The sky was dark with storm clouds, the air heavy with electricity. Mira stood at the ruins of the old manor—what had once been her home in 1820.
It was the place where everything began.
And where it would end.
She clutched the book tightly in her arms. The silver pen flickered with its final drops of glowing ink, pulsing like a dying heartbeat.
Then, from the shadows, Elias stepped into the clearing.
No longer just a man. Time coiled around him like smoke. His presence distorted the air, like the future itself bent beneath his will.
"You came alone?" he asked, a cruel smirk on his lips.
"I'm never alone," Mira said quietly.
As the wind rose, the book in her hands burst open—pages fluttering wildly. Blue light poured out, swirling upward, taking shape.
Alaric.
He emerged in full form beside her, eyes fierce, lips set in determination. The same Alaric from her dreams, her past, her soul—alive through the last of the magic.
Elias staggered back, fury flashing in his eyes.
"You brought him back?" he roared. "You'd destroy time for love?"
"No," Mira said, her voice calm. "I'd destroy you to protect it."
With that, she raised the pen—its tip glowing bright as starlight—and plunged it into the final page of the book. The ground trembled.
A storm of blue light exploded outward, wrapping around Elias like chains.
He screamed, reaching for her, for the power—but Alaric stepped between them.
"You already took everything," he said. "But you won't take her again."
The magic surged.
Elias let out a final, agonizing cry as the light consumed him—ripping his form into thousands of glowing fragments that scattered into the wind.
Silence fell.
The book dropped to the ground, its pages blank. The pen cracked in half, its power spent.
Alaric turned to Mira, smiling softly, sadly.
"You saved time," he whispered. "You saved me."
But Mira could already feel it—the fading warmth of his hand, the way the wind passed through him like smoke.
The ink was gone.
His time was over.
"No," she whispered, tears in her eyes. "Please… just a little more."
Alaric reached out and touched her cheek.
"Every lifetime, I'll find you again."
And with that, he vanished, like a whisper in the wind.
Mira stood alone, the broken pen in her hand.
But she smiled through her tears.
Because love didn't end.
It waited.