"There are goodbyes we say out loud… and others we only whisper from the soul."
Ameira — Departure
The airport was quiet at dawn.
Ameira stood near the gate, suitcase in hand, scarf wrapped loosely around her shoulders. Her roommates had hugged her. Her professors had wished her well. But none of that settled the strange emptiness she carried inside.
This wasn't the same as when she first left home. That was fear. This was… disconnection.
Her fingers brushed the edge of her boarding pass, and it trembled slightly in her grip.
She looked up.
A terminal door swung open on its own. No one had pressed the button.
She didn't flinch. Not this time.
Instead, she stepped forward, the wind curling beneath her scarf as if to guide her path.
As the plane began boarding, she glanced back at the large windows. A white feather floated gently down, twirling through the air, despite no birds being in sight.
Her heart whispered:
"I don't want to go."
Something inside her responded:
Then don't.
But she walked forward anyway.
Rudren — Transfer
The dorm room door creaked open.
Rudren didn't turn. He kept packing, neatly folding his few belongings. The transfer was sudden — a new training district, stricter routines, fewer distractions. It was supposed to be a promotion.
But it felt like a fracture.
The compound commander had said it would "refine him."
What it did was isolate him.
As he closed his bag, the lights flickered overhead. Not out of error — but rhythm. Two blinks… then one… then two again.
Almost like a heartbeat.
He touched the wall gently. It was warm.
Then, from behind, the vending machine let out a soft pop — a drink can rolled to the tray.
He hadn't selected anything.
He picked it up. The label read: "Spark."
He chuckled once, quietly. "Of course."
But when he turned away, he felt it again — a tremor behind his ribs, as if his body carried more than just muscle.
"Don't forget me," something inside said.
"I won't," he replied.
Vikran — Still Here
The train tracks near Vikran's village hummed softly as his friends waved goodbye.
They were leaving for colleges, jobs, lives far beyond the dusty roads and green fields.
Vikran remained.
He stood beside the fields, watching the horizon. His mother had returned home already. His sister was drawing pictures of clouds again. He was… in between.
His hands brushed over the wooden fence, and it felt smoother than usual. Like the wood had been polished for him by unseen hands.
A goat bleated nearby — then sat down in front of him as if waiting.
He smiled faintly, kneeling beside it.
"Everyone's moving," he whispered, stroking its soft head. "But I'm still here."
A pause.
Then, as he stood to leave, the path before him — a narrow dirt trail — was lit by soft rays of sunlight piercing through the clouds, golden and precise, as if a spotlight had found him.
He exhaled sharply.
And in the quiet of that moment, a thought that didn't belong to him rose gently:
"We are never still. We're always becoming."
The Shared Pull — Again
That night, the ache of separation was heavy.
In three different corners of the world, they tried to sleep.
• Ameira, in a small bunk above foreign voices.
• Rudren, in a transport bus with cold air pressing at the windows.
• Vikran, on a coarse mat beside the dim kitchen lamp.
Each stared at the ceiling.
Each listened to silence.
And each heard something else.
A sound that came from nowhere.
A vibration beneath thought.
A calling.
The Void Within
It began with stillness.
Then — all sound vanished.
No bed. No walls. No skin.
Only weightlessness.
A soft, endless void — warm and lightless — surrounded them.
Each floated.
Ameira. Rudren. Vikran.
Not together. But not alone.
And then — slowly — something took shape in front of them.
Not a shadow.
Not a dream.
But a form.
Majestic. Vast. Elemental.
A creature of breath and storm before Ameira.
A beast of fire and thunder before Rudren.
A lion woven from light and gold before Vikran.
None of them moved.
None of them spoke.
But the space between them pulsed.
Like a heartbeat.
End Scene
Their eyes opened wide.
But not in the real world.
Not yet.
They had crossed into the place where souls meet — not through force, but through need.
Their beasts stood before them, silent, towering, eternal.
The moment had come.
But the voice?
That comes next.
Next Chapter 35 – Soul to Soul preview:
A simultaneous inner realm scene — Ameira, Rudren, and Vikran each speak to their soul beasts for the first time. No lessons. No power yet. Only truth, emotion, and understanding. This is the spiritual moment where their bond begins to truly take form — not as warriors, but as soulbound.
To be revealed..