A Starlit Promise

Dreamer

The world around Rylla shimmered, bathed her in soft silver light. She stood at the edge of a vast lake, the water impossibly still, reflecting the full moons above like a perfect mirror. Everything felt both intensely real and utterly dreamlike - vivid colors, crisp air, the distant scent of night-blooming flowers hanging in the air. 

She didn't recognize this place, but she could immediately tell she was in the dreamworld, she had that same overwhelming sense of longing. It was cold, colder than it had ever been in these dreams before. Rylla wrapped her arms around herself, her breath escaping in trembling puffs of air. While this specific area was unknown to her, she somehow still knew it too well - had visited it in her sleep so many times that it had started to feel like a second home. But the man... he hadn't come to her in days. She had begun to wonder if he ever would again. 

And yet tonight, something was different. 

The silence in the dreamscape felt heavier, like a huge weight pressing down on her chest. The mist was thicker, obscuring even the faintest outlines of the world beyond it. She couldn't see him - she never could - but she felt his presence in a way that was undeniable. It prickled at the edges of her awareness, like the faintest touch of a hand at the back of her mind. She turned in place, eyes straining through the fog, her pulse quickening. "Are you here?" she whispered, though she wasn't sure she wanted an answer. The air shifted in response, a ripple of energy that seemed to pulse through the mist. She stilled, waiting, and then came the voice - soft and low, barely more than a whisper.

"Rylla..." 

Her breath hitched. The sound of her name, spoken in such an unfamiliar, haunting way, sent her heart into a frantic rhythm. He was here - closer than before, though still out of reach, cloaked in the shadows that always surrounded him. 

"You've come back," the voice said, as if it was a statement of fact rather than a greeting. 

Rylla swallowed hard, the mist brushing against her skin like icy fingers. "So now you want to talk?! You left me," she stated, tears welling up and blurring her vision. "Why did you stop coming? I haven't seen you in days." 

A long silence followed. For a moment, she thought he might vanish again, leaving her alone in the void like he usually did. But then, the air around her seemed to thrum with energy, a soft breeze stirring the mist and carrying his words to her like an echo from a place far beyond. 

"I could not reach you," he said quietly, the voice reverberating through the dreamscape. "The veil - it is thinning. I cannot hold it back much longer. Soon you will see."

The veil? The words twisted in her mind, heavy with meaning she couldn't quite grasp. She had heard stories of a viel before, from her grandmother, but never with such urgency. And what she did know was very surface level, very vague. Something was happening - something dangerous. And for reasons she couldn't understand, it was tied to her. 

Rylla wrapped her arms tighter around herself, trying to steady her breathing. "What do you want from me?" she asked, her voice louder than before. 

The fog stirred again, and she felt the weight of his presence bearing down on her. He wasn't close, not physically - he never was - but there was a sense of proximity, of an invisible pull that connected them, like a string stretched taut between two points. 

"You've always known," came his reply, distant and almost mournful. "You are the key Rylla. To stop what is coming, you must remember." 

She shook her head, frustration working its way to the surface. "I don't understand! Remember what? You speak in riddles, and I-I can't-"

Her words faltered as a sudden wave of emotions crashed over her, not her own - but his, she realized. It hit her like a gust of wind, intense and raw, filled with desperation, sorrow, and something else she couldn't name. For a moment, it was as though their minds had connected, his emotions bleeding into her own. She gasped, stumbling backward, her chest tight.  

"Find me," he said, and this time his voice sounded strained, as though he was fighting against some unseen force. "Before the shadows do. Before the darkness claims you." 

The fog around her began to swirl, thickening until she could barely see her own hands. Panic rose in her throat, and she reached out blindly, as if she could somehow touch him, pull him closer. 

"Where are you?" she cried out, her voice breaking. "Tell me where to find you!"

"Where light meets shadow... there, you will find me." 

The words echoed in her mind as the dream began to unravel. The mist pulled away from her, the ground beneath her feet crumbled into darkness, the last remnant of his presence slipping away as she was swallowed by the void. 

When she awoke, Rylla's breath was ragged, her body drenched in a cold sweat. She sat up quickly, her heart racing, her eyes wide with the lingering remnants of her dream. Her hands shook as she clutched the edge of the blanket, trying to calm herself. One thought pulsed through her mind with unrelenting force.

The veil... shadows... the key.

What did it all mean? And why now, after days of silence, was the dream man returning with such urgency? And yet, despite the terror that gripped her, she couldn't shake the feeling that something inside her was beginning to stir. A part of her that she didn't yet understand.