Chapter 112: Pure love

The city had finally fallen silent. The black flames were gone.

The destruction remained, but the immediate danger had passed. People were slowly returning to the streets, trying to help those who had been injured and repair whatever could still be repaired.

Rin should have been relieved. He should have been thinking about the Fallen God.

About the curse. About Kaan and the others. About the mysterious voice that had spoken inside his head.

Instead, he couldn’t stop thinking about Kaelith. About what he had said.

Why am I the only one cursed to remember you?

Why do you always forget? Why did you abandon me?

Rin didn’t understand any of it.

Those words belonged to a past he didn’t remember. To lives he had never lived. To timelines that, according to everything they had discovered, might no longer even exist.

Yet Kaelith remembered them. He was the only one carrying all of those memories. And Rin was beginning to understand how cruel that must have been.

He found Kaelith alone outside the city. Kaelith stood at the top of a small hill, looking toward the ruins.

His back was turned to Rin. The wind moved through his hair.

He looked calm. Too calm.

Rin stopped a few steps behind him.

"Kaelith."

Kaelith didn’t turn.

"I knew you would come."

Rin frowned.

"How?"

"I can always feel when you’re near."

Rin became quiet. He didn’t know how to respond to that. He stepped closer.

"You scared me."

Kaelith finally turned. His expression was tired.

"I know."

"You almost destroyed the city."

"I know."

"You could have killed everyone."

"I know."

Rin clenched his hands.

"Then why?"

Kaelith looked at him. For a long moment, he said nothing.

Then he asked quietly,

"Do you really want to know?"

Rin hesitated.

"Yes."

Kaelith looked away.

"Then you need to understand something first."

"What?"

"I wasn’t angry because of Lucien."

Rin’s expression changed.

"Then why?"

"Because of you."

Rin stared at him. Kaelith laughed softly, but there was no happiness in it.

"You always think everything is about what happened in this life."

"I don’t know what happened before this life."

"I know. That is exactly the problem."

Kaelith closed his eyes.

"You don’t remember."

Rin remained silent.

Kaelith continued.

"You don’t remember the first time I met you."

"I don’t know if I ever met you before."

"You did."

His answer was immediate.

"In more than one life."

Rin’s heart tightened. Kaelith opened his eyes.

"And that’s what I was trying to explain."

He looked directly at Rin.

"I don’t know which one you are."

Rin felt a chill. Kaelith continued.

"I remember you. I remember your eyes. I remember your voice. I remember your hands. I remember the way you used to say my name. I remember when you kiss me first time..."

His voice became quieter.

"But every time I try to put those memories together, they don’t fit."

Rin swallowed.

"Because they’re different lives."

"Yes."

"Different versions of me."

"Yes."

"Different times."

"Yes."

Rin looked down.

"And you remember all of them?"

Kaelith’s expression darkened.

"As much as I can."

Rin looked back at him.

"How?"

"I don’t know."

Kaelith’s voice cracked slightly.

"That’s the part that hurts the most."

He looked toward the distant mountains.

"I don’t know why I remember. I don’t know why you forget. I don’t know who erased those lives. I don’t know which memories belong to which world."

His hands slowly tightened.

"But I remember losing you."

Rin’s chest tightened.

"Every time?"

Kaelith nodded.

"Every time."

Silence settled between them. Rin didn’t know what to say.

Kaelith continued before he could.

"You think I’m angry because you don’t remember me."

Rin looked at him.

"I’m not."

Kaelith’s eyes were filled with something Rin had never seen in them before.

Pain. Raw, exhausted pain.

"I am angry because I remember loving you."

Rin froze.

Kaelith looked away.

"And I remember losing you."

His voice became quieter.

"But you wake up every time without knowing what I lost."

Rin felt his throat tighten.

"You don’t even know what happened in those lives."

"I know."

"You don’t know whether I was the same person."

"I know."

"You don’t know if I loved you in all of them."

Kaelith smiled bitterly.

"No."

Rin stared at him.

"Then how can you keep loving me?"

Kaelith looked at him as if the question itself hurt.

"Because I never needed to know."

Rin fell silent. Kaelith stepped closer.

"I don’t love you because of one memory."

His voice was steady now.

"I don’t love you because of one face. I don’t love you because of one name."

Rin’s eyes widened slightly.

"I don’t care which timeline you came from."

Kaelith placed a hand over his chest.

"I don’t care which world you were born in."

His voice trembled.

"I don’t care what your body looked like."

Rin stared at him. Kaelith continued.

"You could have been someone completely different. You could have had another face. Another voice. Another name."

He looked directly into Rin’s eyes.

"You could have been born as a man."

A pause.

"You could have been born as a woman."

Rin’s breath caught.

"I would still have loved you."

Kaelith’s voice became almost a whisper.

"Because it was never your body I fell in love with."

Rin couldn’t move.

"It was you."

Those two words seemed to carry the weight of countless lifetimes.

Kaelith continued.

"Every time I found you, something inside me recognized you. I didn’t need to understand it. I didn’t need your memories. I didn’t need proof. I simply knew."

Rin looked away.His eyes were beginning to burn.

"But I’m a man!"

"I know."

"And you..."

Kaelith waited. Rin struggled to finish the sentence.

"You’re still able to love me like this?"

Kaelith’s expression softened.

