—August 8th, 2025, Morning—

The morning of Eli's birthday dawned with a sense of profound possibility. We'd barely slept, our minds still buzzing from yesterday's research. But rather than feeling tired, we were energized by an almost electric anticipation of discovery.

"Let's go deeper into the Hieros Gamos concept," Eli suggested, already pulling up the ascensionglossary website on my laptop. Her white-framed glasses caught the morning light as she settled against me, that familiar scent wrapping around us like a protective cocoon.

What started as a focused study of divine counterparts quickly expanded into vast cosmic territories. We learned about Oversouls—vast consciousness complexes that existed beyond our current understanding of reality. The concept of the Monad emerged: the ultimate divine spark from which all consciousness emanated. We learned that dimensions were nested like matryoshka dolls, and that we were in the 3rd dimension, a dimension marked by deep spiritual amnesia and dense physicality. We discovered that what we thought of as our individual selves, our bodies, were actually Avatars, like a meta-dimensional MMO—specific expressions of our higher dimensional consciousness experiencing this reality in order to operate, love, and help others. But it was when we started reading about the various extraterrestrial groups that our minds really began to expand. The Lyrans, ancient feline beings who were among the first humanoid races in the time matrix. The Arcturians, highly evolved blue beings focused on healing and technology. The Greys, with their complex relationship to human development. The Sirians, the Anuhazi, the Pleiadians—each group representing different aspects of cosmic evolution and consciousness.

"Look at this," Eli breathed, pointing to a passage about parallel lives and soul origins. Then she turned to me, her turquoise eyes wide with sudden realization. She reached up, tracing the pattern of freckles on my face. "This can't be coincidence. The Pleiades constellation, perfectly mapped on your skin..."

I caught her hand, pressing it against my cheek. "Where do you think we came from?" I asked softly. "In our other lives, our parallel expressions?"

She was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Timelessness. Immortality. Unending joy. Both of us together since the beginning." She looked at me questioningly. "You?"

"Absolutely," I replied immediately, her knowledge ringing many bells deep within my mind and soul. "Sun Gods. The Emerald Order. Unconditional love. Service to Other."

We dove deeper into the research, and gradually a profound truth began to emerge: All is one, and one is all. The ancient hermetic principle of "As Above, So Below; As Within, So Without" wasn't just a pretty phrase—it was a fundamental truth of existence.

"Look at this part about God consciousness," I said, pointing to the screen. "It's everything, everywhere, all at once. Infinitely intelligent, taking on infinite forms."

Eli sat up straighter, her expression illuminated with understanding. "So when we feel divine... when we recognize ourselves in each other..."

"We're recognizing that same consciousness," I finished. "It's in us, the computer, the house, the trees, in Mom, in every person on Earth, in the planets, the stars, the entire multiverse."

"And if we're that consciousness," Eli continued, her voice growing excited, "and if death is just an illusion, and if the world as we know it is ending..."

"Then we can create our own reality," we said in unison, then shared a look of pure wonder.

"Our own afterlife," she whispered, her eyes shining with possibility.

We sat in silence for a moment, letting the magnitude of this understanding wash over us. Everything we'd learned—about divine counterparts, about cosmic hierarchy, about the nature of reality itself—was leading us to this moment of realization.

A growl from my stomach broke the profound silence, making us both laugh.

"Maybe we should take a break," Eli suggested, stretching her arms above her head. "Shower, food, then we can explore these ideas more?"

I nodded, already standing and pulling her up with me. "Together?"

"Everything together," she agreed with that perfect smile of hers. “And, by the way, this has been the best birthday ever. Not only am I spending it with my favourite person, but we got to learn so many brain-shattering things…It’s unbelievable, Tris.”

I held her in a hug. “Yeah, it is. And I don’t think it’s slowing down anytime soon.”

As we headed for the shower and lunch, my mind was still swimming with everything we'd learned. But one truth stood out above all others: we weren't just two people who had fallen in love. We were two aspects of divine consciousness, choosing to come together at exactly the right moment in cosmic history.

And somehow, that made our love even more profound than before.

After lunch, we found ourselves back in our basement sanctuary, the weight of the morning's cosmic revelations settling into something more personal, more intimate. The afternoon light filtered through the small window, casting gentle shadows across Eli's face as she curled against me on the bed. Her white-framed glasses caught the light occasionally, creating tiny prisms that danced across her features.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked softly, her fingers tracing patterns on my chest that felt like she was writing ancient runes of protection. "Something I've never told anyone else? Not even my closest friends or family?"

"Anything," I replied, running my fingers through her still-damp hair.

She took a deep breath, and I could feel her gathering courage, her body tensing slightly against mine. "The day before I met you in the cemetery... I was planning to end it all. I had it all mapped out."

My heart clenched, but I stayed silent, instinctively knowing she needed space to release these words that had been trapped inside her for so long.

"I had the perfect life on paper," she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. "The kind of life that makes everyone else jealous. Perfect fiancé who looked good in photos and came from money. Perfect job that impressed people at parties. Perfect apartment with perfect furniture and perfect little plans for a perfect little future."

