The memory was potent, lingering in the back of her mind like a siren song. Lira found herself drawn to the fragment, each night reaching for it as though it could reveal answers to the questions she hadn't known she'd been asking.
When she touched the crystal, the familiar disorientation took over, pulling her back through time. The world around began to blur, until she was longer in her study, but standing amidst the golden glow of candlelight and the heady scent of roses.
The ballroom unfolded around her like a portrait. Dark wood paneling gleamed beneath the flicker of thousand candles. Men and women in elaborate, glittering masks moved in fluid patterns, their laughter soft but edged with tension, as though each of them harbored secrets too dangerous to speak. The air was thick with intrigue and Lira felt a thrill she hadn't known in years - a thrill of being seen, of hiding in plain sight.
And then she felt it.
His gaze, piercing and cold and, yet alive with something unnameable. Lira looked up, and across the room, she saw him. His mask covered only half his face, leaving his strong jaw and mouth visible, set in a line of intent. His eyes - dark as a storm - clouded sea - pinned her with a look so intense that she could feel it as a pressure against her skin.
Lira could hardly breathe. Though she knew this was a memory, it felt so immediate, so palpable, that she could sense her heart beating faster, as if Aeron's gaze had found her not just across the room, but across centuries. She took a step back, momentarily breaking the spell, only to find that he was still watching her, his lips curving into a slight smile.
Against her better jugdement, she took a step forward, and then another, drawn though her own feet were no longer in her control. She had never interfered in a memory before - it was forbidden for an archivist to do so - but there was something irresistible about him, an unspoken promise in his eyes that she couldn't ignore.
As she neared him, she could feel the weight of his presence intesifying, his gaze burning into her with a strange, almost desperate hunger. When she was close enough, he reached out a gloved hand and took hers, his touch as cold as it was thrilling.
"Do you know who I am?," He Murmured, his was a low, velvet whisper.
Lira felt a shiver pass through her. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Her mind fought against the tide of emotions that rose within her, as though she was drowning in his memory, losing herself to it.
"You are.....Aeron," She finally managed, her voice trembling.
The faintest glint of surprise flickered in his gaze, and his grip on her hand tightened. "Aeron Gray, " He said softly a bittersweet smile playing on his lips. "You remember. "
Lira's heart thundered, though she didn't understand why. This was only her memory, she reminded herself, a fleeting fragment of someone else's life, yet it felt unbearably intimate. As if Aeron himself had been waiting for her, as if he'd always known she'd come.
But even as she told herself that, she felt an inexplicable pull, as though a part of her had known him long before she'd ever touched the crystal, as if this was only the first of many meetings.
Suddenly, the ballroom dimmed, the figures around them fading to shadows, leaving her alone with Aeron in a space that felt removed from time. He looked at her with an intensity that bordered on obsession, his thumb brushing over her hand in slow, deliberate strokes.
"I've waited for you, " He whispered. "You are the one who can bring me back. "
A chill rippled down her spine, and Lira wrenched her handfreee, breaking the contact. The world snapped back into focus, the ballroom bustling once again, but Aeron's gaze followed her, unyielding.
Before she could process what had happened, the memory faded, leaving her alone in her study, the dim light casting long shadows around her.
She pressed her hand on her chest, her pulse racing as she tried to calm herself. But the memory of his voice, the weight of his gaze, lingered, as if he were still there, watching her from the depths of past. And for the first time, Lira wondered if she was in danger, not just from the memory, but from herself - frm the inexplicable connections she felt to the man who had been dead for centuries.
And though she knew it was madness, she could feel it - a hunger gnawing at her, an obsession pulsed in her veins, calling her back to Aeron. She shivered knowing that she would return to his memory again, and that each time, she would lose a little more of herself to him.