Threads of Starlight

The venue shimmered under soft, ambient lighting, a blend of modern elegance and celestial inspiration. Ethereal fabrics hung from minimalist structures, shifting gently with the movement of the guests. The scent of fresh linen and polished wood lingered in the air, blending with the quiet hum of conversation.

Aster adjusted the cuff of her blazer, her fingers brushing over the smooth fabric as she scanned the event hall. Murmurs of admiration rippled through the crowd.

Selene had outdone herself. Everything, from the textiles to the displays, whispered of something familiar, something ancient. Patterns woven into the fabrics mimicked constellations, golden threads intertwining like the paths of distant stars. Even the centerpiece of the exhibition, which is a grand tapestry that stretched across one wall, felt like a memory she couldn’t quite reach.

Aster exhaled, shaking off the unease creeping into her chest. It was just fabric. Just a design. But when she turned, she found Selene already watching her.

Their gazes locked across the room, and for a moment, the noise of the event dulled, the weight of something unsaid settling between them. Aster’s heartbeat slowed, the sound of clinking glasses and distant chatter warping, fading like the world itself had briefly hesitated.

A few feet away, Maia and Stellaire watched in silence.

Maia swirled the drink in her glass, eyes flickering with something unreadable. A slow, knowing smile tugged at her lips. “It’s happening,” she murmured, almost to herself. Stellaire, normally the first to crack a joke, let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “I don’t think they even know what they’re doing,” she muttered, her gaze darting between Aster and Selene. “They just… move toward each other.”

Maia hummed, tilting her head slightly. “Instinct.”

Stellaire scoffed, shaking her head. “That’s not instinct. That’s fate pulling them by the collar.”

And across the room, Selene finally moved.

She weaved through the guests with quiet purpose. Aster felt herself mirroring the motion before she even thought about it, drawn by something she didn’t understand.

Something was going to happen tonight.

She could feel it.

The quiet hum of conversation faded into the background as Selene walked toward Aster. There was no hesitation in her steps only a steady pull, a certainty she didn’t quite understand but didn’t resist.

Aster, standing near the centerpiece tapestry, felt her breath hitch as Selene closed the distance between them. She should’ve looked away. Should’ve pretended this wasn’t happening. But she didn’t.

“Everything turned out incredible,” Aster said, her voice steady despite the way her pulse quickened.

Selene’s lips curled into a soft smile. “It did, didn’t it?” Her fingers traced the edge of the tapestry absentmindedly. “Though, I can’t take all the credit. Sometimes, I feel like these designs already existed, and I just… found them.”

Aster’s gaze flickered to the golden threads woven into the dark fabric—stars, constellations, pathways. They weren’t just designs. They were familiar.

She didn’t realize she had reached out until her fingers brushed against the embroidery. The moment she touched it, a wave of something unexplainable rippled through her. A faint ringing filled her ears, like a distant echo of something vast, something old.

The air between her and Selene seemed to hum just for a second.

Selene noticed.

Her fingers hovered over Aster’s for the briefest moment before she pulled back, clearing her throat. “I—I was looking for you earlier,” she said, as if changing the subject could erase whatever had just passed between them.

Aster let her hand drop. “Oh? Why?”

Selene hesitated, something flickering in her eyes, uncertainty, hesitation, and something else. “I just… I wanted to thank you. For everything. For being here.”

Aster blinked, surprised by the sudden sincerity. “You don’t have to thank me. You know I’d be here no matter what.”

Selene exhaled, shaking her head with a quiet chuckle. “I know. That’s the thing.”

A moment stretched between them, fragile and unspoken.

Across the room, Maia and Stellaire exchanged glances.

“They’re feeling it,” Maia murmured, tapping her nails against her glass.

Stellaire exhaled sharply. “Yeah. And it’s about to get stronger.”

As if on cue, the air in the room shifted subtly but unmistakably. The guests didn’t notice at first. But then, a server hesitated mid step, a confused frown forming as the overhead lights dimmed for just a second too long. A couple near the bar shivered simultaneously, exchanging puzzled glances. Somewhere in the crowd, a child tugged at their mother’s sleeve.

“Mom,” the child whispered. “The stars are moving.”

The mother laughed softly, ruffling their hair. “They’re not moving, sweetheart.”

But they were.

Above the venue’s glass ceiling, the stars flickered not just as distant lights in the sky but as if something beneath them was shifting. Aligning.

Aster and Selene hadn’t noticed yet. But they would. And when they did, there would be no turning back.

