ECHOES OF THE PAST
974 Words
Pain.
It was unlike anything I had ever felt before—raw, all-consuming, a fire that burned from the inside out. My breath hitched, a sharp gasp caught in my throat, as my vision collapsed into darkness, swallowed by the unbearable weight of something far bigger than myself.
And then—
The world shifted.
The pain melted away, replaced by something else entirely.
Cold stone pressed against my bare feet. The scent of rain lingered in the air. Torchlight flickered against ancient walls, casting long, restless shadows.
I blinked.
I wasn’t in the café anymore.
I wasn’t anywhere that made sense.
Where am I?
A voice—soft, familiar, and laced with emotion—echoed through the stillness.
"You shouldn't be here."
I turned sharply.
A woman stood before me, her silhouette hazy, like she was caught between reality and a dream. Long, dark hair spilled over her shoulders, framing a face that made my stomach lurch.
My face.
She wasn’t just any woman.
She was me.
Or at least… a version of me.
I staggered back, shaking my head. “No. This isn’t real.”
"You remember, don’t you?" she whispered. "Or at least… you’re starting to."
Remember?
Images slammed into me all at once—flashes of a world I had no memory of yet knew in my bones.
A battlefield beneath a blood-red moon.
Hands reaching for each other, only to be torn apart.
A kiss that tasted of desperation, of defiance, of love that was never meant to be.
And a name, spoken in the dying breath of the past.
"Kael."
A strangled sound escaped my lips.
This wasn’t just a vision.
This was a memory.
My memory.
And I had lived this before.
---
The Fall of the Forgotten City
The dream-like haze lifted.
I wasn’t in the café anymore.
I was standing in the middle of a ruined city.
The streets were littered with broken weapons and shattered stone. Smoke curled in the distance, fires burning like dying stars against the night sky.
Footsteps thundered against the ground—soldiers in armor that looked both ancient and achingly familiar.
And then, I saw him.
Kael.
Not the one I had just left behind—but a past version of him. His dark hair was wild with sweat and battle, his silver eyes raw with anguish.
"Ava!" he shouted. But he wasn’t looking at me.
I turned—
And my breath caught.
There, at the heart of the battlefield, stood my past self.
She was covered in dirt and blood, a blade clutched in her trembling hands. But she wasn’t fighting.
She was running.
Running toward Kael.
I wanted to scream at her, to tell her to stop, to tell her that whatever she was about to do would end in disaster.
But I was powerless.
Because I already knew how this story ended.
She reached him. Their hands met.
And then—
A blinding light erupted from their touch.
Kael gasped, his body seizing as dark veins crawled up his arms. My past self screamed, trying to pull away, but it was too late.
The curse had been triggered.
And the world shattered around them.
---
Waking Up in Chaos
I jolted awake with a ragged gasp.
Pain lanced through my skull as I shot upright, my lungs dragging in desperate breaths. My fingers twisted in the fabric beneath me—soft sheets. A bed.
Not the café.
Not the battlefield.
Somewhere else.
A dim glow bathed the room in warm light, shadows stretching over dark wooden walls. The air smelled like pine and aged books, something familiar yet foreign.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and pushed myself up—only to stumble.
Strong hands caught me before I hit the ground.
"You’re awake."
Kael.
His voice was rough, filled with something I couldn’t quite name. He was kneeling beside me, his grip firm but careful—like he wasn’t sure if I would break apart in his hands.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then—
"What the hell did you do to me?" I whispered.
Kael exhaled sharply. "I didn’t do anything, Ava. You touched me."
My stomach twisted.
I remembered. The café. The moment my fingers brushed his skin.
The pain.
And then—the past.
"I saw it," I breathed. "I saw us. Before. In another life."
Kael’s expression darkened.
"Then you understand."
I shook my head. “No. I don’t. How is this happening? Why do I remember?”
He hesitated, his jaw clenching before he finally spoke.
"The curse doesn’t just punish us in this life, Ava." His voice was quiet, haunted. "It forces us to relive every life before this one. Every failure. Every death. Over and over again."
My chest tightened.
"That’s why I saw her. The other me."
Kael nodded.
I swallowed hard. "How does it end?"
He looked away, his fingers still gripping my arms like he wasn’t sure he should let go.
"You already know."
My throat went dry.
One of us dies.
I sucked in a shaky breath, my mind racing. There had to be a way to break it. There had to be.
Before I could say anything, Kael suddenly stiffened. His grip on me tightened.
I frowned. "Kael, what—"
Then I heard it.
A knock at the door.
Not gentle. Not hesitant.
A demand.
Kael cursed under his breath, pushing me back against the bed. "Stay here," he ordered, standing swiftly.
"Who is it?" I whispered.
Kael’s face was unreadable as he strode toward the door. But I saw the tension in his shoulders, the way his hand flexed as he reached for the handle.
"Someone I’ve been trying to avoid," he muttered.
Then he opened the door.
And the moment he did—
Everything changed.
- Writer
