. As the light began to dull, Leira had a big smile on her face. She felt free. The echoes weren't over yet but she felt the best she had felt ever. She giggled uncontrollably like she had gotten a sense of fresh air.
"I feel like…" she whispered. "I feel like me."
"You look like you." Kael responded, his eyes filled with pride, recognition.
Leira smiled. "I can feel them. Like pieces of my past are finally coming to me." She said. "I mean… there are still gaps but I remember some things."
Kael smiled back. "Don't worry, you will get them all. I know you will."
"Thank you for believing in me, Kael. I couldn't have ever come this far if I didn't have you…I mean met you." She corrected.
"You do have me, Leira." He assured her. "Yes, there are more echoes ahead of us, but I want you to know that no matter where you are, no matter the monsters you face… you have me.
Leira let out a big smile, like she had just gotten the best news ever. Then the realization hit her, there were more echoes ahead of her. More memories to retrieve, more shards to collect.
"Well then, I say we get to the next one as soon as possible, the sooner the better. You may lead the way." She said, gestured for him to take the lead, and he did.
They walked for hours and hours. The earlier determination had been overpowered whispers of sleep. Her eye lids grew heavier by the minute. The forest looked unending, dark, damp, with little rays of the moonlight allowed in by the trees. Kael was slightly ahead of her, vigilant and watchful, but Leira began slowing down.
In a small puddle of water near a fallen log, Leira saw a reflection, but it wasn't her own.
Cassian.
His face flickered on the surface of the water, his burning gold eyes and unreadable expression. Leira gasped and stumbled backward at the sight of this, but when she blinked, it was her reflection again.
"Leira?" Kael turned immediately.
She shook her head. "It's nothing," she lied, she knew how Kael felt about Cassian and she didn't want to bring him up. "Just… tired."
He hesitated and then offered her his hand. "Come on, we'll rest before sunrise. The next echo is still a distance."
She tools his hand without thinking. His hands were steadying, grounding. He guided her to a nearby clearing filled with fallen leaves, inches thing, underneath a big beautiful tree. He laid her down and laid beside her, holding her firm in his hands, assuring her that she is safe.
Far away beyond the veil of the living, a man stood in front of formerly beautiful temple that had now been destroyed.
Cassian.
The shadows moved around him like loyal hounds. The mark of the Dark Keepers pulsed slightly, following the rhythm of his heartbeat. But something was wrong, the rhythm went a bit off for a moment, his mark that normally glowed a bright red began being interrupted by flickers of gold.
He clenched his jaw and pressed his hand on his chest. And like an old song he remembered, he let out the name.
Leira.
The moment he whispered it, the shadows around him recoiled, they began moving distorted and unnaturally, then they let out a loud and sharp shriek. The sound brought Cassian to his knees, it was as if the sound was trying to drag him back into obedience
Thousands of memories crashed through his skull; Leira's laughter, her scream, her death. The first time he killed her, then the second, then tenth, and so on. Every version of him holding her body in his arms, only to do it all over again when the keepers remade him.
He held his head with both hands and screamed. "Make it stop!"
The shadow hissed and replied. "You swore to us. You are ours,"
Cassian's voice broke. "Then why do you let me remember?"
Silence.
The golden light flickered again on his mark, it was her. They shared a bond, dark, twisted but a bond nonetheless. Now with the mirror broken, just like it released some of her memories, it also released some of his.
He slowly stood back up, his eyes unfocused. "She's remembers me." He felt it in his soul.
The shadows began whispering warnings to him, chants, ancient languages as if pulling him back into their compulsion, and in an instant, their warrior was back. Cassian let out a wicked smile. "It has begun." The man that was behind the warrior had been suppressed.
When he turned to walk away, the moonlight shined on his face and for a second before the shadows swallowed him again, he didn't look like a monster. It was as if the man had come out for one last peep.
Deep into the night, Kael and Leira slept soundly. Fireflies drifted around them. Before falling asleep, Kael built a fire to keep Leira warm.
He woke up and sat up beside the fire, holding Leira's hand and tracing circles around her wrist where her mark was.
Kael whispered, not to wake her up but as if to talk to her subconscious. "The next echo won't be easy."
Leira, smiled faintly, as she heard him. "Neither was this one."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." He whispered.
Leira turned to him, her voice soft, still cracked with sleep. "You didn't. But we both should rest."
She tugged on his hand a little, signalling him lay back down, and he did.
"Kael?" Leira whispered.
"Yes?"
"If I fail the echo and forget who I am again… promise you come find me."
He didn't hesitate. "Always."
Leira turned to him and laid head on his chest, her eyelids still heavy with sleep as she began I drift off. "I love…"
She didn't finish, sleep had taken her way. Kael froze, unsure of how to react. He kissed her forehead and laid still, but couldn't sleep. What he said… or almost said stayed on his mind.
A few feet away from the clearing, a pair of golden eyes watched them.
Cassian stood there, quiet, not ready to come out, torn between his instinct to reach for her and the compulsion that chained him.
He whispered her name, but that wasn't the voice of the monster, it was the voice of his heart.
Leira.