~ 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝑶𝑶𝑵 - In the heart of an ancient Chinese dynasty, a young emperor reigns with wisdom beyond his years but carries a heart heavy with unresolved grief. Years ago, he lost his beloved under mysterious circumstances, a loss that has...
The sound of rain drumming against the pavement seeped into my dreams, morphing into a vivid and unsettling scene. In this dreamscape, I stood in the desolate palace grounds, the relentless downpour enveloping me in a cold mist. As the echo of footsteps grew louder, an eerie sense of foreboding took hold of me.
Turning around, my heart raced as I saw a blurred figure rushing toward me through the curtain of rain. Paralyzed with fear, I watched helplessly as a woman, her face contorted in agony, clutched her chest where a dark stain was spreading ominously across her garments. She stumbled and fell, and a man rushed to her side, his movements frantic with despair.
As he dropped to his knees, cradling her, a pained cry tore from his lips—a sound so filled with loss and sorrow that it resonated deep within me. His voice was hauntingly familiar. As he turned his face upward, letting the rain wash over him, I recognized him—it was the emperor, his features twisted in grief as he held his lover in his arms. The vision was heartbreakingly clear and seemed to transcend time.
Rooted to the spot, I suddenly felt a sharp pain clutch at my chest. I placed my hand over my heart, feeling the fabric of my clothes damp and tight against my skin. A cough wracked my body, and to my horror, blood stained my hand when I looked at it. The pain was unbearable, spreading through me with relentless force, mirroring her fatal wound in a horrifying twist of fate.
As I collapsed to my knees, the ground cold and unforgiving beneath me, the realization dawned on me with terrifying clarity—it was all a dream, a nightmarish loop replaying the emperor's tragedy. How could her fate be intertwining with mine in this spectral dream, why was I reliving this tragic end. The questions spun through my mind as darkness edged my vision, pulling me deeper into the abyss of the night's terror.
With a start, I awoke, gasping for air, my body drenched in sweat despite the chill of the room. The dream had felt so real, so visceral, that it took me several moments to orient myself and recognize the familiar shadows of my own quarters. The haunting images lingered, a stark reminder of the palace's dark past that now seemed to haunt my present.
Lying back down, every shadow in the room seemed to pulsate with the remnants of the nightmare. My heart still raced, pounding against my chest as if trying to escape the dark, swirling emotions that the dream had stirred up. The palace, with its long history of secrets and whispers, felt more alive and ominous than ever before. The boundaries between past and present seemed to blur, making the nightmare feel like a warning or perhaps a portent.
