I fell in love with you in my new life

POV - Emilia

La noche no se sentía como cualquier otra.

Todo estaba quieto, pero no calmado.

Era el tipo de silencio que se establece justo antes de que algo se rompa.

La tierra contuvo la respiración. El viento retrocedió. 

El Árbol Hypnos... Solo observaba.

Estábamos allí, en el santuario olvidado. Grisel terminó los antiguos cánticos. Las palabras, apenas un susurro, resonaron en nuestros huesos más que en nuestros oídos.

El círculo ritual brillaba con una tenue luz azul ceniza.

Yo estaba a su lado, alerta. 

Lista para saltar si algo salía mal.

En el centro, Luahn.

Sentado.

Sus ojos cerrados, una expresión tranquila... y sin embargo, cargado de algo más. Con anhelo.

"¿Estás listo?" Pregunté en voz baja.

No respondió con palabras. Solo asintió.

Y puso ambas manos sobre la piedra de afinidad.

La energía Yin respondió.

Lo sentí. Grisel también.

Un pulso.

Luego otro.

Como si algo latente en su interior comenzara a expandirse, a abrir los ojos por primera vez.

La piedra de afinidad brilló con más fuerza.

Líneas de luz azul recorrieron los brazos de Luahn como venas místicas.

No era agresivo. No era salvaje.

Era... él.

"¡Lo está haciendo!", susurré con el corazón.

"La energía lo reconoce", murmuró Grisel, sin dejar de recitar.

La barrera del círculo comenzó a elevarse suavemente. Era un fenómeno raro, una señal de que el alma del usuario se estaba sintonizando con la energía elemental.

El cabello de Luahn flotó brevemente, como acariciado por el aire.

Su respiración era profunda. Constante.

La piedra latía con los latidos de su corazón.

Y entonces... algo cambió.

Un nuevo pulso.

Más fuerte.

Más profundo.

La luz azul comenzó a teñirse de oro.

El aire se volvió pesado. Caliente. Inestable.

Sentí un escalofrío. Grisel también se tensó.

"¿Qué es eso...?"

"...No puede ser", dije, con los ojos muy abiertos.

¿Es Yang? ¿Yang también está despertando?

Luahn empezó a temblar.

Sus manos aferraban la piedra con fuerza. Le castañeteaban los dientes.

El azul y el dorado empezaron a chocar dentro del círculo, como ríos que intentaban fluir en direcciones opuestas.

"¡Para!", grité.

"¡No puedo! ¡La corriente está viva! ¡Se alimenta sola!".

"¡LUAAHN!",

gritó.

No como un niño.

Como si algo más... algo más antiguo, más grande, se estuviera rompiendo en su interior.

Las marcas azules de su piel brillaban... pero eran empujadas por líneas doradas que las quemaban desde dentro.

"¡El Yin y el Yang no pueden coexistir en el mismo canal!", gritó Grisel.

"¡Su cuerpo va a colapsar!"

Rompí el círculo.

No me importó.

Corrí hacia él.

El calor me quemó la piel, pero seguí adelante.

"¡LUAAHN! ¡Escúchame! ¡Detente! ¡Tu cuerpo no puede soportar esto!"

"¡NO TE ACERQUES MÁS!" gritó de repente.

Su voz no era la suya.

Era más profunda. Más profunda.

Como si mil voces hablaran a través de su garganta.

"¡Nos está protegiendo!" dijo Grisel. "¡No quiere hacernos daño!"

Yo ya estaba llorando.

"¡No importa, idiota! ¡No mueras por nosotros!"

Y entonces sucedió.

El cuerpo de Luahn se iluminó por completo.

Como si todo su ser se hubiera convertido en una bola de luz.

La piedra de afinidad explotó.

Reaccioné instintivamente.

Extendí ambos brazos, generando un escudo de energía Yang frente a mí.

Y le lancé otro a Grisel, envolviéndola.

"¡PROTÉGETE!"

La explosión fue brutal.

No solo luz. No solo sonido.

Era alma. Era maná puro. Era esencia.

El mundo se volvió blanco y solo pude cerrar los ojos por reflejo.

Mi escudo se rompió.

El impacto me arrojó contra la pared.

Me quedé sin aire.

No podía oír. No podía sentir.

Solo podía pensar:

«Luahn. Luahn. Luahn. Luahn. Luahn. Luahn. Luahn. Luahn. Luahn. Luahn».

Me arrastré.

Grisel estaba medio inconsciente mientras murmuraba palabras llenas de dolor, protegida por lo que quedaba de mi escudo.

"Luahn, no me dejes... por favor...

No me abandones..."

Tras decir esas palabras, su cuerpo no pudo más y cayó inconsciente.

