Somnara always breathed at night.
Kairo Vale felt it before he saw it — that low pulse beneath his ribs, the hush before a dream is born. The skyline shimmered with drifting strands of dreamlight, neon blues curling into purples as they wove through the towers like living ribbons.
Most people never noticed.
Most people couldn't feel anything about the dreamworld unless they were asleep.
Kairo wasn't most people.
He stood on the balcony of his Silverline apartment, hood up, hands buried in his pockets, pretending the pull wasn't growing stronger — the whisper that kept brushing the back of his mind.
Enter.
Just one word.
A voice that wasn't quite his.
The city lights flickered. Once. Twice.
A sharp sting hit behind his eyes.
Kairo grabbed the railing as his vision warped — the air thickened, shadows stretched, and a translucent blue screen snapped into existence in front of him.
---
[ DREAM-FORGE SYSTEM INITIALIZING… ]
---
Kairo froze.
Systems belonged in myths, conspiracy forums, and the hallucinations of sleep-deprived dream theorists. Not reality. Not his life.
The screen pulsed again.
---
[ SYNCHRONIZING WITH HOST MIND… ]
[ LUCID POTENTIAL: 94% ]
[ IMAGINATION INDEX: 88% ]
[ STATUS: AWAKENED ]
---
"Awakened?" Kairo whispered.
The world lurched.
Fog rolled in from nowhere, swallowing the balcony whole. His shadow rose like liquid smoke, pulling him downward as the real world dissolved into soft, luminous mist.
Somnara took him.
But this wasn't like any dream he'd ever wandered through.
This Somnara was sharper. Focused. Breathing.
Buildings rose and fell as if alive. The marble streets pulsed like a heartbeat. Stars drifted overhead, shifting when he breathed.
A whisper curled around his ear.
"Finally… you're here."
Kairo spun.
Shadows crawled together, forming a long, twisted creature with too many eyes and a mouth that trembled with silent hunger.
A Wraithform — a nightmare made real.
The System flared.
---
[ WARNING: NIGHTMARE DETECTED ]
[ PROTOTYPE WEAPON ACCESS GRANTED ]
---
His hand warmed.
Light gathered in his palm.
Kairo didn't think — instinct moved him.
Dream-energy twisted into a blade of silver-blue light.
The nightmare lunged.
Kairo stepped forward.
One clean strike.
The Wraithform burst into dreamdust.
The screen blinked again
---
[ FIRST NIGHTMARE DEFEATED ]
[ TIER PROGRESSION UNLOCKED ]
---
More shadows rippled at the edges of the street.
Somnara wasn't done with him.
"Kairo!"
The voice wasn't the whisper.
It came from ahead — from a woman standing alone in the shifting dream-city. She was bright against the gloom, as if she didn't belong to this place.
He didn't know her.
Yet somehow, his chest tightened like he did.
She stepped forward, calm even as more Wraithforms formed behind him.
And with a voice that made the dream tremble, she said:
"You're not supposed to be here yet."
The city exhaled.
And the night didn't end.