In the hush of the sylvan breeze that shouldn't have existed in the depths of where they stood, Cassien and Naomi stayed frozen at the overwhelming evidence of the haven they were unintentionally invading. The air shimmered with sunlight that Naomi still couldn't determine the source of, and her bones shuddered with the ancient unknown magics of the meadow.

Naomi sucked in her cheeks, chin lifted with nervous energy. "I… I don't think we should be here."

"On the contrary," Cassien stood first, readjusting his gloves. "The tunnel revealed this to us for a reason - our combined magic permeated something, and gave us entrance here."

"You think we were purposely granted entrance? Like some test?"

"If an ancient goddess once stayed in this meadow, she could certainly decide on the barriers that restrict certain people from entering. I doubt someone like Alistair would be welcome in such a space."

Naomi gave him a half-smile. "You sound very confident about that."

"Think about it: all this time, we've been warned that the way to Lore's Grotto is a maze - and it has been. We still don't know where we're going. But to end up here of all places after using our magic… Yeah, I'm confident. It would make sense to find the grotto using the same logic."

She quirked her lip to one side, reaching for his hand and squeezed tightly. "You make a good point. We were going around in circles. So what do we do?"

"Well I was hoping you'd come up with that during my big speech there."

Naomi let out a burst of giggles. "Cassien!"

He kissed the top of her head. "Well, dove, for all the impulsive things you do that make me question my own sanity at times - you do have quite a brilliant mind."

Naomi pulled away to swat at him, but she didn't stop laughing. "Alright, alright. Give me and my brilliant, impulsive brain a minute to think."

Strong arms encircled her once more from behind. Cassien let himself fall to the grass to a sitting position, pulling Naomi with him. He settled her in between his legs and kissed the sides of her face, her hair repeatedly while he murmured words of encouragement. Naomi leaned back against him, nuzzled in the cradle of his warm embrace and enjoyed the attention. They sat in a content, rare break while her mind hummed with theories and possibilities to explore.

Still, they had to reach the others soon - they didn't have the privilege of time in sorting out this new enigma. She had to decide what to do next, and quickly.

Her gaze drifted to the double impression at the base of the weeping tree.

"Do you think we'll get shot by some kind of mystic power if we laid in their spots?" Naomi bit her lip, brows furrowed.

He paused, then kissed the sharpness of her jaw. "At least we'd die together."

She gasped. "You are awful."

"But that's a good idea. We might as well try it."

They untangled themselves to shuffle closer to the impressions. It was then Naomi noticed with a perceptive eye that though the outlines were close, there was a thin barrier of untouched grass between them - as if the bodies that laid here never touched.

Cassien went first.

Nothing happened.

Naomi took a deep breath and shoved aside her superstitions, and laid down beside Cassien. Just as she suspected, there was a noticeable distance between them - at least the measure of a hand.

Silence lingered for several long moments before she turned her head to look at him. "Well, so much for that-"

Like an extinguished flame, the golden sunlight of the meadow snuffed out entirely, enveloping the cave in a hollow darkness. Simultaneously, the streaks of lost light suddenly became replaced with spilled moonlight, and the flowers around began to glow a startling lilac.

Naomi's vision blurred for a breathless instant, and when she blinked once more, the world before them changed to pitch black. Out of instinct, the two reached for one another - only to feel a cold drift of their hands passing through like mist. She recoiled at the strange weightlessness, and it was then that they both realized their bodies were no longer solid. They glowed a strange shade of white-blue translucence, and for a moment, panic fluttered in her chest.

But Cassien's eyes - though not golden in such a phantom state - found hers, and she felt a calm steadiness wash over her instantly. He didn't speak, but she knew to follow his silent lead.

Amidst the endless dark, the meadow and its weeping tree reappeared, and this time they stood facing it at a distance. The only difference was that the petals of the weeping willow tree didn't seem to be merely flowers - it was hair.

A slender, womanly figure materialized, laying on a high, thick branch. She gave off a luminescence unlike anything Naomi had seen before, like her skin was made of a million shattered diamonds. Impossibly long hair that resembled the colour of melted starlight cascaded down and around every branch, strewn about like the silk of a spider's web. The woman was indescribably beautiful, dressed in spilled moonlight that ghosted away at the edges. She had sleepy eyes in the shade of pale lilac, full lips curved up on an oval face.

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She was not alone.

At the base of the tree sat a man with hip-length hair, dark as a river of ink. His caramel eyes sparkled with adoration and a longing he made no effort to hide, hands rested neatly in his lap. His features were chiseled yet demure, as if his features had been handpainted with satin.

Both Naomi and Cassien could scarcely believe that they were witnesses to the apparition of the long lost moon goddess and her consort.

Lunare hummed, her voice lilted like a shimmering chime. Millions of stars twinkled above in the embrace of the crescent moon. "The breeze is much nicer up here. Are you sure you don't want to join me?"

The man replied in deep baritone, and even Naomi could feel the hearty vibration from where she stood. It was warm, rich - like being wrapped in a blanket by a smouldering fire. "You know that I would if I could, my dear."