Yo... tampoco podía aferrarme al mío, solo podía seguir arrastrándome, mi mente enfocada solo en eso.

Me acerqué a él.

Su cuerpo yacía allí, inmóvil, y la desesperación se apoderó de mí.

Mi brazo se estiró. 

"Solo un poco más.

Solo... un poco..."

Y entonces oí pasos.

Lentos.

Firmes.

Eran los demás... o tal vez no.

"...Ayuda", logré susurrar.

Y todo... se desvaneció.

Oscuridad.

*

POV – Luahn

No podía sentir mi cuerpo.

Solo una luz.

Cálida. Densa.

Como si flotara en un sueño más profundo que todos los sueños.

Pero no era oscuridad lo que me rodeaba.

Era... claridad.

Como si el mundo estuviera hecho de suaves nubes que brillaban desde dentro.

Entonces apareció ella.

Ella.

Dievas.

Vestida de blanco y dorado, con su cabello rubio cayendo como ríos de sol sobre sus hombros, caminaba descalza por el espacio vacío, como si caminara sobre aguas invisibles.

Todavía no sonreía.

Me miraba. Eso era todo.

Pero esa mirada era más cálida que cualquier otra cosa.

"Nos volvemos a encontrar", dijo en voz baja.

"Tú...", susurré. 

"Siempre estoy a tu lado".

She took another step.

I couldn't move, but I didn't need to.

I listened to her with my soul.

"This time... you're closer to me than ever. You're between two worlds. Neither dead nor awake. You're... remembering."

"Remembering..."

She raised her hand.

And with a delicate gesture, she touched my forehead with her fingertips.

And everything came back.

All at once.

Like a giant wave sweeping everything away.

Lissette.

Her bell-like laughter. Her obsession with okonomiyaki. Her jokes.

Yuri.

Her voice singing to me on feverish nights. The way she cried silently in the kitchen.

Mia, the little girl I protected since her cat died.

Kana, her mother, who welcomed us as if we had always been family.

And that girl I still can't remember exactly who she is.

Reserved. Unexpectedly important. With those intense green eyes... and that smile that looked so much like Emilia's.

The classes.

The walks.

The cold in winter.

The taste of bread from the supermarket.

The loneliness.

Everything.

I was William.

And at the same time... I was still Luahn.

I collapsed to my knees.

Not physically. But in my soul.

"What... what am I now?" I whispered.

"A memory with legs? A life that replaced another?"

Dievas knelt in front of me.

"Listen to me, Luahn.

You didn't replace anyone.

You didn't take the place of a dead child.

You weren't born by stealing an existence.

You are you. You always were."

"But... what about William? Didn't he die?"

"No."

"But... I felt it. I died at some point."

"Your body, yes. But your soul didn't disappear.

Because your purpose... wasn't over yet."

"...So... I didn't forget them because they were part of my soul?"

"Exactly."

"And I still love them... even though they don't exist here?"

"Because love needs neither time nor space; it is part of the creation of time."

I felt the tears.

Not physical ones.

But real ones.

"I don't want to forget them..."

"You won't."

"I don't want to stop being me either..."

She finally smiled at me.

"And who told you that you have to stop being you?"

"I have two names..."

"But only one essence. And that, Luahn... is unique."

I fell silent.

She held out her hand. A galaxy spun gently on her palm.

Inside, two small lights shone.

One blue. The other gold.

"This is also you."

"Yin and Yang?"

"They are not enemies. They are just opposites that don't yet know how to dance together within you. But they will. When you learn to listen to them."

"I can't control them..."

"Who said you had to do that now? You are growing up.

And your memories... will grow with you."

"What do you mean?"

She looked at me tenderly.

"You don't have all your memories yet. They will come back, little by little.

Like the seasons. Like the sunrise.

You don't need to rush to understand.

Just... live."

I sat on the floor of that dimension without a floor.

"So... I have a purpose?"

"Since before you were born. Since my soul dreamed of you."

"You dreamed of me?"

She nodded.

"Thousands of years ago, I dreamed of someone I didn't know.

A child with eyes full of questions.

A shy laugh. A strength I didn't know I had.

I dreamed of you before you existed."

I put my hand on my chest.

"So... it was always me?

It doesn't matter if my name is William or Luahn...

Was I always the same?"

She came closer and pressed her forehead against mine.

"Always.

The same child.

The same heart.

The same light.

The same promise."

I closed my eyes.

And for the first time... I felt whole.

Not divided.

Not broken.

One.

"And now?" I asked.

"Now... wake up."

"And you... will you still be here?"

She caressed my cheek.

"Always.

I am part of you, as you are part of this world, of my world, mine.

But something is still missing.

Someone else..."

"Someone else?"

"...You still don't remember, do you?"

