Slowly, Kaelis approached Cassia and the social worker who was with her. Both lifted their gaze in his direction.
Cassia raised her face gradually, her blue eyes—deep and empty—instinctively seeking the direction from which he had come, revealing to him her blind eyes, exhausted and heavy with tears. Her fragile expression reflected not only sadness, but the agony of someone burdened with far too much fear for her age.
Kaelis' heart tightened at the sight of her in such a state. His own features hardened into melancholy, his feelings mirroring her pain. He then turned to the social worker, his voice calm yet steady:
"Good evening, miss. Could you leave me alone with her for a moment?"
The woman stared at him in silence for a few seconds. She knew who he was—just as most at the Awakened Academy did—and, above all, she also knew that Kaelis and Cassia had known each other since the beginning of their journeys there. Even so, the responsibility entrusted to her weighed heavily. She was the one meant to ensure Cassia's safety ever since the girl had lost her sight after her First Nightmare.
With a hesitant expression, she replied:
"I'm sorry, Dormant Kaelis... but I can't allow that."
Kaelis took no offense. He simply met her gaze for a moment, letting a calm and genuine smile soften his features.
"I understand your concern," he said sincerely. "But please, rest assured. I'll also take Miss Cassia back to her room."
The assistant remained thoughtful. Her eyes shifted between the boy and the girl at her side. Cassia was broken, unraveling in silent tears, and nothing the woman said seemed to reach her soul. As much as she wished to help, she knew her voice barely grazed the surface. After all, she was not a Dormant. She did not know the true weight of facing the Dream Realm.
Taking a deep breath, she finally relented.
"Please... take care of her."
With those words, she rose slowly and stepped away, leaving them alone in the small, silent park.
Cassia kept her head lowered, her hands covering part of her face tilted toward the ground, as if trying to hide just how fragile she truly was.
Kaelis said nothing. He simply drew closer in silence, his light steps mingling with the soft sound of snow falling around them. He sat beside her on the cold stone bench without forcing any words. For a few moments, the world seemed frozen in that scene: the faint wind making the dry leaves rattle, Cassia's muffled sobs piercing the stillness of the night, and the snow drifting slowly down, as if even winter itself shared in her sorrow.
Gently, Kaelis extended his hand and touched her shoulder. Not to stop her tears. Not to force comfort with empty phrases. But only to remind her of something simple, yet essential: she was not alone.
Cassia drew a deep, trembling breath, the sound broken by sobs she could barely contain.
"My parents…" — her voice came out weak, almost like a whisper lost in the cold wind.
"They tried to smile today, but I know… I know they're terrified."
The words faltered, her tone breaking under the weight of the confession.
"They're afraid that…" — her voice failed, drowned by a new wave of tears that stole her breath — "… that this was the last time they saw me."
Kaelis didn't answer right away. He remained silent, his eyes fixed on the snow-covered ground, allowing her to spill out the pain she carried in her chest.
"When I was a child…" — she continued, her voice heavy with memories that seemed to come from another life.
"… I practiced fencing. I was always good at it. My father used to say that if the day ever came, I could fight like a real warrior. I believed him."
Cassia let out a short, broken laugh, more like the bitter echo of something she had lost.
"But now…" — her trembling hand touched her tear-filled eyes — "… now I don't even know if I could lift a blade in the right direction."
The silence between them grew heavier, as if the whole world was suspended in her held breath.
"In the Dream Realm…"
Her voice wavered, weak, almost too faint to go on.
"… I won't see anything, Kaelis. Not the Nightmare Creatures, not the ground… not what's in front of me. How am I supposed to survive?"
He took a deep breath, feeling the weight of those words and the truth they carried. His hand, which rested on her shoulder, pressed down lightly — not seeking to stop the tears, but serving as an anchor, as if trying to convey through the strength of a touch what he still couldn't find words to say.
"Cassia…" — his voice was low, steady, but tinged with pain. — "I won't lie to you. It's going to be hard. Harder than anything you've ever faced."
He lifted his eyes to the dark sky, where the pale stars barely shone through the winter clouds.
"But even if I can't promise your safety in there… I believe everything will be alright."
Cassia turned her face toward him, her blue eyes still full of tears, searching in his words for something to hold on to, as if she needed to find a truth she could believe in.
"You know… my parents always said that improbable things happen when we least expect them."
