The garden didn’t bloom for everyone.
But tonight, it bloomed for her.
The air shifted as she stepped forward, as though the garden inhaled her presence. A soft hum rose from the ground — not sound, but sensation — brushing against her ankles like a greeting. She’d walked through dreamscapes before, but nothing had ever felt this… aware. As if the realm itself had been waiting for her to arrive, and now that she had, it could finally exhale.
Elara stepped onto the winding path, moonlace trailing behind her, the air thick with scent and shimmer. Flowers turned as she passed—soft-faced blooms with petals like parchment, vines that pulsed faintly with light. The trees overhead rustled without wind, their leaves catching fragments of thought and releasing them as color.
Calvinus walked bes
