Chapter 96: The goddess of creation
Ceremus left his mother's temple feeling heavier than he was when he had first arrived. Still worried, he visited Hael, as he did every day.
Ceremus' steps were heavy as he entered the chamber, his breath catching in his throat. He felt his heart break at the sight of Hael lying there, stuck in a deep sleep with no way of knowing when he'll awake from his slumber.
He clutched onto the linen bedsheets, his other hand gripping Hael's hand that had always held a comforting warmth, but was now cold. The room was silent save for the faint rustling of fabric, and the quiet hum of candle flames swaying in the drafty room.
He felt overwhelming regret and anger, directed not at Hael, his mother, or his circumstances, but at himself.
"I don't know how much longer of this I can take...what does your gender matter? Or my insecurities? I ran away like a coward, afraid of letting myself go, losing myself to emotions when you'd leave...I should have held onto you. I should have appreciated you more." He lamented as his eyes watered from pain.
"I was a fool...I never realized how lonely it could be without you here," he whispered. "Hurry and come back already."
He stared at Hael's face for a second longer before leaving the ward.
Meanwhile, Hael was face to face with a strange predicament of his own.
He opened his eyes, expecting the dim candlelight of Ceremus' chambers—but instead, he was greeted by an endless white void. Hael got up from the white bed made of soft linen he was lying on and walked out of the bare room. He walked along a long corridor but saw nothing but blank walls and a blank passage that seemed to lead to nowhere. He suddenly heard a sound. A deep, distant note resonated in the void. Then another. The sound of a harp, soft and beckoning playing in the distance. The sound of the music led Hael to a large room. Though it had the same white walls he had become accustomed to, this room carried a warm light unlike the dimness from before.
At the center of the room, seated before a golden harp, was a woman clothed in white. Her golden hair cascaded around her like a curtain. Hael could detect an immense energy coming from the figure, and the closer he got to them, the stronger the feeling was.
There was a certain familiarity he felt with the figure, but he couldn't quite place it. He ended up stopping just a few feet away from the figure when suddenly the music stopped and the figure turned their head to look at the young man. A gasp nearly escaped from his lips as he gazed upon her face. A delicate beauty, with the brightest and kindest eyes he'd ever seen. The woman smiled.