Chapter Seven: The Hunter's Arrival
The next morning, Ravencroft changed.
A stranger arrived in town—tall, dressed in dark clothes, and riding a black horse. His coat was lined with silver, and a sword hung at his side. He wore gloves, but Lena noticed something strange about his hands.
They were marked with old symbols. Symbols just like the ones on the door in the castle.
He went to the inn and said only one thing to the keeper:
"I'm here for the creature in the woods."
Word spread quickly through the village: a hunter had come.
That evening, Lena ran to the castle.
Damien was waiting, standing in the garden behind the gates. He didn't look surprised when she told him about the hunter.
"I felt him," Damien said. "He's not just hunting me. He's hunting you now, too."
"Why me?" Lena asked, her heart pounding.
Damien looked at her carefully. "Because you're not just a girl anymore. The magic that brought you back… it's waking something inside you."
"What does that mean?"
"It means," Damien said, "you're not completely human now. The moment you remembered me, part of your old soul came back. And that power is something hunters fear."
That night, Lena couldn't sleep again. She stood at her window, staring at the red moon still hanging in the sky.
Then she saw him—the hunter—standing in the street below her house, looking up.
He smiled. Not kindly.
And then he whispered a name, though no one was there to hear it but her:
"Elira."
Lena gasped.
That wasn't her name.
Was it?
Chapter Eight: Lena's Power
The name the hunter whispered echoed in Lena's mind all night.
Elira.She didn't know it—but her heart remembered it.
She stood in the castle library the next morning, running her fingers over old books. Damien watched her from the doorway, silent.
"Tell me the truth," Lena said, not looking at him."Who is Elira?"
Damien stepped forward slowly.
"That was your name… before this life."
Lena turned to him, eyes wide. "So I've lived before?"
He nodded.
"More than once. You were always reborn. But in every life, you found your way back to me."
Lena felt dizzy. Her body was shaking, but inside her, something stirred. A warmth in her chest. A golden light in her mind.
And then—it happened.
The candles in the room flickered, though there was no wind. The pages of the books began to turn on their own. A mirror cracked without being touched.
Damien rushed to her side.
"It's beginning," he whispered.
"What is?" Lena asked, frightened.
"Your soul is waking up. The real you. Elira."
And in that moment, Lena saw a memory—a real one.
Her standing in a white dress, arms glowing with light. Damien standing beside her. And a sword—burning red—held between them.
She wasn't just someone he loved.
She had once fought beside him.
Chapter Nine: The Promise
Later that night, Damien and Lena sat near the castle window, looking out at the moon.
The hunter was still in the village, asking questions. Waiting. Watching.
"He won't stop," Damien said. "Not until one of us is dead."
"Then we fight him," Lena said.
But Damien shook his head.
"You're not ready. If you use your power too soon, it could destroy you."
Lena looked down at her hands. "Then teach me. Help me remember everything."
Damien hesitated.
"If I help you remember it all, you'll also remember… how you died."
Lena went quiet.
"I don't care," she finally said. "If I'm Elira… then I want to be her again. I want to stand with you. No more hiding."
Damien looked at her with so much love it almost hurt.
He took her hand and whispered,
"Then I promise, Elira—or Lena—I will protect you. Until the end."
They leaned closer. And for the first time since her soul began to wake, they kissed.
But far away, in the shadows of the trees, the hunter watched.
He gripped the sword on his back.
"Let them fall in love again," he said softly. "This time, I'll finish it."