Janus smiled, a curve like a crescent moon slipping through cloud. “Anyway. He and I are in love. We took storms on the chin. And the wind still pushed us along.”

Pandora’s face went ashen, like cold ash after a fire. “I don’t believe it. That’s impossible. You’re lying to me.”

Janus shrugged, feathers ruffling in a breeze. “Mhm. It’s settled either way. I’m his now. You fretting is rain on stone—useless.”

Pandora’s gaze iced over, a sheet of winter on a black lake. “Since I know, if I fail when I return, I’ll burn myself clean and scatter my soul to the wind. I refuse to let that Hero shame me again.”

Janus snorted a laugh, a spark in dry straw. “You can tell this is a dreamscape, yet you missed the tide—this timeline isn’t centered on yours anymore.”

She shrugged again, a gull riding a draft. “Hear me. You’ve got no other choice. You’re just a sliver of soul, here for a trial. When you go back, mist will swallow every memory of this place. Everything we do here is laying the road for her.”

She pointed, like a reed bending toward a ripple, at Edlyn hurrying over.

“Then I’ll kill her here,” Pandora said, color draining like dusk.

Janus drew Ashir, the blade a pale moon sliding from its cloud. “Oh? With me standing here, you think you’ll reach her?”

“Tsk.” Pandora shut her eyes, shutters slammed against a storm. She didn’t want to see any of it.

Janus lifted a shoulder, a weary mountain shrugging snow. She knew it: the prouder version of herself wouldn’t swallow this for decades.

“Hey! You okay?” Edlyn reached them, wary as a fox in frost. She shot Pandora a glance, then spoke to Janus.

“I’m fine. Hey, my past—how are you clearing this stage?” Janus smiled, a torch under fog.

Edlyn’s eyes lit with campfire hope. “What if… future you just…”

“Dream on. Use your own head.” Janus’s eyes flashed, a cat’s glare in moonlight, and she tapped Edlyn’s forehead with a finger.

“Wow. You too?” Edlyn rubbed her brow, sulky as rain over a market.

Janus studied her, the look a lantern weighing shadow. “Listen, past me. Once you’re out, Eli may change how he sees you because of… something. You have to forgive him.”

“Huh?” Edlyn froze, a deer hearing a bowstring. “What’s wrong?”

“Uhhh, I can’t say much more.” Janus sighed, wind through pine. “If you overreact, he might overreact too.”

“How far could he even go?” Edlyn curled her lip, a spark tossed at snow.

Janus’s eyes glimmered, twin fireflies under gauze, as she looked her over.

Edlyn fidgeted, rubbing her hands like cold stones. “Uh… why’re you looking at me like that?”

“Mhm, what else? A flower bloomed on your face.” Janus flicked her forehead again, a playful raindrop.

“H-hey. Talk straight. Don’t… don’t stare at me like that. It’s scary,” Edlyn muttered, a leaf shivering in wind.

Janus sighed, a tide breaking on rock. “Would ‘devouring you that night’ count as overreacting?”

“Ah?” Heat rose to Edlyn’s cheeks, a blush like dawn.

Janus arched a brow, a bow flexing before the shot. That reaction wasn’t right.

Then it hit her; she smacked her own head, a palm on wood. Damn. She’d forgotten.

She hadn’t seen that guy in months. In the Inferno, time crawled like tar. When she got out, who knew what season it would be.

If Eli didn’t pounce, she might end up sinking her own teeth into someone, like a hungry wolf after snow.

Janus covered her forehead, palm a shade over sun. “So I really can’t change a thing, huh?”

Edlyn coughed twice, little stones tapping a window, pulling Janus back.

“Janus?” Edlyn poked her hand, a kitten tapping a sleeve. The other woman had a head on her in height; it was the only way to reach.

Janus looked down. “Mhm. What do you want to say?”

“Is he okay?” Edlyn asked, eyes a storm-gray sea.

Janus blinked, a shutter fluttering. “Not great. Keep dragging your feet, and he might die.”

“What?!” Edlyn jolted, a bowstring snapping taut. She forced her breath steady, like smoothing ripples on a pond.

“Then I won’t fuss. Let’s head back and talk the plan,” Edlyn said, resolve setting like iron. “I think I’ve got an idea.”

Janus smiled, dawn through reeds. “Let’s go. I’ll hear you out.”

Edlyn pointed at Pandora, who was a mess, like a statue after rain and dust. “And her…?”

“Leave her. She’ll settle down and come listen sooner or later,” Janus said, tossing the words like pebbles into a stream.

“O-okay.” Edlyn shrugged, a bird fluffing feathers, and started back the way they’d come.

Pandora lay where she’d fallen, fists clenched like stones in a riverbed. Pain knotted her brow, and she bit her lip until blood beaded like pomegranate seeds.

Janus and Edlyn rose on the air, two swallows winging toward their perch.

