by R.E. Solcrest
Previously in Echoes of the Immortal Flame…
Aryan followed the strange call beneath the moonlight to a shadowed grove where something ancient stirred. A voice whispered his name—soft, familiar, haunting. It wasn't just the echo of his past. It was her flame. Her presence. But how? She shouldn't remember. She shouldn't exist like this… and yet, the moon bore witness to a truth far deeper than memory.
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The night deepened, cloaking the forest in a velvet hush. Mist coiled around the roots of the trees like silent serpents. Aryan stood still, the whisper of her name still trembling in his ears.
Lirael.
He hadn't spoken that name aloud in this life. Hadn't dared. Not even in thought. And yet… the grove responded to it. A lotus shimmered in the darkness, its pale petals edged with silver fire. Moonfire.
He stepped closer. The flame did not burn him.
It welcomed him.
Like it remembered.
His fingers hovered just above the blossom. And then he felt it—warmth. Not heat. Not fury. Just warmth. The kind he had once felt when she held his hand beneath the stars, whispering impossible dreams into the night.
> "You're not alone, Aryan."
He froze.
That voice. Not imagined. Not a memory.
Real.
The lotus flared, and the shadows around him pulled back. There, standing at the edge of light, was a girl.
Not a girl. Her.
She looked exactly as she had in that final moment—eyes like twin moons, lips trembling with unspoken truths. But there was no dagger in her hand. No betrayal in her gaze.
Only sorrow.
Only flame.
Aryan didn't breathe.
"Lirael?"
She tilted her head. "Do you remember the promise beneath the falling petals?"
His heart clenched.
The grove blurred.
How did she know? How could she remember something from a life even fate had tried to bury?
Unless…
> She was never just a girl.
She was tied to the Flame. To him.
Beyond lifetimes.
Before he could speak, she stepped back into the mist, fading like the last note of a forgotten song. The lotus dimmed.
But in his chest, the Flame Seed surged.
And for the first time since his return, Aryan felt something stronger than vengeance.
Hope.
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Author Note from R.E. Solcrest:
What if love never dies, even across lifetimes? Aryan's past begins to collide with the present—and the girl who once ended his world might just be the one to awaken it. What do you think is happening to Lirael? Let me know in the comments. And if you're enjoying the story, don't
forget to add it to your library. The flame is only just beginning to rise…