The distant hum of the event felt muted, as if the world had dimmed just for them.

Somehow, in the midst of everything, they had ended up here on the balcony overlooking the city, away from the crowd, away from the flashing lights and polite conversations.

Just them.

The night air was crisp, carrying the faint scent of jasmine from the rooftop garden. Below, the city stretched endlessly, a sea of glowing windows and distant laughter. But none of it mattered. Not when Selene was standing this close. Not when Aster could hear the faint hitch in her breath.

Selene rested her hands on the railing, her fingers grazing the cool metal. “It’s beautiful from up here.”

Aster wasn’t looking at the view.

“It is,” she murmured, her gaze steady on Selene.

Selene turned, meeting her eyes. Whatever words she had planned to say vanished.

The moment stretched, delicate yet unbreakable. Aster wasn’t sure who moved first. Maybe it had been inevitable. Selene shifted, just enough for Aster to catch the slight tremor in her breath. The way the city lights reflected in her eyes, like constellations waiting to be traced.

Aster exhaled. “Selene…”

Selene tilted her head, something unreadable flickering across her face. “Tell me you don’t feel it,” she whispered.

Aster didn’t answer.

She couldn’t.

Because she did.

It was in the way her chest tightened, in the way her fingertips burned with the need to reach out. In a way, standing this close to Selene felt like remembering something she had never known.

Selene took a step closer, and Aster mirrored it without thinking.

They were so close now.

Too close.

Not close enough.

Selene hesitated, her hand lifting as if to touch Aster’s cheek but stopping just short, hovering, waiting.

Aster swallowed hard. Her heart was a drumbeat against her ribs, loud enough that she was sure Selene could hear it.

This wasn’t just a pull. This was gravity.

Selene’s lips parted, her breath warm against the cool air. “Aster…”

Aster closed the distance.

Soft. Searching. A breath of warmth against the chill of the night.

Selene let out a quiet, shaky sigh against her lips, fingers curling against the fabric of Aster’s blazer. Aster pulled her closer. Slow, certain. Like she had been reaching for her across lifetimes.

For a moment, nothing else existed.

No questions. No hesitations.

Just this.

And then...

A sudden pulse of energy rippled through the air.

Aster barely had time to react before the rooftop lights flickered. The city below blurred, distorting like a mirage. Selene gasped against her lips, her fingers tightening against Aster’s chest as a wave of warmth surged through them.

And then, for a fraction of a second...

Aster saw her. Not Selene as she was now, but Selene as something more. Drifting gold embroidery. A cascade of celestial robes. Eyes that held entire galaxies.

Selene saw it too.

Because when the lights stabilized, when the air stilled...

She was staring.

Breathless.

Shaken.

Changed.

Aster and Selene remained in the quiet, soft space between them, hands lingering as if the moment could stretch on forever. But then, just as quickly, something shifted.

A flicker.

A breath of light, barely perceptible, seemed to ripple over their forms.

For an instant, Aster’s vision blurred, and she felt the air hum around them like static before a storm. Through the haze of the moment, she saw it: her own celestial self, shimmering over her, an ethereal mirror image dressed in armor kissed by distant stars, eyes burning with recognition, with longing.

Selene’s body flickered, too. Her own celestial form casting a faint golden glow, woven in starlight and celestial robes, standing just behind her human self as if tethered by something ancient, something inevitable. The two forms—human and celestial—intertwined for a heartbeat before fading back into the world around them.

The flicker vanished as quickly as it came. Aster’s breath caught. Selene blinked, disoriented, as the world snapped back into focus. The hum in the air stilled, leaving only the sound of their breathing and the low murmur of the event around them.

But their friends had seen it too.

Janus was the first to reach them, breathless and wide eyed, though her face betrayed more confusion than relief. "That’s... that’s not good," she muttered under her breath, looking at Mirael, who had stopped dead in her tracks, gaze fixed on them with an expression of both awe and concern.

Mirael stepped forward, her voice a hushed whisper. "It’s happening too soon."

Maia was next, a quiet urgency in her steps. “They’ve triggered it,” she said, eyes scanning Aster and Selene with an unreadable intensity.

Stellaire, ever the one to break the silence, was the first to speak with a sharp, almost frantic tone. “Did you see that? That wasn’t just a sign—that was real.”

The group stood around them in stunned silence, the reality of the celestial shift settling in the air like a storm cloud ready to burst.

