Nyssara
I planned to contact Rhyven today. I even looked forward to it.
But for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to.
It was stupid, really. I told myself it was because I hadn't slept well, because my head was heavy and my chest still ached from the way his voices echoed in my mind all night. But that wasn't it. Something else held me back, almost like my instincts were whispering not today.
Breakfast was unusually silent. Not that it wasn't always, but it felt like something hung in the air, undiscussed. Maybe it was just me.
The long oak table was filled, No one spoke beyond the casual scraping of silverware and the muted clinks of cups against porcelain. The smell of roasted meat and honeyed tea filled the air, but I could barely taste a thing.
Father sat at the head as always, his unreadable expression softened only by the faint twitch of his brow whenever his eyes met mother's. As much as they were strict, everyone could tell they loved each other.
After every one had put down their forks, the mandatory 'family time' as mother liked to call it had begun.
"Have you heard?" my eldest brother said finally, voice cutting through the quiet. "They're allowing witches this year. And seers."
"That's madness," my cousin murmured, setting down his cup. "Shifters, witches, seers, it's not balance. It's chaos."
"They're calling it diversity," Father replied mildly, though there was something else vaguely beneath the calm. "But chaos often hides under such noble words."
Someone mentioned the competition. Someone else mentioned the trials. I nodded when I was supposed to, smiled when a joke landed flat. But my mind wasn't there. It was elsewhere, hovering on a single thought I couldn't shake.
Rhyven
For some reason, my mind kept circling back to him, not in a 'what's he doing now' way, as if it was trying to piece a puzzle together.
When the ten-minute "family time" ended, everyone drifted away, returning to their duties or vanishing into their routines. I went to my room, intending to rest, maybe even sleep, but the walls felt too tight, the air too still.
I stretched out on my bed anyway, closing my eyes, just to quiet my head.
I didn't expect to fall asleep.
It wasn't night. It wasn't even the strange gray twilight that usually pulled me into those dreams.
It was daylight. Bright, real, and burning behind my eyelids.
And still, there it was.
The same pull. The same weight.
The same voice I could never place.
Only this time, I wasn't standing in darkness or surrounded by shadows.
I was on a cliff.
Wind rushed against my skin, cool and salt-laced. Below me stretched a sea that glittered like broken glass. The sun was setting or maybe rising. I couldn't tell. The sky burned in gold and crimson, and for a moment I just stood there, feeling both alive and dead all at once.
Someone was calling me.
"Mera."
The name slipped through the air, soft, reverent.
I turned and saw him.
He was young, maybe no older than I was now, but his eyes… they carried centuries. A deep, storm-touched gray that felt familiar in a way that made my heart tremble.
He was dressed like a warrior from another age dark cloak fluttering in the wind, sword strapped to his side, blood drying along his knuckles.
And yet, when he looked at me, there was no war in him. Only ache.
"Kael…" The name left my mouth before I could think. It felt foreign and natural all at once. Like remembering how to breathe.
He exhaled, relief breaking through pain. "You remember."
I didn't answer. I didn't know how to. I only knew that my heart was racing, my chest tightening with something old and unexplainable.
He took a step closer. The world around us trembled like it was made of glass ready to crack.
"I told you I'd find you again," he said. "Even if it takes lifetimes."
A tear slipped down my cheek. I didn't know why.
"But we died."
It wasn't a question. It was a truth that tasted like iron and grief.
"Yes," Kael whispered. His hand reached toward mine, trembling. "And we will again. Every time, until the curse ends."
Curse?
The wind howled, drowning his words. I tried to move, to reach him, but the cliff beneath my feet began to dissolve, crumbling into the waves below.
"Kael!"
"Mera!"
Our hands almost touched, almost.
Then the light shattered.
I gasped awake, heart pounding so hard it hurt.
Daylight spilled through the curtains. The world felt wrong, as if I hadn't really returned.
I sat up slowly, pressing my palm against my chest, trying to steady my breath.
For the first time, the dream hadn't waited for nightfall.
For the first time, it felt too real, almost vivid.
I swung my legs over the bed, bare feet hitting the cold floor, and forced myself to stand. The air felt thick, pressing down on me, so I left the room. I needed air.
The rooftop was quiet when I reached it, the afternoon wind brushing through my hair. Below, the gardens shimmered with sunlight. Normally, I'd run, fast, far, until my lungs burned, but I couldn't. The dream still clung to me, heavy and raw.
Kael.
Mera.
The names whispered in my head like they belonged to me, and yet, didn't.
I closed my eyes, and the world seemed to tilt. For a moment, I wasn't sure if I was standing or falling.
Then everything slipped away.