Chapter 7 KISSED BY A CENTURY

Here's your *29th dialogue scene, "Kissed by a Century" * This passage tends toward the mysterious and romantic; it's also a bit of time-bending fantasy. It occurs after Saiha is forced to admit her magical fumble to the world of bloopers - now, something ancient is reaching out through the ages and only Adrah can pull him back through time before it's too late for him.

⏳ Setting: The Old Bell Tower – Midnight Between Millennia

\[Setting:]

Saiha finds herself sleepwalking to the forbidden bell tower, left untouched for centuries. The wind screams in unsettling frequencies. A ghost-light emanates from an hourglass within the floor. As soon as he steps into that circle, *time shatters. *

ADRAH:

(bursting in)

"Saiha-wait! Don't move!"

SAIHA:

(eyes distant)

"I hear it. A voice... from a century ago. It's calling my name. My real one."

ADRAH:

(rushing forward)

"Stop sleeping on the job again-not you, it's the magic dragging your bloodline!*

* \[Suddenly, Saiha's body flickers \- as if he's from a different time.\] His uniform turns to older royal garb, and he speaks in older tongues.] *

SAIHA (past version):

"Adrah... where are you? The court is falling. Thegates ... they've turned on us-"

ADRAH:

(grabbing his face, urgent)

"Saiha, come back. This isn't your time!

I need my Saiha. The one who spilled glitter on his scrolls and made fun of cursed textbooks.

SAIHA (current):

(blinking)

"You're... warm. Real. I - I was in two centuries at the one time.

And in the other ... you were gone."

ADRAH:

(firmly)

"I'm never gone. "Not if time pleads to forget me.

\[The tower shudders. And then a spectral figure emerges - **a ghost prince who resembles Saiha, only older and world-weary and tired. He speaks gently.] **

GHOST SAIHA:

"You are what I could not be.

Loved. Free.

Don't make my mistake."

SAIHA:

(whispers)

"...I won't."

**\[The ghost nods, fading. The hourglass stops glowing. Time stabilizes. Saiha falls into Adrah's arms.