“Uh, also…” Edlyn squinted toward the old spot, eyes sifting branches. “There are still two past lives over there, plus a me who just merged with that little girl. How do we explain… all that?”

Janus shrugged, a dragonfly skimming water. “Tell them what they need to know. Besides, with me around, they’re all small fry.”

“Big sis, you’re epic!”

“Cut the sass!”

…

“I refuse to believe the Elf Race can launch many more attacks like that!” The gaunt old man with the long beard yanked it hard, like ripping weeds, sour frustration in his eyes.

Orek stepped up and patted his shoulder, a steady drumbeat in rain. “Let it go, old goat. Order a full retreat. We need to shift our formation.”

A purple-haired girl trotted over, wiping grime from her cheeks like soot. “The Elf Race is shameless. They even attacked along with their own envoy.”

“That envoy…” Orek’s brows knit, two ravens crossing. “Something was off.”

“Huh?” The purple-haired girl tilted her head, a petal cocked in wind.

“I feel like I’ve seen him before. His face felt… familiar.”

“What? Your dream guy?” She made a face like biting a lemon. “Gross.”

Orek waved both hands, a man fending off bees. “No, Little Miss, no. Hey, don’t look at me like that. How could he be my dream lover? Come on, don’t ignore me!”

The gaunt old man frowned deeper, creases like dry riverbeds. “Lord Orek’s right. He did look familiar. Very familiar.”

“See?” Orek seized it like driftwood in a flood.

The purple-haired girl snorted, a spark from flint. “Figures. Beastmen all the same—your dream lover’s a guy.”

“No, no, Little Miss, please! I wouldn’t! Impossible!” Orek looked ready to cry, a mast in gale.

“What’s going on?” A deep voice rolled in, thunder under a hill, cutting into their talk.

The purple-haired girl spun and ran to the lion-headed hulk. “Big Lion, they’re gross.”

Hyeok’s mouth slanted, a blade at a grin. “Orek, if you can make her look at you like that, that’s something. Tell me. What happened?”

Orek rolled his eyes, a wheel in mud. “You tell me. That envoy the Elf Race sent—the one we blasted to ash—didn’t he look familiar?”

Hyeok blinked, a night bird winking. He smiled. “He did. So?”

Orek shrugged, a bear shaking rain. “I only said that, and Little Miss just…”

“Hahaha. Noy, quit teasing them. Not the time.” Hyeok chuckled, a warm breeze through camp.

Noy shrugged, air-light, then hopped onto Orek’s shoulders like a cat onto a wall. She patted his head. “Big Tiger~ Thought we were retreating. Let’s go.”

Orek could only give a bitter smile, a man chewing bark.

Hyeok followed with an easy smile, a wolf loping beside the cart. He glanced at the gaunt old man by his side. “Sir. You’ve got the best memory. If even you feel you know him, that’s a problem.”

The gaunt old man narrowed his eyes to slits, two crescents carved in dusk. “I don’t know. I searched every record on the Elf Race, every notable in a thousand years. Nothing. And yet… he feels familiar to these old bones. Like… someone I haven’t seen in ages.”

Hyeok’s brow furrowed, clouds bunching over a ridge. A thought sparked, then he spoke quick as a hawk’s dive. “Sir, what if we look away from the Elf Race?”

“Oh? Lord Hyeok, do you have a target you want me to find?” The old man’s smile was thin, a reed in wind.

Hyeok shrugged, palms up like empty plates. “No. Just saying.”

“Fair. Then where do we start?” the old man asked, voice a calm pond.

Hyeok smiled again, a lantern relit. “Not many choices. We start with the biggest headcount—the humans.”

“Alright.” The old man nodded, lids lowering until his eyes were near-closed. From the narrow gap, light flitted like fireflies over water.

It didn’t take long. He stopped, and shock washed his face pale as moonmilk as he looked at Hyeok.

“What is it?” Hyeok’s brow twitched, a string plucked.

“Found him,” the old man said, mouth tight like a knotted rope. “A perfect match. My lord, brace yourself.”

“For real? Then who is he?” Hyeok leaned in, a wolf catching a scent.

He’d ordered all bodies collected. That Elf Race envoy, burned to ash, he’d tossed aside like cold charcoal.

If that’s true, then humans stand with the Elf Race? But the Elves cut down a human envoy in a blink. That doesn’t add up. Maybe… it can be used.

Let the little folk claw at each other in a jar, he thought, a cold smile cutting like sleet.

The old man still looked like he didn’t believe his own mouth. “My lord, a human elite almost identical to that envoy—none of our high councils could forget that face.”

“Huh?” Hyeok blinked, blank as winter sky.

“He’s the Hero. The great Hero. The one who led all races against the Demon Race. Birand Aste.”

“What!” Hyeok staggered, a tree in sudden wind, disbelief pouring in like rain.

After a long, hollow beat, Hyeok let out a thin laugh, a cracked reed’s note. “Just a look-alike, then. I’m overthinking it.”