They started the next night.
Zara was the first to wake up gasping.
Sweat pouring down her face.
Hand gripping a blade that wasn't hers.
In her dream—She wasn't Zara the warlord.
She was something else.A sword maiden.Covered in blood.
Holding Lucius's body, screaming at the sky.
She didn't remember his name in the dream.
But she remembered the grief.
[Memory Echo: Zara – Unknown Timeline Detected]Affinity Thread: Sovarion's First RebellionEmotion Retained: Rage of LossEffect: Zara's strength increases when Lucius is near death.
The next night, it was Velda.
She didn't scream.Didn't move.
But she saw—
Lucius, younger. Softer. Not yet broken.
And her—
Twirling a spell in her hand, teasing him.He called her "Vee."
And she called him "idiot king."
Then fire.She was burning.
He held her.Promised he'd learn the spell she died trying to cast.
She remembered none of it.
And woke with tears down her neck.
[Memory Echo: Velda – Sealed Fragment Reached]Timeline Match: Sovarion's Scholar AgeEffect: Intelligence boost when defending Lucius from memory magic.
Lilith fought it.
She always did.
But even she couldn't stop what came.
In her dream?
She wore white wings again.
And Sovarion kissed her on a balcony made of stars.
She wasn't the betrayer in that life.
She was the one he trusted most.
But when she opened the door—
He was already gone.
And her wings turned black.
Just like now.
[Memory Echo: Lilith – Forbidden Thread Reactivated]Connection: Divine Soulbond (Fallen State)Bonus: Her flames can now resist divine punishment once per arc.
And then, finally—Claire.
Her dream was the softest.
But somehow, the worst.
She wasn't a fighter.Not a priestess.Just a girl who brought Sovarion food while he read in the library alone.
He smiled at her.
She sat beside him every day.
And one night, in the rain, he said:
"I don't think anyone will remember me when I'm gone."
And she answered:
"Then I'll remember you twice as hard."
When she woke?
She was sobbing.
Hard.
Because that girl—
That version of her—
Had never been kissed back.
[System Alert: Bond Synchronization – Cross-Timeline Recognition Now Active]All four girls have begun to remember fragments of who they were to Sovarion… even if Lucius doesn't remember them yet.
Lucius stood outside the tent.
He felt it.
Their pain.
Their memories.
Their truths.
And now he knew—
The girl he lost may have been first.
But she was never the only one.