Night fell like a silent curtain, hiding the weary memories that the Valley of Floating Waterfalls still tried to force into my mind. I climbed the pavilion stairs with slow steps. The fifth floor was as quiet as ever. A reserved and solitary place. The only ones who wandered here were Hera, Dália, Aster, or my old master Elian.
Or me, of course.
I opened the door to my room with a certain lethargy, my muscles more tired than I wanted to admit. Everything inside was just as I had left it: the bed spotless, clothes neatly aligned in the side wardrobe, the table and chairs organized with an almost ritual precision. Every detail revealed the care of hands that had waited for me far too long.
A soft breeze drifted in through the open balcony curtains. Three silver moons cast their pale light across the room, as if silently watching over my steps. I moved forward to throw myself on the bed, wishing only to leave behind the weight of so many battles and cultivation.
But something...
Something shifted at the edge of my vision.
Outside. On the balcony.
I froze.
It wasn't just a figure. It was a living painting, the kind that would make gods descend from the heavens in envy. Skin pale as sea pearls, white hair cascading down her back. Crimson horns crowned her head, reflecting the moonlight like fragments of a sunset. She stood still, back to me, hands on the railing, eyes lost in the vastness beyond.
Selene.
I stood there, speechless.
As if my soul needed time to catch up with my body.
She turned.
With the delicacy of a breath.
A white dress adorned with red ribbons embraced her form with grace, contrasting against her hair and gleaming in her crimson eyes. On her lips, a faint smile—fragile, as if time itself had been too cruel to her as well.
"Glenn," she whispered, "it feels like I haven't seen you in an eternity."
Her voice...
It was melancholy and warmth.
It was longing dressed in silk.
My mouth tried to respond, but only shapeless sounds escaped. And before I realized it, my body had already moved. The intention of collapsing on the bed dissolved into steps that carried me straight to her.
I only became aware of what I was doing when I stopped just inches from her face.
Her crimson eyes reflected my golden ones.
"It really... feels like an eternity," I murmured.
And it wasn't an exaggeration.
More than twenty days trapped in that corrupted dungeon. Fifteen days unconscious, between life and death. Seven days dragging myself through recovery sessions, eating tasteless food, leaning on Hera and Aster's shoulders. And after that, twenty-seven long days beside Elder Silas, stealing treasure from wild beasts.
Almost two months.
Two months without seeing her.
Selene looked at me as though measuring the traces of time carved into the face of someone dear. Her gaze lifted to my hair, and a gentle smile touched her lips.
"You've... grown," she said softly. "Even your hair has grown."
Instinctively, I ran a hand through it. My fingers tangled in the dark strands that now fell below my shoulders. I had barely noticed. With so many battles and worries, small changes like that slipped by unnoticed.
"Yeah... so much happened I didn't even realize," I confessed.
For a moment, silence fell between us. Not an uncomfortable silence, but a heavy one. Because even with her there—so close, so real—a part of me was still trapped in the past weeks.
I saw Dórian's body, blood-soaked and limp.
Aeloria mutilated and delirious.
Dália unconscious for days.
And Seraphine...
God only knows what state her mind was left in after all of that.
My smile, once so sincere, slowly faded.
Like a candle in the wind.
And before I could drown again in those memories, Selene struck with surgical precision, as only she knew how.
"You always come back with that sharp, doubtful look..."
Her voice was gentle, yet firm. "It reminds me of little children, you know? When they discover the world is far stranger than it seems. And suddenly they start asking why about everything."
I looked at her.
And for a moment, I wished I was only that:
A child lost among questions.
Because maybe then I would have the chance to find answers—answers that so often felt just out of reach.
Selene's words disarmed me. A crooked smile escaped my lips before I could stop it.
She was right, again.
This woman had eyes sharper than any blade ever raised against me. Nothing escaped her silent reading.
But then, like a sudden spark of reason in the middle of a dream, I realized something.
I wasn't the only one carrying burdens.
I remembered Elian's words. He had let slip, in that careful way of his, that Selene too was facing her own struggles.
