The cold steel of Selene’s blade rested lightly against Alastor’s throat, its edge unflinching, a single heartbeat away from death. Her violet eyes burned with intensity, but beneath the lethal precision, Alastor caught something unexpected—a flicker of exhaustion, a hint of sorrow. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but it was there.

She didn’t move, didn’t strike. Instead, the silence between them stretched, heavy with the weight of unspoken truths.

“You won’t kill me,” Alastor said softly, keeping his breath steady against the blade. “Not because you can’t—because you don’t want to.”

Selene’s lips curled into a bitter smile, though there was no warmth in it. “You always did think you knew me.”

“I do,” Alastor pressed, his gaze locked on hers. “And I know you’re just as tired as I am.”

For a moment, something cracked behind her sharp gaze—a flicker of pain, a glimpse of the woman hidden beneath the assassin’s mask. Then, with a quiet sigh, she stepped back, lowering the blade. The sharp tension between them eased, but it didn’t disappear entirely. There was too much blood between them—too many lifetimes’ worth.

Alastor took a slow breath, rubbing the faint line her blade had left against his throat. “How long have you known?” he asked, his voice low.

Selene’s expression darkened, her fingers curling tightly around the hilt of her weapon as if it were the only thing grounding her. “Longer than I’d care to admit,” she whispered. “I thought I was going mad at first. The memories… they came in pieces. Flashes of faces I didn’t recognize, places I’d never been. Death after death, life after life. Every time I thought I had a choice, the loop dragged me right back.”

Her voice was quiet, but the weight of countless lifetimes bled through every word. “I didn’t want to believe it. I told myself it was just a trick of the mind—a glitch in the system, maybe. But then I saw you. And everything clicked.”

Alastor’s heart tightened in his chest. The Pyramid’s curse hadn’t just trapped him—it had trapped Selene, too. All along, she had been walking the same endless path, living and dying in the loop, over and over again.

“And you didn’t tell me,” Alastor said, bitterness creeping into his voice. “Why?”

Selene’s eyes hardened, though the pain in them never fully disappeared. “Because it wouldn’t have mattered. We were both still caught in the Pyramid’s game, whether we remembered or not.” She sheathed her blade with a sharp click and crossed her arms, her expression somewhere between regret and resolve. “And because I thought if I killed you this time, maybe—just maybe—it would finally break the cycle.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Alastor let her words hang in the air for a moment, absorbing the enormity of what she had just admitted. Selene had carried the burden of her memories alone, silently hoping that ending him might somehow free them both from the prison of the loop. But it hadn’t worked. Nothing had worked. They were still here, still trapped.

“We’ve been doing this for lifetimes,” Alastor muttered, frustration building in his chest. “And every time we think we have a way out, the Pyramid pulls us right back in.”

Selene gave him a grim nod. “The only thing I’ve learned from all these deaths is that the Pyramid doesn’t just own our lives. It owns our souls.”

Her words chilled Alastor more than he cared to admit. He had felt it, too—that creeping sense that the Pyramid wasn’t just controlling time, but consuming everything that made them who they were, piece by piece, with every death. He could feel the echoes of those lost lives within him, fragments of identities that slipped further out of reach the more he tried to grasp them.

Selene stepped closer, her voice softer now, but no less dangerous. “We can’t keep doing this, Alastor. Not alone. The loop is too strong, and every time we die, it tightens its grip. If we want any chance of breaking free, we have to stop fighting each other and start working together.”

Alastor eyed her warily. “You really think we can trust each other after everything that’s happened?”

Selene gave him a tired smile, her violet eyes heavy with the weight of endless deaths. “No. But what choice do we have?”

Alastor’s jaw tightened. He hated how right she was. They were both trapped in the same game, prisoners of the same curse, bound by the same fate. The only way out was to unravel the loop at its source—and to do that, they would need each other.

“You could’ve killed me,” Alastor said quietly, “but you didn’t.”

Selene shrugged, though the pain in her expression was unmistakable. “Maybe I’m just as tired of dying as you are.”

For the first time in what felt like lifetimes, Alastor allowed himself a small, grim smile. “So... what now?”

Selene took a step closer, her gaze steady and unwavering. “Now, we find a way to break this damn loop. For good.”

She reached out her hand—not as an assassin offering a truce, but as a fellow prisoner looking for a way out. After a brief hesitation, Alastor grasped her hand, the flicker of a shared understanding passing between them.

“We’ll probably end up dead,” he muttered.

Selene’s smile turned sharp, a familiar glint of mischief returning to her eyes. “That’s kind of our thing, isn’t it?”

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Alastor felt something close to hope. It was fragile, tentative, but it was there—born from the knowledge that he wasn’t alone in this fight. They had both been trapped for far too long, but together, they just might stand a chance at breaking free.

“We’re both prisoners,” Selene whispered, her voice low and filled with the weight of endless lifetimes.

Alastor gave a nod, the scarab pulsing faintly under his sleeve as the world shifted around them once more. "Then let’s burn the prison down."