For the rest of the period, Kai didn't hear a word the teacher said.
His pencil hovered above his notebook, unmoving. Equations were scrawled across the board, but his mind kept circling back to one question, over and over:
How does she remember?
He kept stealing glances at the girl in front of him—Lyra. The name hadn't been spoken yet, but he knew it was hers. He could feel it in his bones. That name had once tasted like a prayer on his tongue.
She didn't speak to him again.
Didn't turn.
Didn't react when he shifted in his seat or leaned forward.
But her words lingered between them like static in the air:
Then maybe you'll remember the promise.
What promise?
Had he made one?
The dream from that morning flickered in his mind—her lying broken in the mud, the look in her eyes as she reached for him. The pain. The sorrow. The whisper.
Find me.
Was that the promise?
The bell rang, jolting Kai back to the present. Chairs scraped the floor. Students rushed out in a blur of chatter and motion. Lyra stood slowly, gathering her books with practiced calm.
Kai hesitated.
Then stood too.
He followed her out of the classroom and into the hall, keeping a few steps behind. She moved like she knew the layout of the school already, even though it was her first day too. Her posture was elegant. Confident. Like a shadow of someone royal.
Just as she turned a corner, she suddenly stopped.
Kai nearly ran into her.
"You're following me," she said plainly.
He swallowed hard. "Yeah. I… sorry. I just…"
Her gaze met his. It wasn't cold. But it was piercing.
"I know what you're going to ask. No, I don't know why we remember. But I know we're not the only ones."
He blinked. "What do you mean?"
She looked around to make sure no one was listening, then leaned in closer. "There are others. Pieces of the past are waking up. I started remembering three weeks ago. You?"
"Two weeks," Kai replied, voice low. "It started with dreams."
Lyra nodded slowly. "It always starts with dreams."
He watched her carefully. "So what now? Do we talk about it? Pretend it never happened? Wait for more dreams?"
Lyra's expression flickered with something unreadable—fear, maybe. Or guilt.
"There's something I have to tell you," she said. "But not here. Meet me after school. Roof of the south building."
Then, as if the conversation never happened, she turned and walked away.
Kai stood alone in the hallway, staring after her.
His hand clenched at his side.
He didn't know what he expected from this new life.
But it hadn't been this.
**********
Lyra sat at lunch with her cousin and a few classmates who tried to include her in their gossip. She nodded and smiled where appropriate, but her thoughts were miles away.
Kai remembered.
Not everything—not yet—but enough. Enough for her to hope, and that was dangerous.
Hope had gotten her killed once before.
In their past life, she had been Princess Elenya of Virellia, heir to a crumbling kingdom. And he had been her sworn protector—an orphan raised by the Blade Monastery, trained to kill and die for the royal family.
They weren't meant to fall in love.
They weren't supposed to run away together.
But they did.
And it cost them everything.
I was naïve, she thought, picking at her lunch. I believed we could escape fate.
Now they had another chance. But second chances came with strings. The world didn't offer redemption for free.
What worried her most wasn't the memories, or the feelings rekindling in Kai's eyes.
It was that someone else might remember too.
Someone who had wanted them dead.
********
After the final bell rang, Kai didn't hesitate. He cut through the hall, took the stairs two at a time, and climbed the last narrow ladder to the roof.
It was quiet.
Wind tugged gently at his uniform. The city skyline stretched in the distance, hazy and golden in the late afternoon sun.
And there she was.
Standing at the edge, staring out like a sentinel.
Lyra turned when she heard his footsteps.
"I didn't think you'd come so quickly," she said.
"I almost ran here," Kai replied.
A ghost of a smile touched her lips.
For a moment, there was silence. The wind. The hum of life below them. And the ache of memories too large to fit in their small, adolescent bodies.
"You said there were others," Kai said. "People who remember."
Lyra nodded. "I don't know who yet. But last week, someone slipped a note into my locker."
She pulled a folded slip of paper from her bag and handed it to him.
It was old-fashioned parchment. On it, in neat black ink, was a single line:
The cycle begins anew. Watch the shadows. Not all who return are allies.
Kai's fingers tightened around the paper. "You think it's from someone we knew?"
"I think it's from someone who's been through this more than once," Lyra replied. "Someone who remembers everything."
He looked up sharply. "You mean this might not be the first time we've been reborn?"
She met his gaze solemnly. "What if this isn't our second chance, Kai?"
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"What if it's our last?"
*********
The moon hung full and pale in the sky by the time Lyra returned home. Her aunt greeted her warmly, but Lyra barely heard the words. She shut her door, locked it, and pulled out the notebook hidden beneath the floorboard.
Inside, she'd been recording her dreams, her memories, the names that returned to her.
Elenya Virellia.
Kairos Rendan.
The Night of Betrayal.
The Crescent Pact.
She ran her fingers over the last phrase.
The Crescent Pact had been the final spell—an ancient vow made in blood and light that was supposed to protect her people. Instead, it had triggered the curse.
That was when reincarnation had begun.
A soul for a soul.
Over and over again.
Until…
Until what?
Until they got it right?
Until one of them broke?
She didn't know.
But something was different this time.
Kai was different. He hadn't remembered this much so early before.
And her powers—while dormant—were starting to stir.
Lyra closed the notebook and placed it under her pillow.
This time, she thought, I won't lose him.
This time, I won't let them kill us.
************
Meanwhile, across the city, in a room lit only by the soft glow of computer screens, a figure watched grainy surveillance footage of the school rooftop.
The camera zoomed in on Kai and Lyra, standing side by side.
A gloved hand reached forward and paused the video.
A deep voice murmured to the empty room:
"So… the princess and her knight return."
The screen flickered to black.