Chapter 12
Names had power.
Dino had erased more of them than the universe could count.
Titles. Epithets. Myths. Prayers spoken in terror and reverence alike. He had worn countless names and discarded them all, until only Dino remained simple, unadorned, almost fragile.
Here, on the Black Shores, even that felt… heavy.
Luna realized it while they were eating.
It was quiet. Not awkward comfortable. The kind of silence that existed only when two people trusted it not to turn sharp.
"Dino," she said.
The sound of it his name spoken gently, without fear, without expectation, struck deeper than any blade.
He looked up.
"Yes?"
She hesitated. Just for a fraction of a second. Enough for him to notice.
"You don't like names much," she said.
"I don't like what comes after them," he replied.
She nodded. "Stories. Judgments. Demands."
"Exactly."
Luna set her cup down. "Then let this one be different."
He waited.
"When I say your name," she continued, "I'm not calling a legend. I'm not calling a god or a weapon or an ending."
Her red eyes softened.
"I'm calling you."
The world did not tremble.
The moons did not stir.
Eternum remained silent.
And that more than anything confirmed the truth of her words.
"…Say it again," Dino said quietly.
She smiled.
"Dino."
The sound settled into him, anchoring something that had never had a place to rest.
Later, they walked the shoreline again. This had become a habit. Not ritual choice.
A breeze carried the scent of salt and distant rain that would never fall here unless invited.
"Do you know," Luna said, "most people think love is loud?"
Dino considered. "Explosions. Promises. Bloodshed."
"Yes," she agreed. "They think it has to prove itself."
"And you?"
"I think love is what remains," she said, "when proving becomes unnecessary."
He stopped walking.
She turned, surprised.
"That," Dino said slowly, "is dangerous thinking."
She raised an eyebrow. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"For someone like me," he said, "remaining is the most dangerous act possible."
She stepped closer.
"Then don't remain for the world," she said. "Remain for me."
He did not answer immediately.
Not because he was unsure
but because he was afraid of how easy the answer was.
"I will," he said at last.
The tide froze.
Not by force.
By agreement.
Luna reached out and took his hand.
Her fingers were warm. Real. Present.
No system reacted. No law objected.
Somewhere far beyond reality, something ancient noticed and chose not to interfere.
They stood like that for a long time, hands joined, watching a horizon that had finally stopped asking Dino where he was going.
For the first time since before epochs had names, he knew the answer.
Here.
With her.
Not as Death.
Not as a sword.
But as a man who had learned that eternity was not something to conquer
It was something to share.
End of Chapter 12