> Perspective: A Strange Girl
> Time:2:35 AM
> Location: Campfire Clearing — Deep Mountain Woods, Celestine Realm
The rough spruce bark bit into my shoulder blades. Kaiser leaned in until his shadow swallowed me whole, his chest pressing against mine, the heat of his body cutting through the mountain chill.
His face hovered inches from mine. His messy black hair brushed my forehead, and when he spoke, his breath fell hot against my lips.
"You aren't you moving away." he murmured, blue eyes gleaming with dangerous amusement.
"You saw the opening under my shoulder... You could've run."
My heart thrashed violently against my ribs. My cheeks burned crimson, my thoughts scattering in the heavy heat between us. My fingers rose on their own, curling into the knit wool of his sweater, bunching the fabric tight against his chest.
Say something... Don't just stand here frozen.
"Y-You w-won't let me go until you get what you want anyway," I stammered, my voice barely a squeak.
Kaiser's smirk deepened, his lips brushing millimeters from mine as he spoke.
"You're right. I do want something from you... So stay completely still for me."
Butterflies swarmed in my stomach, fluttering so violently my knees threatened to buckle.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
He's going to do it...
He's really going to kiss me.
I braced myself, holding my breath, waiting for his lips to press down onto mine—
A cool, calloused palm pressed flat against my forehead.
My eyelids snapped open.
Kaiser stood there, 1 hand resting on my brow, studying my face with sudden, deadpan seriousness.
"You're burning up," he murmured.
I blinked, frozen in sheer disbelief.
"Suffering from a fever," he pulled his hand back, that infuriating smirk spreading wide across his mouth.
"That's why your face turns red every 2 minutes. It wasn't because I stood too close, was it?"
The silence lasted 1 agonizing second.
UGHHH...
I was ready!
I was completely, shamelessly ready to let him kiss me, and he was checking my temperature?!
"You jerk!" I shoved him with both hands.
Kaiser hadn't set his footing. He stumbled backward, tripped over his own boots, and crashed flat on his back into the dirt and dry pine needles with a loud thud.
"Woah, princess!" Kaiser wheezed, rubbing the back of his head from the forest floor, laughter spilling out of his throat.
"First you push me down into the mud, then you stare at me with pure murder in your eyes?"
"You had that coming!" I shouted, crossing my arms tightly over my chest, wishing the earth would swallow me whole.
"You talk too much and think too little!"
"Maybe you actually wanted that kiss, huh?" he chuckled, sitting up and brushing dirt from his sleeves.
"Shut up! I was terrified!"
"Sure, sure," Kaiser grinned, standing up and dusting off his trousers.
"Don't worry, Lia. I'll pull you out of my heart. You're meant for Kiel anyway."
...
He needs to shut up!
My fist rose, trembling with pure rage.
"I'm going to punch you."
"Truce, truce!" Kaiser held up both hands in mock terror, chuckling as he stepped back toward the fire.
"I just wanted to see you smile. That's all."
My fist hovered in the air.
The exasperation drained from my muscles, replaced by an unfamiliar, lingering warmth.
He sat back on his log, nudging the embers with a stick. The banter faded into quiet crackles of burning birch.
"I have a name for you," he said suddenly, looking up across the flames.
"Another joke?" I muttered, keeping my arms crossed.
"No jokes," he said, and for once, the swagger vanished from his voice. His eyes held mine, steady and clear.
"You might think this sounds stupid, but... you don't remind me of curses or dark omens. You remind me of hope. You remind me of happiness. There's something about your smile that makes me smile too, even when I'm trying to act tough."
The breath hitched in my throat.
"That's why I want to call you Celia." He said softly.
"I kept 'Lia' because I know how much it means to you, and I took the start of Celestine. Because it belongs to you."
He tilted his head, watching me with quiet anticipation.
"Do you like it?"
I stood motionless by the spruce tree, utterly defenseless.
Do I like it?
All my life, people threw names at me without asking. My parents called me a curse and chained me to my room. The villagers called me a witch and chased me with stones. Even my friends gave me the name Stella—a star that had to shine for everyone else, a bright lie I had to wear while hurting my own soul.
Nobody ever asked me.
Not once.
They slapped labels across my face to serve their own fear. To make me a monster or a tool.
And now... this idiot sitting in the dirt asks for my permission.
Celia.
It's mine.
A sharp sting flooded my eyes. I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyelids, but hot tears spilled past my fingers anyway. My chest heaved, a broken sob tearing out of my throat.
