The wind rose gently, stirring Aria's hair as she still gazed at Wilfred's grave.
Van and Roy remained silent by her side, respectful, broken too, but in their own way.
Then, slowly, Aria stood up.
She placed a hand over her chest, where the beats of her heart suddenly seemed calmer, deeper.
A sad smile brushed her lips, so light it seemed drawn by the wind itself.
— I think… I will never fall in love with another man, she whispered.
Van lowered his eyes. Roy closed his.
— It's not that I refuse, she continued, but I don't think I can love anyone else. Not after him. Not after… what we were, in that brief moment suspended between night and hope.
Then she took a few steps, moving away from the grave, from her two friends…
Towards the pale horizon.
Her sandals brushed the fresh grass.
She walked slowly, as if guided by an ancient memory.
She arrived at a small flowery plain, in shades of silver and midnight blue.
A field she had once discovered by chance.
A field Wilfred secretly loved, because it reminded him of a dream of humanity:
the scent of seasons, the thrill of morning, the flowers that grow despite the shadow.
Aria knelt among the flowers, closed her eyes, and laid a hand on the warm earth.
— It's here… that I hear you best, she murmured.
Between roots and sky.
She stayed there a long time, cradled by silence.
The wind in the flowers sounded almost like music.
Almost… a final symphony.
---
Symphony of the Void – Final Epilogue
She loved only a king without a kingdom.
And he loved only an impossible light.
But between them, the shadow danced…
And life, despite everything, still sang.