Kael stopped before the tall, dark wooden door, carved with ancient runes that shimmered faintly in the magical light of the castle corridors. The Witch Kingdom was silent—too late for servants, too early for meetings. The kind of hour when only the heaviest thoughts seemed awake.

He raised his hand and knocked. Three firm knocks.

The sound echoed through the empty corridor.

For a few seconds, nothing. Then, soft footsteps. The doorknob turned.

The door opened, and there she was.

Sylphie.

Her long, white hair cascaded in waves, reflecting the lilac light of the runes like strands of moonlight. Her emerald eyes met his first in surprise, then in relief.

"Kael?" She blinked, surprised. "Are you… alright?"

He tried to smile, but the weariness on his face betrayed him.

"More or less."

She opened the door completely. "Come in."

Kael stepped across the threshold, and immediately felt the difference—the air in her chambers was different from the rest of the castle. Alive. The scent of flowers and damp leaves hung in the air, mixed with a sweet, almost ethereal aroma.

"I'll make some tea, you look tired," Sylphie said, closing the door behind him.

He simply nodded and looked around.

Sylphie's chambers… weren't ordinary chambers. They were almost an entire house.

There was a small, simple but charming kitchen, with crystals floating in the air, illuminating the utensils. A living room with sofas of enchanted moss, soft and green as spring. A table made of living wood and spiral stairs leading to a second floor.

"How does all this fit in here?" he asked, intrigued.

Sylphie gave a light laugh, already lighting a small flame under the kettle. "Apparently, all the rooms in the castle are like this. Spaces shaped by your grandmother's magic. They say she created the chambers as little worlds within other worlds."

Kael raised an eyebrow, a weary smile crossing his lips. "Yes… that sounds like something she would do."

"She's an incredible woman," Sylphie said, gently handling the herbs.

"Yes," he replied, without much thought. "And terrifying. Especially when she's excited—never mind." he muttered softly.

Sylphie let out a soft laugh. The sound was light, crystalline. The kind of laughter that seemed to illuminate the room.

Kael sat down at the table.

The tabletop was polished and vibrant, and he could swear he felt the warmth flowing from the wood beneath his fingers.

From where he sat, he could perfectly see Sylphie's back.

The way her white hair fell over her dark blue dress. The delicacy with which she moved her hands as she prepared the tea. The touch of concentration in every gesture.

In the last few months, she had changed—grown, matured, blossomed.

The dark elf with white hair who once seemed frightened of her own power now had a serene, firm presence.

And beautiful.

More beautiful than he remembered.

Kael rested his elbow on the table and watched in silence.

The flickering firelight danced across her face, drawing soft shadows on the curves of her neck and pointed ears.

A strange thought crossed his mind—quick, like lightning, but deep enough to leave him motionless.

For an instant, he saw.

Not with his eyes, but with something beyond—a flash, a fragment of time.

Sylphie, older, the smile the same, but the look different—mature, calm.

Kael beside her, laughing.

The two of them holding hands, walking through a forest.

And then… a garden. A ceremony. She was wearing a dress made of light and leaves, and he had the shadow resting like a cloak on his shoulders.

And between them… a child.

Small, smiling, with silver hair and eyes as green as the forest.

A little elf girl.

The image struck him with the force of a tide.

Kael blinked, his heart racing.

The shadows around the room seemed to tremble for a second—reacting to the turmoil within him.

He took a deep breath, shaking his head, trying to push it away.

"Not now…" he murmured to himself. "I don't want to see this now."

The echo of the vision slowly dissipated, like smoke.

Across from him, Sylphie turned, bringing two steaming cups.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, noticing his distant expression.

Kael looked up and forced a half-smile. "Just… tired."

She placed the tray on the table and sat down opposite him.

Her eyes silently analyzed him—as if trying to understand what he wasn't saying.

"You don't just look tired," she said, finally. "You look… heavy."

Kael chuckled softly. "That's a new one."

"I'm not kidding," Sylphie insisted, blowing on her tea before taking a sip.

"Your mana is… strange. Almost… pulsing too much."

He looked away, stirring the liquid in his cup without drinking.

"It's just too much on my mind."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Not now, at least."

The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable. It was… human.

They just sat there, facing each other, the sound of the wind passing through the enchanted windows, the aroma of the tea mingling with the night.

Sylphie watched him—with that look he never knew how to handle.

It wasn't curiosity, nor pity. It was… care.

A pure, unconditional care.

