The Eternal Garden glowed brighter than ever that morning. The silver rivers reflected the pale moonlight, and the flowers swayed in a rhythm that seemed almost alive, humming faintly in a melody only the heart could hear.
Lyra walked along the riverside, her violet eyes clouded with confusion and longing. The flashes of memory had become stronger over the past days, fragments of a past she could almost touch, almost recall.
She knelt by the water, tracing a ripple that shimmered with light. For a fleeting instant, the reflection transformed: a boy with dark hair and warm brown eyes, holding out a small silver bracelet to her.
Her breath caught.
---
"It… I remember you," she whispered, voice trembling, though the memory slipped almost immediately like water through her fingers. The silver bracelet, the lake, the laughter, the soft warmth of his hand — it all flickered before her mind, a half-formed dream of someone she once loved.
Aiden hovered nearby, nearly translucent now, every heartbeat a fight against fading into nothing. He wanted to step forward, to speak her name, to tell her he had crossed worlds and given everything to stay by her side. But even the smallest movement drained him further.
"Lyra…" he whispered, voice like a breeze.
Her eyes widened. She felt it — a presence that tugged at her heart, something familiar yet impossible. She reached toward the shimmer, and for a fleeting heartbeat, their fingers almost touched.
The memory surged — the night at the lake, the rain falling softly, the warmth of a hand he had held just for her, the words "I will always love you".
She gasped, and tears ran down her cheeks. "Aiden…?"
---
But the world is never gentle with such fragile things.
The closer Lyra came to remembering fully, the faster Aiden's remaining essence dissipated. His form flickered violently, light scattering like sparks in the wind. Every pulse of his mortal heart had already faded, and now even his ghostly presence was at risk of disappearing entirely.
"I… can't hold on," he whispered, voice trembling with sorrow. "Even if you remember… I… will fade."
Lyra's hand froze mid-air. "No! Don't… leave me! I… I finally… remember you!"
Her voice broke the barrier of the Eternal Garden itself. The silver rivers pulsed, the flowers shimmered, and the air hummed with magic. She took a step closer, desperation in every movement.
"I… I love you!" she cried, tears glimmering like starlight. "Why… why did you leave? I can feel you… but you're… disappearing!"
---
Aiden's eyes glistened with both relief and pain. He had wanted to hear those words for so long, but to hear them now, knowing he could not stay, was agony beyond measure.
"I… crossed worlds for you," he whispered. "I gave everything… just to be near you. But… I cannot remain. Not here. Not as I am."
Lyra fell to her knees, reaching for him, fingers brushing the faint shimmer of his form. "No! I don't care! I want you! Even if… even if you fade! Please!"
His voice, soft and trembling, carried a bittersweet truth:
"I… will always be with you… in the blooms… in the rivers… in your heart… Even if you cannot see me… I… love you."
With that, the last of his light pulsed once, twice, and then dissipated like mist in the morning sun.
---
Lyra screamed, a sound that shook the Eternal Garden. She ran through the fields of silver flowers, calling his name, searching for the shimmer, the warmth, the presence that had been her guide, her comfort, her love.
But he was gone.
All that remained was the faintest imprint on the flowers — a delicate shimmer in the petals, a whisper in the wind, the lingering warmth in the rivers.
Her tears fell freely as she sank to the ground, clutching the silver bracelet — the last tangible piece of the boy who had loved her beyond worlds.
And in the silence that followed, the flowers swayed gently, the rivers hummed softly, and the stars above traced their endless arcs.
Aiden's sacrifice had not been in vain. He had given her safety, love, and memory — even if it could not last.
Lyra sat among the glowing blooms, broken, yet carrying a heart heavy with love that had transcended worlds, a love she could remember only in fragments, like petals scattered across the wind.
The garden was quiet again — but the echo of his love lingered, eternal, haunting, and beautiful.