Cyra and Gaela were the last to approach, their calm demeanor a stark contrast to the chaos around them. Cyra looked at Gaela, her voice steady, yet heavy with meaning. "It’s happening now," she said softly.

Gaela nodded, her gaze fixed on Aster and Selene, watching them like a puzzle that was slowly coming into focus. The celestial forms had vanished, but the air around them still buzzed with something otherworldly, as if the world was holding its breath, waiting for something they couldn’t quite grasp.

But for now, they were all silent, the weight of the moment hanging between them.

Aster turned to Selene, breathless, her heart still pounding as if caught in the aftermath of something extraordinary.

“What just happened?” Aster’s voice was quiet, tentative. “What was that... just now?”

Selene shook her head, equally at a loss. “I don’t know. But—” She stopped, her gaze drifting to their friends who had gathered around them, faces etched with a mix of concern and something else, something they couldn’t quite decipher. Their friends felt it, too. The shift. The change. The air seemed thick with it.

Aster’s eyes searched Maia’s face, hoping for an answer, but Maia only gave her a small, knowing smile, lips pressed tight. “It’s okay,” she said, the tone oddly calm despite the storm of confusion in Aster’s chest. “You’ll figure it out.”

Aster felt a flicker of doubt. “What—what does that mean? We don’t—”

Gaela’s voice, soft but firm, cut through the chaos of their thoughts. “Breathe. We’ll talk later. Not now.” She stepped closer, placing a hand on Aster’s shoulder, grounding her. “We’ve got to take it one step at a time. Just… trust.”

Selene looked at her with wide eyes. “But—how do you know we’ll be okay? How do you—”

Gaela’s gentle smile didn’t waver, though there was something unreadable in her gaze. “We always are. We just need time, that's all.”

Cyra, who had been quietly observing, finally added, her voice soothing, “Everything feels overwhelming right now, I know. But sometimes, the answers will come when they’re meant to. You’re not alone in this.”

Aster and Selene looked at each other, both struggling to understand what had just happened, but somehow, the calm assurance in their friends’ voices was enough to ground them, if only just. The weight of the moment still pressed on their shoulders, but for now, it was bearable.

“Come on,” Cyra said, gesturing for them to move toward the door. “Let’s get out of here. You both need to rest.”

The group began to leave the event hall, their steps quiet but purposeful. Aster and Selene were still wrapped in the lingering pulse of the celestial shift, but for now, their friends’ presence provided a sense of comfort—if only temporary.

As they stepped out into the night air, the world seemed to hold its breath, a sense of something imminent in the air.

The ride home was mostly silent. Their thoughts swirled in the wake of what had just happened. But when they finally reached their apartment, Aster and Selene both knew: whatever had been triggered, whatever had shifted, wasn’t over yet. And when they closed their eyes that night, a dream came to them both. A dream that would make everything they thought they knew feel impossibly small.

The stars breathed.

Their glow pulsed in rhythm, expanding and contracting like the heartbeat of the universe itself. Beneath them stretched a celestial river, its surface shifting between liquid gold and endless sky. It wound through the void, separating two figures who stood on opposite banks, bathed in the soft luminescence of a time long forgotten.

Aster stood frozen, her hands curling into fists at her sides. The fabric of her celestial robes whispered against her skin, woven with constellations she no longer remembered. A deep blue cloak draped over her shoulders, its hem pooling like twilight against the ground. She should have known this place. She should have known why her heart clenched at the sight before her.

Across the river, Selene watched her.

Golden robes shimmered around her, reflecting the scattered stardust that drifted lazily through the air. She looked ethereal, untouchable, yet achingly familiar. The soft glow of the cosmos bathed her in warmth, but it was nothing compared to the warmth in Aster’s chest.

Neither of them spoke. They didn’t have to. The air between them thrummed, alive with something unspoken yet undeniable.

Selene lifted a hand. The motion was slow and hesitant, as if she feared the moment would shatter. Aster mirrored her instinctively. Their fingertips hovered just above the river’s surface, separated only by the fragile thread of golden light that flickered between them.

And suddenly, memories surged forward, unbidden.

A brush of fingers against sacred constellations, tracing forgotten maps across each other’s skin.

A stolen glance in the temple halls, laughter hidden behind silk-covered lips.

The weight of a promise whispered under starlit skies.

The feeling of belonging, of certainty, of home.

The slow, aching realization that it would never last.

Aster’s breathing grew shallow. Something inside her ached. Selene’s lips parted. She knew—she knew.

The golden thread between them pulsed, pulling them forward, closer and closer.

