The dream that Bled into Reality.

The dream came again—exactly the same as every night. Mela Arin stood barefoot in a white, mist-filled field that felt more real than her own bedroom. The air shimmered faintly, alive against her skin. Above her, the sky was fractured like shattered glass, glowing fragments suspended in place like frozen stars. She wasn’t supposed to feel anything here. Yet she felt everything. And then she saw him. He appeared where he always did—kneeling, as though the weight of the world pressed him down. Silver-black hair fell across his face, his clothes torn and unfamiliar. Shadows clung to his skin, shifting slowly, glowing faintly like trapped starlight. Most nights, he never spoke. But tonight, he lifted his head. “Mela… don’t leave me.” Her breath caught painfully in her throat. She had never told him her name. Dreams weren’t supposed to know things like that. And they certainly weren’t meant to feel this real. She took a hesitant step forward. “Who… who are you?” His eyes met hers—stormy, intense, filled with desperation that made her chest tighten. “I am Kael,” he said. “You created me. And now… you’re the only one who can save me.” Her body went completely still. Created him? That wasn’t possible. Dreams didn’t work like that. She reached out instinctively, fingers trembling. The moment she tried to touch him, his form flickered—like a reflection shattering across water. “Kael—what’s happening to you?” Before he could answer, the ground trembled beneath her feet. A deafening crack split the glowing sky, light tearing through it like a living wound. “Mela! Wake up! Wake up now!” Her eyes flew open. Darkness. Silence. Her bedroom. Her heart slammed painfully against her ribs as she struggled to breathe. She exhaled shakily—then froze. A thin, glowing crack pulsed softly along her bedroom wall. The same crack from the dream’s sky. It throbbed slowly, like a heartbeat. And then she heard it. A whisper from the other side. A voice she knew. “Mela… let me in.”