Aria
The dream begins with silence.
Not the peaceful kind. This silence feels ancient, as though the world is holding its breath.
I stand alone beneath a black sky filled with unmoving stars. Silver water stretches endlessly around me. No shore. No wind.
Yet the bond hums faintly beneath my ribs. Even here, wherever here is, I can still feel them.
This isn’t an ordinary dream. I know that before I see anyone, though I couldn’t explain how. Something about this place feels too old, too powerful to have come from my own mind.
A ripple spreads beneath my bare feet.
Light breaks across the horizon.
Gold. Silver. Blue.
The colors move through the darkness, growing brighter as they approach.
Then they are there.
They aren’t fully formed, and nothing about them is human. I don’t need a