"They also said that sometimes fate disguises itself as failure to test our faith. That's why I think maybe you'll have luck in the Dream Realm."
"Maybe you'll appear near someone powerful, maybe near that girl, Changing Star… Or maybe near me."
"But no matter what happens… You have to keep moving forward until the end."
Cassia fell silent for a few moments, her eyes still trying to find hope — a hope that Kaelis could both see and feel.
"You say that as if you knew everything…"
Kaelis sighed but smiled faintly.
"And in fact, I don't… But just because I don't know what destiny holds, neither I, nor you, nor anyone should give up."
"And sometimes, Cassia, just the thought of not giving up is all we need to keep moving forward."
The wind blew stronger, carrying with it the chill of dawn. Cassia took a deep breath, trying to hold inside herself a little of the serenity he radiated, fragile though it was.
Even so, fear lingered on her face.
Kaelis could feel it. He could also feel the sadness, the anger, and above all, the hatred that corroded her heart. A hatred born from the cruel injustice of being cursed with such a severe Flaw. He understood. Anyone would. Kaelis himself, who already suffered with the Choir of the Silent, couldn't even imagine the burden of carrying her blindness.
Cassia clenched her hands tightly, her trembling fists betraying her inner struggle. She wanted to scream, to rebel against everything, but she didn't.
Kaelis's words had been harsh, but true.
And deep down, she knew: as delicate as her situation was, giving up wasn't an option.
Kaelis remained by her side in silence, allowing her to cry as much as she needed. Minutes passed until the tears dried, leaving in their place an exhausted expression that contrasted with the beautiful, delicate face she bore.
Cassia still believed she had no hope… She believed her own death was near.
Cassia walked slowly, the white cane brushing the frozen ground with each step, guiding her uncertain movements. At her side, Kaelis kept his hand entwined with hers — firm, yet gentle — as if to remind her that she wasn't alone.
They had been walking in silence for several minutes. It wasn't the comfortable silence of a calm night, but a heavy, suffocating silence, filled with dark thoughts and emotions neither of them dared to put into words. Each step seemed to echo Cassia's very pain, each restrained breath a reflection of the battle they fought within.
In an attempt to dispel the shadow hanging over them, Kaelis broke the silence. His voice came out low, almost cautious:
"Your parents… what are they like?"
Cassia raised her eyebrows slightly, surprised by the question. For a moment, something flickered in her blue eyes, as though life — tired and dimmed — rekindled itself at the mere memory.
"What are they like? What do you mean by that?" — she asked, confused by the vague way he had phrased the question.
"I mean… what do you think of them? The way they are in personality, how they raised you… who they are to you."
Cassia remained silent for a few moments, thoughtful. Then a small smile appeared, delicate and weary, yet genuine. It was as if simply evoking those memories was enough to bring her a fragment of peace.
"My parents... they are everything to me." — her voice trembled, but there was tenderness in every word, as if merely mentioning them calmed a piece of her broken heart.
"My father has always been very steady. The kind of man who seems never to be shaken. Calm, patient, almost unbreakable." — she drew a deep breath and squeezed Kaelis's hand lightly, as if the memory were a thread that kept her standing.
"My mother is the opposite. Always smiling, always talkative... always pulling me back when I got lost in my thoughts. She never let me sink too far into myself. When I failed, when I cried thinking I wasn't good enough, it was she who reminded me there was still time. That I didn't have to give up on myself."
The snow beneath their feet creaked in a steady rhythm, matching the slow flow of the conversation. Kaelis did not interrupt. He simply listened, knowing each word was an open wound Cassia needed to expose so she wouldn't choke on it.
A lone tear slid down her face, even after so many already shed.
"When I was little, my parents enrolled me in a school where I trained in fencing." — her voice broke, her eyes fixed on the void ahead. "My teachers said I had a lot of potential, in case I was infected by the Nightmare Spell."
A broken laugh escaped her throat.
"My father used to say I had the precision and instinct of a warrior. My mother would laugh, saying I was too delicate to hold a blade... But deep down, I knew. I knew I could. That I could wield a sword."
The smile died, giving way to the raw pain of the present.
"But now... now I'm nothing more than a blind girl, stumbling even to find my own room." — her voice faltered, laden with anger. "The same hand that once held a precise blade now must rely on a cane. How can I honor what they believed about me? How will I survive a world of nightmares if I can't even walk alone in the real world?"
