Waving

 As the sun dips below the horizon, casting the world into a warm, golden haze, I find myself standing atop a weathered wooden dock. The air is thick with the scent of salt and seaweed, and the gentle lapping of waves against the pilings below provides a soothing rhythm that seems to echo through my very core. It's in this moment, as I stand here, watching the sun sink into the endless expanse of the ocean, that I feel a strange sensation washing over me. It's not quite longing, not quite nostalgia, but something in between. Something familiar, yet foreign.

I glance around, taking in the scene before me. The dock stretches out in either direction, vanishing into the distance like a rusty ribbon. To my left, a rocky outcropping juts out from the water, covered in a thick mat of greenery. To my right, the ocean meets the sky in a line so perfect it looks as if someone had drawn it with a ruler. And above, the sky is a canvas painted in shades of orange, pink, and purple, fading into the distance like a watercolor painting.

It's then that I notice it: a figure standing at the very edge of the dock, their back to me. They're wearing a long, flowing cloak that billows in the wind, their head tilted back to gaze up at the stars that have just begun to appear in the darkening sky. There's something about the way they stand, the way they move, that draws my eye. Something almost hypnotic.

I hesitate for a moment, unsure of what to do, when suddenly the figure turns around. It's a woman, her features obscured by the darkness. But even so, I can tell she's beautiful. Her long, raven hair whips around her face in the wind, and her eyes, when they meet mine, seem to shimmer like the ocean beneath the moonlight. She smiles, and it's a smile that pierces straight through me, like a knife made of sunshine and moonbeams.

"Hello," she says, her voice soft and ethereal. "My name is Aelith. And who might you be?"

I open my mouth to respond, but no words come out. All I can do is stand there, dumbfounded, as she continues to gaze at me with those piercing, otherworldly eyes. It feels like she knows me, somehow. Like she's been waiting for me, standing on this dock, for all of eternity. And as I stand there, caught in her gaze, I realize that somehow, someway, I am about to change. Forever.