"I-I..." My voice shattered into wet stutters. "Th-thank you..."
Kaiser scrambled up from his log, eyes wide with sudden panic.
"Hey, wait—is it that bad?" he blurted, stepping toward me with his hands out.
"If you hate it, we can try again! I can think of something else! Don't cry, please—"
"N-No!" I choked out a laugh through the sobs, frantically wiping my sleeves across my damp cheeks.
"It's n-not bad at all... I love it. I love it so much, Kaiser."
Kaiser let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief, his shoulders dropping. A soft, genuine smile curved his lips as he reached out his right hand.
"Alright, Celia," he said, his voice warm and steady.
"How about it? Would you like to be my friend?"
I stared at his open, calloused palm.
After years of freezing starvation. Hiding in wet ditches, dreading every sunrise. And now, a real hand offered in the light.
My trembling fingers reached forward, wrapping tight around his.
"Yes..." I whispered, fresh tears slipping down my smiling cheeks.
"I'd love that."
The mountain wind whispered through the branches. For 1 brief, fragile second, the world felt whole.
Then the forest screamed.
A streak of blinding crimson fire erupted from the darkness, hurtling straight toward my chest.
"Watch out, Celia!"
Kaiser lunged.
He threw his entire body across mine, his right arm and shoulder slamming into the fireball. The blast detonated with a deafening roar. Superheated air scorched my face as black smoke billowed around us.
Kaiser roared in agony. The fabric of his right sleeve vaporized into ash, the skin beneath charring black and raw from the blistering heat.
"Kaiser!" I shrieked.
More spells tore through the trees. A violent wall of gale-force wind slammed dead into Kaiser's scorched chest. The concussive blast launched him through the air, his body twisting helplessly before crashing into the distant rocks with a sickening thud. He tumbled into the dirt and lay motionless.
"Kaiser!"
I scrambled forward, but the forest floor ruptured beneath my boots. Thick, jagged roots of earth shot upward, wrapping around my shins and crushing my ankles against the stone. I clawed at the dirt, thrashing frantically, but the magical bindings held firm.
Footsteps crunched through the charred needles.
"Well, well, Stella," a venomous voice mocked from the smoke.
"Still crying your lungs out."
The blood drained from my face.
Out of the swirling ash stepped Kiel.
Beside him walked Ronan, arms crossed over his chest, a cruel, mocking sneer plastered across his face.
For 1 desperate, delusional heartbeat, my chest swelled with relief.
Kiel? Ronan?
"Kiel!" I gasped, tears blurring my vision. "You're alive! Please, you have to help him! He's bleeding, he took a hit for me—"
"Shut your filthy mouth, you disgusting bitch!" Kiel snarled, stepping into the campfire's dim glow.
My voice died in my throat.
Flames coiled violently around Kiel's right fist, crackling with intense, murderous heat. He wore deep orange battle robes that whipped around his boots, the runic embroidery along the sleeves glowing blinding white as they channeled the superheated draft away from his skin.
The fire reflected in his dark eyes—eyes that held zero kindness, only pure hatred.
"Did you really think you could hide forever, you wretched parasite?" Kiel spat, his voice trembling with fury.
"You ruined our lives! You drained the life from our families, brought the curse down on our village, and then ran into the woods while innocent people died in agony!"
"N-No..." I shook my head, my hands trembling against the dirt. "Kiel, that's not true! I didn't—"
"Don't speak my name with your disgusting tongue!" he roared, taking another step forward, the fireball in his hand swelling into a roaring sphere of death.
"You're a disease, Stella. A filthy, unnatural freak who deserves to burn. The elders put 500 gold on your head, and I'm going to personally incinerate every scrap of your flesh."
Ronan chuckled coldly from his side.
"Told you she'd be crying, Kiel. Monsters always cry when their life is about to end."
My chest seized. My heart shattered into countless jagged pieces.
He isn't the same anymore... I was right.
He stood before me now, his face contorted in vicious disgust, ready to burn me to ash.
He hates me.
They all hate me.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, soaking into my collar. Despair dragged me toward the abyss.
Then my gaze drifted past Kiel's flaming hand to the smoke behind him.
Kaiser lay in the dirt, his arm burned black, motionless. He had thrown himself into fire for me. He had given me a name. He had called me his friend.
My sobs stopped.
The trembling in my hands ceased.
I dug my fingernails into the frozen soil, gritting my teeth until my jaw ached, glaring straight into Kiel's blazing fire.
I am not Stella anymore...
My name is Celia.
And I will not let you hurt him.