Chapter 2
492 Words
The final bell echoed through the campus.
Students poured out of their classrooms, laughing and chatting as they made their way home.
Zhyrelle remained seated.
She couldn't stop thinking about the reflection she had seen on the classroom window.
It had felt too real.
"Zhyrelle?"
Meriza waved a hand in front of her face.
"You've been spacing out all day."
"I'm sorry."
"You've said that three times already."
Zhyrelle gave a weak smile.
"I just can't get that dream out of my head."
Meriza sighed.
"Then tell me everything."
Every detail.
Without leaving anything out.
So she did.
The endless field.
The warm rain.
The giant acacia tree.
The silver-gray eyes.
His trembling voice.
And the words he had whispered before everything shattered.
"Find me."
Meriza listened without interrupting.
When Zhyrelle finished, silence settled between them.
Finally, Meriza spoke.
"...That's not an ordinary dream."
"You think so too?"
"I don't know."
"I keep hearing his voice."
Meriza frowned.
"The guy from your dream?"
She nodded.
"It feels like he's trying to tell me something."
Meriza gave an uneasy laugh.
"Maybe you just need more sleep."
"I wish it were that simple."
After classes, dark clouds still hung above the campus.
"I'll head home first," Meriza said. "Text me when you get there."
"I will."
They parted ways near the school gate.
As Zhyrelle walked alone, a cool breeze swept through the empty street.
Without warning...
The rain began to fall.
She searched for shelter beneath an old acacia tree.
The same kind she had seen in her dream.
A strange chill ran down her spine.
The world around her grew unnaturally quiet.
No passing cars.
No voices.
Only the steady rhythm of the rain.
Then...
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming from behind her.
She turned.
No one.
Her heartbeat quickened.
Another step.
Closer this time.
"Who's there?"
Silence.
Then a familiar voice drifted through the rain.
"You're finally hearing me..."
Zhyrelle's breath caught.
It was him.
The same voice from her dreams.
The same voice that had whispered her name.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling.
A faint figure slowly appeared beyond the curtain of rain.
Tall.
Dressed in a dark coat.
Silver-gray eyes met hers for only a heartbeat.
"I don't have much time," he said softly.
"Remember the tree."
"The tree...?"
"Find it before the next full moon."
The rain suddenly poured harder.
Thunder echoed across the sky.
Zhyrelle instinctively closed her eyes.
When she opened them again...
The figure was gone.
Only the rain remained.
Confused and shaken, she looked around.
There was no sign that anyone had ever been there.
Yet at her feet lay a single white feather, untouched by the rain.
She slowly picked it up.
The moment her fingers brushed against it, a strange warmth spread through her hand.
Somewhere...
Far beyond the world she knew...
The young man smiled faintly.
"Our time is running out, Zhyrelle."
"And soon..."
"The Dream Realm will awaken."
- Writer
