A groan ripped from me—raw, broken, soaked in agony.
“You don’t understand...the pain...the torture I endure...”
“Ah, but I do.”Lazarus’ voice shifted—no longer steel but shadow and sorrow.A haunted look darkened his face, his gaze drifting—not at me, but through me, to memories that still bled.“I sacrificed everything—my family, my life—for Solaris.”His eyes, once cold, now shimmered with grief.Not weakness—but a torment I knew too well.“I know exactly how you feel.”
He exhaled, shoulders sagging beneath a weight no one else could see.“Everything I do… is to get us back.To Solaris.”His voice dropped to a whisper—raw, aching.“I loved Amara.Still do.My love for her… it consumes me.Just like your love for Elizabeth.”
He looked away, jaw tightening, a muscle twitching beneath his cheekbone.“My wife hates me.For choosing Solaris over our family.”He paused and then added, “I had to separate my sons.John and Jack.Twins—placed in different timelines.For the mission.To bring Solaris back.”
His eyes darkened, pain flickering through the mask he wore.“Do you know what it’s like to stand in the shadows of their lives—watching them grow, laugh, suffer—and they don’t know you’re protecting them?”His fists clenched, knuckles white, breath ragged.“To be a ghost in their world.Invisible.Forgotten.Because that’s the only way to save them.”
His eyes locked onto mine, fierce and piercing.“Trust me, Amir.Every sacrifice you’ve made—I’ve made it, too.And just like I told my beautiful Amara… One day, we will be victorious.But first—we must sacrifice the things we love the most.”
He stepped closer, shadows gathering around him like a mantle.His face hardened into stone.“That is the price of Solaris.That is the burden we bear.”His finger pointed at me, firm, unrelenting.“You will let Elizabeth go.Salvatore hunts for the Noctyss flower—and she knows where it blooms.That knowledge alone makes her a target.If he finds her, Amir—he will kill her.”
His words struck like a hammer, shattering the last remnants of hope inside me.I felt it in my bones—an undeniable truth.I was no sanctuary for her.I was the danger, the storm that would tear her apart.Salvatore’s shadow loomed over us, a specter that would not rest until we were undone.
Lazarus’ gaze didn’t waver.“When she was here, I took her blood.I cloaked her with it—she’s invisible to Salvatore as if she’s dead.That’s the only reason he can’t find her.But if you go to her, the cloak will fail.Your love is too strong.It will draw him straight to her.”
His words cut deeper than any blade, a truth I didn’t want to hear.Pain surged in my chest, all-consuming.“If I don’t protect her,” I croaked, “who will?I can’t stand by.”
“You must,” Lazarus said.
His decree fell like a gavel, sentencing me to a fate worse than death.To live while she slipped away into the horizon, untouched by me, unreachable.To breathe when each breath tasted of her absence.That was a torment I hadn’t prepared for.But as my soul screamed in rebellion, I knew—this was the only way.Elizabeth’s life was not mine to risk.Not for love.Not for anything.
“So be it,” I whispered, the words tearing from me like barbed wire.The vow was bitter, a surrender forced by love’s cruelty.If I truly loved her, I would become her shadow—always near, never seen.Watching.Guarding.Alone.
Lazarus’ gaze turned colder than the grave.“Remember, Amir.You are the shield in the shadows.From there, you will protect her.She’s already en route to the Americas, seeking refuge.Pray she stays hidden.Pray you have the strength to let her go.”
His voice lingered like a curse, and as I stood in the fading light, I realized that my war had only begun.
“Very well,” I murmured, more to myself than to Lazarus, the words bitter on my tongue.“For her, I will become a ghost… forever watching, never touching.But you can’t stop me from taking steps to ensure her safety.”
If I could not hold her, I would shield her.
I would guard it in silence if I could not speak her name.
I would be her shadow—her silent protector—even if it meant sacrificing the love I could never claim.
Let Salvatore hunt.
She would live.
Even if I had to disappear to make it so.
* * *
The temporal winds howled around me as I landed with a muted thud on the soft forest floor of the Americas.The year was 1762.The air hung heavy with pine and earth—a stark contrast to the cold stone and shadowed halls of Anatolia I had left behind.Each breath I took filled my lungs with wildness, with life.It felt foreign after so long in darkness.
With every step, leaves rustled beneath my boots, guiding me toward a clearing where the flickering fire light danced in a hypnotic rhythm.Shadows twisted across the trees like spirits watching from afar, but I knew who waited for me.
Dancing Fire was true to his name, his movements fluid and untamed.He spun among the rising embers, his sinewy form slashing through the night like a blade of wind and flame.His feet barely seemed to touch the ground, as if the earth itself yielded to him.At that moment, watching him twirl beneath the stars, a pang twisted in my chest.What would it be like to live unburdened by duty?To be free, like the flames he embraced?
“Ah, you’re here!”Dancing Fire’s voice boomed through the quiet.He halted mid-step, his keen eyes locking onto mine.
I drew a breath, steadying the plea clawing at my throat.“Hello, dear friend.”I stepped into the clearing, and we clasped each other in a brief, firm embrace—one forged from battles fought and trust earned.
When he pulled back, his hands gripped my upper arms.“You wouldn’t come unless danger followed.Speak.”
