Silence.
Darkness.
A strange sensation… floating, weightless, without direction.
Is this a dream?
Little by little, a gentle melody reaches me. Distant at first, almost unreal. Then a voice.
Young. Feminine.
Clear and delicate, as if coming from elsewhere.
Am I in heaven?
I move forward now, without really knowing how. My steps exist, yet they make no sound. As if the ground itself were absorbing their presence.
The voice grows closer. Always gentle. Never insistent.
A call.
A lighthouse in the night.
The darkness remains, yet I move on without fear, guided by that irresistible voice. It surrounds me, reassures me, draws me in.
What if it is a trap?
A siren’s voice… so beautiful, so enchanting…
Words begin to form more clearly in my still-clouded mind.
“Everything is fine…
You are safe…
Take your time…
Listen to my voice…”
Slowly, the darkness cracks. A dim light appears, soft, never blinding. It grows, spreads, like a restrained dawn.
“Breathe slowly… deeply…
That’s it… very good…”
Sensations return.
The air against my skin.
The gentle warmth of the ground.
Images take shape.
Above me, an immense sky. Thousands of stars shimmer, countless, radiant. A light breeze stirs the surrounding leaves. And everywhere, the song of cicadas, vibrant, almost hypnotic.
It is gentle.
It is good.
I could remain lying here a little longer. Just listening. Just feeling. Time no longer seems to hold any power here.
Turning my head slightly, I see a face.
Beautiful.
Gentle.
Reassuring.
A young girl stands beside me, bathed in starlight. She smiles at me with disarming warmth. A simple, obvious kindness, into which I slip without resistance.
“You can rest a little longer if you want.
There’s nothing to fear.”
I open my eyes wider.
The night is fully settled, yet nothing is dark. The sky bathes the countryside in its starry glow, revealing rolling fields, distant hills, a peaceful horizon. The sight is breathtaking.
At my side, the young girl keeps watch, as if she has known these lands forever. She wears a deep blue cloak, wide and enveloping, almost blending into the celestial scenery. At her shoulder, a small travel bag, worn but sturdy, seems to hold only the essentials.
Her amber eyes glow softly, like two lanterns in the dark.
Her silver hair shimmers beneath the starlight, trembling with the breeze.
And… her cat ears. Very real. Upright. Attentive.
What world have I fallen into?
A strange urge passes through me—irrepressible—the desire to reach out and brush them with my fingertips. I restrain myself. Something whispers that this gesture may come later.
She smiles a little more, as if she had sensed that fleeting thought.
“Welcome, dear traveler.”
Her voice is lively, almost musical. It blends naturally with the chorus of cicadas, to the point where it feels like a continuous melody.
“My name is Aelycia.
I’m so happy to come across another face…
I had been walking for days without meeting a soul.”
She adjusts the strap of her bag, then looks at me with sincere attention.
“How do you feel?
A little tired, perhaps…
Or hungry.”
She laughs softly.
“It’s often like that after a long journey…
Even when you don’t remember starting it.”
She gestures lightly toward the surroundings.
“You arrived at just the right time, anyway.
In the middle of summer.
In this land where the warm season lasts only a single month…
But what a month.”
Her voice is so beautiful, so fluid, that I almost forget the meaning of the words. It is as if she were singing, accompanied by the night itself.
I slowly sit up and observe the surroundings.
Nothing suggests danger.
The landscape feels strangely familiar, like an ancient memory buried beneath other lives.
Aelycia falls silent, respecting my quiet. Then, in an even gentler voice:
“Take your time.
The night is soft…
And we are expected nowhere.”
She smiles.
And for the first time since waking, a calm certainty settles within me:
whatever this place may be,
whatever this world may be,
I am exactly where I am meant to be.
