Free Breaking Away (The Man in the Shadows) by Erin M. Truesdale

some degree, a building stood before him, with a bright purple light spilling from a window several stories up. No need for his heart to sink now, his life’s purpose was behind that window. That light, and his guardianship of that light, would earn him the highest honors in all the Empire, it would immortalize his own soul for all time. He ran across the street to the building, searching for its main entrance. It did not take long to find it, because next to the front door sat a sign that read Regions Hospital.
    Hospital.
    Potential complications filled his brain. Hospitals in his world were heavily guarded, and were impossible to enter if you did not know someone either working, or being treated, therein. An idea hitting him, he again pulled off his glove and asked the Magi for a teleportation. This time, into the room from where the purple light originated. When he materialized in the room, he realized just how complicated this journey had become. He was in a maternity ward.
    The soul had locked with a brand new body, instead of hijacking one already in use. The Corner Stone was locked away in the body of a one day old baby. His heart sank again, lower and harder this time, a sharp pain radiating through his chest. He would literally have to wait 25 years for this soul to mature before he could even think about going back home. A soldier, a seasoned army general, a tall handsome man, sunk back into the corner of the room, where the shadows sat. He felt despair take over his gut, his chest. He was stuck on earth for a quarter of a century.
    ***
    Maika didn’t remember anything. She remembered going to the club and having a few beers, but beyond that, the slate of her mind was completely blank, save one detail. A man. The most beautiful man she had ever seen. His face was stuck in her brain, not that is was unpleasant, but she didn’t know who he was, and why she kept thinking of him. Had she danced with him at the club? Bumped into him afterwards? Seen him in the background of a picture on a shelf at Zareh’s house? Whoever he was, she felt drawn to him, like she was sixteen again and had a crush on the boy who sat next to her in algebra class. Seeing his face in her mind’s eye as if it were real, she got butterflies in her stomach. She felt like the memory of this man would somehow save her... she longed to be in his arms and to hear his voice in her ear. Sighing heavily, she glanced out the window of her apartment, to the trees and flowers that still bloomed in the October chill.
    Though the view of the peaceful outdoors calmed her more or less, the question remained... What happened? Ethan had tried to explain it to her over breakfast at a local diner earlier in the day. He said, as honestly as he could, that they had argued, and that he lost her in the crowd. Mysteriously, she made it home without him, and when he made his way to her house, he witnessed an anomaly: she had been talking to someone, an invisible intruder, as if under some sort of spell. Through all the explanations she had listened intently, but she still didn’t recall anything but a man’s face, this mystery man, a vision that only grew stronger in her memory as time slugged on. It drove her mad that she didn’t know who he was, where he came from, or if he was even real in the first place. The question that had played over and over again in her head for years made it’s appearance once again: Am I going crazy?
    A deep, booming voice, distant yet powerful, answered her instantly. No, you are not going crazy.
    She smiled, a snippet of a distant awareness flashing in front of her eyes, as clear and as sudden as lightning. The man was real, she knew this for certain now. Her recollection as real as the heat they had shared, and she now felt a flash of the intense embrace they had mutually savored. They were in the restroom of the club. Yes! His fingers had grasped her shoulders hard, steady, his strong arms holding her across her back like a life