I was seated in a field filled with endless flowers.
The scenery was beautiful, but there was something even more dazzling.
He played with our kids.
Running with slow and deliberate steps as two small children chased after him.
Perfect, miniature reflections of us.
They smiled with pure joy as he let them catch him, lifting them into the air one by one and spinning them.
I watched it all as if it was a scene from a painting.
I just wanted time to stay —forever.
Then he turned toward me.
His crimson eyes softened.
His lips curved into a mischievous smirk.
"It's your turn now, Amyra," he said, approaching.
Before I could speak, I was weightless.
He lifted me into his arms like I was made of something precious.
The field, the sky, the children—it all blurred behind him.
I was too immersed in his gaze.
Our children pouted with exaggerated expressions.
"Papa's cheating again."
Alden just grinned down at me.
"Are you enjoying this?"
I nodded with my face flushed.
"Then let's make it better," he said.
He set me down gently and leaned in.
"Let me show you my love properly."
His lips neared mine. Just a breath away.
I knew this was a dream.
One I'd been having far too frequently.
It always ended at this moment— Him, trying to kiss me.
I wanted it to continue, but it always shattered.
But this time... something was different.
The world didn't shatter.
Instead, I felt the air shift. The warmth turned ice cold. The soft giggles silenced.
He was still there—But his smile was frozen. It was too wide and too still.
His crimson pupils had turned completely black and hollow.
"Love you?" he whispered.
His voice was distorted.
"Amyra, you don't deserve to say that."
"You don't deserve anything."
My breath stopped in my throat.
The scent of flowers vanished. Smoke replaced it. The sky darkened.
Petals near me turned to ash, disintegrating the moment I touched them.
The children were gone. The field was gone—Replaced by cracked earth, strewn with corpses and bones.
"No…" I whispered, trembling.
His hands still held mine. But they felt wrong.
They were cold and lifeless.
"You let me die, Amyra."
No... No. This is just a dream.
I just need to wake up.
But his voice came from everywhere now—
Around me. Inside me. Beneath me.
"You watched THEM take me apart."
"Do you remember my screams?"
"No—no, I tried to—" I tried to reply but he cut me off.
The ground split open beneath.
Many hands emerged from the open ground.. They were all familiar.
All broken and bloodied.
"You never saved me..."
His body began to melt into shadows, but his expression never changed—
He was still wearing the same frozen hollow grin.
His voice was no longer his. It was something else now.
Something cruel and something ancient. It didn't belong to this world.
"I'll always hate you."
I knew it was a dream—
But I didn't want him to hate me.
I tried to scream, to tell him he was my everything, but my voice refused to come out.
I dropped to my knees.
The earth throbbed beneath me like a heartbeat.
"I did everything for you," I managed to utter those words.
Then the scenery shifted again.
I saw it again—The battlefield.
"Stay here," the voices whispered.
"Stay where it's beautiful."
"Where the lies are sweet."
Hands appeared from the earth and gripped me, trying to drag me down into ash.
"Am…yra…" he whispered one last time.
It wasn't hateful now.
The world was still quiet.
My whole body was drenched in cold sweat. My breathing was rough.
My fingers were trembling.
Just a peaceful room.
Alden was sleeping peacefully.
His soul hadn't returned from the trial yet.
This time, I couldn't stop them.
"Please…" I whispered. "Don't leave me again."
"I don't want to live in a world without you."
But the room offered no answer.
The dream was gone. Like it always was.
It wasn't real. It was distorted. They weren't rare for me.
They were the result of my karma—a punishment etched into my soul for trying to defy fate.
But this time… something was different.
I looked at Alden again. But I didn't reach for him.
I didn't try to cling to a warmth that wasn't mine.
Instead, I took out a notebook from my storage ring.
The one where I wrote all the things I could never say to him.
I flipped through pages of I love yous and I'm sorrys—
And added a new line:
I'm going to ask him.
Even if it's borrowed.
Just a little longer...
Let me pretend we're okay.
Even if you won't love me.
Even if you don't know me.
I know I'm being selfish...
But I can't live without you, dear.
Not in this fake world.
I walked over to where he slept.
My eyes were still wet with tears.
But my expression was composed.
I gently held his hand.
"You won't leave me alone this time… will you, dear?"
Alden's body trembled.
A bright light enveloped him.
Ominous energy pulsed outward.
My domain spread out, locking the aura inside.
I had been waiting for this.
I couldn't let anyone sense this energy.
Alden's crimson eyes snapped open—calm, confused and distant.