IRIS
I stood in front of Bael, and his dark gaze penetrated me as if I were invisible. Slowly, almost ceremoniously, he raised his hand.
His fingers brushed my temple lightly before his whole palm rested against my forehead⦠cool as a shadow, but without any threat.
âDonât be afraid.â It whispered in my head, a male voice, rough but not dangerous. âI really mean well. Trust me⦠close your eyes.â
I stared at him, searching for a sign⦠and found it in his barely noticeable nod. His thoughts. His words. He was talking to me.
And so I obeyed.
Suddenly, the darkness behind my eyelids no longer felt like weakness. Instead, it felt like devotion.
Bael was very careful with my memories and would pause for a moment at any bad ones. He allowed me to portray the memories and then proceeded carefully each time.
I felt like I was rewinding my life like a movie, and on the first day it had brought back my memories all the way from now to the death of my parents. I remembered all the experiences that happened but were erased by my grandmother.
I remembered Candy Ferris, our neighbor, coming to my door to play with me and my grandmother chasing her away. At that time, I was very angry with her and my aura began to glow.
The shock when I saw that was so great that I fainted. And my grandmother used this to strengthen her magic and erase the experience.
I remembered that we had to move shortly after that, and when we came to Salem I had bad dreams on a regular basis. In these dreams I saw my uncles, the princes of darkness, or The Reapers as Ava called them.
They asked me where I was. How they could find me.
Though they tried slowly, never raising their voices⦠I never told them anything. Nor did I tell my grandparents anything at the time.
I just had a very bad feeling, and always felt empty when I woke up from a nightmare like that. And everything made sense now.
They had been looking for me since I was a kid, and Grandmother erased my memories so I wouldnât use my powers⦠and the Reapers wouldnât find me. The outbreak of my powers brought them to me immediately in that warehouse.
Grandma must have known that my memory loss had enabled me to use them. But she also knew about the bond that existed between me and my soulmate.
So she hoped heâd find me before my uncles did. That Avery would sense the danger I was in, and save me.
The first day of remembering had worn me down, until there was nothing left in me but this heavy fatigue. Each troubled memory felt like a knife cut to the soul, and I felt my strength leaving me.
Bael noticed it immediately; his gaze softened, worried. He broke off with a curt gesture before I completely collapsed.
Avery had been like a shadow at my side all this time, silent but alert. His eyes, normally so loving, were now full of unspoken concern.
It was not only concern that filled him; his gaze remained fixed on Bael. A glowing, penetrating gaze that ate deeper into his body with every breath.
Jealousy burned in his eyes like a poisonous fire, a barely restrained hatred that seemed to intoxicate the air between them. His pupils had narrowed into slits, as if he wanted to tear Bael apart with his gaze.
He crossed his arms so tightly in front of his chest that the tendons of his muscular forearms were visible under his skin. Every fiber of his body was tense, as if he were forcibly holding himself back.
When Bael finally released me, Avery gently placed a hand at the small of my back and led me away. His touch was firm, yet tender, as if he feared I might fall to pieces otherwise.
Once inside the room, the memories overwhelmed me like a flood. They assailed me, tearing open wounds that should have long since healed.
I clenched my eyes shut, fighting back the tears⦠but Avery was right there. He pulled me against him without a word, and I clung to him as if he was the only support in this swirling darkness.
His breath was warm against my temple, his arms a protective barrier around me. Every gentle touch of his fingers on my skin made the heaviness in my chest feel a little lighter.
And when he kissed me gently, first on my forehead, then on my quivering lips, it was as if he was lifting the weight off me bit by bit. I melted in his arms, feeling the connection between us deepen at that moment.
Not just a bond of magic, but something alive, something that made me breathe even though I expected to suffocate. Slowly, very slowly, I gave myself over to my fatigue.
His heartbeat under my cheek, his scent, the warmth of his bodyâthese became my anchor. And so I fell asleep, for the first time in ages not haunted by nightmares, but with a faint feeling that perhaps not everything was lost after all.
On the second day after breakfast, we all sat together in the living room. Bael knelt in front of me, and even in that position, he was taller than me.
He looked at Devas and nodded.
âIris⦠Bael wants you to know that if he realizes youâre unwell, heâll stop immediately. But in that last part, forcing the memories will also take a bit of a physical toll on you,â Devas said seriously.
