Kleo lay back, visibly exhausted, then turned on her side to face him. Jack noted unease in her eyes as if something she was about to say was weighing on her.


    “Jack,” she began.


    It struck him that this was the first time she’d ever used his name.


    "I need to tell you something important. You’ll have questions. There may be things I don’t know, but I’ll be honest with you when that’s the case. It would help if you could wait until I’ve told you everything before asking questions..”


    Jack nodded, sensing the gravity in her tone. He shifted to face her, his attention fixed.


    “I understand. I’ll listen.”


    She took a deep, steadying breath, her eyes unfocused as she gathered her thoughts.


    “When I saw you at the post where you boarded the wagon—I recognized you.”


    Jack’s brows furrowed as she continued, “I knew you from my dreams. I’d had many dreams of you long before we met. And in those dreams, your name was always Jack.”


    Her voice wavered, her gaze fixed on a point somewhere in the distance.


    “Then there you were, standing in front of me, real—and your name is Jack.”


    Jack stared, his pulse quickening, unsure what to make of her words.


    “I was terrified,” she admitted, her voice trembling. “So terrified I almost ran.”


    A small, embarrassed smile crossed her face. “I nearly wet myself.”


    Jack chuckled, and she swatted his chest, her hand lingering for a moment, its warmth anchoring him in the surrealness of the moment.


    “I’ve had dreams about you—so many dreams,” she continued, her tone soft but weighted with emotion.


    “In them, I felt a whirlwind of things… fear, anger, and… happiness. A kind of happiness I’ve never felt in my life. I don’t understand it, but as a young girl, I knew these dreams were more than... dreams. They were glimpses of a possible future; it''s something I still don’t fully understand.”


    Her voice grew thick with emotion, and tears rose in her eyes. She struggled to hold them back, but a few escaped, tracing silent paths down her cheeks.


    Jack reached out, covering her hand with his, feeling her warmth through the soft, trembling skin.


    “I can’t pretend to understand what you’re saying,” he said. “But I’m listening.”


    She looked down, composing herself before continuing.


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    “These dreams… they don’t tell me everything. They’re fragments, flashes. They feel like something fate is pressing upon me. All I knew when I first saw you was that we were meant to be there… and that your name was Jack.”


    Jack felt a strange thrill at her words, as if his world had shifted in ways he couldn’t yet fathom. “I… I don’t know what to say.”


    She shook her head, squeezing his hand. “Don’t say anything yet. There’s more you need to know.”


    He nodded, giving her hand a gentle squeeze of encouragement.


    “You wanted to find Astiria, a place you weren’t sure was real. Then, in some backwater village, you meet a man who happens to be heading for this same mythical place. And then, he was kind enough to offer to take you there—for a reasonable fee.”


    Jack frowned, nodding. “Yes, that’s exactly what happened.”


    She held his gaze. “There was a young woman with him.”


    Jack nodded again, sensing where this was going. “You.”


    “Yes. Me,” she confirmed, her voice breaking. She took a steadying breath, fighting back fresh tears.


    “When I saw you, I knew. I knew it was you. The Jack from my dreams.”


    She let the weight of her words hang in the air before continuing.


    “What do you think the chances are that a stranger from Cabal would meet two people traveling to a mythical village?”


    Jack’s brow furrowed as he considered her words.


    “Are you saying that you and Rugr weren’t going to Astiria? That I was getting waylaid by two strangers?”


    “Oh, Jack,” she sighed, her voice filled with something close to regret.


    “I wish it were that simple. That would be the rational story, wouldn’t it? A naive young man in search of adventure, lured by two strangers, only to vanish without a trace.”


    She paused, letting the silence stretch between them.


    “What I’m saying is far worse,” she whispered. “You did meet two people from Astiria—which is real, by the way. But the odds of meeting someone from Astiria outside Astiria are so astronomical it''s improbable.”


    Her voice trembled, and a sob escaped her.


    “And yes, our intentions weren’t good. But that was before I saw you. When… I saw you—I knew you.”


    Her voice cracked, and she looked away, ashamed.


    Jack felt a chill run through him, an inexplicable dread.


    “Astiria protects its secrets, Jack. When someone goes looking, we try to ensure they don’t find it. So, I had to get you away from Rugr and what he intended to do. But hiding something from Rugr isn’t easy. He knows me too well. He knew what I was planning, even though I tried to hide it.”


    Jack’s heart pounded as he struggled to process her words. “Wait… Rugr knew what?”


    Kleo took a deep breath, gathering her resolve. “That I sabotaged the wagon.”


    Jack’s eyes widened, stunned. “You did what?”


    She met his gaze for a fleeting moment, then looked down.


    “It was the only way to get us away from him without him trying to continue to Balta. I wasn’t ready to tell him the truth. If I had, he would have—at best—killed you on the spot. At worst…”


    She shivered, unable to finish the thought.


    “We were on a path that wouldn''t have ended well for you. Sabotaging the wagon was the only way I could think of to keep you safe.”


    Jack took a deep breath, trying to wrap his mind around the surreal turn of events.


    “So let me get this straight,” he began, a faint edge of disbelief in his voice.


    “Jack, the clueless idiot from Cabal, sets out to find adventure and stumbles upon two strangers from a mythical place that does exist. They have foul intentions, but one of them—a beautiful young woman named Kleo meets a man she''s dreamt about her whole life—self-sabotages the plan and leads him to safety?”


    Kleo’s eyes, big and tear-filled, softened as she looked up at him.


    “You think I’m beautiful?”


    The words caught him off guard. For a moment, he looked at her, the vulnerability in her gaze, seeing the strength it must have taken for her to share this with him.


    He leaned in and, without another thought, kissed her.


    The world fell away—the storm raging outside, the dangers and mysteries of Astiria, even his confusion and doubt—everything dissolved in her warm, soft lips.


    Kleo returned the kiss with a fierce vulnerability that told him everything he needed to know.