~ Asteria ~
I used to belong to something.
Now there is only this...
Adarkness, thick and unmoving, closing in from every side like a living thing.
An ocean without shore rises with every heartbeat, as if it knows the rhythm of me.
Beneath my ribs something moves, patient and aware, testing the fragile walls of its cage. Like serpents rising from a long sleep, hungry for more than flesh.
It remembers the world it could remake.
It remembers power and hunger. Revenge.
Every movement crushes the air out of my lungs, squeezing my bones until they feel hollow. Grief spreads slowly through me, filling the spaces where I once recognized myself.
I want to scream.
To howl...
To fling my soul out of this darkness.
But nothing rises.
It clings desperately to me, as if letting go would be far worse.
But what could be worse than this suffering?
How did I get here?
The echo of the storm drifts across my mind, pulling me toward something familiar.
~~~
The rain was pouring down hard, like the sky was warning me of what was coming.
The café felt alive with subtle energy.
Jazz hummed from a corner speaker, pages rustled at another table, floorboards creaked beneath shifting weight.
Even the faint smell of wet pavement drifted in, intimate and strange.
I inhaled deeply, watching the droplets slide down the tall window, carving silver, pulsing veins across the glass.
My gaze locked on a figure outside.
It was tall and still. A presence woven from darkness, standing just a few meters away, shrouded in black.
The window felt impossibly thin, a fragile barrier between us. My hands clenched tightly beneath the table, knuckles pressing into my knees.
I leaned forward, squinting, desperate for a face, a clue, something familiar, but the rain distorted everything into a liquid blur. The silhouette twisted unnaturally, as if it breathed with the storm. The light bent around him in a way I would never forget.
And then… it melted into the night, as if it had never been.
Only my reflection stared back at me. Pale. Exhausted. Lost.
"Hey… where are you?" A deep voice cut through the haze in my mind, pulling me back into the room.
I turned, meeting his eyes. Brown, unreadable, sharp enough to cut through the storm. They held a depth that drew me in, like a touch across the table.
His name was Julian.
We had been together for a while, though the exact length always slipped my memory.
Some days felt like we'd known each other for lifetimes, others as if we were meeting for the first time.
"You seem… distracted," he tilted his head. "More than usual."
There was no judgment in his words, only an odd certainty, as if he could see my deepest thoughts.
His gaze didn't just meet mine, it weighed me, it measured the rhythm of my soul. The tremor in my hands, the irregular breathing I tried to mask, the goosebumps on the back of my neck.
"Sorry," I whispered. "I didn't sleep. Again."
A faint crease appeared between his brows, sending a subtle ripple through his beard.
He looked like a warrior from another time, serious, composed, anchored in a way the world could not shake.
His shaved head gave his features a bold, striking symmetry. The long brown beard added an intensity that could intimidate anyone. Yet his long lashes softened the fierceness he showed the world. With me, it turned into warmth and tenderness, a side no one else ever saw.
Only I did.
Both were strangely comforting.
"I'm here," I whispered, brushing my hand against his across the table. The touch was familiar, safe.
"Maybe you should see someone," he murmured, his gaze unwavering despite my smile.
"Or maybe I should see you in my bed," I teased, leaning closer, inhaling his scent.
Warm and earthy, a mix of sandalwood, tobacco, and something I couldn't name.
His lips curved into a slow, deliberate smile. "Anything to help you, miss." He leaned in until our lips brushed lightly.
I traced the edge of the menu with my fingertip, tapping softly, trying to match the rhythm of the rain.
The café lights flickered, and a cold shiver slipped along my spine. My reflection shimmered strangely in the polished table, distorted and unfamiliar.
Julian didn't seem to notice.
His eyes were still on me. Quietly watching.
He gave me that look again. The one halfway between worry and patience.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I…"
I need to understand what is happening to me.
The words lingered at the edge of my tongue, heavy and dangerous, but I swallowed them anyway.
"No," I said finally, forcing a small smile. "I want to take my mind off it for now."
My fingers tightened around the warm mug. "How about you? You were saying something about another dream?"
He gave a slow nod, hesitating before he spoke again.
"I was in a forest. Not an ordinary one. The trees were... whispering." His voice carried a heaviness that slowed my pulse.
"Speaking in a language I could almost understand."
