The sun hung
low as the two boys walked through the inner garden behind the eastern
tower—guided only by a softly glowing pathlight orb.
Instructor
Calisya"s instructions were simple:.
''This is not combat. This is alignment. The first step is to spend time near each other.
Let your auras begin to understand one another. Let silence do its work."
There were no
weapons. No tasks. Just time. And silence.
✦ The Garden of Stillness.
They found
themselves in a half-wild, half-magical grove. Crystalline flowers glowed
softly under the shade of silver-leafed trees. The air hummed faintly—not
sound, not wind, but something deeper.
Advait sat on a
low stone ledge near a reflective pool.
Viaan stood awkwardly nearby, kicking at a loose petal on the ground.
"You always this quiet?" he asked eventually.
Advait looked up. "Only when there's nothing to say."
Viaan smirked,
then sat across from him.
"I'm not great at... sitting still," he muttered. "Feels like something inside me gets louder."
Advait tilted his head slightly. "What does it say?"
Viaan shrugged. ''That I'm waiting for someone who might not exist."
The answer stunned even him.
He didn't look up, but he felt it—Advait's eyes on him.
✦ A Pause That Means Something.
They didn"t speak for a while after that. The garden breathed around them.
Advait finally
broke the silence.
"I've been having strange dreams lately," he said quietly. " And someone in that dream calls a name."
Viaan looked at him sharply.
"You too?"
"I'm also having similar dreams, like someone is calling me or calling someone by
their name''
" what name'' Advait asked.
"Rael" Viaan said.
Advait's voice dropped. "Ashara."
Their eyes met
across the pool.
No answers. No
clarity.
But something
ancient and aching cracked beneath the surface of their silence.
✦ Closer.
They didn't sit across each other for much longer.
Later, they
both ended up under the same tree—leaning against opposite sides of its trunk.
A silence hung between them, but this time it wasn't empty.
It was warm. Comfortable.
Viaan glanced over, voice softer than before. "You ever feel like your body remembers
something your mind forgot?"
"All the time," Advait replied. "Like my hands know a song I've never played."
Viaan inhaled. ''Yeah. That."
✦ Almost.
As the sky deepened to twilight, fireflies lit up in the grass.
Viaan stretched
out on his back. "Weirdest thing?" he said. "I feel more... okay with you. Like I can breathe."
Advait didn't reply right away.
Then, softly: "I feel it too."
Viaan sat up,watching him through the dim light.
He wanted to ask something more. Maybe why Advait always looked like he was waiting. Maybe why his voice made silence feel alive.
But instead, he simply leaned back again, and said:.
"I don't know who you were before."
Advait closed his eyes.
"But you felt familiar to me." "I dont know why''.
✦ The Final
Moment.
They sat side by side now, the tree behind them, fireflies flickering across the grass like
suspended stars.
Neither spoke.
They didn"t need to.
Then—without
thinking—Viaan"s hand shifted slightly, fingers brushing the grass between
them.
Advait's hand, resting nearby, stilled.
Their fingers
didn"t quite touch.
But the air between their palms shimmered.
Faint light rose—silver and gold, the colors subtle, barely visible.
Not seen by the
eye.
But felt by the soul.
A soft, shared pulse.
Then it faded.
Viaan exhaled. ''What was that?"
Advait
whispered, "An aura reaction?, but why."
And neither
moved away.