D eath is a door.

In the darkness, I watch Caduan’s silhouette stand at its threshold. I

cannot see what lies beyond it, but I know that there is something there.

As I hover on the edge of nothing and everything, terror clenches me. I think of honey, and music, and the way a million other souls felt connected to me in a home I knew once, long ago.

Caduan turns.

“Are you afraid?” he asks me.

At first I want to tell him that I am. But then I think of the night I asked him if he feared death. I fear only what it may take from me, he told me.

I realize that there is nothing that death can take from me, now. The only thing I need is here.

I have left my mark upon the world. I have written a new story.

And I have him.

Love is worth creating for. Worth dying for. “No,” I answer.

Together we turn to the door. Together we will cross it. Together we will conquer the next unknown.

His hand reaches out for me. His lips curl into a sad smile. “Come home, Aefe,” he murmurs.

I love how he says my name. I take his hand.