Sleep didn't come easily that night.
Every time Shyla closed her eyes, she felt the echo faint but insistent of the pull that had connected her to Ash hours ago. It lingered under her skin, like a second heartbeat that refused to quiet.
When she finally drifted off, the world around her didn't dissolve into the usual blur of dreams.It shifted.
The air turned heavy, warm, like breath against glass. The rain outside her window had vanished. The city was gone.
She stood barefoot in a corridor she didn't recognize — tall arched ceilings, flickering golden light spilling through cracked stained glass. The air smelled of roses and dust.
A voice drifted through the silence — soft, melodic, threaded with sorrow.
"You promised me forever, Ash... Alishya is no plaything... you will lose everything."
Shyla froze.
She turned toward the sound. At the end of the corridor stood a woman or something like one. Pale, graceful, her eyes the color of twilight. Her presence was calm but cold, every movement deliberate.
Alishya.
The woman's lips curved faintly, though her smile didn't reach her eyes. "So… you're the one who carries my echo."
Shyla took a step back. "I— I don't know what you mean."
"You do," Alishya said gently. "You feel him. You pull him. That shouldn't be possible."
Her gaze sharpened, curiosity flickering like a blade. "What are you to him?"
"I don't know," Shyla said, her voice trembling. "He just—"
"Breathes differently when he sees you?" Alishya's voice hardened. "He used to do that with me."
Shyla swallowed. "You're dead."
Alishya's smile widened — soft, cruel, and utterly calm. "Death is only distance. He's trying to close it. You're how he does it."
The words hit like ice. "No."
"Oh yes," Alishya whispered, stepping closer. "You think it's affection? It's hunger. He wants to bring me back. Your warmth is the price."
Shyla's heartbeat thudded painfully in her chest. "You're lying."
The woman tilted her head. "Then wake up and ask him."
Shyla tried to move, to turn, to break the dream — but the air around her thickened, the corridor darkening into shadow.
"Tell him," Alishya murmured, voice echoing. "Tell him I'm waiting."
Shyla gasped awake.
The room was dark again, moonlight spilling faintly across her floor. Her skin was clammy, her heartbeat wild.
The locket pulsed hard against her chest, faster than it ever had before.
"What did you see?" Leo's voice demanded, urgent.
She pressed her fingers to the metal, whispering, "Her name is Alishya."
For a second, the locket went silent — as if the name itself had weight.
Then, quietly, Leo said, "You weren't supposed to find her yet."
Across the city, Ash woke too. His breath came in shallow bursts, the remnants of the same dream still clinging to him — the same corridor, the same voice.
But this time, it wasn't just Alishya speaking.He had heard Shyla's voice too.
He sat up, staring into the dark, whispering her name like a confession.
"Shyla…"
And in that moment, both of them knew — the line between dream and reality had begun to break.