I leaned in, watching the crease form between his brows once more.
"There were others with me," he continued, gaze distant. "People... I cannot remember their faces, but it felt like I knew them. Like they were important."
His fingers traced the rim of his cup.
"Then the forest opened into a clearing, and he was there."
"Who?"
"A man beneath a massive tree. His temples were marked with glowing symbols."
"He was waiting for us." His voice dropped, low and distant. "Not surprised. Not curious. Just… waiting. As if he had known my face for years."
"What did he say?"
"That I needed to keep balance."
His eyes held an unsettling depth as a faint tremor brushed the edge of my nerves.
"Not 'find' it. Not 'restore' it. Keep it. As if it already belonged to me… but I was about to lose it."
A strange tension crept into his voice.
"Then I saw myself."
"Your reflection?"
"No," he shook his head. "Not a reflection. Him. Another version of me. He stared like he wanted to warn me, but I couldn't hear the words."
The café fell strangely quiet around us. Even the music seemed to fade for a moment. Julian leaned closer, voice dropping lower, as if the dream still lingered.
"And then?"
"The tree lit up," he whispered.
"The symbols caught on fire. It spread everywhere. He looked at me one last time… and everything went black."
"That sounds intense..."
A breathy laugh escaped his chest, one without humor.
"Yeah, it felt like..." He rubbed his beard, struggling for words. "I don't even know... Like there was much more to it..."
His observation lingered in the air, heavy and unsettling, weaving into the storm outside.
He was never the type of person who would be affected by such things. He was always practical, always logical, always finding reason behind any strange feeling or experience.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
I couldn't help but wonder if his dreams were something more. If he sensed the same darkness that haunted me.
The rain was pounding harder, drumming against the glass in a relentless rhythm. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I told myself it was my imagination, but the room itself seemed to shiver around me.
That's when, from the corner of my eye, I saw him.
A figure sat at a table far across the room, hidden in the dimmest corner. I hadn't noticed him at first.
His features were unreadable, hidden in the faint glow around him. Black hair fell across his forehead, hiding his eyes, but I could feel them.
Sharp. Measuring. Observing.
Cutting through me with an intensity that felt almost physical.
Every movement was deliberate, controlled. One leg crossed over the other, hands resting lightly on the table.
"You're trembling… are you cold?" Julian murmured, brushing his warm hand over mine, anchoring me to the present, even as my gaze stayed locked on the stranger.
I only nodded, unable to gather my thoughts.
I couldn't see his face fully, yet something about him felt wrong. Like a shadow pressing close to my senses.
Did he just walk in?
Had he been here the whole time?
I looked away quickly, pretending to search for the waitress, though my heart pounded loud in my ears.
Julian leaned, warmth radiating from him, but I couldn't shake the unease prickling along my nerves.
Why does his presence feel like a warning?
I tried to study him subtly, my pulse quickening with every movement he made.
His posture was relaxed, but his body was taut, precise, ready for anything, his fingers tapping lightly against the table. I couldn't hear it, but I felt it. A pulse in sync with the tension he was carrying.
Before I could dwell on it, the waitress returned, setting our muffins down, breaking the spell that had held my attention.
"Thank you," I murmured, relief barely hiding the tension in my voice.
In a heartbeat, fear anchored me to the spot.
The café seemed to tilt slightly, the edges of reality stretching.
Blood. Crimson. Warm.
A single droplet traced a slow, living path across my arm, crawling along my nerves with its own pulse.
I glanced at Julian, hoping he would see it too, but he did not.
It's happening again...
The sound of my own heartbeat drowned out everything.
My hands trembled, betraying my effort to stay still.
I lifted my gaze toward the waitress, dread curling through my entire being.
Blood streamed down her face, pouring from hollow spaces where her eyes should have been. Dark, twisting lines ran down her cheeks, soaking her uniform, blooming outward like something alive. Droplets hit the floor with a wet, sick rhythm.
Her lips twisted into a wide, impossible smile, somewhere between joy and agony.
She moved without pain, as if everything was normal, her ruined face leaning closer, inches from mine.
I parted my lips to scream, to beg, to warn Julian, but no sound came.
Her smile widened, then her voice slid into my mind, soft and slicing.
"I found you."
~~~
I guess I couldn't hide forever.