Chapter 3
Shared Secrets, Shared Age
Dimminzz, Mellidy, and Anna discover they are all ten years old. They bond over past traumas: Dimminzz's grief, Mellidy's curse, and Anna's cruel sister, finding common ground.
The humid Brisbane air clung to Dimminzz like a second skin, a stark contrast to the icy winds of his homeland, a place he hadn’t seen in years. He’d been so lost in the wreckage of his own making, the roar of explosions and the scent of burning concrete his constant companions, that he hadn’t truly registered the world around him. Now, standing between a determined polar bear and a shimmering unicorn, the world felt… different. Sharper. And undeniably, a little bit brighter.
“Ten?” Mellidy’s voice, a deep rumble that belied his gentle nature, echoed Dimminzz’s own disbelief. He’d expected Anna and the unicorn to be older, perhaps even ancient, given her ethereal glow. But ten? Just like him. Just like Mellidy. It was a number that felt impossibly small, yet suddenly, profoundly significant.
Anna, her horn pulsing with a soft inner light, nudged Dimminzz gently with her muzzle