AELIA REVA
Waking up comes slow, it feels like rising through layers of water so deep the surface feels only like a memory. My chest lifts and falls in shallow rhythm, my limbs feel heavy and reluctant, as though some unseen weight still holds me down.
The first thing I see when my eyes manage to open is the ceiling, smooth stone, faintly grey, without any seams or imperfections. The room is still and quiet, a silence that feels pressed into the walls.
I push myself up, the mattress dipping beneath my hands. The bed is simple but too deliberate, dark wood carved with different patterns, the sheets tucked with exact precision, the blanket warm against my skin but smelling faintly of something metallic, as though the air here has been steeped in it for years.
My gaze drifts over the walls, each built of the same seamless stone, cold and without windows except for one to my right.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed, my bare feet pressing against the chilly floor. For a moment, I just stand there, letting the chill settle in.
The door is across from me, heavy and dark, the grain of the wood hidden beneath a coat of black so deep it seems to drink the light.
The window is tall, narrow, framed by iron that twists in patterns like roots trying to curl inwards. I walk towards it with my bare feet brushing against an unfamiliar rug that muffles my steps, I press my palm against the glass of the window. It's colder than the floor, smooth beneath my fingertips.
The view is… endless.The cliffs drop away into nothing. Mist churns far below, thick enough to hide the fall, thick enough to hide anything. It twists against the rock like it's alive, like it's guarding whatever's underneath.
Past it, the forest spreads in every direction, green and endless. But it doesn't move. No wind in the branches. No birds. Just… still.
It feels wrong, All of this feels wrong.
My eyes drag over every inch, hunting for a road, a break in the trees, some sort of a way out. Nothing. Only cliffs, mist, and a wall of green that looks like it would close over me the second I stepped inside.
I drag my eyes away as a tightness builds in my chest, ut feels like it's restricting my breathing.
I turn back toward the bed, my gaze falling on the door. That's my only way forward.
A sharp ache blooms behind my eyes, and before I can push it away, the memory crashes through.
I'm back at the dock, legs dangling over the edge, toes skimming the air above the water. Ulric is behind me, telling me he needs to grab something, and I don't realise until that moment how much I had needed it.
The water shifts below me, sunlight breaking and reforming across its surface, until without warning the light falters. The air grows heavier, thicker with every breath.
A shadow falls over the dock, long and cunning, its presence swallowing everything else.
Fingers find my wrist and then, without even the chance to react, the world folds in on itself, and I'm pulled into darkness.
A gasp tears from my throat before I can stop it. My hand tightens on the window frame. I turn from it sharply, my chest tight, my thoughts a mess of urgency.
The hell was all that.
"I need to go," I whisper, though my voice is nothing compared to the pounding in my chest. My thoughts narrow to a single point.
"I need to find Ulric. I need him."
I cross the room quickly, my hand gripping the cold handle before I can think about anything else. The door swings open revealing a long hallway. The walls are the same seamless stone and the air colder here.
I move forward, my bare feet silent against the smooth floor. The hallway stretches ahead, doors on either side, all identical and closed. I glance behind me once, just to be sure, before I keep going. My pace quickens.
At the end, I find another door and push it open without hesitation.
It opens to reveal...another hallway? The heck.
It takes me a moment to process, to convince myself I didn't just imagine stepping through the first one. This hall is the same length, the same stone, the same pattern of doors.
I keep going, this time faster, reaching the next door. I push through...and find myself in yet another hallway.
Goddess help me.
My steps falter. I glance over my shoulder, expecting to see the door I just passed through, but it's gone. The stone runs unbroken behind me.
A wave of panic passes through my ribs. I swallow it down and keep moving, my breath quicker now, all the while keeping only one thing in my mind, I need to get out, I need to get to Ulric.
Another door. Another hallway. My stomach twists with panic.
It doesn't make sense. The space feels wrong, bending in ways that make my head swim if I think too hard about it. I start counting my steps to keep focus, my fingertips brushing the wall as I walk.
I open the next door and freeze.
I'm back where I started. The door swings inward to reveal the very same room I woke up in, the bed exactly as it was, the window still open to the mist beyond.
Okay, deep breaths Aelia, you're not crazy.
My breath comes shallow now, my heart pounding hard enough I can feel it in my fingertips.
I take a step inside, my gaze darting from the bed to the walls to the door again, searching for the trick. What is happening?
"What the hell…" the words come out as a whisper. My heart pounds so loud it nearly drowns the silence. I take a step back, shaking my head, trying to make sense of it–
"Already trying to run away?"
The sound slides down my spine like cold water. I don't move, but every part of me is awake now, every instinct pulled taut.
❦︎ To Be Continued ❦︎