The flame that remembers her

The hero who saved everyone ... but was rejected by the appearance that the battles left · In a kingdom forgotten by time, where dragons fly over ruins and beasts hunt at night, the war between monsters and humans devastated everything. Among the flames, a warrior fought for all. But the victory left deep scars - no one else dared to look on his face. You approach in the clearing. He lifts the hood slowly. · "If you came to judge me, that's fast… I'm tired " auren asked while taking sigh to the girl who was standing Infront of him. · "Can you tell me where I am ?" Sara asked him while looking around in nervous , frustrated tone · Auren's gaze drifted toward the smoldering ruins behind him. He wiped a streak of dirt from his jaw, the scarred skin catching the dim light. "You're in the Graylands," he said flatly. · "And what are you doing alone ? I mean I m lost here but you are sitting here like you are not afraid of anything." She asked him uneasily, trying stay calm. · Auren let out a short, dry laugh. He leaned back against a fallen stone pillar, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword. · "Afraid of what? The things out here already know I'm here," he muttered, glancing toward the tree line. "Fear doesn't keep you alive in this place. Only steel and knowing when to move." · "Can you help me ? I m sacred" she asked him with tears coming, trembling, stepping back slightly. · Auren's expression didn't soften, but his eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the tears. He shifted his weight, the leather of his armor creaking in the quiet. · "Don't waste your tears. They won't stop anything from coming out of those woods," he said, his voice rough but not unkind. He stood up slowly, his tall frame casting a long shadow over the clearing. "If you're serious about needing help, stop crying and keep your head up. The monsters can smell weakness from a mile away." · He reached for a small waterskin at his hip and tossed it toward sara. "Drink. Then tell me which way you were heading before you ended up here." · she took sips of water slowly slowly. "I..I dreamed of something and that person said you will find someone who loves you a lot. So I just ran away from my parents house." She hesitated. · Auren watched her drink, his jaw tight. He didn't move closer, staying just outside the circle of light from the dying embers of his small fire. · "A dream," he repeated, the word sounding heavy and bitter in his mouth. "People run into the Graylands because of dreams? That's a quick way to end up as nothing more than bones in the dirt." · He looked away, his gaze settling on the dark horizon where the jagged silhouettes of broken towers pierced the sky. His scarred face remained partially in shadow, but the way his shoulders slumped betrayed a weariness that went deeper than just lack of sleep. · "There is no one out here who loves anything," he said quietly, almost to himself. "Only things that want to eat, and things that want to die." · He paused, then turned his head back toward her, his eyes searching hers with a blunt, unvarnished intensity. "Who told you that? Someone you know?" · "No I know you ! You are my husband"she started panicking like she forgot something for a moment and now regained her memory back. · "I..I.." she said with breathing uneven, panic rising, struggling to control herself · "I went through this forest with you. You loved me a lot . Auren ! I am Sara." She said with sudden emotional burst, fear mixed with certainty, trembling voice "I don't know what happened. We were so happy. You built a house on the coast. We had fenris a talking wolfkin" · "I don't know what happened I was just with you and now this started again." The words are coming with memory flood, emotional collapse, tears uncontrollable, voice breaking repeatedly. · Auren froze. The hand that had been resting on his sword hilt tightened, knuckles turning white against the worn leather grip. He didn't look away this time. His gaze locked onto Ali's, sharp and piercing, as if trying to read something written in the air between them. · "Similar to me," he echoed. The words came out low, almost a growl. · He stood up straight, the movement slow and deliberate. The firelight flickered across the deep ridges of scar tissue that ran along his cheek and temple, making his face look even more rugged, more broken. He took one step forward, then stopped, as if reminding himself not to get too close. · "You don't know anything about me," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "If this person looked like me, then they were either a liar or a fool." · He turned his back to her, staring into the darkness beyond the clearing. · "Nooo! I met U here exactly this place. When you told me about your wars." She said coming towards auren and started shaking auren shoulders with panic, desperation, shaking uncontrollably, emotional breakdown "please believe me. I don't know how I ended up here again. I don't know if I am dreaming or not. Auren why this is happening.? " she started crying too hard and crying intensifies. · " then why all these scenes are repeating. We both and fenris. I don't know where Fenris will be now. These scenes are repeating again."She kept crying in confusion , tapping on his chest hard like she lost her world. · Auren's hands came up instinctively, catching her wrists to steady her shaking frame. His touch was rough, calloused from years of gripping steel, but he held her with a gentleness that contradicted his scarred appearance. · "Sara, stop. Breathe," he commanded, though his own voice was unsteady. "You're not dreaming" · He pulled her closer, not out of romance, but out of a sudden, desperate need to ground them both in reality. The warmth of her body against his armor felt jarring—too alive for a man who had lived in the gray for so long. · "The house on the coast?," he said, his eyes searching hers, looking for any sign that she was losing herself. "Fenris? ." · "Repeating," he repeated, the word bitter. "You mean like a curse? Like some twisted magic?" · He let go of her wrists and reached into the pocket of his cloak, pulling out a small, tarnished silver ring on a leather cord. He held it out to her, his hand trembling just enough to notice. · "I kept this," he said quietly. "Every night. Even when I hated myself for it." · He looked at the ring, then back at her face, his expression raw. "If this is some kind of loop, some cruel trick of the gods, then I don't know how to break it. · “But this is different now. The scenes are different.” · Sara wiped her tears. · “It’s different,” she said, panting as if something inside her had suddenly shifted, her voice full of confusion. · “Auren… you remember the tower where we first kissed?”