"You can," she said as she turned upside down, the hair by the crown of her head twisted like thread to spindle. "You only have to accept my offer: say yes to divinity."

She stretched her arm out, and though she was more than several bodies' length away, a ghostly apparition of her hand appeared beside him. It hovered tantalizingly close to his skin, but never touching - almost teasing. Lore's golden skin began to smoke, and Lunare pulled away, halting the vapor.

"Then, and only then, may we freely enjoy the warmth of each other's skin without harming your flesh."

"We have talked about this offer many times," Lore replied in gentle rejection, his smile bittersweet. "The rest of the world remains bound in the chains of monotony, while I roam free; free to choose, free to love. It is not fair only because I caught the eyes of a goddess."

Lunare drifted downwards to lay beside him, her hair floating behind as if it were underwater. Not a single strand strayed or became caught in the tree's branches, almost sentient to avoid brushing against Lore. Naomi could see now that the goddess kept a deliberate distance from him - close enough to enjoy his scent, his presence, but not enough to sear him.

"I did not choose you because of your appearance," Lunare corrected in a tender voice. She paused. "By your village, there is an old oak tree where a canary's nest had been torn apart by a storm. Do you remember that?"

He nodded. "Yes. Its young had been killed."

"Among all mortals that had passed by that tree, not a single one stopped to mourn - except for you. You deviated from your destined course and buried the remains, and rebuilt the nest from scratch. I… still do not understand how you did so."

"But that level of compassion is not something I could have written into you. The willpower to break away should have been left to fate…" Lunare trailed off and cleared her throat. "The canary returned to the nest soon after, when normally, it would have abandoned it after a human had touched their home - but it did not. That is why I chose you."

"I intrigued you."

"You intrigue me."

"And so you gave me awareness, and descended from the night sky to know of me," Lore murmured, eyes shining. "Bit by bit."

Lunare turned to her side to face him, and he to her. "And now we meet under the willow every night to speak - and every night, though I yearn for more, I am content to be by your side. A goddess succumbing to a mortal man. How unexpected."

"Contentedness is not the same as happiness, my dear." Lore shifted an inch closer, and she pulled back equally as much. "You know I wish to be with you in the same way. To give you everything you desire."

"You can, if you say yes. But you will not."

"But I will not. Not unless the rest have the same freedom as I."

She smiled sadly, not a single trace of anger on her otherworldly features. "Do you love me for who I am, and of your own volition, or because I am the only soul who understands this consciousness?"

Lore frowned slightly, a strange expression on his gentle face. "Do you believe I love another?"

Lunare nearly reached for his hand to hold for her own reassurance. "I… Even without will, it does not mean your attention is devoted solely for me. You have… your own right to choose whomever you wish to love."

"Is that what you fear: if the rest of the world were to be granted freewill, that I would leave you to be with a conscious mortal instead?" Lore's tone was not accusing, not upset.

"With a human woman, you could wed, bear a child, and grow old together. Such delicacies of mortality are not the same for gods. It is understandable that you may not wish to give that up."

"And what would become of you, if that is the path I choose?"

Lunare's voice shook as she spoke, and the stars trembled accordingly. "I would continue to exist until the end of time, pining for a man who could never be mine. But I would let it be."

A sparkling tear more akin to liquid glass trailed down her cheek, and Lore reached out to brush it aside. The goddess nearly flinched away in fear of harming him; he continued anyway, ignoring the sear of pain that burned his hand for daring to touch divinity's physicality.

"My dear, resplendent goddess - I would ask that you cast me down into the Hells at this very moment for causing you to believe such a cruel possibility. My love for you is not a prison, nor a consolation for your gift. I would rather be subjected to eternal loneliness than to trade for anyone who was not you."

Lore didn't pull away, even as his palm continued to singe. "But if you must love me in the way you wish to, then I ask that you give the world the same thing you gifted me: grant unto them freewill, and I will become whatever you need me to be."

"And…" he pressed the tips of her fingers to his lips. "If you would like a form of reassurance - of loyalty - you may take it from me. Whatever you wish."

Lunare jerked away, though not quickly enough to stop the faint outline of a burn on his mouth. "Lore…"

"Take from me whatever you wish. Nothing is too great a price to ease your fears."

Lunare stood, body trembling at his offer, silken hair trailing behind like a curtain of pure silver. "If I take something from you, it is only right I relinquish something of mine as well."

"You do not have to give up anything-"

"Hush, my love. A goddess is speaking now." Her lips curled up in a jubilant smile, and both their eyes glimmered with unshed tears.

Lunare covered her left eye with her fingers, and a blaze of lilac light began to glow from within. "I will tear from myself my eye, and as a symbol of trust that by letting the world choose for themselves, I will blind myself to what is to come."

"In return, I will transform your greatest strength - your compassion - into a brilliant, unending magic of radiance and healing. And by doing so, tether your source of demi-divinity unto me for the rest of time. We will be bound to one another. Do you accept these terms?"

Lunare held out her free hand, and without hesitation, Lore grasped it. He kissed it once more with a fearless sizzle, knowing that never again, will he be wounded for loving her in the way she had always deserved.

"I do."

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