Chapter 8:Memory's Price
469 Words
The tower groaned as ancient magic awakened, shaking its very foundation. Shards of broken mirrors floated in the air, each piece humming with old pain and forgotten truths.
Kael stepped toward the shadow.
“I’m ready,” he said. “Show me everything.”
The shadow extended an arm, and a silver flame ignited between them. It spiraled, then lunged into Kael’s chest.
He collapsed.
“Kael!” Liora cried, rushing to him — but the magic held her back. A barrier of light surrounded him.
Then the world around him shifted.
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He stood in a garden, moonlight bathing silver flowers. Liora — younger, glowing — sat beside a fountain, humming a soft melody. Her smile could shatter kingdoms. Kael watched, aching.
Another flash.
He knelt beside her in a candlelit temple. She was pale, breath shallow. A dark sickness coursed through her veins.
“No cure,” a healer whispered. “She has days, maybe hours.”
Kael gripped her hand, broken.
> “There must be a way. Anything.”
> “There is,” came a voice. “But it comes at a cost.”
A cloaked sorcerer stepped from the shadows. “A soul can be split. Yours for hers. Your memories… your love. Gone. She will live. You will forget.”
Kael’s heart splintered. “Will she be safe?”
“Yes. But you will lose every moment with her. Forever.”
Liora whispered weakly, “Kael, don’t…”
He kissed her one last time, tears on both their cheeks.
“I’d rather lose myself… than lose you.”
He turned to the sorcerer.
> “Do it.”
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The vision shattered.
Kael gasped, falling forward in the present. The light vanished. Liora caught him before he hit the floor.
He looked into her eyes — and this time, they were full of knowing.
“I remember everything.”
She smiled through tears. “You gave up everything for me.”
“And I’d do it again.”
But the shadow reformed, no longer a figure of rage — now calm, mournful.
“You paid the price once,” it said. “But love remembered… demands another.”
Liora stepped forward, fierce. “Then share it. Let me carry the memory too.”
The shadow tilted its head.
Kael took her hand. “She’s strong enough. We both are.”
The tower pulsed with silver light. Then, silence.
The shadow dissolved — not defeated, but freed.
---
Outside, the clouds parted. Moonlight bathed the cliffs in soft radiance. Liora and Kael stood at the tower’s edge, hearts raw but whole.
“You came back to me,” she whispered.
Kael smiled. “This time, I won’t forget.”
And far below, the wind carried the scent of moonflowers blooming once more.
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- Writer
