Unbound: Desire Awakened

1 | Repercussions

Everything around me was a blurry haze, a disorienting tangle of fragmented thoughts and distorted images. I was lost within my own mind, trapped in a dream that seemed to stretch endlessly.

It was dark and things moved erratically, shoving me along while a monumental amount of emotions swirled within me, but I didn't have a single chance to reflect because a persistent heat kept consuming my body as if I had an unrelenting fever.

The heat engulfed my bones and left me drenched and trembling with an indescribable ache. And when the pain would heighten unbearably, I'd suddenly catch glimpses of familiar figures. They were distorted and unnerving.

It was Eros. Yet his once comforting gaze had transformed into an eerie violet hue. That color pierced through the darkness, seemingly searching for something within me.

And Aries, he was here too—in my dream world. And his eyes had changed as well. They burned a fiery red.

Their altered appearances filled me with a sense of unease and confusion, as if they had become strangers to me.

Perhaps it was the fever, because I couldn't comprehend why they looked this way. But oddly, it mirrored how I felt about them. Angry, betrayed, and sad.

It all lingered on the fringes of my consciousness and it only grew worse.

So every time they tried to come for me, I tried to flee. But I would find myself smacking into a maze of black walls. And no matter how far I ran, they were always there, never far, shadowing my every step.

They were relentless and I wasn't strong enough to escape. They came after me when the pain was too much. I couldn't fight back.

Inevitably, I was in their grasp and the pain I felt oddly began to subside.

Their touch soothed the ache in my bones. And once the pain had begun to settle, I found their altered presence calming.

In their arms, the world became a little less fragmented, a little less terrifying.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been here. Time felt distorted. Minutes blended with hours, and days meld into infinity.

But at one point, the fever, the ache, the torment that had plagued my dreams began to subside, gradually fading into the recesses of my mind.

The darkness that had clouded my thoughts began to lift.

It could have been a minute, it could have been a year, but a serene calmness finally settled within me. And for once, I felt that I would be able to leave this place. So I fought, pushing through the last remnants of this dreamscape until my eyes flutter open.

I was in my bed, back in the Blackwell home.

It was as if everything that had happened before this was nothing more than a hazy dream. But the memories rushed back to me in fragments; escaping, the accident.

What the hell had I done?!

I examined my arms, half-expecting to see the marks and bruises I had anticipated. To my astonishment, there was no sign of injury. No sign of the glass I had seen pierced into my flesh.

My skin was untouched, perfect and soft.

Tentatively, I reached up to touch my head, remembering the blood that had dripped down my face, yet I couldn't find a single trace of a wound.

It was as if the physical toll I had anticipated had inexplicably vanished.

How was that possible? I should have scars, a scab, something, right?! Unless, I'd just hallucinated the entire thing?