The cursed figure hovered above the crumbling ceiling of the throne chamber its obsidian armor carved with a language lost to time, one only souls could read. Every inch of it vibrated with stolen lifeforce, each black line on its body twitching like veins sewn from ghostlight.
Lucien's heartbeat thundered. His instincts screamed danger. Not the kind that could be outrun but the kind that once destroyed empires.
Hana stepped in front of the Echo Child, spreading her arms protectively. "You said we have to sever you. But how?"
The boy raised his hand. A white blade made of starlight materialized, hovering in the air between them. "With this. A blade forged from the memory of our first death."
Lucien's eyes flicked to the cursed figure descending toward them like a god of vengeance. "And if we don't?"
"Then I become the next Gate," the child said again. "I'll be the lock, and the In-Between will collapse into your world. You'll lose each other again… forever."
Ae-rin stepped beside Seonwu, bow drawn, glowing with spirit flame. "We don't even know what that thing is yet"
"I do," Seonwu said grimly. "That's not just a warden."
Lucien narrowed his eyes. "Then what?"
Seonwu turned to him. "That is the curse itself."
Flashback – The First Death
The walls around them rippled.
Suddenly, all five of them, Lucien, Hana, Ae-rin, Seonwu, and the Echo Child stood in a battlefield of ruins. A city torn in half. Bodies of men and women in black and white robes lay everywhere. Ash covered the skies.
In the center of the carnage stood a young woman with silver eyes and bloodied hands, Hana, in a life long before.
At her feet, Lucien knelt, fatally wounded, whispering, "You were never meant to remember me."
The woman Hana's past self cried out as an armored figure approached from behind. Its porcelain mask gleamed.
Then the blade pierced her chest.
Return to Present
They snapped back into the throne room. The cursed figure's feet touched the stone floor.
Chains rose around the child.
Hana's breath trembled.
She remembered now.
She had loved Lucien for lifetimes.
And always… always, they had been torn apart by this.
Lucien looked at the blade of memory floating before them. "If we kill him, we lose the part of us that kept us returning. If we don't, we lose everything."
The child didn't beg.
He didn't cry.
He simply nodded. "I am ready."
"Wait..." Hana cried, turning to the cursed figure. "Why? Why do you keep doing this?"
The mask cracked.
Beneath it… was a face that mirrored Hana's.
Only older.
Colder.
A version of her she never became.
The woman said, "Because I made a vow. To break the cycle of our suffering. Even if it meant becoming your shadow."
Lucien staggered. "You're… her?"
Ae-rin whispered, stunned, "A variant…"
The cursed woman the Variant nodded. "The version of you that chose not to love. I severed him once, and the pain never came back. I built a realm of peace."
Hana's voice shook. "At what cost?"
"At the cost of your soul," the Variant replied. "But you keep coming back. Again and again. Always choosing pain. Always choosing him."
Her voice cracked into a roar.
"So now I'll choose for you."
Battle Ignites
The cursed Variant raised her hand.
From the cracks in the floor, spectral beasts crawled formed of regret and memory.
Lucien drew his spectral blade. "You're not taking her from me again."
The child spoke: "Only one of you can wield the blade."
Lucien and Hana exchanged a glance.
She stepped forward.
Took the blade.
It did not burn her.
It hummed, in resonance.
The Variant screamed, "If you strike him, you'll never return again. There will be no next life. No final reunion. You'll be free… but empty."
Hana trembled.
"I know."
Lucien held her hand. "We choose this. Again. Every time."
He kissed her forehead.
"Whatever comes next… I'll find you."