"I don’t care if you’re a man."

Rin looked at him.

"I don’t care if you’re a woman."

Kaelith’s voice was unwavering.

"I don’t care what body you have. I don’t care what world you come from. I don’t care what name you carry. Please understand...I love Rin."

He placed his hand against Rin’s chest.

"This."

Rin’s breathing became uneven.

"You."

Rin closed his eyes. He didn’t know why those words hurt so much.

Maybe because he had spent so long trying to understand who he was supposed to be.

Rin from Earth. Rin from a book...

He had been treating them as different people.

But Kaelith didn’t. To Kaelith, they were all Rin.

Different lives. Different bodies. Different circumstances. But the same person.

And that was why Kaelith had never stopped searching.

Rin whispered,

"But what if I’m not the Rin you remember?"

Kaelith answered immediately.

"Then I’ll love this Rin."

"What if I’m completely different?"

"I’ll learn you again."

"What if I never remember anything?"

"I’ll tell you."

Rin’s eyes filled with tears.

"What if I never become the person you lost?"

Kaelith’s expression broke.

"I don’t want you to become someone you aren’t."

Rin stared at him.

"I don’t want my memories back because I want the old you."

His voice trembled.

"I want them because I want to understand what happened to us."

He looked down.

"And because..."

He hesitated.

"Because I want to understand why you’re hurting so much."

Kaelith’s eyes closed. For several seconds, he couldn’t speak.

When he finally did, his voice was barely audible.

"That’s all I’ve ever wanted."

Rin looked at him.

"What?"

"For you to understand."

Kaelith took a slow breath.

"I never wanted you to remember because I wanted to control you. I wanted you to remember because..."

His voice broke.

"I was tired of being the only one carrying everything."

Rin’s heart ached. Kaelith looked toward the city.

"I remember things that nobody else does. I remember words that no longer exist. I remember versions of you that died without anyone knowing they existed."

Rin’s eyes widened. Kaelith’s expression became distant.

"Sometimes I don’t even know if those memories are real. But I remember them. And every time I lose you..."

He swallowed.

"I remember."

Rin whispered,

"That sounds lonely."

Kaelith smiled faintly.

"It is."

For the first time, Rin understood the meaning behind Kaelith’s obsession.

It wasn’t simply that Kaelith refused to let Rin go.

He had spent countless lives watching Rin disappear while everyone else forgot.

Everyone moved forward. Everyone started over. Everyone forgot. Except him.

He remained. Carrying memories that no one else could confirm. And then, somehow, Rin would appear again.

Alive. Different. Cold. Without knowing him.

And Kaelith would fall in love with him again. Every time.

Rin looked at him.

"Do you ever get tired?"

Kaelith laughed quietly.

"Yes."

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

Kaelith looked directly at him.

"Because even if I had to live a thousand more lives..."

He paused.

"I would still search for you."

Rin couldn’t speak. Kaelith’s eyes softened.

"And if I found you in another body?"

"I would love you."

"Another name?"

"I would love you."

"Another world?"

"I would love you."

"Another life?"

Kaelith smiled sadly.

"I would love you there too."

Rin’s tears finally fell. He quickly wiped them away.

"I still don’t understand."

"I know."

"I don’t remember any of those lives."

"I know."

"I don’t know which Rin you’re talking about when you say you remember me."

"I know."

Rin looked at him.

"But..."

His voice became quieter.

"I believe that you really love me."

Kaelith froze. Rin continued.

"I don’t know what happened between us. I don’t know whether I was the same person. But I believe you."

Kaelith stared at him. For a moment, it seemed as though he had forgotten how to breathe.

Then he looked away. His shoulders trembled slightly.

Rin had never seen him like that. Not as the Demon King. Not as the God of Calamities.

Not as the terrifying being who could destroy kingdoms.

Just Kaelith.

Someone who had been waiting for someone to believe him.

Rin stepped closer.

"I can’t promise I’ll remember."

Kaelith nodded.

"I know."

"I can’t promise I’ll become the Rin from your memories."

"I don’t want that."

Rin looked at him.

"You don’t?"

"No."

Kaelith smiled faintly.

"I want you to become whoever you are supposed to be."

He looked at Rin.

"And I’ll love you anyway."

Rin remained silent. For the first time, he wasn’t trying to solve the mystery.

He wasn’t trying to remember. He simply stood there. Beside Kaelith. And perhaps that was enough for tonight.

After a long silence, Rin finally spoke.

"Kaelith."

"Yes?"

"If there were a thousand versions of me..."

Kaelith looked at him.

"Would you really love all of them?"

Kaelith smiled.

"There wouldn’t be a thousand versions."

Rin frowned.

"Why?"

"Because there would always be one Rin."

His voice was soft.

"Just living different lives."

Rin stared at him. And for the first time, the idea didn’t frighten him. It made him sad.

Because somewhere in all those forgotten lives, there were versions of them that had loved each other.

Rin looked toward the city.

Tomorrow, they would return to the old city. They would uncover the truth about the Fallen God.

But tonight, Rin finally understood one thing.

Kaelith wasn’t waiting for a particular body. He wasn’t waiting for a particular face. He was waiting for Rin.

And perhaps that was why, no matter how many times the Workd erased their story—

Kaelith always found him and love found them again...this pure love.