The forest went still the moment the whisper called Aries's name.
It was soft, so soft I wasn't sure I actually heard it, or if Astron had simply pushed the straight into my mind. But Aries heard it too. I felt it in the way her hand froze in mine, her breath caught halfway, her shoulders tensing like a bow string pulled tight.
For a heartbeat, she didn't move.
"Aries?" I whispered.
No response.
Her eyes silver and deep as a moonlit water, stared into the dark between the trees not with fear, but with recognition. As if the forest had spoken in her in a language she had tried to forget.
Then without warning, she turned to me.
"Stay close", she said quietly too quietly "Don't let go".
Her fingers tightened just enough to remind me that she was here that she wanted me here and maybe that she needed me here too.
I swallowed and nodded. "I'm not going anywhere".
Something flickered in her eye's relief gratitude, something warmer but it vanished like spark in wind.
She led me deeper into the forest.
The trees grew taller, silver leaves rustling in a breeze I couldn't feel. Glowing insects drifted lazily through the air like tiny floating stars. The sky above was turning violet, streaked with curling clouds shaped like ocean waves frozen mid-motion.
Astron didn't feel like a dream anymore.
It felt alive.
Aware.
Watching.
And somehow all of that felt less frightening with Aries beside me.
We walked without speaking for a while our footsteps soft against the grass. Shadows danced between the branches, long and thin, like they were guiding us or warning us.
"Aries", I eventually said my voice barely louder than my breath. "That whisper it said your name".
Her jaw tightened ever so slightly. "I know".
"Do you know what it was?"
"I have a guess", she murmured. "And I hope I'm wrong".
I waited. But she didn't continue.
Instead, she slowed her pace moving closer to me until our shoulder brushed lightly unintentionally, but enough to send a warmth up my arm.
She didn't pull away.
Neither did I.
When she spoke again, her voice was softer, almost fragile.
'The Gate reacts to people touched by Astron's destiny. You…Kai you were recognized". She hesitated. "But the forest calling my name that shouldn't happen".
"Why?"
Aries breath trembled as she exhaled.
"Because that only happens when two destinies cross".
We stopped.
I turned to face her. "Destinies cross what does that mean?"
The fading light reflected in her eyes, making them shimmer like liquid silver.
"It means", she said slowly, "whatever fate brought you here I'm part of it too".
Her words hung between us like mist soft uncertain, and too heavy to ignore.
Arres looked away, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "it's not bad. It's just dangerous".
My chest tightened. "it's not bad. It's just dangerous."
"because of me?"
A small smile tugged at her lips sad, gentle, beautiful. "No because of what it means. For both of us."
Before I could ask more, the forest shifted again.
A faint hum rippled through the air, like a low melody made of wind and memory. The leaves overhead shimmered. The path beneath our feet glowed faintly, as if acknowledging us.
Aries inhaled sharply. "The forest recognizes you too".
"Recognizes?"
She stepped closer so close her breath warmer my cheek.
"Touch the tree", she whispered, pointing to a tall trunk glowing faintly with swirling patterns of gold and blue. "Just your fingertips".
"Will it hurt?"
"no", she said softly. "Not with you".
That "with you" made something warm flicker in my chest.
I reached out. Barely brushing the bark. instantly, warmth spread through my fingers. Light pushed beneath the surface slow at first then faster like a heartbeat trying to sync with mine.
Aries stared, captivated. "it's reacting".
"Is it supposed to?"
"no", she breathed. "it's never done that for anyone".
Slowly almost unconsciously, Aries lifted her hand and placed it beside mine on the tree.
The glow shifted.
Brightened.
Wove around our fingertips like threads of golden smoke.
For a moment, the forest felt silent, reverent like it was waiting for something.
Aries voice was barely a whisper. "Kai, do you feel that?"
I did.
A warmth that wasn't the tree.
A pull that wasn't magic.
Her shoulder brushed mine again intentionally this time. Her breath was uneven, but she didn't move anyway. If anything, she leaned closer.
"Why is it reacting to us?" I asked.
Arres didn't answer.
She just watched the light swirl around our hands two sets of finger inches apart, almost touching, almost.
Then she pulled back sharply.
The glow died.
The forest dimmed.
Arres?" I stepped toward her, but she took a half-step back, eyes wide and unsure.
"That shouldn't happen", she whispered more to herself than me. "The forest doesn't blind two people unless"
She stopped, biting her lip.
