Elira turned the page of the brittle, faded book in her lap, her fingers trembling slightly as she read under the soft flicker of candlelight. The smell of old parchment filled the attic library of the village temple, where dust and silence reigned like twin guardians of forgotten knowledge.
She hadn't planned to come here. But the dream from last night—his voice calling her name, not in longing but with certainty—had left her breathless.
> Elira... You are real, aren't you?
She hadn't answered in the dream.
But now, here, with the words of an old legend echoing from the page, she might find her voice.
> "It is said that when a god chooses to walk among mortals, he forgets his name, his power, and his place in the stars… Yet his soul remembers the one it once loved, and through dreams, the bond may awaken again."
Elira's heart skipped.
> "Dreams…" she murmured.
She scanned the page again, then flipped forward, eyes searching.
There it was again—a prince who could not walk, hidden away by his royal father, yet blessed with visions from the heavens. The story ended abruptly, as if never finished. No name. No date.
> "It's him," she whispered.
> "Kael…"
It was the first time she had said it aloud.
And something inside her shifted.
Like the turning of a great key.
---
Meanwhile, in a grand tower library of the royal palace, Kael sat surrounded by scrolls and leather-bound volumes, each older than the kingdom itself. Maren stood nearby, arms crossed, watching Kael's determined expression.
> "You haven't eaten all day."
> "I'm not hungry."
> "You said that yesterday."
Kael didn't respond. He was reading a faded passage from a celestial manuscript, written in an ancient tongue. One he had never studied but somehow understood.
> "When two souls are bound beyond time, the dreams between them shall become roads. And should they seek each other, their bond may tear through the veil between realms."
Kael looked up slowly.
> "This isn't fantasy, Maren. Someone put this here for me to find."
> "And who would that be? The gods?"
Kael's silver eyes darkened. "Maybe."
He turned the page again. An illustration caught his breath.
A girl with long auburn hair and soft, clear eyes… standing beneath a sky of stars, holding the hand of a man on a floating throne.
Her face…
It was her.
He touched the page.
> "Elira."
---
That night, the dream came again.
But this time, they stood not in a meadow or a palace, but at the edge of a mirror-like lake. The stars reflected below their feet as though the sky had been split in half.
Elira stepped toward him first.
> "You said my name," she whispered.
> "Yes," Kael replied. "And I hoped it was true."
> "I read about you," she said. "In a legend."
> "And I saw you… in a book written before I was born."
They stared at each other.
> "Who are we?" she asked.
Kael's voice was low. "Something… more than dreams."
> "Do you think this is real?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he reached out, slowly, his hand trembling slightly.
> "Let me try something."
He touched her cheek.
The warmth of her skin, the way she leaned into the touch—it was too perfect. Too solid.
Too human.
> "This… can't be just imagination."
Elira's eyes welled.
> "Then what are we?"
Kael's voice was almost a breath.
> "Maybe… fate."
---
When they awoke the next morning, both rose with the same thought:
"I have to find them."
---
Elira packed her things quietly.
She had never left Aerwyn before. Not once. But something inside her whispered that she would never truly live until she followed the pull in her heart.
The temple keeper, old Mother Leya, found her near the village gate.
> "Where are you going, child?" the woman asked.
Elira hesitated. She didn't want to lie.
> "I think I'm being called."
> "By who?"
> "Someone who waits for me."
The old woman stared for a long moment, then nodded slowly.
> "The stars choose strange paths… but if you are brave, walk them."
She pressed something into Elira's hand—a small pendant shaped like a winged flame.
> "For protection."
Elira bowed in gratitude.
> "Thank you."
---
In the palace, Kael demanded an audience with his father.
The king—a broad-shouldered man with graying hair and stern eyes—was not used to being summoned by his youngest son. Especially not the one he had kept hidden from the court.
> "What is this about, Kael?" he asked as he entered the chamber.
Kael sat tall in his wheeled chair, hands folded.
> "I want to go beyond the walls."
> "You know that's impossible."
> "Why? Because I can't walk? Or because you're afraid people will know I exist?"
The king's expression tightened.
> "Because the court would not accept a crippled heir. You know how this world works."
Kael met his gaze evenly.
> "I don't care about the throne. I care about someone. Someone I need to find."
The king raised a brow.
> "A woman?"
> "Yes."
> "Have you met her?"
Kael hesitated.
> "Only in dreams."
The silence that followed was long and heavy.
Then the king chuckled softly.
> "Your mother was like that. She once told me she dreamt of me years before we met. I thought it foolish then. Perhaps I was wrong."
He sighed.
> "Where do you plan to go?"
> "Wherever the dreams take me."
The king nodded slowly.
> "Then take the silver escort. Not the royal guard. Keep it quiet. I'll give you a map and coin. But Kael…"
> "Yes?"
> "Don't lose yourself chasing shadows."
Kael's expression softened.
> "She's not a shadow. She's the only thing that's ever felt real."
---
And so it began.
Two souls, separated by kingdoms and bloodlines, awakened to the truth hidden in dreams.
Elira took the forest path eastward, her pendant shining in the moonlight.
Kael rolled out beneath the stars, leaving the palace behind with Maren at his side and a fire burning in his chest.
Neither knew exactly where the other was.
But both believed…
They would meet.
And the stars above watched silently.
Waiting.