But last night… I did.
And she was there.
It didn’t start with her face.
It started withlight. Blinding, warm, too pure for someone like me. It slid through the trees of some forgotten forest, pooling at my feet like molten gold. My shadows curled back in fear — and then stilled when she stepped through it.
Barefoot. Drenched in moonlight. Hair falling loose around her face, lips parted like she’d been running. But not from me.
Toward me.
“Rheon,” she whispered.
And in the dream — I flinched. Because I’d forgotten how it sounded, hearing my name from someone who wasn’t afraid.
She reached for me. My mark — that cursed sigil seared into my chest — flared gold.
I reached back.
And just before our fingers touched, the forest ignited in flames and ash. The world split open. Her body flickered — light and shadow at war inside her.
And then she was gone.
I woke with her name on my lips and my claws embedded in the stone beneath me.
“She haunts me in my sleep like she was born in my bones.”
I sat there for hours after.
Staring at the mark. Trying to make sense of the ache in my chest. Trying to convince myself it was just the bond acting up — a magical reaction, nothing more.
But deep down… I know that’s a lie.
That wasn’t just a dream.
It was awarning.
Or a promise.
And now I can’t breathe without wondering if she felt it too.
The light in my chest pulses again, and I strip off my shirt in frustration. The fated mark glows with the same pattern I saw in the dream — now more vibrant than ever. Not red. Not demonic. But veined with silver and gold, bleeding something ancient into the air.
It’sher.
Somehow, she’s changing me.
Not just physically — but deeper. Soul-deep. Magic-deep. The bond doesn’t just want us to meet. It wants tomerge us.
And if she resists, it will hurt her.
If I resist… it will destroy me.
They warned me about this bond. That it would break me. But no one ever said it would feel like salvation too.
I Should Run. But I don’t.
Instead, I reach for the obsidian pendant I always wear — the last gift from my mother before she was slaughtered. It vibrates slightly, reacting to the surge of magic inside me. Her magic. The part of me that’s still human. The part that answers toSeori.I need to see her again. Even if it means death.
