(Crow's Perspective)
The rain drummed steadily against the apartment window, a relentless cadence that mirrored the ache in my chest. The pendant in my hand—a small, tarnished thing—gleamed faintly in the dim light of the room. It was worthless by most standards, but to me, it was a tether to the man who had unknowingly reshaped my existence over three lifetimes.
In those lives, I had played many roles: adversary, shadow, destroyer. But never the one role I longed for—his equal.
The first time I met Lìyuè was in a life where my choices weren't my own. My family had sold me when I was a boy, their desperation trading my freedom for wealth and status. The system, a malevolent force bound to my very soul, turned me into a puppet. It honed my powers over lightning and metal, breaking my spirit until I became the perfect weapon.
I was sixteen the first time the system sent me to him. Lìyuè stood in a blaze of courage, his twelve-year-old frame lit with the fire of defiance. While others fled from me, he ran toward the danger, shouting orders to protect his family. His bravery wasn't the reckless kind—it was purposeful, calculated.
And it shattered me.
I wasn't supposed to hesitate. The system screamed in my head, demanding I kill him. But his sharp, determined eyes stopped me. I wanted to tell him to run, to get far away from me, but all I could do was obey the commands tearing at my mind.
In the end, Lìyuè fell—not by my hands but by the overwhelming chaos around him. I was forced to retreat, hollow and numb, as the system punished me for my weakness. When I awoke, I thought that life was over. I was wrong.
The second life was no kinder.
When I opened my eyes, reborn into the same twisted cycle, I knew what was coming. I tried to stay away from him, to manipulate events so he wouldn't cross my path. But fate—or maybe the system itself—ensured we collided again.
This time, I saw him grow. He was older, more cunning, but still carried the same relentless spirit that drew me in. I wanted to warn him, to shield him from the disasters I knew were coming, but every time I tried, the system twisted my actions. I became his enemy, the villain he had to overcome.
It hurt more than I could admit, watching him fight against me with the same fire I admired. And when he fell again, I swore I felt my soul crack.
By the third life, I was desperate. I knew the pattern: I would meet him, I would fail him, and the cycle would reset. I grew reckless, fighting against the system with every ounce of strength I had left. But no matter what I tried, it ended the same way—with him gone and me drowning in guilt.
The system was a cruel master. It didn't care about my anguish or the way it eroded what was left of my humanity. All it cared about was that I played my part.
Until this life.
The day I broke free of the system was the day I finally began to hope.
It wasn't easy. Severing its hold on me took years of planning, countless sacrifices, and pain that made death seem preferable. But the moment I felt its grip shatter, I knew it was worth it.
For the first time, I was free. Free to make my own choices. Free to protect him without being forced to betray him. Free to love him the way I always had, even if he never remembered me.
The rain outside grew heavier, casting the room in a veil of silver. My fingers tightened around the pendant as memories from the past lives flooded my mind. Lìyuè's courage, his loyalty, the way he always smiled even in the face of despair.
He didn't remember me. He couldn't. But I remembered everything.
I remembered how he sacrificed himself to save his siblings in the first life, even as the world crumbled around him. How he held onto his principles in the second life, refusing to compromise even when it cost him everything. And in the third life… how he looked at me with such betrayal when he thought I had turned on him.
I swore then, as I do now, that I would never let that happen again.
But loving Lìyuè wasn't just about protecting him. It was about helping him thrive in a world that sought to tear him apart. And as much as I wanted to stay by his side, I couldn't afford to reveal everything. Not yet.
He wasn't ready to trust me, and I didn't blame him. After all, what had I been to him in past lives but a shadow, a villain in his story?
But this life would be different.
This time, I would be the one to shield him from the storm.
As the night wore on, I stayed by the window, watching the rain. Somewhere out there, Lìyuè was preparing for the apocalypse, unaware of the forces aligning against him. He didn't know about the mercenaries already being compromised, or the hidden dangers lurking in the shadows.
But I did.
And I would do whatever it took to ensure that this time, he and his family survived.
Because for all the lives I'd lived, this was the one that mattered most.