Page 86 of Fallen Stars

The water was up to his chest now, his body nothing, nothing but sunlight. He accepted the word then—the Sun. He allowed himself to comprehend that this was not the Light, but the Sun’s rays breaking free from his skin.

He was at peace, leaving his legacy like that. That even if no one else knew that there had ever been a Sun, that he had slumbered within a mortal—when his Elara looked at the Light, she would know he was with her.

Another memory shimmered in the water, and he squinted, catching a flash of white and silver. The water was up to his neck as it drifted to him, and he finally closed his eyes.

This memory was new, one not from Enzo’s lifetime. He was in a beautiful temple in the clouds, the space wide and open, showing the golden-dipped sky around him. And he was waiting, that he knew. Gazing across the skies to where the day split into night, and the pearlescent temple across the way beckoned him. He saw a beautiful young woman walk out onto her pavilion, a crow on her shoulder, hair white and gleaming to her waist. The yearning in his heart tripled, carved him in two, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt as he looked at the face he’d dreamed of for years, that it was his Elara—his Moon.

He couldn’t reach her. He had tried before, the two orbiting, always orbiting. But for now, he would take what he could, felt blessed enough just to watch her. And as she whispered something to the crow, which then took flight across the skies to him, Enzo knew he was home. He felt the last parts of his soul glimmer, the river beckoning, and with a final sigh, he sank beneath the water.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Elara's hand trembled as sheplaced it on the door to her dreamscape. Eli had returned swiftly with hypnom, and she’d taken a deep drag before tumbling to the entrance of her own dreamscape.

Both panic and exhaustion threatened to make her crumble. Enzo’s tether was around her neck, its light waning, which didn’t help her fear. But there was still a quiet thrum, and Elara could feel the magick of it against her pulse, its warm, welcoming energy the pure essence of Enzo.

It was the first real sense of him she’d had in weeks, and it was difficult for her not to simply collapse at the feeling of him, so close. The door swung open, and she rushed in, tripping down the lilac hill to the small valley where she had built Enzo’s cottage.

Her eyes scanned the clearing wildly as she searched for Enzo where she had left him.

“Enzo?!” she shouted, slowing as she saw the door to the cottage firmly closed, no Enzo in sight.

She squeezed her eyes shut, lungs constricting. Focus, she had to focus.

She opened them again and had to blink. In front of her, drifting like dandelion clocks in late summer’s air, were golden wisps. She would have pinned it down to an overwrought mind, but as she reached out a hand to one, it curled around her finger.

She squinted into the distance, seeing more floating in a trail, and as though it wasn’t confirmation enough, the tether laced around her neck began to heat and thrum, as though it was urging her on too.

She set off at a ragged pace, reaching the edge of the clearing—the only part of her dreamscape she was familiar with.

To her utter surprise, beyond the hazy line of trees, she saw a forest, a winding path thick with undergrowth ahead. The golden light became brighter in the twilight, and she followed it, a prayer whispered between her lips over and over that Enzo would be there beyond the trees, waiting for her.

There was resistance as she stepped beyond the boundaries of her dreamscape, and she checked on her own tether nervously as she traversed into unknown dreamlands—ones that weren’t her own anymore.

She barely took note of the world around her. She did not notice the creaking sign leading into the dark woods, did not feel her shadow, or notice the absence of it just yet.

Her sole focus was Enzo.

She heard the sound of running water and frowned, looking to her feet and the silver water running alongside her. She opened her mouth to call out Enzo’s name again and promptly stopped. There, in the water, the light was brightest, gold shining from the centre of the river. And as she stumbled towards it, the light made clearer, she saw him.

Enzo’s figure was flickering, as though the very last tie of him to this world was slipping as he sank to his chest, and Elara began to sprint, yanking his tether from around her neck.

“Enzo!” she screamed. But her love didn’t hear her, too preoccupied with something within the water. And without turning around, she saw him finally submerge.

It was darker and cooler than Enzo expected, these last moments of his life.

He had expected blinding light or searing heat as his soul began to disperse, but here bathed in memories, there was only the quiet night that he adored so much.

He was standing on a balcony—one that looked like his in Helios. But this time, instead of the space between Stars that he used to pray to, shone the Moon.

Her silver light bathed him, and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, soaking in Elara. He’d been talking to her all along, praying to her. All those nights out here as a broken little boy.

He heard soft footsteps scuffle onto the terrace, and a familiar scent enveloping him—though it wasn’t Elara’s.

When he turned, he stilled.

A beautiful woman stood next to him, arms resting on the balcony. Her skin was golden brown, eyes too, golden pendants bedecking her curly black hair. And it was a faint scent of amber oil that drifted off her.

“Mother?” he croaked.

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