The World Between
The two met in ‘their’ place.
Beneath a tree of enchanted wood, it’s leaves swelled with the life-energy of the mysterious world around them.
After becoming Saya’s guardian, Kaede...or, ‘Ecannus’, as he was known to the people of this world...had been seeing his love less.
Far less.
Karos had his own missions, after all. He was a warrior, a being who would travel wherever he was needed to help establish balance and peace.
A mission the pair once did together, he now did alone.
Ecannus could sense his hurt--his loneliness.
He could feel a wall had been built, not in anger, but in defense. What else could Karos do to protect himself from his darkening thoughts?
The thoughts they shared, like twin minds...connected, feeding into each other. A place where no secrets could be kept...or at least...hadn’t been kept.
Where there had once been an unyielding stream of shared consciousness, now stood that dreaded wall.Â
‘Why...?’
He didn’t need to use his voice, Karos would simply hear.Â
He didn’t need to specify, Karos would simply know.
The blonde’s face remained aloof, his features stern, drawn across angular cheek bones and vivid, pale eyes.
‘...because skin bleeds, Ecannus. Even for us.’
The dark male stared, his brows drawn. He scanned ‘their’ mind, seeking what those words meant...and found for the first time...he didn’t know.
Karos didn’t want him to.
He swallowed, unwilling to admit this defeat. Before he could say anything else, Karos spoke, his tenor harsher than usual.
‘I’m going to incarnate on Earth. That world will be absorbing your attention for some time...so I shall become part of it.’
The black haired man blinked, as if he’d misheard him.
‘You’re going to become human...?’Â
He said, a sinking feeling in his heart. He hesitated before warning,
 ‘...They experience great pain, Karos.’
‘...There is greater.’
Karos continued to stare impassively, his arms drawn over his chest, an aura of determination radiating off of him.
Not even the wall he’d built could stop Ecannus from sensing that there would be no changing his mind.
Karos...living life as a human...
While Ecannus himself remained something else entirely...
Finding each other would be harder. Understanding each other would be harder.
Being able to be truthful would be harder.
His survival would be...
The dark skinned being couldn’t comprehend why Karos was suddenly so driven to do this. He spoke on the only feeling he had,
‘...Even if...my focus is on Earth, for now...this world lies between it and many others. We can meet here, Karos. Like we always have.’
An eerie wind kicked up around them, the runes carved into the bark glowing pale against the bleak, dreary, sky over head.
Ecannus looked around, tense, his black tendrils of hair being tossed in the chilling breeze. Â
He turned back to see nothing except dangling leaves where Karos had been.
The feint, warm hum of another mind existing along side his own, faded...as slowly as the air took to calm.
And for the first time in decades, he knew...
He was alone.