âI donât like that!â Avery said, looking at me.
âHe has to do that⦠otherwise she canât release her power,â Devas added.
I put my hand into Averyâs and smiled at him to calm him down. Avery kissed my hand, his eyes fixed on me with fear.
Slowly, I released his fingers, turned to Bael, and nodded. His hands settled on my head, and then a black cloud enveloped us.
I closed my eyes, and the memories flooded back. Face after face emerged; blurred features became clear, names returned to me as if they had never been gone.
Streets, scents, laughter, tears⦠and then⦠them. My parents.
Suddenly he was thereâmy fatherâas if he were standing in front of me. His deep, warm voice, patiently showing me how to control my powers.
âMy Fire Child⦠why are you crying?â he asked gently.
âI will never be as good as you,â I replied, sobbing.
âYou are right⦠you will never be like me. Youâll be much better,â he replied.
His every word awakened something inside me, as if a thousand tiny sparks were igniting under my skin. Not painfully, no⦠It was as if I was growing stronger with every word, as if my whole body was filling up with a knowledge that had long been dormant inside me.
And his laughter⦠that laugh. Loud, carefree, as if the world only existed for him to bring joy.
When I did something wrong, he didnât laugh at meâhe laughed with me until I couldnât help myself either.
In those moments, he wasnât my teacher; he wasnât even a demon. He was simply my dad. The one who loved me so much that my heart nearly burst with happiness.
And then... my mother. Her gentle hands, holding me like I was the most precious thing in the world. The way she brushed the hair from my forehead and whispered softly, âYou are so much stronger than you think.â
The unconditional love she felt for me and my brother was so tangible that I could still feel it now... like sunlight on my skin.
These memories werenât just pictures in my head. They were feelings that flooded through me, as if every empty part of me was being charged, filled with something I had missed for years.
But it didnât burn like a wound; it burned like a fire that finally made me whole again.
Then... came the fear. Dark. Choking. But this was a different memory. One that I was not yet ready for.
âStop this now!â I heard Avery yell from afar.
When I opened my eyes, I saw themâmy glowing red pupilsâreflected in Baelâs black, impenetrable stare. Like two blood-red moons reflected in a nighttime ocean.
His iridescent black seemed to make them even brighter, as though they were burning in his depths.
And then it happened... my red mist, that scarlet haze of my power, mingled with his pitch-black fumes.
It was as if two storms were colliding, clawing into each other, fighting and yet merging. The air around us trembled, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
A rumble permeated the room, deep and powerful, like the thunder of a distant storm about to bury everything beneath it.
The vapors swirled around us, sometimes red like freshly spilled blood, sometimes black as the deepest darkness.
They twitched like living lightning bolts, racing through the air as if searching for an outburst.
I could feel my strength wrestling with hisânot in battle, but in a wild, almost animalistic connection.
And in the midst of this chaos, in this seething inferno of shadow and flame, our eyes remained locked.
His eyes, two impenetrable chasms, and mine, glowing like the embers of a lost fire.
For one single, endless moment, there was nothing else. Only us. Just this raging darkness between us.
And a final, deafening roar of the storm before the silence.
~Let her remember...let her remember everything~, I heard myself say.
My voice was deep and harsh, but not from a strangerâit was the voice from my dreams speaking through me.
Bael kept being pushed back by the fog swirling around us, but he held on with all his might.
His eyes closed, and with his full power he released my memories, flooding my brain like a tsunami.
My body struggled, and when I felt Bael want to pull back his hands, I grabbed his arms and held them tight.
He understood what I wanted and continued until I felt my body floating and all the magic lined up.
The power seemed like it was smothering me. Like it was tearing me apart. I heard myself scream, and after a few seconds everything went quiet.
It went through me like an explosionânot painful, but awakening.
Huge fireworks ignited in my head, storms of sparks that flooded every single cell of my body.
Red.
Not just red... scarlet, glowing red, the color of vapor, of blood, of power that had lain dormant in me for so long and now awakened with a single, all-consuming scream.
It was as if I was being torn from a thousand-year-old dream, and yet I was never really gone.
Every feeling, every memory, every hidden skill came back with such force that it took my breath away.
I remembered...~everything~.