Dreambound Shadows

Chapter 1: The Midnight Whisper

♫ - Heartbreak Hotel (inst.)
Song by Tiffany

The clock struck eleven, its rhythmic ticking the only sound in the stillness of Aera's bedroom. She lay on her bed, the cool silk sheets clinging to her skin, damp from a recent shower. Normally, by this hour, sleep would have claimed her, guiding her gently into the realm of dreams where reality dissolved into the ethereal. But tonight, rest was a distant ghost, elusive and unattainable.

Aera sighed, her body restless against the mattress, her thoughts a storm of disquiet. She had tried everything to coax sleep—soft, lilting melodies whispered from her speakers, the comforting weight of a well-worn book cradled in her hands—but nothing could quiet the turmoil within. Her mind was tethered to a single thought, a singular presence that lingered at the edge of her consciousness.

This presence was not just anyone; he was a shadow, a secret whispered in the dark—a lover who came to her not in the flesh, but in the velvet folds of her dreams. It had been six long months since he last graced her slumber, a span of time that stretched like an eternity in her heart. In the beginning, when their connection was new and raw, he came to her night after night, their encounters vivid and intoxicating. She lived for the night, for the moment her eyes would close and she would be enveloped by his presence.

But as the years passed, the frequency of his visits dwindled. First, every night became once a week, then once a month, and now... now, she could count the months between his appearances. The absence was a weight she carried with her, a constant ache that throbbed beneath her ribs.

Many times, Aera had thought to ask him why. Why had he begun to pull away? What had changed? But each time she saw him, her questions turned to dust on her lips, unspoken. It wasn't fear that silenced her; it was a deep, unspoken understanding. She didn't need him to tell her what she already knew in her bones. Yet, still, she waited, hoping that he would be the one to voice the truth, to bring light to the darkness that had settled between them.

Three years had passed since Aera first noticed the shift, and still, he remained silent. She would accept it if he chose to leave, to vanish from her life, but she needed to hear it from him. The thought of him simply fading away, leaving her with nothing but the echo of his memory, was more than she could bear. It would mean that she had been nothing to him, a fleeting curiosity, a passing fancy.

Tears welled in Aera's eyes, hot and unbidden, slipping down her cheeks and onto the pillow beneath her. She wiped them away with trembling hands, drawing in a shaky breath as she tried to steady herself. Her voice, barely more than a whisper, trembled as it escaped her lips. "Please... come to me tonight. I miss you."

As if her words carried a magic of their own, a wave of drowsiness washed over her, heavy and sudden. Her eyelids fluttered, her vision blurring as sleep finally took hold. She sank into the darkness, her mind surrendering to the pull of unconsciousness.

Time passed in a blur, and then, like a breath of winter air, a cold wind caressed her cheek. It roused her from the depths of sleep, and she opened her eyes slowly, blinking against the soft, silvery light that bathed the world around her. The scene before her was breathtaking, a landscape of impossible beauty, shimmering with a light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once.

For a moment, confusion clouded her mind. Where was she? But then, recognition dawned. She was in the dream world, the place where he had come to her so many times before.

Her heart quickened, anticipation thrumming through her veins as she searched the dreamscape for him, the one her soul yearned for. But the landscape stretched out before her, empty and silent. Disappointment, cold and sharp, settled over her, and she looked down, her breath escaping in a soft, sorrowful sigh.