Morning came too soon.
Aelion had not slept when the palace bells rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then three times.
It was not an alarm.
It was the summons for all the nobles of Lunaris to gather.
Aelion stood on the balcony, the Moonveil flower still in his hand.
The flower should have withered by now.
Yet ever since he had returned from Evershade, it had not changed in the slightest.
It had not even lost a single drop of dew.
Aelion touched one of its petals.
“Don’t fall in love with a future that’s already been decided.”
The sentence still echoed in his mind.
He did not know who had written it.
He did not know whether the message had come from his future self.
And what troubled him most of all...
he did not know whether the future he had seen was truly the future.
Or merely a trap.
“Aelion.”
Lyra’s voice came from the balcony door.
Aelion turned.
Lyra stood there in simple clothes.
“You haven’t slept?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“I was thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
Aelion let out a quiet laugh.
“You’re always making fun of me.”
“Because you take everything too seriously.”
Lyra walked closer.
Then her eyes fell on the flower in Aelion’s hand.
“It’s still alive?”
“Yes.”
“Even after all these days?”
“Strange.”
Lyra touched a petal.
The flower immediately began to glow.
They were both startled.
A symbol appeared in the air.
A lunar circle.
Then the symbol shattered.
Aelion immediately pulled Lyra behind him.
“Don’t touch it again.”
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
The light vanished.
But before it disappeared completely, Aelion managed to see one word.
TODAY.
Today.
Aelion stared at the flower.
“Looks like something’s going to happen.”
Lyra gave him a faint smile.
“Good.”
Aelion looked at her.
“Good?”
“You promised you’d tell me something today.”
Aelion fell silent.
Lyra raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t tell me you forgot.”
“I didn’t.”
“So?”
Aelion smiled.
“After the meeting.”
Lyra nodded.
“All right.”
She walked away.
But before she left...
she turned around.
“Don’t take too long.”
Aelion smiled.
“I won’t.”
Lyra left.
Aelion looked at the flower again.
A small light appeared on one of its petals.
New writing took shape.
TODAY MUST NOT HAPPEN.
Aelion’s expression changed.
“What?”
The writing vanished.
But Aelion had already seen it.
Today...
should never have happened.
The Lunaris Council Chamber was packed with nobles.
The king sat on his throne.
Mages stood on either side.
Aelion entered with Lyra.
The king spoke at once.
“Sit.”
Aelion sat down.
A senior mage stepped forward.
“Your Majesty, we found something in Evershade Forest.”
Aelion raised his head.
“The fracture?”
“No.”
The mage unrolled a scroll.
A map appeared.
“There’s a region that isn’t recorded on any map.”
Aelion studied its coordinates.
His eyes narrowed.
“Impossible.”
“Why?”
“That should be the sea.”
The mage nodded.
“It is.”
The region of sea on the map turned into land.
Then it changed back into sea.
Then land again.
Aelion stood.
“This isn’t a geographic change.”
“No.”
“It’s a change in history.”
The king looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Aelion pointed at the map.
“That place is shifting between several versions of the past.”
One of the nobles asked:
“Is it dangerous?”
Aelion answered:
“If that region stabilizes...”
He stopped.
“...then something from history that should never have existed is trying to return.”
The council chamber fell silent.
The king asked:
“What kind of thing?”
Aelion remembered Eryndor’s words.
Something that had been erased from history.
“I don’t know yet.”
The king nodded.
“Then find out.”
Aelion was about to answer.
But suddenly...
DONG!
The entire room shook.
Everyone turned.
The royal clock began moving on its own.
Its hands spun rapidly.
Then stopped.
Aelion saw the date it displayed.
He froze.
Today.
The same date.
But a different year.
Three hundred years in the future.
Then the clock returned to normal.
The nobles began to panic.
Aelion did not move.
Lyra looked at him.
“Aelion?”
He answered quietly:
“This isn’t a malfunction.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a message.”
The meeting was suspended.
Aelion left the council chamber.
Lyra chased after him.
“You know something.”
Aelion kept walking.
“A little.”
“Since when?”
“Since Evershade.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Aelion stopped.
“Because I wasn’t sure yet.”
Lyra stood in front of him.
“You always say that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“You saw something in that tower.”
Aelion said nothing.
“Didn’t you?”
Aelion nodded.
Lyra stared at him.
“What?”
Aelion wanted to answer.
But a vision of the future appeared in his mind.
Lyra crying.
Himself standing alone.
Then...
Lyra looking at him without recognizing who he was.
Aelion closed his eyes.
“Something bad.”
Lyra waited.
“How bad?”
Aelion opened his eyes.
“Very bad.”
Lyra took his hand.
“Then don’t face it alone.”
Aelion looked at their joined hands.
“Lyra.”
“Yes?”
“If one day...”
He stopped.
“...I forget you.”
Lyra frowned.
“You won’t.”
“But what if it happens?”
“I’ll remember you.”
Aelion smiled.
“What if you forget too?”
Lyra fell silent.
Then she answered:
“If I forget...”
She looked into Aelion’s eyes.
