© 2025 Kaela Seraphine. All Rights Reserved

Setting: The Arkanis Library—midnight. Snow taps the stained-glass windows. Candles flicker. The air smells of parchment and lavender.

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You shouldn’t be here.

The library is off-limits after dark, and yet something pulled you—no, guided you here. Like a whisper in your bones.

The double doors creak as you push them open.

And there he is.

Renjun.

Seated on the floor between ancient tomes, a blanket of candlelight around him. His fingers hover above a book older than any name you know. His eyes are distant, half-closed like he's listening to a song no one else can hear.

“I was wondering,” he murmurs, without looking at you, “how long it would take you to come.”

You blink. “How did you—?”

“You dream in spirals,” he says quietly, finally meeting your eyes. “You walk in patterns. You smell like rose and snow and choices you haven’t made yet.”

You step closer, unsure whether to sit or run. “You’ve seen me before.”

He nods, slowly. “Not you, exactly. But the echo of you. In dreams. In flames. In…” He trails off, eyes fluttering closed.

“Renjun,” you say softly, “what am I to you?”

His voice is like wind through stained glass: delicate, eerie, beautiful. “You’re the only thing that hasn’t changed.”

He finally gestures for you to sit beside him. You do, cautiously.

“The others don’t believe in fate,” he continues. “But I’ve seen the threads. How you pull at mine. How your name is stitched into every ending I try to rewrite.”

You look down at the book. The ink shimmers like starlight. The words shift as you try to read them.

“Prophecy,” he says. “But it lies. Only dreams tell the truth.”

He reaches out, fingers barely grazing yours. “You’ve been in my dreams since before I knew I could dream.”

You swallow. “And what happens to us in those dreams?”

Renjun tilts his head, eyes narrowing with something soft and secret.

“You save me,” he whispers. “And then you ruin everything.”

Your heart stutters.

He leans in, the space between you warm and weightless. “I’ve kissed you in dreams I couldn’t wake from. Held you in visions I was never meant to see. And yet, every time, I wake alone.”

You can barely breathe. “Then why tell me this?”

He gives a sad, small smile. “Because maybe… if I say it now… I won’t lose you again.”