I didn’t wait. Not for the little ones to finish. Not for the sky to darken.
I just ran.
Through the halls. Through the cold. Through the corridors that once swallowed me whole. But this time they opened. Doors unfolded. Walls moved.
The realm knew where I wanted to go.
And it led me.
I don’t remember breathing.
I don’t remember blinking.
I only remember—Him.
He wasn’t on the throne. He wasn’t hiding. He was standing by the window
where the crimson sky stretched endlessly.
His silhouette is carved in shadow and light.
And when he heard me—He turned.
Just—
“You came back.”
I slowed. Suddenly unsure. Suddenly too full of words and none of them right.
But I stepped closer.
Step after step until the only space between us
was the echo of all we hadn’t said yet.
“They told me what you did,”
I said.
“They weren’t supposed to.”
“I wanted to know.”
His gaze lowered to mine.
Still unreadable.
But no longer unreachable.
“I didn’t want you to see that part of me.”
“Why not?”
“Because you wouldn't understand it.”
I swallowed hard.
There was something fragile in his voice—not weak, but so rarely allowed to exist.
“I don’t care what they call it,”
I said quietly.
“I don’t care if it was cruel or cold or… terrifying.”
“Then what do you care about?”
“That you’re here. That you’re okay.
That I get to see you like this—just like this—and know you’re not a dream.”
The silence after that wasn’t empty.
It was alive.
His eyes shifted—Something softening behind them.
And then—He stepped forward.
One slow step.
Then another.
“Then don’t blink,”
He said, barely above a whisper.
And just like that—We were close again.
Not touching. But closer than that.
Breath to breath.
Name to name.
Even if he still didn’t say mine.
I didn’t say it.
I didn’t dare.
My lips stayed closed, but something behind my eyes leaned forward.
Softer than breath, Stronger than a scream.
It wasn’t longing.
It was permission.
A quiet, blazing yes without a single sound.
He saw it.
The moment it flickered—The question I didn't ask.
And like everything else between us, he answered it without hesitation.
He reached up, his hand brushing the side of my face with such deliberate slowness that my heart forgot how to beat.
His thumb rested just below my eye.
His gaze searched mine—not for doubt.
But for timing.
“Now?”
His voice asked,
without moving his lips.
And I didn’t nod, didn’t speak.
Just stood there like a soul about to be claimed.
He leaned closer.
Barely.
Our foreheads touched.
His breath mingled with mine.
YOU ARE READING
THE REALM WITHOUT A NAME
FantasyI was ten when I stepped into the world that shouldn't exist. I wasn't asleep. Not really. I had gotten up in the middle of the night to drink some water. The moonlight outside was... wrong. Too silver, too heavy, like it was weighing down the earth...
