Chapter 4:A Forgotten Moment
467 Words
They walked side by side along the stream, Kael silent, his gaze fixed on the path ahead. Liora kept sneaking glances at him — not just because of his quiet strength or how his silver eyes caught the light, but because something about him pulled at her like a thread tied to her heart.
Still, his face held no recognition. No flicker of emotion when he looked at her.
It stung.
He forgot her.
But she couldn’t forget him.
They stopped near an old fallen tree, its moss-covered trunk serving as a makeshift bench. Kael sat first, resting his sword beside him. Liora sat slowly, hands folded over her Soulmark.
“I’ve been trying to remember,” Kael said quietly. “Every night, I dream of places I don’t recognize. Faces without names. And every morning, it’s all gone.”
“Every morning?” Liora asked, eyebrows drawn together.
He nodded. “It’s always worse after the full moon.”
She stilled. “The full moon was last night.”
Kael looked down, his jaw tight. “Then it makes sense. I always wake up... blank.”
A curse.
That’s what this was.
Liora had heard whispers in village tales — stories of ancient magic that wiped away memory to protect terrible secrets. Most were fairy stories meant to scare children. But Kael was proof something real was at play.
“I don’t think this is just memory loss,” she said. “I think someone did this to you — cursed you.”
He glanced at her. “Then why do you remember me?”
“Because I’m the one who got marked,” she murmured, showing the moonflower on her wrist again. “You touched me. And this... this only happens once. To the one.”
Kael’s gaze lingered on the mark, unreadable.
“Then I’m sorry,” he said.
Liora blinked. “For what?”
“For being the one... and not remembering it.”
Silence settled between them. Birds chirped in the distance. The stream kept flowing, like time refusing to pause for either of them.
“Maybe,” Liora said softly, “we can find a way to undo it. Break the curse. Make you remember.”
Kael turned to her. “You’d help me? Even though I can’t feel what you do?”
“I don’t know why this happened,” she said, standing. “But if the Soulmark chose you, then I’m not giving up that easily.”
A flicker of something — wonder, maybe — crossed Kael’s face.
Liora reached out her hand to him.
“This time, I’ll be the one saving you.”
He hesitated — then took it.
And somewhere, deep in the forest, the wind shifted. As if fate itself had taken a breath.
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- Writer
