KISS ME TILL THE END OF THE WORLD

No one noticed the first time the sky cracked. It happened quietly, like a secret the universe was too ashamed to announce. A thin silver line stretched across the horizon one evening, just above the sleeping city of Arven. People thought it was lightning frozen in place, or some strange reflection of light. Only Liora knew it was something else. She felt it in her chest before she saw it with her eyes. A pull. A warning. Or maybe… a beginning. Liora had always lived between moments—never fully present, never completely gone. She worked in a small bookstore that no one remembered entering and no one could quite find twice. It sat at the edge of a narrow street where time felt slower, softer, almost like it was waiting for something. Or someone. That someone walked in on a day the sky split wider. His name was Cael. He didn’t introduce himself immediately. He simply stepped into the shop like he had been there before, his eyes scanning the shelves not for books—but for her. “You’re late,” Liora said without thinking. She froze the moment the words left her mouth. She didn’t know him. At least… she wasn’t supposed to. Cael tilted his head slightly, studying her with a quiet intensity that made the air feel thinner. “I’ve been looking for you,” he said. His voice carried something ancient, like it had crossed distances far greater than roads or cities. Liora’s heartbeat stumbled. “Do I know you?” she asked carefully. A small smile touched his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You used to.” That was how it began. The cracks in the sky grew each day. Thin lines turned into fractures, glowing faintly at night like veins of light running through the darkness. News spread quickly—scientists called it an atmospheric anomaly. Religious leaders called it a sign. But no one could explain why time felt… unstable. Clocks skipped seconds. Days repeated moments. People forgot conversations they had minutes ago. And through it all, Liora and Cael kept finding each other. At the bookstore. On empty streets. In places neither of them remembered choosing. “Why does it feel like we’ve done this before?” Liora asked one evening as they stood under a flickering streetlamp. Cael looked at her for a long time before answering. “Because we have.” She laughed nervously. “That’s not funny.” “I’m not joking.” The wind picked up, carrying a faint hum from the sky above. Liora wrapped her arms around herself. “Then tell me,” she said. “When did we meet?” Cael stepped closer. “Not in this world,” he said quietly. Something inside her shifted. Not fear. Recognition. That night, the sky broke open. Not with sound. But with light. The fractures expanded until the entire horizon shimmered like shattered glass. And for a brief, terrifying moment, people saw something beyond it. Another sky. Another world. And then— Silence. Electricity failed. Phones died. Time… stopped. Except for them. Liora stood in the middle of the empty street, her breath visible in the sudden stillness. Around her, everything had frozen—cars, people, even the falling rain hung motionless in the air. Only Cael moved. Only Cael breathed. Only Cael looked at her like this was the moment he had been waiting for. “What’s happening?” she whispered. Cael walked toward her slowly, as if afraid she might disappear. “The world is ending,” he said. Her heart should have panicked. But it didn’t. “Why am I still here?” she asked. “Because you’re not from here,” he answered. The truth didn’t shock her. It settled into her like something remembered. “Then where am I from?” she asked softly. Cael reached out, his fingers stopping just short of touching her face. “From the place beyond the sky,” he said. “The world that was destroyed… because of us.” Liora’s breath caught. Fragments of memory flashed—light, fire, a collapsing horizon, and a promise spoken in desperation. A promise she couldn’t fully hear. “We loved each other,” Cael continued. “And it broke everything.” Tears filled her eyes. “That doesn’t make sense.” “It doesn’t have to,” he said gently. “It just has to be true.” The silence around them deepened. The frozen world felt distant now. Irrelevant. “Why are we here again?” Liora asked. Cael finally touched her. His hand was warm. Real. “To try again,” he said. “And if we fail?” He hesitated. And that was her answer. The sky above them began to collapse inward, the fractures pulling toward a single point like the universe was folding into itself. Time was running out. Liora could feel it now—the pull she had felt from the beginning. Not a warning. A choice. She stepped closer to him, her hands trembling slightly. “All of this ends if we fall in love again, doesn’t it?” she asked. Cael didn’t lie. “Yes.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “And if we don’t?” “Then everything continues,” he said. “But we forget each other. Completely. Forever.” The weight of that settled between them. Love… or existence. Memory… or survival. Liora let out a shaky breath. “That’s not fair.” “No,” Cael agreed. “It isn’t.” The world around them began to fade, colors draining into white. Liora looked at him—really looked at him—and realized something terrifying. She didn’t want a world where he didn’t exist. Even if that world survived. “I don’t want to forget you,” she whispered. Cael’s expression broke for the first time. “You won’t have to,” he said. “If you choose me.” “And the world?” He didn’t answer. Because some answers are too heavy to say out loud. Liora stepped forward until there was no space left between them. Her heart was no longer confused. No longer afraid. “If this is our end,” she said softly, “then I don’t want it to be empty.” Cael’s hand moved to her cheek. “Liora—” She shook her head gently. “Don’t stop me this time.” The light around them intensified, the sky folding faster now, reality unraveling thread by thread. But in that collapsing universe, they found stillness. Clarity. Truth. Liora smiled through tears. “Kiss me till the end of the world.” And he did. Not like a goodbye. But like a promise that refused to end. Their lips met as the light consumed everything. The city. The sky. Time itself. And for one impossible moment, love existed louder than the universe. Then— Nothing. Far away. In a quiet city. Under a sky with no cracks. A girl walked into a bookstore she didn’t remember finding. A boy stood by the shelf, turning as if he had been waiting. Their eyes met. And something stirred. Not memory. Not yet. But something close. He smiled slightly. “Have we met before?” he asked. The girl hesitated. Then smiled back. “I don’t think so,” she said. But her heart whispered something else. Something soft. Something endless. And somewhere beyond time… A promise waited to be remembered.