Cassia stopped. The night cold seemed to intensify around them. She inhaled deeply and turned her face toward Kaelis. Her blue eyes, clouded by blindness and suffering, sought him as if trying to see through him.
"They are afraid, Kaelis. Not of the Realm of Dreams. Not of the Nightmare Creatures. But afraid of losing me. Afraid that my Flaw stole not only my sight... but also the life they dreamed for me." — her voice wavered, despair seeping into each syllable.
"And I... I am afraid too. Afraid they're right. Afraid my Flaw has robbed me of the chance to live. Afraid this was the last time they saw me."
The words cracked at the end, but no tears came. Just the naked, cold, merciless truth, exposed before him.
The silence that followed was heavy, filled with falling snow, the wind's whistle, and breaths held in the chest.
Kaelis watched her, feeling the weight of each word within himself. For a moment, he did not see only the blind girl leaning on a white cane. He saw the invisible legacy of her parents, two opposing forces that met and shaped Cassia into who she was. A mixture of firmness and tenderness, of stubbornness and fragility.
He inhaled deeply before speaking, his voice low but steady, carrying a conviction that sounded more real than any promise.
"You are still their daughter, Cassia. The child they love. The warrior they raised hasn't disappeared." — Kaelis placed his hands on her shoulders.
"The sword may have fallen from your hands, but what they saw in you wasn't the blade. It was you. And that... not even your Flaw can take away."
Cassia remained still. Her breathing was unsteady, but the rigidity in her shoulders eased, if only a little.
"I... don't know if I can believe that," she whispered, vulnerable.
Kaelis gave a faint smile, even as his heart carried the weight of her pain.
"Then I'll believe for you. Until the day you can believe on your own."
Cassia's eyes widened slightly at those words. It was as if a spark had been lit inside her. She didn't believe in herself. She didn't believe in her survival. And yet… that Sleeper standing before her managed to fill her heart with something that seemed impossible.
Her hands trembled. She clenched them tightly against her dress, and a solitary tear slid down her face.
But this time, it wasn't just despair.
It was also the fragile, yet real, birth of something she hadn't dared to feel in a long time.
Hope.
When they arrived at the dormitory building, Kaelis guided Cassia to her room's door, where the social worker was already waiting patiently. The woman stood upright beside the entrance, her hands folded in front of her, like someone long accustomed to waiting.
Kaelis smiled politely and greeted her.
"Sorry for the delay. I hope you haven't been waiting too long."
The social worker glanced at Cassia before responding. The girl was no longer crying; traces of exhaustion lingered in her eyes, but now there was also a glimmer of peace. Noticing this, the woman allowed a faint smile of relief to appear.
"Thank you, Sleeper Kaelis."
As she spoke, she pressed her hand against the tablet fixed to the wall beside the door. The screen glowed green, and the lock released with a soft click, allowing the door to open.
The social worker entered the dorm first, leaving Kaelis and Cassia alone in the hallway, wrapped only in the silence of the night.
All the way back, Cassia had not let go of his hand. The touch was firm, yet fragile at the same time, as though she feared that if she released it, the world around her would unravel. Cassia felt safe with Kaelis — perhaps even dependent — and he knew it. He knew, and he accepted the weight of that trust.
At last, she loosened her grip and turned to face him directly.
"I guess this is it... Have a good night, Cassia. Rest well," Kaelis said, with a trace of shyness, briefly averting his gaze.
"I'm grateful you brought me back. And I'm grateful for all your words... I won't forget them."
There was a pause, heavy yet not uncomfortable. The silence seemed to wait for something more. Kaelis took a deep breath, as if gathering strength not only to speak, but to seal a promise. Then he placed his hands on her shoulders and declared, firm:
"I won't leave you alone until the day of the winter solstice. We can meet for breakfast, or whenever I have some free time. But I promise... I promise I won't abandon you!"
Cassia's eyes widened in surprise. Then, slowly, a small smile appeared on her lips. It wasn't a forced smile, nor a mask of courtesy, but something calm, genuine.
"You... you really are a good person."
Those words caught Kaelis off guard. He blinked, surprised, staring at her without knowing how to react.
"Out of all the Sleepers... you were the one who always cared about me. From the very first day, you never left me alone, and I've heard many conversations from others about you."