“...make me remember again.”
Aelion’s chest tightened.
He almost told her everything.
Once again.
But the palace bells rang.
DONG!
Someone shouted from outside.
“Your Majesty!”
Aelion and Lyra turned.
A guard came running toward them.
“An emergency message!”
“What is it?”
“Outside the city walls...”
The guard gasped for breath.
“...there’s a kingdom.”
Aelion frowned.
“A kingdom?”
“Yes.”
“What kingdom?”
The guard swallowed.
“A kingdom that...”
He opened the scroll.
“...according to history, was destroyed a thousand years ago.”
All of Lunaris gathered on the city walls.
Aelion stood at the very front.
In the distance...
a kingdom stood.
Black walls.
Tall towers.
Red flags.
Hundreds of buildings.
Rows of soldiers.
Yet there was not a single record of that kingdom in modern history.
Lyra asked:
“Who are they?”
Aelion shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Then a flag billowed in the wind.
Aelion saw its emblem.
His eyes widened.
“Impossible.”
Lyra looked at him.
“What?”
Aelion answered:
“Vaelaris.”
His family crest.
But it was not the Vaelaris family crest used today.
This was an ancient version.
A version history claimed had gone extinct.
An envoy appeared before the gates of Lunaris.
He wore black armor.
Then he shouted:
“We’ve come to take back what belongs to us!”
The king stood beside Aelion.
“What do you want?”
The envoy pointed.
Straight at Aelion.
“We want...”
He paused.
“...Aelion Vaelaris.”
Everyone turned toward him.
Aelion frowned.
“Why me?”
The envoy smiled.
“Because according to our history...”
He raised his sword.
“...you are our last king.”
Aelion froze.
The night before...
Aelion had never become king.
Not even in his family’s bloodline had there ever been an Aelion who ruled.
Yet the kingdom before them claimed something impossible.
He had once been their king.
Aelion climbed down from the wall.
The king stopped him.
“Don’t.”
“I have to talk to them.”
“They want you.”
“Exactly.”
The king shook his head.
“We don’t know who they are yet.”
Aelion looked at the kingdom.
“I know one thing.”
“What?”
“They aren’t from our time.”
The king frowned.
“How do you know?”
Aelion pointed at their army.
“Look at their shadows.”
Everyone looked.
The distant soldiers had shadows...
that moved in the opposite direction from the sunlight.
The king fell silent.
Aelion said:
“They don’t exist in the same time as we do.”
Night fell.
The mysterious kingdom did not attack.
They only waited.
Aelion was in the research chamber with Lyra.
The Moonveil flower lay on the table.
They examined it for hours.
Lyra asked:
“If that kingdom came from the past, why did it appear now?”
Aelion answered:
“Because someone pulled it out.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Lyra looked at the flower.
“And why did this flower warn you?”
Aelion shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“So we have a lot of things we don’t know.”
“True.”
Lyra smiled.
“At least you’re consistent.”
Aelion laughed.
Then...
he saw something.
The flower’s petals changed.
An image appeared above the table.
A man stood on a battlefield.
Aelion.
But he was far older.
He wore a crown.
A black sword was in his hand.
Thousands of soldiers stood behind him.
And in front of him...
Lyra.
But Lyra wore royal clothing.
She wore a crown as well.
Aelion stared at the image.
“That’s...”
Lyra moved closer.
“Us?”
Aelion nodded.
“Looks like it.”
Then the image changed.
Aelion dropped to his knees.
Lyra held his face.
Then...
Aelion drove the sword into his own chest.
Lyra screamed.
The image vanished.
Lyra covered her mouth.
Aelion did not move.
Several seconds passed.
“Was that the future?”
Lyra asked.
Aelion shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“If it wasn’t?”
“Then it was one possibility.”
Lyra stared at him.
“And you died.”
Aelion answered:
“Yes.”
Lyra lowered her head.
Then she said:
“I don’t like that possibility.”
Aelion smiled.
“Neither do I.”
Suddenly...
the Moonveil flower caught fire.
But it was not flame.
It was light.
White light filled the room.
A voice rang out.
“Aelion.”
Aelion immediately stood.
“Who are you?”
“Don’t go to that kingdom.”
Lyra stared at the flower.
“Who’s speaking?”
“Don’t trust them.”
Aelion frowned.
“Who are you?”
The voice fell silent.
Then it answered:
“I’m someone you once killed.”
The light vanished.
The room fell silent.
Lyra looked at Aelion.
“What does that mean?”
Aelion shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
But suddenly, he saw something on the floor.
A shadow.
Aelion’s shadow.
But the shadow...
did not follow his movements.
It turned toward Lyra.
Then it formed a word without making a sound.
RUN.
Aelion immediately pulled Lyra along.
“We’re leaving.”
“Why?”
“Now.”
They ran outside.
The moment the door opened...
the entire palace had changed.
The corridors, usually white, were now black.
The portraits of the kings had vanished.
The Vaelaris family statues had changed.
And the guards...
did not recognize them.
One guard raised his sword.
“Who are you?”
Aelion stopped.
