Selene's breath came in shallow gasps as the world around her settled—or rather, reformed into a past she had no memory of, yet her soul recognized.
The Orion standing before her was different. Not just in his clothing but in his presence. The guarded, cautious man she had known in the present was absent. This Orion stood tall with an air of determination, his silver eyes sharp with purpose. His cloak bore the sigil of the Order, though she couldn't remember what that meant.
But most striking of all—he knew her.
"Selene?" Orion's voice held a quiet urgency, a mix of recognition and disbelief.
She tried to steady herself, but her legs felt unsteady, as if she were balancing on the very edge of time itself. "Orion…?"
The moment his name left her lips, something in him changed. His expression flickered, as if caught between relief and dread. "How did you get here?"
She wanted to answer, but her mind was still trying to process everything. "I—I don't know." Her fingers clenched into fists. "I stepped through the Rift, and then I was here. But this isn't real, is it? This is the past."
Orion studied her carefully, his gaze shifting toward the sky—an unnatural deep indigo, streaked with silver veins of light. "If you're here, that means…" He exhaled sharply, his jaw tightening.
"It's breaking," he murmured, almost to himself.
Selene frowned. "What's breaking?"
Before he could answer, a powerful pulse of energy surged through the air, sending a chill down her spine. Orion immediately turned toward the Rift.
It was unstable.
The swirling mass of darkness before them pulsed erratically, its edges warping, flickering between existence and oblivion. A sound—deep and unearthly—echoed from within.
Selene staggered back. "That's… that's the same energy from the clock tower."
Orion didn't look at her. His entire focus remained on the Rift, his hands subtly shifting into a defensive stance. "You need to leave," he said, voice edged with urgency.
Selene bristled. "Excuse me?"
"You shouldn't be here," Orion said, turning toward her. "This moment—this memory—it's not stable. And if you stay too long, you won't just witness the past." His eyes darkened. "You'll become part of it."
A shiver ran through her. "You're saying I could get stuck here?"
"Or worse," Orion said grimly.
Selene swallowed hard. A part of her wanted to obey—to step back, to find her way out before she was trapped in a time that wasn't hers.
But another part of her—the one that had been searching for answers, for missing pieces of herself—refused to leave.
She looked at Orion. The way he held himself, the weight in his gaze…
She had been here before.
She had lost him here before.
"Tell me what happened," she said. "What did I forget?"
Orion hesitated. He cast another wary glance at the Rift before finally saying, "You didn't forget." His voice was quiet, almost pained. "Your memories were taken."
The words hit her like a blow.
"Taken?" she whispered. "By who?"
Before Orion could answer, the Rift convulsed. The force of it knocked them both backward, and a deep, guttural growl resonated from its depths.
Selene barely had time to react before something emerged.
A figure—cloaked in shifting shadows—stepped through the Rift's trembling barrier. It was tall, its form shifting unnaturally, its presence sending a chill through the air.
Orion immediately moved in front of her. "Stay back," he ordered.
The shadow figure tilted its head, as if studying them. And then—it spoke.
"You are too late."
The voice sent a violent tremor through Selene's entire being. It wasn't a sound, not truly—it was an echo, a vibration that rippled through reality itself.
Orion didn't flinch. "She doesn't belong to you."
The figure chuckled—a hollow, unsettling sound. "She always has."
Selene's blood ran cold.
Orion's entire body tensed, and in the next instant, he attacked.
A burst of silver energy erupted from his palm, slamming toward the shadowed entity. But the creature merely raised a hand, absorbing the force as if it were nothing.
Selene barely had time to react before the entity's gaze snapped to her.
"Time bends for you, Selene. But it cannot protect you forever."
A violent force wrapped around her, pulling her toward the Rift.
She gasped, struggling against the unseen grip. The edges of her vision blurred, time distorting around her.
Orion shouted something, but the sound was drowned out as the world fractured—
And then—
Darkness.
Selene awoke with a gasp.
The world was back—the Hollow Archive, the dim lantern light, the scent of aged parchment. She was lying on the wooden floor, her heart hammering.
Cassius was beside her. "Selene! Hey—are you—"
She pushed herself up, her head spinning. "I—I was there." Her voice shook. "I saw him. The past Orion. The Rift was—"
Her breath hitched. "Something pulled me back."
Orion—the present Orion—was standing nearby, his face unreadable. "You triggered something," he said. "The Rift reacted to you."
Selene gripped the edge of the bookshelf, trying to steady herself. "I remember more now. Not everything, but… Orion, you said my memories were taken. Who did it? Why?"
Orion hesitated for only a fraction of a second.
Then, quietly, he said, "The Order."
Selene's stomach dropped. "The same Order you were part of?"
A muscle in Orion's jaw tightened. "Not were," he murmured. "Still am."
The air turned heavy.
Cassius stiffened. "You're still working for the people who did this to her?" His voice was dangerously low.
Orion's expression didn't waver. "It's not that simple."
Selene's pulse pounded in her ears. Everything was unraveling too fast. Her memories were returning in fractured pieces, the Rift was destabilizing, and now—this.
"Then make it simple," she said, her voice unsteady. "Tell me the truth."
Orion exhaled slowly. "The Order bound your memories to time itself," he said. "They erased you from history. But whatever they did—it's coming undone."
Selene swallowed hard. "Then I have to find out why."
Orion nodded, his gaze steady. "Then we start with the one place the Order doesn't want you to go."
Cassius crossed his arms. "And where's that?"
Orion met Selene's eyes. "The Moonlit Citadel."