Cassia tilted her head slightly, her smile remaining gentle, yet filled with sincerity.
"Just because of your kindness, they say they're not surprised that you have angel wings... they say they suit you. And I believe that too."
Her words, sweet and full of faith, made Kaelis's chest tighten. A shadowed look took over his expression, even as he tried to maintain a faint smile so as not to worry her. Deep down, he knew the truth.
Bitter memories of his First Nightmare returned like a cold strike: the people he had killed, the unavoidable sacrifices, the destruction his hands had wrought. It all still haunted him.
Slowly, he removed his hands from Cassia's shoulders.
"No... I'm not as good as they say," he murmured, his voice cold, burdened with a pain she could never understand.
Cassia, however, did not retreat. Her expression remained calm, her lips forming a restrained, almost serene smile. And somehow, that unsettled Kaelis. There was something behind that calm. Something he couldn't decipher.
"You have your sins... but that doesn't change the person you are to many, Kaelis."
Her words struck deep. There was conviction in them, but also a strange layer of truth that seemed to reach beyond simple kindness. As if there was something hidden, something she knew — or felt — beyond what she revealed.
Not even the Choir of the Silent dared to stir through her. And yet, that unsettling feeling took root in Kaelis's soul.
"What does she mean by that?" he thought, but had no time to lose himself in the question.
It was Cassia who broke the silence.
"Either way, thank you for everything, Kaelis," she said softly, before turning and walking into the room, where the social worker was already waiting for her.
Kaelis stood still, watching her until she crossed the threshold. He took a deep breath, preparing to leave. But before he could take his first step, Cassia's voice echoed from inside the room:
"And one more thing. My friends and those close to me usually call me Cassie... or Cas. So, feel free to call me that too."
Kaelis remained silent for a few seconds, letting those words sink in, before replying in a low voice, heavy with sincerity:
"Alright, Cassie... Have a good night."
Cassie smiled when she heard the way he called her. The smile was light, almost childlike, yet it carried something precious — trust. She then stepped fully inside, and the door closed automatically behind her, leaving Kaelis alone in the silent hallway.
For a few moments, Kaelis remained still, his body rigid, still trapped in the unease stirred by Cassia's words. Her voice continued to echo inside his mind like a silent weight, disturbing his focus.
After a few seconds that felt far too long, he forced himself to push the thoughts away. He drew a deep breath, closed his eyes for a brief moment, and resumed walking down the dormitory corridor. The sound of his solitary footsteps broke the silence of the night.
He needed to take the elevator up to the floor where his own dormitory was located. That was the only thing he tried to keep in his mind — something simple, trivial, that could drive away the strange feeling Cassia had left him with.
And yet…
Just as he was about to leave it all behind…
The Choir of the Silent spoke.
The voice rose like an icy breath against his neck, ghostly and feminine, identical to Cassia's. It was as if she were there, whispering inside his very soul.
'Even after going through so much pain and carrying so much blood on his hands... he still remains a good person.'
That phrase, so simple yet so cutting, made Kaelis's body shudder.
A chill ran down his spine. The air seemed to thin, and his heart leapt, pounding faster. Instinctively, he glanced over his shoulder, startled. His face turned into a dark mask, heavy with tension and disbelief.
His eyes locked onto the door of Cassia's dormitory. Her presence, even behind that barrier of wood, somehow seemed tied to what he had just heard.
A storm of questions began to overwhelm his mind, one after another, suffocating any trace of rationality:
"What? What does she mean by that?"
"Blood on my hands? Is she talking about the blood of the people I killed in my First Nightmare?"
"Does she know something about me? No... that's impossible. No one knows. No one could possibly know..."
"But then... why did my Flaw speak through her?"
"How could she..."
"How could she know about my First Nightmare?"
The silence of the corridor weighed heavily, as if the very walls were listening to his thoughts. Kaelis stood there, motionless, staring at the closed door, his body tense and his mind in turmoil. Minutes slipped by unnoticed, dragging on like hours.
At last, he drew a deep breath and clenched his fists. He turned slowly, still consumed by unrest.
"I have to... ask her without exposing my Flaw," he muttered to himself, his voice low and taut, as fear and doubt intertwined in his expression.
Day after day passed.
And before he realized it... the winter solstice had already arrived.