"Unless what?"
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. "Unless their path is bound. Deeply. Permanently."
My heart skipped. "Permanently?"
She forced herself to look at me. "it's rare. Almost impossible. It means you arrival wasn't just fate. It was chosen".
"Chosen by who?"
Aries shook her head. "I don't know. But whatever called your name behind the Gate it woke because of this connection".
The connection.
The world echoed in my mind like drumbeat.
We stood there in fading light, the air heavy with something unsaid. The distance between us felt small, fragile, charged. me
Pulse was loud in my ears, or maybe that was the forest responding again.
Then Aries spoke again, her voice barely audible
"I don't want you to be afraid of this".
I'm not, "I said truthfully.
Her eyes softened. "I'm trying to protect you, kai. But I don't understand what's happening between us."
Neither did I.
But I felt it.
A pull.
A warmth.
A quite gravity drawing me toward her, slow and impossible to ignore.
"Aries", I whispered, "maybe don't have to understand it right now".
Her breath hitched.
For a second, she looked at me as if I had just said the one thing she didn't know she needed to hear.
She stepped closer again this time without hesitation.
"Kai…"
My name on her lips felt different now.
Softer.
Warmer.
"Whatever this", she murmured, "I don't want to run from it".
I didn't either.
But before either of us could say anything more, a low rumble rolled through the forest.
Not thunder. Not wind.
Something else.
Arres stiffened, instantly alert.
"What was that?" I whispered.
Her hand found mine again instinctively,
Protective.
She didn't let go.
"The whisper", she said quietly, eyes darting toward the darkening trees. ''it's getting closer".
Aries grip tightened.
"It wants the truth", she whispered. "About us".
A cold shiver ran through the forest.
And for the first time since arriving in Astron, Aries looked genuinely afraid.
Not for herself.
For me.
Night began to fall faster than it should have. The sky shifted from violet to deep indigo, stars flickering like shards of ice. Strange constellations stretched across the heavens spiral, runes, shapes that moved when I blinked.
Aries guided me carefully along a narrow trail winding between thick root and glowing flowers that opened only in darkness.
"Stay close", she said again.
She didn't need to.
We walked side by side hands brushing occasionally not enough to call it holding hands, but enough that my heart stuttered every time our fingers touched.
Kai," Aries murmured after a while, "does this place frighten you?"
"A little," I admitted. "But not… in a bad way."
She laughed softly a warm, relieved sound. "That's how Astron gets you. It terrifies you and comforts you at the same time."
"And you?" I asked before I could stop myself. "Do you… comfort or terrify?"
Arres froze mid-step.
The moonlight caught her expression surprised, flustered, and something else I couldn't name.
"I don't know," she said quietly. "What do I do to you, Kai?"
My breath caught.
"You make me feel… calmer," I admitted. "Even when everything else feels strange."
Arres looked away, her cheeks warming with a faint blush.
"I'm glad," she whispered.
We walked again, this time closer, almost shoulder to shoulder. The soft glow of the forest illuminated her face her thoughtful expression, the slight furrow in her brows, the way her eyes scanned the shadows as if determined to keep me safe from whatever lurked there.
The slow burn gently tightened around us like a thread being pulled taut.
And then
"Kai," she said suddenly.
"Yeah?"
She stopped walking.
I turned to her.
Her silver eyes were luminous in the moonlight.
"There's something important I need to tell you."
My heart thudded. "What is it?"
But before she could answer
The whisper returned.
Louder.
Closer.
Clear enough for both of us to hear.
"Kai… Aries…"
The air froze.
The trees stilled.
The moon dimmed.
Aries's grip crushed around my hand.
"That's not possible," she breathed. "It's not supposed to know both names."
The ground trembled.
A shape moved in the darkness ahead blurred, massive, shifting like smoke given form.
Aries stepped in front of me, her stance protective, fierce.
"Stay behind me," she whispered.
"I'm not leaving you," I whispered back.
The shadow in the trees pulsed once, twice as if acknowledging us.
Then the whisper came again, deeper this time:
"Destinies have converged."
Aries breath stilled.
"Kai…" she said, her voice trembling for the first time.
She turned to me, eyes wide, filled with something between fear and realization.
"I think I finally understand what the forest meant."
"What?"
Her lips parted.
But before she could speak
The shadow lunged.
And the world shattered into white light.