The world moves on, and she remains—unchanged, untouched, unseen. Not feared. Not hated.
Just…forgotten.
Sometimes she wakes in the middle of the night and presses her palm to her chest, hoping to feel a heartbeat that isn’t hers. On those nights, she sheds tears, whispering.
“Kailorien…”
It is my heart she seeks. Again and again. Though each day tells her the truth of my absence, she refuses to believe it.
The Destroyer as my witness, I would cut it from my chest and hand it to her if it meant an end to this Void-forsaken nightmare. But I have no blade, and when I dig my fingers into my body, it stiches back together as though I’m made of memory, not flesh.
One day, she leaves the cottage, setting out to travel the land. I would have told her to be careful, to take rations, supplies—but I’ve long since given up on speaking. I follow her, a useless specter, watching her traverse hills, mountains, valleys, lakes, and rivers.
Alone.
Always alone.
And then, the vision dissolves.
Snow falls from the sky. White and cold. It lands in her hands—melting in her palms.
She turns, lookingat me.
I want to roar. Take her into my arms with the pain as our gazes join at last.
At the recognition there.
And beingseen.
A flush colors her cheeks.“You came at the very end,” she says. “I never stopped waiting.”
I reach for her, but my hand slips right through her body.
She’s wrong. Wrong! I have been here. Beside her. All of these decades. Watched her hair grow out. Watched her plant and till her garden. Watched the hollow of her life grow deeper with hands too useless to fill the void. But I was nevergone.I was always here.
Waiting.
Just like her.
Auryn. Auryn. Hear me. Please. I never left you. Not once.
She smiles, but she doesn’t hear. Doesn’t understand.
“So,” she sighs. “This is what awaits on this sunlit path to peace. Solitude. Loneliness. And the most bitter poison of all—”
She turns and looks toward the sky.
“—hope.”
Again, I reach for her.
Try calling her name.
No words come.
Something pulls on me, ripping me away from her.
And as her image fades into the white vastness of the snow, I cannot even scream.
