"yeah. Really"... Illario answered softly...
The soft hush of the late afternoon park was unlike any realm she'd crossed before. No shadow beasts clawed through sandstorms. No crypt echoed with trials. Just the earthy scent of grass, the hum of nearby laughter, and the warm curve of the sun sinking behind distant trees.
Keisha sat on a weathered bench under an old jacaranda tree, its blossoms mottling the path like scattered lilac feathers. A breeze curled around her collarbone. The bracelet, cool and light on her wrist, pulsed gently - not with urgency, but presence.
They'd been talking softly, she and the voice inside it - her soul-bound companion, her maybe-soulmate, the mystery stitched into silver.
"...you still haven't told me what exactly you looked like before you were sealed in here," Keisha teased, absently tracing her fingertip over the bracelet's edge. "Tall? Brooding? Cloak guy?" she said laughing softly..
His laugh flickered into her mind like a distant memory recalled with fondness. "I was many things. But I would have looked at you the same, no matter what shape I carried." Illario said... Mhhh rather flirty though...
She snorted. "Alright, now you're just being poetic to distract me from the fact you could've been a broomstick with feelings." although blushing a lil...
What's this feeling....
The bracelet pulsed -not in denial, but affection.
Then, without warning, his voice deepened, softened, carried something heavier. He sounded different.
*"When this is over... I'll move mountains for you. I really meant it"
She stopped mid-laugh. "...Really?"
That one word hung in the air, stretched thin with disbelief and hope, caught somewhere between the wind and the spaces her heart hadn't fully explored.
"I would uproot stars if you asked." he replied, quiet and clear.
Keisha's fingers faltered on the silver. Her breath drew tight. Not from nerves. Not even longing. But from the sheer weight of being loved in a way that knew her - really knew her - flaws, fears, fury and all.
"I don't even know your real name," she whispered, staring at the bark of the tree as if it could answer for him. "I'm the one who named you"
"You will. When the time is right."
A hush passed between them. Not silence. Just stillness. The kind that settles around two people who don't need filler. The jacaranda petals drifted down, catching in the loose curls of her hair.
She leaned back, letting the sun stripe her skin. "Do you think people can fall in love this way? Through time? Through magic?"
"I think love is the one thing that doesn't care how it arrives. It only asks to be chosen."
Her laugh was quieter now. "And here I thought you were just an artifact with attitude."
"I am. And devotion."
Haha...
---
They stayed like that for what felt like hours- her sketchpad unopened in her lap, the city breeze wrapping around them like silk, her thoughts wandering.
A kid biked past and called out to his friend. A dog barked at a squirrel and then immediately regretted it. Life was ordinary here, and Keisha felt like she'd stolen a moment from it. A pocket of time where nothing needed saving. Just her heart, loosening.
Then, just as dusk began to edge the sky with deeper blues, the bracelet grew cold against her wrist.
A pulse.
Then another.
She froze.
"What...?"
"It's time," he said. Not urgently. But with weight.
"For the third realm?"
"Yes. It's awakening."
She shut her eyes and exhaled slowly. "I'm not ready."
"You will be. You always are — even when you're terrified."
She nodded, not to him, but to herself. Because deep down, she knew this feeling. The ache. The dread. The readiness born of survival. She opened her eyes, stood from the bench, and brushed off her skirt.
"let's go prepare then, and get this over and done with, so you can move those mountains already" Keisha said picking up her stuff as they began to walk back home.
" i hope i wont regret saying that" Illario said huffing...
....