Chapter One: The Man Who Waited
The world had changed.
Rael Thalorian stood at the edge of a rooftop, gazing over a city that did not belong to him. Towers of steel and glass reached for the heavens, their lights blinking like distant stars. The air smelled of rain and metal, nothing like the fragrant gardens of his empire long lost to time. Yet, despite the centuries that had passed, the ache in his chest had never dulled.
He had searched for lifetimes.
His curse—his vow—had bound him to this world, tethering him to the endless march of time, forcing him to watch empires rise and crumble, watch lovers find each other while he remained alone. All for the sake of one man. The one he had lost.
And now, after centuries of waiting, he had found him.
Rael's golden eyes burned as he watched the street below. Amid the blur of bodies rushing through the rain, he stood there—unaware, untouched by the weight of their past. The same face, the same soul, yet different. Modern. Human. Mortal.
Eli Davenport.
Rael whispered the name, tasting the syllables like a prayer and a curse. His fingers clenched at his sides. He had imagined this moment a thousand times, dreamed of their reunion in a thousand ways. Would Eli remember him? Would his soul recognize what his mind could not?
But Eli was laughing—laughing at something mundane, at a stranger's joke, his expression filled with an ease Rael had not known in centuries.
He does not remember.
The truth settled in Rael's chest like a blade.
And yet, I will not let him go.
Lightning split the sky, illuminating the city in a flash of silver. By the time the darkness returned, Rael was already gone, disappearing into the night.
He would not fail this time.
He could not.