Echoes From The Past

One

Panting heavily, I dashed through the barren landscape, my feet pounding the hard, cold ground. The wind howled around me, tearing at my clothes and throwing my hair into my eyes, momentarily blinding me. Above, the gnarled branches of ancient trees groaned, their whispers filling the air with a haunting melody.

From the shadows, a figure emerged—ethereal, almost glowing against the darkness. Her long blond hair flowed over her shoulders, untouched by the wind, contrasting starkly with her pale skin. She wore a white dress that seemed too pristine for this nightmarish world, standing motionless like a ghost from a forgotten tale.

Her presence was both comforting and unsettling as she drifted closer, her smile a haunting echo of one I felt I should recognize but couldn't place. My throat tightened, and words failed me as I tried to call out to her.

"There's something chasing me," I finally whispered, my voice trembling with fear.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice a gentle caress against the harshness of the wind.

"The darkness," I stammered, a chill running down my spine as I spoke the word. Her piercing blue eyes held mine, reflecting my fear, yet behind my reflection, a shadow lurked, threatening and dark—like a cloud of black magic looming over me.

Tears welled up, and I crumbled to my knees, my strength sapped by an invisible weight. She moved towards me with a grace that seemed otherworldly, placing her fingers tenderly on my forehead.

She spoke in a tongue I didn't recognize, yet it stirred something deep within me, a fleeting sensation that slipped away as soon as I tried to grasp it. Her final word hung in the air, resonating with a alien and intimate familiarity.

"Erase."

As her voice faded, the dream began to dissolve, pulling me back from the brink of something profound into the stark reality of my lonely room. My heart raced, and a cold sweat clung to me as I lay in bed, the fragments of the dream lingering, teasing me with the edges of a feeling I could no longer fully recall.