Chapter 4: A Love Forgotten
The world spun around me, a blur of light and shadow. I struggled to stay upright, my legs giving way beneath me as the ground shifted and buckled. My hand reached out instinctively, searching for Sorin, but he was no longer beside me. Panic rose in my chest, cold and sharp, as the air around me thickened with an unfamiliar energy.
And then, with a sudden lurch, everything stilled.
I blinked, my vision slowly coming into focus. I was no longer in the courtyard. The tall stone pillars and the night-blooming flowers had vanished, replaced by a soft, golden light filtering through high windows. The scent of aged wood and dust filled the air, and I found myself standing in a grand library, its towering shelves lined with ancient books. The room felt timeless, a place lost between centuries.
But it wasn’t the library that held my attention.
It was the painting.
I stood frozen before it, my breath caught in my throat. The painting was of a woman, her features delicate yet unmistakable. She stood in a field of wildflowers, her hair falling in loose waves around her shoulders, her eyes turned toward the horizon with a look of quiet resolve.
It was me.
I stepped closer, my heart pounding in my chest. How was this possible? The painting looked ancient, its colors faded by time, yet the face staring back at me was undeniably my own.
“Elara,” a voice murmured behind me.
I whirled around, my heart leaping into my throat. Sorin stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable, but his eyes were dark with emotion.
“Sorin,” I whispered, relief flooding through me. “Where—where are we?”
He stepped closer, his gaze lingering on the painting before shifting back to me. “This is the past, Elara,” he said softly. “A place you once knew.”
I shook my head, confusion swirling in my mind. “But I don’t understand. How can this be the past? I don’t remember this. I don’t remember any of this.”
Sorin hesitated, his eyes flicking toward the painting again. “There are things about your past—about our past—that were hidden from you,” he said quietly. “But this… this is where it all began.”
I stared at him, the weight of his words sinking in. “What do you mean?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
He took a deep breath, as if bracing himself. “You don’t remember, but you and I… we were in love once, long ago. Before the time travel, before everything that’s happened since.” His voice faltered, a shadow crossing his face. “But something happened, Elara. Something that took you away from me—and from yourself.”
My heart pounded in my chest. “What happened?” I demanded, stepping closer to him. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Sorin’s gaze flickered with something deep and painful. “You made a choice,” he said softly. “To forget. To leave everything behind. Including me.”
The words hit me like a blow, knocking the air from my lungs. I stared at him, my mind reeling. “I… chose to forget you?” The thought seemed impossible—unthinkable. How could I have made such a choice? How could I have willingly erased the man who stood before me, the man whose presence felt like an anchor in the storm of my memories?
“Why would I do that?” I whispered, my voice shaking.
Sorin’s jaw tightened, and for the first time, I saw a flicker of something like anger in his eyes. “Because you believed it was the only way to protect yourself,” he said, his voice low and strained. “You were afraid, Elara. Afraid of the truth, of the weight of the memories you carried. So you made a deal—with Kaira.”
I gasped, stepping back in shock. “Kaira? What does she have to do with this?”
Sorin’s expression darkened. “She offered you a way out. A way to erase the past and start over. But what she didn’t tell you was the cost—that by erasing those memories, you were also erasing a part of yourself.”
I felt like the ground was slipping out from under me. Everything Sorin was saying—it couldn’t be true. And yet, deep down, I felt the pull of something familiar, something hidden in the corners of my mind, just out of reach.
“I didn’t want to lose you,” Sorin said softly, stepping closer to me. “But I couldn’t stop you. And when you were gone…” His voice trailed off, and for a moment, the pain in his eyes was almost unbearable to witness. “I spent years searching for you. Trying to bring you back. And now… here we are.”
Tears stung at the corners of my eyes as I struggled to process everything he had just told me. “I don’t remember any of it,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I don’t remember us. I don’t remember what we had.”
Sorin reached out, his hand gently cupping my cheek. His touch was warm, grounding me in the present even as the past swirled around us like a storm.
“You don’t have to remember,” he said quietly. “I remember for both of us.”
His words broke something inside me, and before I knew what I was doing, I surged forward, pressing my lips to his in a desperate kiss. It was full of longing, of everything unspoken between us—the love we had shared, the memories I had lost. Sorin responded immediately, his arms wrapping around me, pulling me closer. His kiss was both tender and fierce, as if he was pouring years of heartache and hope into that single moment.
I clung to him, the sensation of his lips on mine stirring something deep inside me. Flashes of forgotten moments flickered through my mind—his laughter, his touch, the way he had once held me close under the stars. It was as if my body remembered what my mind had forgotten, a buried instinct rising to the surface.
But just as quickly as the memories came, they slipped away again, leaving me breathless and aching for more. I pulled back, my chest heaving as I stared up at him, my heart pounding in my ears.
“Sorin,” I whispered, my voice trembling with emotion. “I don’t want to forget anymore.”
He brushed a strand of hair away from my face, his eyes soft but intense. “I won’t let you,” he promised. “We’ll find a way to bring everything back. But first, we have to stop Kaira.”
I nodded, though fear still gnawed at the edges of my resolve. “What if she’s too powerful? What if… I’m not strong enough?”
Sorin’s gaze hardened, his hand tightening on mine. “You are strong enough, Elara. You always were.”
Before I could respond, a sudden noise echoed through the library—a soft, mechanical whirring that sent a chill down my spine. Sorin tensed, his body going rigid as he turned toward the sound.
“Kaira’s here,” he said, his voice low and urgent.
My heart raced in my chest. “What do we do?”
Sorin’s grip tightened on my hand. “We run.”
We turned, sprinting toward the far end of the library, the sound of Kaira’s approaching presence growing louder with each passing second. My lungs burned, my legs trembling beneath me as we raced through the maze of shelves and towering books, the past closing in around us like a trap.
Just as we reached the door, a cold, familiar voice echoed through the room, stopping us in our tracks.
“You can’t run from me, Elara.”
I turned slowly, my breath catching in my throat. Kaira stood in the doorway, her sharp, angular features twisted into a mocking smile. Her eyes glittered with malice as they flicked between Sorin and me.
“You’ve forgotten so much,” Kaira said softly, her voice almost sympathetic. “But don’t worry. I’m here to remind you.”
Before I could react, she raised her hand—and the world around us shattered into darkness.
***
My vision blurred, and I felt the ground beneath me give way. I reached out for Sorin, but the darkness swallowed him whole, leaving me alone—lost in a void where time and memory no longer had meaning.