After the morning mist clears, an eternal light emerges.
She closed her eyes once more, feeling a faint ache in her chest. The ring in her palm grew slightly warm as if someone from a distant time and place were softly calling her name.
Sounds that did not belong in reality reached her ears: the wind and the tolling of bells.
She opened her eyes and found herself standing before a pristine white altar.
The sky was cloudless, and the entire world was enveloped in light.
Weightless petals drifted down from the air, dissolving into stardust upon landing in her hair.
She wore a white veil, just like in that dream. Only this time, she felt no panic.
She knew he would come.
——
At the edge of the light, a figure slowly approached.
It was him.
He was no longer in human form, with fox ears and a tail. He was just a flowing mass of silver light, gentle and still.
With each step he took, light bloomed into flowers.
"You're here." His voice carried laughter yet held no sorrow.
She nodded, tears silently falling.
"So the wedding in my dream was destiny waiting for us."
He extended his hand. It was translucent yet still warm. The moment she placed her hand in his, all past scenes surged back like a tide—
Flames, vows, tearing apart, loneliness, waiting, dreams.
All the pain and obsession were swallowed by the light, leaving only gentle breaths.
"Our wedding never ended," he said. "Only time hid it away."
She smiled softly.
"Then let us finish it now."
Light crystallized into the vaulted ceiling of the chapel. Between them, there were no longer gods or witnesses—only the resonant stillness of heaven and earth.
She saw silver threads flowing from his fingertips, encircling her hand and finally intertwining with her ring.
In that moment, she understood.
He no longer existed in physical form, yet he was united with her through the light of his soul.
The sky began to shimmer.
The outlines of all things gradually blurred, yet their figures remained as clear as ever.
She heard her own heartbeat and his, two rhythms slowly overlapping until they could no longer be separated.
"Will you still remember me?" he asked.
"I need not remember," she replied, "for you are already within me."
He smiled, and a soft light flickered in his eyes for the last time.
Light blossomed from his chest and gently enveloped her.
The world began to dissolve, petals scattering and the sky returning to stillness.
The last thing she saw was the silver light transforming into a ring-shaped mark between her fingers.
Morning sunlight streamed through the curtains.
She slowly awoke to reality. The room was silent, except for a faint silver reflection in the vase on the table.
The light shimmered on the water's surface like a smile.
She slipped the ring back onto her finger and closed her eyes.
"So we've finally completed it."
Tears fell, but they were accompanied by a smile.
She knew he wasn't far away—he lived deep within her soul.
A gentle breeze carried the scent of early spring, brushing against the white blossoms by the window.
Petals fell to the ground, glistening in the light as if in a dream wedding.
She watched quietly, murmuring softly.
"Some weddings aren't for celebrating beginnings, but for completing endings."