It belonged to no known language, more like a direct communion of consciousness through the soul. Confused, he asked back in his mind: Who? Who are you?
In the pitch-black field of vision, a blurry figure gradually emerged. She appeared to be a young woman, athletic and tall, with fiery red hair coiling around her body like clothing, concealing her beautiful figure. Only her long, graceful calves were visible, and through the strands of hair, one could faintly make out her sleeping face.
Then suddenly, that face with closed eyes became crystal clear. The visage before him was as serene and peaceful as a sleeping infant. He shouldn't have known this woman, yet somehow, her face felt incredibly familiar, as if it had always been engraved in his heart, only now having the dust blown away to reveal it.
Without reason, he wanted to reach out and gently caress the face before him. An irrepressible sense of longing instantly filled his consciousness.
Who... who are you really?
This must be a revelation from Lord Raniel, so she must be someone very important to him. The urgent desire to know her identity felt like it would leap right out of his chest.
"Please don't... leave me... no matter what... please don't... forget... me..."
As the voice faded away, Klein suddenly felt an urge to cry. It wasn't from sadness or joy, but from emotions that didn't belong to him surging up, filling him with a sense of fear. At that moment, the feeling of isolation around him gradually dissipated, and a warm, peaceful sensation once again enveloped his entire body. Fay's song finally returned, gently supporting his inexplicably weary and heavy body.
He had finally entered the state that Fay had described. The warm comfort and pleasure seemed to suspend the flow of time itself. That feeling, even warmer than being embraced by Fay, instantly soothed away the fatigue brought on by the strange experience.
This must be the true blessing bestowed by Lord Raniel.
But what had just happened? Who did that voice belong to?
However, Klein's mind full of questions was quickly washed away by an even more intense feeling of joy. With an indescribable sense of comfort, his body relaxed involuntarily, his heels unconsciously settling firmly on the wooden floor.
He opened his eyes just in time to see the last streak of clear blue light departing from his side.
He knew the coming-of-age ceremony had ended.
Those puzzling questions from before were immediately pushed to the back of his mind. After all, what was to come next was something he had been anticipating for several years. Even if Lord Raniel herself were to descend from the afterlife at this moment, beating her wings to display holy miracles, he would likely summon the courage to ask her to wait.
Right now, his mind could hold nothing but thoughts of Fay.
He turned towards the elven girl who waited for him, his desire, long suppressed by the ceremony's solemnity, now fully revealed in his eyes, his passionate gaze freely traveling over Fay's exposed skin.
He sat down beside Fay and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She appeared somewhat nervous, her small white teeth biting her thin lower lip, her arms crossed over her chest, stroking her bare arms as if feeling cold.
"Fay..." his voice was somewhat hoarse, as if a heat that wasn't entirely his own was surging through his body. The intensity of his desire surprised even himself. He had never felt anything like this before - even during the most intense moments of youthful restlessness, he had never wanted so desperately to hold Fay in his arms, to aggressively kiss every inch of her smooth skin.
"Klein, your... your eyes look different somehow," Fay whispered softly, yielding to his embrace and falling into his arms.
To unite with her beloved partner under Lord Raniel's witness was the greatest wish of her youth, befitting an elven maiden with such traditional beliefs.
Perhaps in the future, they would eat steaming meals in a warm stone house, gently caress each other on a soft bed made of silk and cotton, quietly sit on the stone steps watching their children run and laugh, or grow old together walking hand in hand through peaceful forests. But she believed that no moment could compare to tonight's memory, for this was the starting point of all their dreams.
With this belief, she bravely met Klein's gaze, even though there was something unfamiliar in his eyes that made her slightly uneasy.
"Is that so?" Klein blinked, wrapping his arms around the girl in his embrace, gently stroking her tense back.
Fay shifted slightly, her breathing becoming a bit quick. She tilted her head thoughtfully, seemingly unable to find the right words to describe it, and thinking it might just be her nervousness playing tricks on her mind. She could only laugh and say, "Um... yes, you look more grown-up now, and... more masculine too. Just what you'd expect from Klein after the coming-of-age ceremony."
"Is... is that so?" Looking down at the soft lips so close to his own, Klein nervously asked, "Do you like it?"
"I do..." Fay wrapped her arms around his neck, moving her face closer to his lips, whispering, "No matter how you change, I'll always like you."
"Me too." After this satisfied murmur, he lowered his head and kissed her deeply.
Their own important ceremony had just begun.
When surrounded by that indescribable sensation, Klein, whose mind had been blank with nervousness, suddenly imagined a peculiar scene.
Many, many years ago, in an era when all elves still deeply revered every tradition, on a blue moon night like this, in quiet forests similar to this one, would there have been countless elven couples doing what they were doing now? What kind of wonderfully beautiful tableau would dozens or even hundreds of graceful, beautiful figures have created under the moonlight?