“It’s me.”
The guard stared at him.
“Who?”
Aelion felt his blood run cold.
“I’m Aelion Vaelaris.”
The guard frowned.
“That name isn’t recorded.”
Lyra looked at Aelion.
“Aelion...”
She whispered.
Aelion looked down at his hands.
There had been no change.
He was still there.
And yet...
part of the world had already begun to forget him.
They ran toward the throne room.
The king and queen were gone.
The throne stood empty.
Behind it was a massive mural.
Aelion looked at it.
The mural depicted the history of Lunaris.
The first king.
The first war.
The construction of Moon Palace.
Then...
the section about Aelion.
Empty.
A blank white space with no image.
Lyra stepped closer.
“Why?”
Aelion did not answer.
He saw the date beneath the mural.
Today.
The same year.
But on the mural...
Aelion had never been born.
Lyra took hold of his arm.
“We have to leave.”
Aelion looked at her.
“Why do you still remember me?”
Lyra fell silent.
“I...”
She looked at Aelion’s face.
“I don’t know.”
Aelion touched her cheek.
“If you ever forget...”
Lyra cut him off.
“I won’t.”
“But if you do...”
“I won’t.”
Her tone was firm.
Aelion gave her a sad smile.
“All right.”
Then a voice came from behind them.
“You’re too late.”
Aelion turned around.
Eryndor stood in the middle of the throne room.
But this time...
his face looked much older.
“Why are you here?”
Eryndor looked at the empty mural.
“Because the erasure has begun.”
Aelion clenched his fists.
“Who did this?”
Eryndor answered:
“You did.”
Aelion fell silent.
“I did?”
“Another version of you.”
“How?”
Eryndor came closer.
“Every time you use your power to repair time...”
He pointed at the mural.
“...a small part of your existence is exchanged for reality’s stability.”
Aelion began to understand.
“So the more I repair time...”
“The less the world remembers you.”
Lyra looked at Eryndor.
“How long until everyone forgets?”
Eryndor was silent.
Aelion asked:
“How long?”
Eryndor finally answered:
“If you keep using magic the way you are now...”
He looked at Aelion.
“...thirty days.”
Lyra froze.
“Thirty days?”
Eryndor nodded.
“After that...”
He looked at Lyra.
“...even the person who loves your existence most won’t know who you are.”
Aelion looked at Lyra.
“Even her?”
Eryndor nodded.
“Even her.”
Lyra gripped Aelion’s hand.
“No.”
Aelion looked at her.
“We’ll find another way.”
Eryndor smiled sadly.
“That’s what you said before.”
Aelion frowned.
“You?”
Eryndor did not answer.
Then he looked at the Moonveil flower.
“It’s time.”
“For what?”
“To find out who is truly behind the Chronos Rift.”
Eryndor raised his hand.
A door of light appeared.
Beyond it was a black chamber.
And in the center of the chamber...
a throne.
Someone sat upon it.
Their face was hidden.
Yet Aelion immediately sensed the same aura as the creature behind the fracture.
Eryndor said:
“That person has been waiting for your birth for two hundred thirty-seven years.”
Aelion drew his sword.
“Who are you?”
The figure on the throne slowly stood.
Then the voice he had once heard from behind the fracture spoke again.
“I’m the reason you have to die.”
Aelion prepared to attack.
But the figure said something that made him stop.
“And I’m the one who will prove that Lyra never loved you.”
Lyra fell silent.
Aelion tightened his grip on his sword.
Moonlight filled the entire room.
And for the first time...
Aelion felt anger far stronger than fear.
He stepped forward.
“Then...”
His eyes turned bright blue.
“...you picked the wrong person to threaten.”
The figure laughed.
“Good.”
Black fractures appeared throughout the room.
“Let’s see how long you can hold on to something even time itself wants to erase.”
Then the door of light closed.
Eryndor vanished.
Lyra was still standing beside Aelion.
Aelion looked at her.
“Lyra.”
“Yes?”
“I never got to tell you what I wanted to say yesterday.”
Lyra smiled.
“I know.”
“What if I don’t have thirty days?”
Lyra held his hand.
“Then don’t wait until tomorrow.”
Aelion fell silent.
For the first time...
there were no excuses.
No war.
No meeting.
No future.
Just the two of them.
Aelion drew a breath.
Then he said:
“Lyra, I love you.”
Silence.
Lyra stared at him.
Her eyes glistened with tears.
But before she could answer...
the entire world suddenly turned white.
And a voice rang out from far away:
“Today never happened.”
Aelion opened his eyes.
He was standing on the balcony again.
The sun had just risen.
Lyra had not arrived yet.
The palace bells had not rung.
The meeting had not begun.
There was no foreign kingdom.
No Eryndor.
No conversation.
No confession.
Aelion looked at the Moonveil flower.
It was still in his hand.
But now, only one sentence remained.
TODAY MUST NOT HAPPEN.
Aelion looked up at the sky.
At last, he understood.
They were not merely facing the future.
Someone had just erased a day from their lives.
And what was even more terrifying...
Aelion still remembered it.
To be continued.