Chapter 21 | “The New Language of Love”

 

 The Echo

That evening, I sat on the hill behind the cottage, where tiny white flowers bloomed like stars in the grass. The wind was soft, like someone whispering close by. I closed my eyes, and it felt like my heartbeat echoed from the other side of the mountain.

"Do you still remember what you promised?" the voice asked.

I didn’t answer right away. I thought of the dreams I used to have as a child — running far, holding a bundle of light. Where had that light come from? And why did I always feel I had to bring it somewhere?

"You once said you'd carry this gentleness, and remind people of love when they were about to forget," the voice was soft, but sure.

I opened my eyes and looked at the sky. So vast. So empty. So near. Like a boundless mirror. In it, I saw another version of me — the one who remembered everything.

I nodded quietly and whispered in my heart: "I still remember."

And I knew — this was not an ending, but the overture to another beginning.

Yet what I didn’t see… was a familiar silhouette slowly approaching from the edge of the forest.