I shook my head.

"Then... keep growing.

When the time comes, you'll remember."

"Did she... know me before, too?"

Dievas smiled sweetly.

An ancient sadness lingered in her eyes.

"More than you can imagine."

And then, her light enveloped me.

And with it, I fell again.

Not into darkness.

But into my body.

Into my world.

Into myself.

*

POV – Olivia

First, there was the sound.

A sharp, deep crack that resonated not only in the air, but also in my chest, my ribs, the marrow of my bones. As if the world itself had held its breath and then, suddenly, exhaled with fury.

I stopped with the hot infusion still in my hands. The bowl fell to the floor and broke, spilling tea over the stones of the hearth.

It wasn't an accident. 

It was... something else.

My heart raced. A sharp, sudden pain pierced my chest like an invisible needle.

"Luahn..." I murmured, already feeling it.

I didn't need to see him to know.

He was at the center of that energy.

I ran out of the house, leaving the door wide open.

Other neighbors were already outside, looking up at the sky, murmuring theories.

An old woman pointed to the west.

A man shouted that it must be a mystical channel rupture.

A young woman held her child to her chest, frightened.

"Where did that come from?"

"From the sacred forest!"

"Was it an attack?"

"Someone investigate it!"

"Is it the Tree? What's happening?"

But I wasn't listening.

I couldn't.

My mind had only one name repeating like a drum:

'Luahn. Luahn. Luahn.'

I ran faster than my body should have been able to. The roots of the forest hit my legs, but I didn't stop. Sweat ran down my forehead, my lungs burned.

And then I arrived.

It was like entering a broken dream.

The clearing was devastated. Part of the forgotten sanctuary had collapsed.

Rocks were cracked, trees bent by an impossible force, the ground marked with ancient symbols... and the air... the air smelled of pure manna overflowing, of danger.

And then I saw it.

Three bodies.

"NO...!"

My voice broke in my throat.

I rushed toward them, not looking at anyone else.

"LUAAAHN!"

My son lay in the center of the circle, covered in dust, blood in his mouth, his face pale, his chest barely moving.

To his right, Grisel, her leg bent at a strange angle, her tunic torn.

To his left, Emilia, also unconscious, with bleeding cuts on her arms.

"NO, NO, NO... PLEASE!"

I fell to my knees beside him and hugged him without thinking. His body was warm, but not feverish. It was an internal warmth, magical, dangerous.

Melhe arrived seconds later, and when she saw Grisel, she let out a scream I had never heard from her mouth before.

She knelt beside her with trembling hands.

"Grisel! My girl! Wake up, please..."

Fortz came running, stopping short when he saw Emilia.

"Emilia!"

His face changed. From stone... to fear.

He fell to the ground and took her in his arms.

She was breathing. Barely.

More people gathered around. Some of the sages of the Tree. Instructors from the academy. Members of the lesser council. They all stared at the circle in disbelief.

And then they saw it.

Luahn's body... began to glow.

First it was a soft light from her chest. Then a vibration that spread across her back.

And then they emerged.

Wolf ears.

White like the color of her hair, like mine, palpable, but made of light.

They rose above her head, floating with an almost sacred grace.

A tail, also white, emerged behind him, swaying slowly in the air.

A murmur ran through the crowd.

"Is he... awakening?"

"Yang...?"

"But he couldn't channel Yang..."

"He's a half-breed! That shouldn't be possible!"

"Silence!" I shouted, hugging Luahn tighter.

The murmurs died down.

"That doesn't matter," I said, looking at them all. "What matters is that he's alive!"

But even amid the amazement... something else was happening.

The energy Luahn was emitting wasn't just Yang.

There was also Yin energy.

It was both.

Disorganized, yes. Unstable. But present.

And then, as if something in him sensed that we had already seen him, the light began to fade.

The ears disappeared like stardust.

The tail dissolved into silver threads.

And the glow waned, leaving only the soft sound of his weak breathing.

But the energy... was still there.

"I don't understand..." murmured one of the sages.

"This... could break the mystical classification structure..."

"Shut up, all of you!" roared Fortz.

Silence fell immediately.

I turned to him, still kneeling.

"Do you know what this is?" I asked.

He looked at me with eyes reddened by rage and concern.

"No. But this... changes the rules. Luahn... is no longer just a child."

"He never was," I replied softly.

Melhe, who was still holding Grisel, looked up.

"All three must be taken to the temple. This is bigger than it seems. The Tree... is awakening with them."

I stroked Luahn's face.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly.

A grimace of pain.

But also... of life.

"You're here, my child..." I whispered. "You're taking your first steps... and I'll be with you. No matter what happens."

And deep in my chest...

I knew that the world would never be the same again.