"It's been a long time since you came to see me, or rather… since we were alone together," she said softly.

Kael looked up. "I'm sorry… those two are always with us, right? It's complicated…"

Sylphie smiled and shook her head, "They love you just like I love you, fortunately I can understand and manage my feelings." She said, getting up and sitting beside him.

Kael was silent for a few moments, watching the steam from the tea rise and dissipate between them. Sylphie's words lingered in the air—soft, but with a weight he felt in his chest.

She loved him.

She had said it with the same calmness with which one says something obvious, inevitable.

And, somehow, that disarmed him more than any battle.

Kael took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, too tired to hide what he was carrying.

"Ygg came to talk to me."

Sylphie looked away, but the smile that bloomed on her lips was peaceful.

"I figured."

"She wants to take you," he continued, his voice hoarse. "She said the roots are calling you. That it's time."

The elf remained silent for a few seconds, stirring her tea slowly, as if his words were no surprise at all.

"I already knew, Kael."

He frowned, confused. "You knew?"

"For a long time." She put down the cup and looked him in the eyes—that vibrant green that seemed to contain the very heart of the forest. "Since the day Yggdrazil entrusted me to you."

Kael blinked, surprised. "So… you always knew this day would come?"

Sylphie nodded, with a serene, melancholic smile.

"I knew that my time with you would be short. That this world, your world… wouldn't keep me for long."

She slowly rose and walked to the window. The moon illuminated her face, and her white hair shone like living silver.

"That's why I decided to use every moment I had to be close to you."

Kael watched in silence, feeling a lump form in his throat.

Every gesture of hers, every smile, every conversation, every cup of tea in the last few months… now made sense.

She turned to him, leaning her shoulder against the window frame, and her smile softened.

"You never noticed, did you?"

"Notice what?" he asked, in a lower tone.

"That I knew all of this would end. That every mission, every conversation, every cup of tea—everything we experienced was… borrowed."

Kael lowered his gaze. "You shouldn't talk as if you're going away forever."

"But that's what it is," she replied, without sadness in her voice—only acceptance.

"Ygg won't just take me away. She will take me to the beginning."

The silence between them lengthened, and Kael finally stood up. He walked to her, his steps slow, until he stopped a few feet away.

"And what does that mean… for us?" Sylphie raised her face, and the smile she gave was sweet, yet firm.

"It means that time is up. But not what I feel."

Kael took a deep breath. "You talk as if I wouldn't try to stop you."

"You won't," she replied, softly but confidently. "Because you know you shouldn't."

His eyes hardened. "I've defied worse things."

She laughed softly and looked at him tenderly. "Yes. But never something that asked you to let go."

Kael fell silent.

Anger, helplessness, and sadness mingled within him, like contained storms.

And she… just looked at him, serene, almost at peace.

"I used this time to get to know you," Sylphie said, speaking again, her voice like a low song. "To see you laughing, to hear you complaining about the missions, to see you sleeping on the couch when you said you were only going to rest for a minute."

Kael let out a short, humorless laugh. "So you were watching me sleep now?"

"I'd call it scientific observation," she replied, raising an eyebrow, amused. "Studying the behavior of a tired Kael."

"Research results?"

"That you're stubborn even when you're sleeping."

Kael laughed genuinely this time.

But the laughter quickly faded into silence.

A heavy silence.

He took a step forward. She didn't recoil.

"Sylphie," he murmured, his voice low. "If you knew how little time you have left... would you still have stayed close to me?"

"Even more so," she replied without hesitation. "Because the less time there is, the more precious it becomes."

He stared at her, trying to find an answer, a loophole, anything that would help him not feel that way—but all he saw was truth. Pure and raw.

And when Sylphie raised her hand and touched his face, her cold skin made the warmth in his chest expand painfully.

"Kael..." she whispered. "I was happy when you said we were going to get married, even if it included those two... seriously, I wanted a more formal proposal." She pouted and turned to him.

"It will be a long time before we see each other again, and when we do, you will be a different person, and I will be a different person too. Even so, I will love you more and more as I watch everything from afar."

"Become stronger, and survive until I complete my transformation and become the Dryad of the World Tree. When that happens, I will come back and we will continue our life together." She spoke, smiling as a small tear formed around her eyes...

"Sylphie, I-" Kael tried to say something, but was silenced by Sylphie's mouth kissing him deeply while holding his face.

[You have conquered the soul of the Dryad of the World Tree]

[System updating]