My attention returned to her, now under a different light.
And the signs were all there, clear as moonlight on stone.
Her shoulders were rigid, tense in a way too unnatural for someone usually so graceful.
There were faint shadows under her crimson eyes.
And something that stole the air from my lungs for a heartbeat—delicate marks of recently healed scars traced her pale shoulders, like cracks hidden in porcelain.
"You've been busy too..." I said quietly, almost in a whisper.
"I could be wrong, but... I've seen better days for this beauty that makes the gods jealous."
She laughed.
Sweet and husky at the same time, a sound that seemed to tear down every wall between us.
And before I could say anything more, she moved slowly. She lifted her arms with quiet grace and pulled me by the neck, wrapping me in a soft, unexpected embrace. Her head rested against my chest with the ease of someone who already belonged there.
The warmth of her body touched my skin like an ancient fire. A violent shiver ran down my spine to the base of my neck. My hands, hesitant at first, moved on their own and held her back.
Tightly.
And there, for a few fleeting instants...
There were no wounds.
No questions.
No pain.
Only her.
And me.
At the center of the world.
"I'm tired..."
Her voice came muffled, her forehead still pressed against my chest.
"I haven't slept in over a month."
I frowned, tightening the embrace almost instinctively.
A month? Honestly, I didn't even know that was possible. Another doubt was thrown onto my endless list: at what stage in cultivation does sleep stop being important?
Before I could ask, she went on — and her tone carried the pout of a child sulking after a long, difficult day:
"Lesley is too busy to give me massages... another calamitous dungeon appeared near Chaos. I had to seal it as quickly as possible because of the Blacksmith's festival. We also had trouble at the border with human territory..."
"Phew..." She let out a long sigh.
"And when I finally thought I could rest... I had a horrible nightmare. I couldn't close my eyes again."
A faint pout formed on her lips as she listed the world's burdens like mere pebbles in her shoes.
I couldn't help myself.
With a playful grin tugging at my mouth, I said,
"So you came looking for a substitute masseur... to take Lesley's place?"
She raised her face just enough to shoot me that look.
"You did a much better job than she did last time."
Her smile was both mischievous and enchanting.
"It's your fault for having so many enviable talents."
Our eyes stayed locked on each other's reflections. The world seemed to freeze, my heart pounded, my blood surged, and my thoughts turned blank. The Blackout Selene effect took hold of me with terrifying depth.
And then, as if some invisible magnetic field seized control of our bodies, we drew even closer. My racing heart hammered against the soft, delicate swell of her breasts. I could feel her cool, refreshing breath, see the subtle bite on her lower lip.
We stared at each other for what felt like eternity. No words, no thoughts, only the pull of two celestial bodies bound by their orbits.
Our faces inched closer, and when our lips finally touched...
The pressure came.
Overwhelming.
Unrelenting.
As if the weight of the entire world had been hurled onto my shoulders at once.
The same cursed sensation as before.
But... but... but...
Different this time. Instead of being crushed by the brutal disparity and blacking out within seconds, something feral awoke within me. I screamed inside. A raw, guttural, almost primal roar — like the wild beasts I had faced in the valley of floating waterfalls.
No. Far worse. Far more insane, more rebellious, more savage.
'Even if every vein in my body tears apart... I won't faint again!'
My resolve ignited. My chest burned as if my heart would explode within me. And the heat of Selene's lips — sweet, warm, commanding — fed that fire like molten lava poured into an open forge.
Those lips, those sweet, enviable lips were all I needed. They were the fuel that would let me burn until nothing was left.
My body began to tremble.
But I endured.
Steadfast.
Unbreakable.
And then... I surrendered.
Not from weakness.
But from devotion.
My body, my soul, my spirit longed for this. Like a desert begging for a single drop of water. Like a prisoner dreaming of freedom. And when it came, the feeling was overwhelming.
I couldn't even tell how long our lips remained pressed together. And honestly, I wanted them never to part.
When our lips finally did separate, after seconds that felt like eternities, she gazed at me.
And the smile she gave me...
It was light.
A radiant smile.