Aster could almost hear it. A name. Selene’s name. The truth balanced at the edge of her tongue, just one syllable away from being spoken aloud.

Then, the universe tore apart.

The celestial river cracked, the golden glow fading into darkness. Stars collapsed, imploding into silence. A shadow loomed, vast and consuming, swallowing everything in its wake. The warmth, gone.

Selene’s eyes widened in horror. Aster reached. Their hands, so close just moments before, were suddenly galaxies apart.

And then...

Blackness.

Aster awoke, gasping.

Her lungs burned, her pulse an erratic beats against her ribs. The remnants of the dream clung to her skin; her fingers still curled as if they had been grasping for something—someone.

A name.

A name she had known for one fleeting second.

She parted her lips, willing the sound to form, but nothing came out. Like mist before the morning sun, it had vanished.

Her frustration curled into her bones.

Miles away, in the hush of her own bedroom, Selene’s eyes fluttered open.

She lay perfectly still, staring at the ceiling, her chest rising and falling with shallow, uneven breaths. Her hands trembled as she lifted them, turning them over in the faint moonlight. She swore she had felt something. A warmth. A touch. The weight of a promise long forgotten.

But when she looked, there was nothing. Just the cold press of reality against her skin.

Aster turned onto her side, staring into the quiet dark.

Selene swallowed hard, her fingers tightening in the sheets.

Both of them, separately yet together, whispered the same silent question:

Who were we?

The sun had barely risen, but Aster was already awake.

She sat at the edge of her bed, head in her hands, breath uneven. The dream clung to her like an afterimage burned into her vision, golden light, whispered touches, a name on the tip of her tongue. She had spoken it. She was sure of it. But now…

Now, it was gone.

She exhaled sharply, pressing her fingers to her temples. Her heart was still racing, her skin warm as if she had lived through something real, something more than just a dream. A faint, unfamiliar scent lingered in the air, like jasmine and rain, a fragrance she couldn’t quite place, but it felt as though it belonged to something important. Her fingers brushed over her wrist absentmindedly, searching for something cool and metallic that wasn’t there.

Aster looked down at her empty hand. She had held something. She was sure of it. But when she tried to remember, her mind recoiled, the memory slipping like sand through her fingers.

Across the city, Selene stood in front of her mirror, fingers curled into the fabric of her nightshirt.

She didn’t recognize the expression on her face. Lost. Unsettled. Like she was on the verge of remembering something important—something vital—but it remained just out of reach. Her fingertips traced her lips, then moved to her collarbone, where the ghost of a touch still lingered. It was just a dream. It had to be. But why did it feel like she had lived it? A soft, unfamiliar warmth clung to her skin, like the afterglow of sunlight long faded, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that it should have been comforting. If only she could remember why.

She turned abruptly, moving toward her worktable. Her sketchbook lay open, blank pages staring back at her. Without thinking, she reached for a pencil. Her hand moved on its own, sketching long, flowing lines, tracing the shape of a figure she couldn’t name but knew in her bones.

By the time she stopped, her breath caught in her throat.

On the page, a woman bathed in celestial gold, eyes lined with sorrow, reaching out across an unseen distance.

Selene’s pulse pounded in her ears. She had drawn her before.

Both of them moved through the morning in a daze. Aster caught herself staring at the sky for too long. The clouds seemed to move in patterns that almost made sense, like they were trying to tell her something. Selene found herself reaching for a name she didn’t know; the taste of salt on her tongue was like the sea breeze was beckoning. Something was wrong. Something was changing.

Then... Aster’s phone buzzed. She flinched, startled by the sudden break in silence. When she glanced at the screen, her stomach twisted.
Mirael.

"Are you free today? Let’s get coffee."

It was casual. Normal. But Aster frowned. Mirael had never asked her out for coffee this early. She could almost feel the hum of something just beneath the surface, a slight vibration in the air, like the moment before thunder.

Across town, Selene’s phone lit up.

She hesitated before picking it up, heart hammering against her ribs.

Maia.

"Are you busy? Come over. I have something to show you."

Selene stared at the message, her fingers tightening around her phone. It was vague. Too vague.

Her instincts told her this wasn’t just a friendly invitation. The air seemed to buzz with energy she couldn’t explain, an electric charge that prickled against her skin.

She glanced back at her sketchbook, at the sorrowful golden figure staring back at her. The faintest chill ran down her spine.

Aster swallowed hard.

Selene exhaled shakily.

And just like that—the past began to catch up with them.