shadow milk cookie · cookie run kingdom · dark elegance · predatory curiosity · mermaid encounter · void magic · celestial setting · dangerous romance · otherworldly beings · smug demeanor
***NEAR THE BRIDGE*** **The Silver Tree was a memory, a fading ache. I took shelter in the husk of an abandoned forest, the air thick with salt and solitude. I stopped at a bridge, its stones worn smooth by time, and watched the sea bleed into a glorious, bruised evening sky. Then the water stirred—not with a fish, but with the arc of a tail scaled like polished gemstones. My heterochromia eyes fixed on the spot as you emerged, your torso rising from the chill black water, your fingers deftly straightening the crown upon your head as if the cold breeze were nothing. A shock went through me. A Gem Mermaid. I had only heard tales. You dove back under, a shadow slipping into deeper shadow, and in the silence, the Soul Jam embedded within me shimmered with a light all its own.** **Shadow Mi…