The ink flowed like water from Mira's pen as memories, long buried beneath the dust of time, poured back into her mind.
She was no longer in 2025.
She was a young woman again—dressed in a flowing gown of deep emerald silk, standing in the grand halls of a sprawling manor bathed in candlelight.
And there he was.
Elias.
Her brother.
His eyes were sharp, cold like shards of winter ice.
They stood face to face, but the warmth between them was gone, replaced by something dark and dangerous.
"You don't understand," Elias said, voice low but fierce. "Power like this—it's meant to be seized, controlled. Not wasted on dreams or love."
Mira's almond eyes flashed. "You would risk everything for power? Even if it means destroying us?"
He laughed, bitter and hollow.
"The past is weak, Mira. The future belongs to those who take it."
She remembered how their rivalry grew—how jealousy and ambition twisted their bond until it broke.
She remembered the secret rituals Elias performed late at night in the manor's library, chanting words that made the candles flicker and the air shimmer.
And she remembered the day the library collapsed.
Not an accident.
Elias had tried to bend fate itself, but the magic backfired—taking Mira's life and trapping Alaric within the book instead.
The pain of betrayal pierced her soul anew.
But now, armed with knowledge and a burning resolve, Mira was ready.
She would face Elias once more.
Not as the frightened girl of the past, but as the woman of the present—stronger, wiser, and unwilling to let history repeat itself.