Lyra's POV
The sword stops an inch from my heart.
Time freezes. I can't breathe. Can't think. Can't understand why Kade would—
Then I feel it.
Magic explodes from the blade—not deadly, but protective. Blue light wraps around me like a shield, and suddenly the crushing weight of too many memories eases. The flood in my mind slows to a manageable stream.
Kade didn't try to kill me. He saved me.
"Ancient warrior technique," he says through gritted teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. "The blade channels magic. Filters the overload. But I can't hold it long."
Maelis's face twists with fury. "Clever. But pointless. You're only delaying the inevitable."
"Then I'll delay it forever." Kade's whole body trembles with effort. "Lyra, can you stand?"
I try. My legs shake but hold. The sword's magic is buying me time, clearing my head enough to function.
"Good girl," Kade murmurs. Then louder, to Maelis: "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to let us walk out of here. And if you try to stop us—"
"You'll what?" Isla laughs. "You're one man against twelve. Even legendary Commander Asheron can't fight those odds while also keeping her alive."
She's right. Kade can't maintain the magic and fight at the same time.
We're trapped.
The temple groans. Another section of ceiling crashes down. We're running out of time in more ways than one.
"I have a better idea," a new voice calls out.
Seris appears in the temple entrance, and she's not alone. Behind her stand at least twenty villagers, all armed with whatever they could grab—pitchforks, hammers, kitchen knives.
"You're threatening my best friend," Seris announces, brandishing a frying pan like a sword. "Bad choice."
Hope surges in my chest. "Seris!"
"Did you really think I'd let you face this alone?" She grins at me. "I followed you from the village. Took me a while to round up reinforcements, but—" She looks at Maelis. "—here we are."
Maelis assesses the new arrivals with cold calculation. "Peasants with farming tools. Hardly a threat."
"Maybe not individually." Seris's smile turns sharp. "But we know these ruins better than you do. We know which supports are already weakened. We know exactly where to hit to bring this whole place down on your heads."
To prove her point, one of the villagers—old Mr. Chen from the bakery—swings his hammer at a cracked column. It crumbles instantly, sending stones raining down near Maelis's soldiers.
They scatter, suddenly uncertain.
"You're bluffing," Maelis says, but I can hear doubt in his voice.
"Try me." Seris's eyes are hard as diamonds. "I'll bury us all if it means keeping Lyra safe from you."
Stalemate.
The temple continues to shake. We have maybe minutes before it collapses naturally, with or without help.
Kade leans close to my ear. "When I count to three, run for the exit. Don't look back."
"Not without you."
"Stubborn woman," he mutters, but there's affection in it. "Fine. Together, then. On three—"
Isla moves faster than anyone expects.
She lunges not at Kade, but at me, a dagger flashing in her hand. "If I can't have you, no one can!"
Kade spins, his blade leaving me to block her attack. The moment his magic stops filtering the memories, they crash back into my mind with brutal force.
I scream and drop to my knees.
Two lifetimes slam together. Past and present blur. I am Lyra and Lyria, both and neither. I'm drowning in memories—
Working in my shop, laughing with Seris— Training with Maelis, discovering his betrayal— Waking up three years ago with nothing— Dying in Kade's arms two hundred years ago—
"LYRA!" Multiple voices shout my name.
Through the chaos in my head, I see Kade fighting Isla. Seris running toward me. Maelis raising his hands to cast something terrible.
And I realize something with crystal clarity:
I remember everything now. Both lives. All the magic. All the knowledge Maelis wanted.
Including one spell that might save us all.
With shaking hands, I press my palms against the temple floor. Silver light explodes outward—my magic, finally fully awakened.
"What is she doing?" someone shouts.
I'm doing what past-Lyria should have done. I'm taking control.
Memory magic flows through me into the very stones of the temple. I can feel every memory trapped here—two hundred years of echoes and ghosts. And I can use them.
"Everyone out!" I command. "NOW!"
Seris doesn't question. She starts herding villagers toward the exit. Kade disarms Isla and kicks her toward her father.
"We're leaving," he announces. "And you're not following."
I pour more power into the spell. The temple responds—walls shift, passages close, new barriers rise between us and Maelis.
"No!" Maelis screams. "You can't—"
"I just did." My voice echoes with power that wasn't there before. "This temple was built to protect knowledge. Now it's going to protect me. You want what's in my head? Come back in another lifetime."
The floor between us splits open. Maelis and his soldiers are cut off, trapped on the far side.
Kade scoops me up. "Time to go!"
We run.
The villagers pour out of the temple entrance. Seris counts heads, making sure everyone made it. Behind us, the Temple of Echoes finally gives in to centuries of decay and collapses with a thunderous roar.
We make it out just as the last wall falls.
I collapse in the grass outside, gasping for air. My curse mark still glows, but it's different now—stable, controlled. Part of me instead of consuming me.
"Is everyone okay?" I manage.
"Define okay," Seris says, but she's grinning. "We just fought a corrupt councilor and collapsed an ancient temple. I'd say we're doing pretty well for a Tuesday."
Despite everything, I laugh. It comes out half sob, but it's real.
Kade kneels beside me, checking me over with worried eyes. "The memories—can you handle them?"
I take inventory. My head still aches, but the flood has stopped. Two lifetimes of knowledge sit in my mind—separate but accessible.
"I think so," I say. "It's like... like having two different books on the same shelf. I can read either one, but they don't mix."
Relief floods his face. "That's the best we could hope for."
"Hate to interrupt the moment," Seris says, "but we have a problem."
She's staring at the collapsed temple. Specifically, at the rubble starting to shift.
"No way," I breathe. "The whole thing fell on them."
"Maelis is powerful," Kade says grimly. "It'll take more than rocks to—"
A hand bursts through the debris. Then another. Soldiers start climbing out, dusty but alive.
And in the center of them all, Maelis rises from the ruins like a vengeful ghost. His eyes lock on me with pure hatred.
"You think this is over?" His voice carries across the distance. "You think you've won?"
He raises both hands, and dark magic swirls around him. The air itself seems to scream.
"I told you, Lyria. I'm already inside your head. I planted something in that Veil—a seed of my consciousness. And now that you've unlocked both your lifetimes—" His smile is terrifying. "—I can finally take root."
Pain explodes behind my eyes.
I scream and clutch my head as something foreign invades my mind. Maelis's presence, worming its way through my memories like poison.
"Get out!" I try to push him away, but he's too strong.
"Never." His voice echoes inside my skull. "I've waited two hundred years for this. You're mine now, Lyria. Body, mind, and soul."
My vision blurs. I'm losing control. Losing myself.
The last thing I see before darkness takes me is Kade's face, twisted in horror and rage, as Maelis's presence floods through my mind.
And the last thing I hear is Maelis's laughter, triumphant and cold:
"Welcome home, my dear apprentice. Let's finish what we started."
Then everything goes black, and I'm no longer alone in my own head.