chapter 10 : Prophecy Revealed
1569 Words
The war paused for two days.
Not because the enemy had given up, but because both sides needed time to breathe.
Bodies had been cleared from the battlefield. Broken siege towers lay scattered across the valley like fallen giants. Smoke still drifted in thin gray ribbons toward the sky.
Inside Varensia’s walls, the tension had not eased.
If anything, it had deepened.
A general’s betrayal had shaken the court. Nobles whispered in corridors, soldiers spoke quietly in the barracks, and the palace itself seemed to hold its breath.
Yet for King Namjoon, something else weighed heavier than war.
A question that had haunted him for centuries.
Why him?
Why had he been reborn again and again with memories of every life he had lived?
And why did the same man appear in those lives every time?
Assassin.
Enemy.
Ally.
Jin.
The Forgotten Library
Late that evening, Namjoon walked through one of the oldest wings of the palace.
The corridor was narrow and dimly lit, its stone walls carved with symbols worn down by time. Very few people in the kingdom even knew this section of the palace existed.
But Namjoon did.
He had seen it before.
Not in this life.
But in another.
The memory had returned to him suddenly during the night after Arlen’s betrayal.
A place of ancient records.
Forgotten histories.
Secrets no king had spoken of in centuries.
Behind him, Jin followed quietly.
“You’ve been walking like someone chasing a ghost,” Jin said.
“Maybe I am.”
Namjoon stopped in front of a large wooden door covered in faded carvings.
“This room,” he said softly, “should not exist anymore.”
Jin raised an eyebrow.
“That’s comforting.”
Namjoon pushed the door open.
Dust drifted through the air as candlelight revealed a vast chamber filled with towering shelves of ancient scrolls and books.
The royal archive.
But older.
Much older.
“Impressive,” Jin murmured.
Namjoon stepped inside slowly.
“I’ve been here before.”
“In this life?”
“No.”
Echoes of the Past
The room smelled of old parchment and dry wood.
Namjoon moved between the shelves with strange certainty, his hand occasionally brushing across ancient texts as if greeting old acquaintances.
Fragments of memory stirred in his mind.
Another king.
Another war.
Another night spent searching these same shelves.
Jin watched him with quiet curiosity.
“You’re remembering something,” the assassin said.
“Yes.”
Namjoon stopped in front of a large stone pedestal near the center of the chamber.
On it rested a single ancient book.
The cover was cracked with age, its leather darkened by centuries of dust.
Namjoon opened it slowly.
Symbols filled the pages.
Old language.
Older than the kingdom itself.
Jin leaned closer.
“You can read that?”
Namjoon nodded slowly.
“I learned it… several lifetimes ago.”
He turned a few pages.
Then suddenly stopped.
His expression changed.
“What?” Jin asked.
Namjoon didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he read the passage again.
And again.
Because the words felt impossible.
The Prophecy
Finally, Namjoon spoke.
His voice was quiet.
“There’s a prophecy.”
Jin frowned.
“I hate prophecies.”
Namjoon continued reading aloud.
“When the Crown of Memory rises again,
and the King Who Cannot Die walks the earth once more,
the Shadow that follows him shall appear.”
Jin crossed his arms.
“Shadow sounds like me.”
Namjoon looked at him.
“Yes.”
He continued reading.
“Bound by blood and blade,
their souls shall find each other across centuries.
One destined to rule.
One destined to kill.”
The air in the chamber felt suddenly heavier.
Namjoon swallowed.
“But the prophecy continues.”
He read the final lines slowly.
“Only the hand that loves the king
may end his endless life.
Only the blade meant to kill him
may break the curse.”
Silence filled the library.
Jin blinked once.
Then sighed.
“Well,” he said, “that’s inconvenient.”
The Meaning of the Curse
Namjoon stared down at the ancient text.
His thoughts raced.
Centuries of memories suddenly felt different.
Every assassination attempt.
Every hesitation.
Every strange moment of familiarity between them.
The prophecy explained everything.
“You were always meant to find me,” Namjoon said quietly.
Jin leaned against the pedestal.
“And kill you.”
“Yes.”
Jin looked thoughtful.
“That explains the missions.”
Namjoon glanced at him.
“You were sent after me many times.”
“Almost every life,” Jin admitted.
Namjoon frowned.
“Did you ever succeed?”
