The 26th Dream

The air smelled like rain—and something else.

Something sharp. Metallic.

Like old coins forgotten in a pocket.

Rhea's eyes fluttered open. Her fingers sank into the cold, wet earth beneath her. Around her, the forest stretched endlessly—frozen, silent. Skeletal trees clawed at a sky bruised purple and grey.

This wasn't Paris.

It was the dream again.

A voice cut through the stillness, sharp as a knife.

"You're late."

She spun around.

There he was—V.

His black coat melted into the shadows, his breath curling like smoke in the freezing air.

His eyes locked onto hers. Eyes she knew but could never fully remember.

Her heart pounded. From fear? Or the cold? She couldn't tell.

"Late for what?" she asked, standing up, brushing icy snow off her clothes.

"The trial."

He said it like she should already know.

Her mind raced. Which trial?

Her dreams never followed rules.

One night, she was running through a library on fire.

The next, drowning in black water at a train station.

But this time… this time felt different.

There was something in his face. A flicker of something—

Recognition. Desperation.

V turned and walked away, his footsteps crunching over frozen leaves.

Rhea followed, her voice breaking the heavy air.

"Where are we going?"

"You tell me."

His tone was cold, but his words made her shiver more than the wind.

"This is your dream."

She frowned. "It doesn't feel like mine."

He looked back at her, eyes unreadable.

"It never does."

The trees opened into a clearing.

At the center stood a massive stone archway, taller than any doorway she'd ever seen. Symbols covered its surface—glowing softly, like a heartbeat.

Her breath caught.

She'd seen these symbols before.

Drawn in the corners of her notebook after she woke up.

Written in chalk on the pavement outside her university.

Marks she didn't remember writing.

V stopped in front of the arch. His voice dropped to a whisper.

"You have to remember."

Her throat tightened.

"Remember what?"

"Who you were. Who we were."

His voice cracked, like it hurt him just to say it.

"Before all of this."

The wind howled through the clearing. It carried whispers—voices she almost knew.

Rhea squeezed her eyes shut.

Come on, remember!

A flash of sunlight. Laughter.

A hand slipping from hers—

Then pain.

White-hot. Blinding.

She gasped, folding over like she'd been stabbed in the head.

V caught her before she fell. His hands were warm, steady.

"Focus!" he whispered urgently.

"The dream won't hold much longer."

She forced her eyes open.

The symbols on the archway were glowing brighter now—swirling like gold, like they were alive.

Her voice shook.

"What do I do?"

"Step through."

She swallowed hard.

"And then?"

His jaw clenched.

"Then you face what you've been running from."

The wind screamed louder. The trees bent low, like they were mourning.

Rhea hesitated.

But only for a second.

She stepped forward—

And the world shattered.

---

Paris

Rhea jolted awake, gasping for breath.

Sweat soaked her skin. Her heart slammed against her chest.

Morning sunlight peeked through the curtains, soft and golden.

Her notebook lay open beside her.

The pages were filled with frantic drawings of the symbols—

Symbols she didn't remember sketching.

The dream still clung to her, heavy as fog.

From the kitchen, Sia's voice broke the silence.

"You alive in there? We've got class in an hour!"

Rhea swallowed hard, her throat dry.

"Yeah," she called back, but it sounded like a whisper.

Her hand shook as she reached for her phone.

Without thinking, she typed one word:

V.

The search results popped up—news articles, concerts, fan videos.

Just noise.

But then, hidden deep in a recent interview, one line made her whole body freeze:

"Lately, I've been dreaming of places I've never been.

People I've never met."

Her breath caught in her throat.

The apartment door slammed as Sia left.

Rhea didn't even notice.

She just stared at the words on her phone, heart pounding.

It wasn't just her dreams bleeding into the real world.

His were too.

To Be continue...

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