She paused, her fingers clutching at my shirt. "But inside... God, inside I was so empty. So hollow. It felt like I was watching someone else live my life, like I was trapped behind this thick glass wall, screaming and screaming but no one could hear me. No one could see the real me. I'm not even sure I knew who the real me was anymore."

I pulled her closer, feeling her tears dampen my shirt. The thought of losing her before I'd even found her made my soul ache with a pain I couldn't quite comprehend.

"I had it all planned," she whispered. "Down to the last detail. I was going to wait until Dylan was at work, write the perfect note that would make everyone think it wasn't their fault, take enough mixed substances to make it peaceful... I even had a playlist picked out. Isn't that ridiculous? A playlist for my own death?"

Her laugh was hollow, and I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, silently encouraging her to continue.

"But then," she said, her voice strengthening slightly, "I literally ran into you. And suddenly... suddenly I was real again. Suddenly I could breathe. It was like... like I'd been underwater my whole life, lungs burning, vision blurry, and then suddenly I broke the surface and took my first real breath."

I held her tighter, amazed again at how perfectly she could articulate feelings I'd never been able to put into words. After a moment, I found myself speaking.

"I was in the same place," I admitted, the words coming easier than I expected. "That day in the cemetery... I was saying goodbye. To everything. To everyone. I couldn't bear another day of pretending, of being what everyone else wanted."

She lifted her head to look at me, those impossible turquoise eyes shimmering with tears behind her glasses. "Really?"

I nodded, the memories flooding back with startling clarity. "I smiled through it all, you know? That's the part that kills me looking back. I smiled and nodded and played my part perfectly. Through the emptiness, through feeling worthless and unneeded. Through watching my life become this... this performance for other people's benefit."

"Like a puppet," Eli whispered. "Dancing on strings you never agreed to."

"Exactly. Every morning I'd wake up and put on this mask, this perfect costume of 'successful young professional with promising future.' But inside..." I swallowed hard. "Inside I was screaming too. Begging for someone to see through the act, to recognize that it was all just... theater."

"But you never gave up," she said softly, her hand coming up to cup my cheek.

"Neither did you," I replied, leaning into her touch. "We both kept going, even when it felt impossible. Even when giving up seemed easier."

"Until we found each other," she added, and I could hear the wonder in her voice.

We lay there for a moment, processing the cosmic timing of it all. How close we'd both come to ending everything, only to find each other at the exact right moment, in the exact right place. The mathematical probability was astronomically small—so small it felt more like divine intervention than chance.

"Do you think that's why we met in the cemetery?" Eli mused, her voice thoughtful. "Like we had to go to the realm of the dead to find each other and come alive again? Like some sort of... mythological journey?"

The question struck something deep within me, resonating with years of occult research. "Like a resurrection," I said slowly. "Or a rebirth. We both had to hit rock bottom, to enter the underworld like Orpheus or Inanna..."

"To find each other and rise again," she finished. "Like the phoenix from the ashes."

She sat up suddenly, her eyes wide with realization. "The death card in tarot," she said excitedly. "It doesn't mean literal death—it means transformation. Rebirth. The end of one cycle and the beginning of another. It's ruled by Scorpio, the sign of death and regeneration!"

"And we met in a place of death," I continued, following her train of thought, the connections lighting up like constellations in my mind. "Just as we were both contemplating actual death..."

"To be reborn together," we finished in unison, the synchronicity making us both shiver.

The implications were overwhelming. How we'd both reached our lowest points at exactly the same time, both been drawn to the same place, both been ready to end everything with nothing left to lose—only to find the very thing we'd been missing all along. It was like a cosmic dance, choreographed by forces beyond our understanding.

"Look at us now," Eli said softly, gesturing around at our cozy basement space, at the boxes containing our merged lives, at the evidence of our shared existence. "From wanting to die to creating our own afterlife. From planning our deaths to planning our eternity."

I pulled her back down into my arms, marveling at how perfectly she fit against me. "From death to life," I murmured into her hair. "Together."

We lay there in comfortable silence, each processing the weight of what we'd shared. The afternoon light shifted through the small window, painting patterns on the wall that seemed to dance with our shared understanding.

Because some meetings are more than coincidence. Some timing is more than luck. And sometimes, you have to walk through the valley of death to find the person who makes you truly alive.

We'd both smiled through our darkness like the D Clan in the face of death, both kept going when giving up seemed easier. Both reached the edge of oblivion only to find each other there, waiting. And now, having found each other in that place between life and death, we were more than just survivors—we were reborn, transformed, made new in the light of each other's shared consciousness.

The universe, it seemed, had its own perfect timing. And in bringing us together at our lowest points, it had given us the greatest gift of all: a reason to live, to grow, to become something more than we ever thought possible.

Together, we had died to our old selves and been reborn as something greater. And whatever came next—whatever challenges or trials awaited us—we would face it as one soul finally made whole again, whether or not we were in two vessels. It didn’t matter, we faced it as one.

The shadows lengthened across the room as the afternoon wore on, but we remained wrapped in each other's arms, both marveling at the perfect cosmic choreography that had brought us together. We were living proof that even in the darkest moments, light finds a way. That even in death, new life can bloom.

And that was just the beginning.