Jin shrugged.
“Apparently not.”
Namjoon let out a slow breath.
“So the curse continues.”
Jin looked at the page again.
“Not necessarily.”
Namjoon raised an eyebrow.
“You noticed something?”
Jin tapped the final line of the prophecy.
“Only the hand that loves the king may end his endless life.”
Namjoon’s chest tightened.
Jin continued calmly.
“That sounds very specific.”
A Dangerous Realization
The meaning of the prophecy settled slowly between them.
For centuries, Namjoon had feared the assassin who followed him through lifetimes.
Now he understood something far worse.
Jin was not simply meant to kill him.
He was meant to be the only one who could.
And love was somehow part of that fate.
Namjoon stepped back from the pedestal.
“This is absurd.”
Jin tilted his head.
“Why?”
“Because it means—”
Namjoon stopped himself.
Jin smirked faintly.
“It means our souls are tied together by destiny.”
Namjoon groaned quietly.
“I hate destiny.”
The Fear of Loving
Namjoon walked toward one of the tall windows of the library.
Moonlight spilled across the stone floor.
For centuries he had protected himself from attachment.
Love always ended badly when one person lived forever.
But now…
Now fate itself had tied him to someone who might one day have to end his life.
He spoke quietly.
“What kind of curse is this?”
Jin joined him by the window.
“The poetic kind.”
Namjoon gave him an incredulous look.
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
Jin shrugged.
“Think about it. Immortal king meets assassin across centuries. Eventually they fall in love, and one of them has to decide whether to end the other’s life.”
Namjoon rubbed his face.
“That sounds like a tragic song.”
“Or a very dramatic love story.”
Namjoon stared at him.
“You’re disturbingly calm about this.”
Jin smiled faintly.
“I’ve had worse job descriptions.”
Attraction in the Darkness
Despite the tension, Namjoon found himself studying Jin.
The assassin stood in the moonlight with that same quiet confidence he always carried.
Unbothered.
Unafraid.
And somehow still here.
After learning that destiny had made him the king’s executioner.
“You’re not disturbed by this prophecy,” Namjoon said.
Jin looked thoughtful.
“No.”
“Why?”
Jin met his gaze.
“Because it also says I can break your curse.”
Namjoon blinked.
“That’s what you took from it?”
“Yes.”
Namjoon felt something strange in his chest.
Hope.
A dangerous emotion for someone who had lived as long as he had.
“You’d help me break it?” Namjoon asked quietly.
Jin smiled faintly.
“Maybe.”
Namjoon narrowed his eyes.
“That sounded suspicious.”
Jin shrugged.
“I might want to keep you around.”
Growing Connection
The silence between them shifted again.
Less tense.
More complicated.
Namjoon leaned against the window frame.
“If this prophecy is true,” he said slowly, “then our lives have been connected long before we were born.”
Jin nodded.
“That seems likely.”
Namjoon looked down at his hands.
“And eventually… one of us will have to make a choice.”
Jin stepped closer.
“What choice?”
Namjoon met his eyes.
“Whether to end my life.”
Jin’s expression softened slightly.
“That’s not a decision we need to make tonight.”
“No.”
Namjoon exhaled slowly.
“But it will come.”
Jin studied him carefully.
“Does it scare you?”
Namjoon thought about it.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
Jin’s voice lowered.
“Good.”
Namjoon blinked.
“That’s a strange response.”
Jin smiled slightly.
“It means you still care about living.”
A Future Unwritten
They closed the ancient book together.
The prophecy remained etched in Namjoon’s mind.
King and assassin.
Bound across centuries.
Destined for love.
Destined for death.
Outside the palace windows, the fires of enemy armies burned across the valley.
War still waited.
But now the future felt even more uncertain.
Namjoon looked at Jin.
“So,” he said.
“What do we do now?”
Jin folded his arms.
“We win the war.”
Namjoon raised an eyebrow.
“And after that?”
Jin smiled faintly.
“Then we figure out whether I’m supposed to kill you or save you.”
Namjoon laughed quietly.
For the first time in centuries, the future truly felt unpredictable.
And strangely—
He didn’t hate that feeling.
Because somewhere between prophecy and war…
Between destiny and choice…
Something had begun to grow between them.
Something dangerous.
Something powerful.
Something neither of them could ignore anymore.
- Writer
