Veluna
By Nidhi Patel
November 4, 2026
Graphic by Emily Yao
A Unification of Love and Humanity
I wake up to the birds humming “Pocket Full of Sunshine”, an effulgent array of pink and orange in the sky outside, the smell of a tropical resort, and squirrels dancing around me as I skip into my shower. I float downstairs, ready for another perfect day.
Of course none of this actually happened. I am just in love.
I wake up to a traumatizing bell as I jerk up from my bed and run into every corner that exists in my room on the way to the bathroom. I run down the stairs and start my day in the deafening brightness of the sun that is somehow scorching my soul.
Of course none of this actually happened. I am just in love.
Love blurs the line between feelings and reality. It's a feeling that is indescribable–when the world melts away and hearts explode all around you, metaphorically. But the thing is, it does not feel metaphorical. Every atom of emotion is heightened, in ways that are too much to handle. Sometimes the vibrant colors outside glisten across every speckle in my cornea, and other times they scream in my ears.
Love hits you when you least expect it. A random figure across the road for some reason captures your attention. Then a slow infatuation starts to grow and seep into the cracks of your brain. The way you perceive people starts to change, and you see beauty in flaws, potential in corruption, and “icks” become cute. You trade logic for emotion, and begin to love to love.
You love the warming feeling of the sun burning your skin cells. You love the fresh feeling of cold wind as it brushes every inch of your body and little bumps stab the barriers of your skin. You love feeling every endorphin dance through your blood and you love feeling every bit of cortisol poke your veins.
And you wonder, why are you all of a sudden in an emotional rampage? Love questions everything you thought you knew about yourself and introduces an unknown box of their belongings. All you want to do is be with them, do things for them, be better for them. So yes, of course you walked that route on the slight chance you see them, and yes, of course you stayed up all night trying to paper mache flowers for them, and yes, of course you feel an innate urge to pick up every piece of litter you see outside.
Graphic by Emily Yao
This feeling grows into admiration as you appreciate every little thing they do. Holding the door open becomes the kindest possible gesture. A hug becomes a feeling of warmth and safety you crave when you are not hugging. A kiss sends a lightning strike through every neuron in your body. Their smile places a burning hot cloth against your chest and your tear lake overflows.
The concept of a soulmate stems from the power of love being so strong, that in every version of the world and the afterlife, two souls are tied together — a red string that connects them beyond the bounds of time. The last stage of love is unification, where both individuals lose all of their materialistic attachments to the world and merge into one another, becoming soulmates.
The unification between two souls is beautiful and worth every ounce of pain. The process of letting go of all ego and being able to blend into another is not easy. As quick as infatuation and admiration forms, the feeling of disillusionment and alienation ensue. The world becomes colorless, there are no birds humming outside, and you are not dancing to music — you are desperately finding some use to yourself in the world because you have lost yourself.
In the depths of love, lies tragedy. The tragic murder of yourself.
In the end, it's all worth it. Losing yourself to love was never a bad thing, you were simply just reborn—reborn as a purer soul. Love is like white light: it purifies crystals and in turn the crystal refracts it and illuminates the hidden iridescent colors. The signifying traits of humans from other animals are our emotions—our hearts. When you truly find your soulmate, they purify your heart. They make you more susceptible to emotions. You find yourself crying over things when you would rarely even cry before. But this heightened sadness also comes with heightened happiness, and passion, and sympathy, and care.You learn to love to love.
So therefore, love creates the gift of flourishing souls and a virtuous universe.
This piece was inspired by Rahul Mishra’s “7 Stages of Love” ■
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