Bound in the Shadows / TVD N.M

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The legends of the past often speak in whispers and riddles, but within their woven tales lie moments as enduring as the stars. The story of Alaric and Selene, their lives scattered across the ages, is one such tale. This is not the story of lovers bound by convention, or even fate, but of souls whose destinies twined not because of who they were, but because of what they were. They were each other's other half, pulled together through lifetimes by a bond forged not of circumstance, but of nature—a force neither could understand nor sever.

a Fateful Meeting

Alaric was a soldier, born into the strict honor of the knight's code, a life of duty, war, and valor. There was no room for softness in his world; his heart was guarded as fiercely as his blade. Yet, he found himself returning again and again to the same small village, drawn by the promise of rest, a place to soothe his weary soul. But each time he left, something nagged at him—a sense of incompletion, an unnamed yearning.

On one of his returns to that village, he saw her for the first time. Selene was a healer, a keeper of old knowledge and silent wisdom. She walked the world with a grace as soft as moonlight, her hands soothing the broken and her words mending hearts. From the moment she saw him, her soul stirred, as if recognizing a song from long ago. Their eyes met, and in that quiet glance, they understood a shared, ancient memory—one they could not name but instinctively felt.

The Knowing

Each interaction between them brought a strange, undeniable pull, a connection neither could explain. Alaric, who had known countless battlefields and had faced countless enemies, found himself unarmed against the force of Selene's presence. It was more than her beauty or her gentle heart; it was as if she mirrored a piece of himself he had long since lost.

Selene, too, felt it—a familiarity in his gaze, the way he carried himself as if he'd been beside her a hundred lifetimes before. As they talked, shared stolen moments, and wove themselves deeper into each other's lives, they found comfort in one another's presence. Yet, as they grew closer, an inexplicable pain lay hidden beneath their joy, a haunting sense of fragility, as if they were never meant to last.

One evening, beneath a sky thick with stars, Alaric finally voiced the question that had burned within him: "Have you ever felt as though your soul remembers something your mind does not? That we... have met before?"

Selene's answer was not in words but in the slight touch of her hand to his, and in that touch, he felt eons of loss, longing, and love.

The Soul Bond

As time passed, they began to understand the depth of their connection. They were soulmates, bound across lifetimes, born again and again, each time with the same need to find one another. They weren't bound by fate or gods, but by a force as eternal and inevitable as gravity. They were a part of each other, and whenever they met, no matter the life they led, they would feel the same pull.

And yet, for all their love, every life had ended the same way: parting, death, rebirth, and an endless search for the other. In one life, they had been rulers, separated by war. In another, a healer and a poet, both taken by sickness. Sometimes, they were enemies, forced into confrontation by forces beyond their control, only to recognize each other too late.

But here, in this lifetime, they had met with the awareness of what they were, the hope that maybe, if they could only understand, they could break free from the endless cycle of finding and losing one another.

The Struggle

Alaric feared losing her more than he feared any enemy, and he spent days and nights pouring over texts and relics, searching for some way to break the cycle. He sought out wisdom from sages and scholars, desperate to understand what bound them together and, perhaps, what could keep them from being torn apart once more.