Beneath the Stagnant Sky

CHAPTER I

 THE FIRST WISH

The city moves like a living thing—pulsing, shifting, breathing—yet Caelum remains still.

He sits at the edge of a dimly lit café, hands wrapped around a cup of coffee that has long since gone cold. He doesn't drink it. He never does. It's just a habit, a way to pretend, a ritual to blend into a world that no longer feels real to him.

Outside, neon signs flicker in the gathering dusk, painting the streets in restless color. The world moves on, as it always does, but for him, time has no edges, no meaning. Days blur into months, months into years, and he remains the same—an echo trapped in a moment that never fades.

He exhales slowly, turning his gaze to the window, where the streetlights reflect off the glass in pale, golden streaks. You're standing still again.

The thought enters his mind uninvited, a ghost of a voice that no longer exists. He grips the coffee cup tighter. He can still hear her—Amara.

She was the reason for all of this. The reason he even sat here tonight, waiting. The reason he sought out Eli.

And then, as if the universe itself is answering him, she walks in.

She isn't remarkable at first glance—a girl draped in shadows and quiet thoughts, slipping into the café like she doesn't quite belong to this world either. She moves with a kind of weary grace, like someone who has learned to live with the weight of things unspoken.

Eli.

Caelum watches as she orders, her voice barely above a whisper. She carries herself like a ghost—fading at the edges, restless, lost. He's seen that look before, felt it before. And maybe that's why he chose her.

She slides into the seat across from him without a word. He doesn't speak either. For a moment, silence settles between them, thick and heavy, the kind shared between two people who already understand too much about loss.

Then, finally, she meets his gaze.

"So," Eli says, her fingers tracing the rim of her coffee cup, "tell me what I have to do."

Her voice is steady, but her eyes are empty. She doesn't care. About him, about this deal, about what it might cost her.

Something about that unsettles him.

He should be relieved. He should feel victorious. This is what he wanted. Eli will make the wishes. He will grant them. The curse will break, and he will be free. Free to go back to Amara, to the life he was meant to have.

And yet—

Caelum hesitates.

For the first time since this all began, a sliver of doubt cuts through him.

He studies Eli carefully, searching for something—anything—that might remind him why he's here. Why it has to be her. Why it has to be now.

Instead, all he sees is someone who is already slipping away. And for reasons he cannot explain, he feels something stir inside him—something dangerous, something that threatens to ruin everything.

Because in that moment, he wonders if this isn't just about escaping his curse anymore.

Maybe, without meaning to, he has started to care.

And that might just be the most dangerous thing of all.

<<How They Met

The first time Caelum saw Eli, she was standing at the edge of a rooftop.

Not in a dramatic way. Not like someone about to jump. Just standing there, staring at the city below, like she was trying to convince herself that she still belonged to it.