The illusions were gone.
The pain lingered, but for the first time, it didn't define them.
Caelum and Serai held each other tightly, desperately until the shaking in their limbs faded. Then, with hands still clasped, they began to walk again.
The trees grew less twisted.
The air is less heavy.
Until, suddenly the woods broke.
They stepped out into something neither of them expected.
A meadow. Endless and open.
Sunlight poured through the clouds like a forgotten memory.
The wind danced through golden grass and scattered wildflowers blue, violet, white. A stream curled lazily through the field, its surface catching the light like stars in water.
Serai gasped.
Caelum blinked, stunned.
And then for a rare moment, the world stood still.
Serai let go of his hand… and ran.
Not far. Just enough to feel the wind against her face.
She twirled once, her tattered skirt spinning with her. Then she bent down, plucked a flower, and smiled.
Caelum stood frozen. That smile it caught him.
It shattered him.
Something in his chest stirred. A warmth he hadn't felt since the world burned. Since the blood. Since he lost everything.
That smile, gentle, alive made his heart ache.
He dropped his pack.
And ran after her.
They chased each other like children, tripping through the grass, throwing petals, laughing — awkward and uncertain at first. But it came back. That forgotten joy.
They splashed in the shallow stream.
Serai kicked water at him, he gasped, then splashed her back.
She shrieked and laughed, a sound so sweet it made the sky seem lighter.
Time passed like a dream.
Later, as the sun dipped low, painting the world in amber, Caelum sat beside her in the grass, his clothes still damp from the water.
Serai leaned back, looking up at the sky through her lashes.
Her golden hair shimmered in the light.
He stared.
Her eyes turned to meet his and there it was again.
That smile.
This time, it wasn't just beautiful.
It meant something.
He leaned in, just slightly, unsure of why his chest ached.
"I didn't know," he murmured, "you could smile like that."
She blinked.
Then laughed quieter this time, almost shy. "Neither did I."
He reached out.
Offered his hand.
Not because they were lost.
But because he'd found something.
"I don't want to be separated from you anymore," he whispered.
Serai froze.
Her smile softened not empty, not hollow. But full.
"I don't want to be either," she said, and placed her hand in his.
Their fingers locked.
And for the first time since the world ended, the boy's eyes, once dull and glassy held a light again.
The girl stared at him.
The sadness was still there. But beneath it… something deeper.
Connection.
Hope.
Love, perhaps — not loud or spoken, but quietly growing in the silence between heartbeats.
And as the night fell around them, the world didn't feel so dark.
They lay side by side beneath the flowers, beneath the stars, beneath the watching sky.
Because even in these broken lands —
They had found each other.
And now they had something to protect again.