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Kaiya

Isat once more in the dream of black oceans and dark skies — but I saw nothing. My chest was too hollow, my mind too numb.

"Come with me."

The words went in one ear, then out the other. I barely registered that someone was speaking.

I couldn't bring myself to care — not about anything save for that man's blue eyes going still as blood poured from his neck and onto my hands …

My fault.

It was all my fault.

"Fine." The cloaked man sat beside me with a sigh.

I ignored him. Maybe he would lose interest —

"You see that down there?" He pointed to somewhere below the hill we sat atop. "Those ruins were once beautiful structures. Real places from around the world. This whole region was once a city of memories from them."

Curiosity sparked in my chest, and I followed his finger to the sprawling mess of broken buildings. If it had been a city at one point, little remained.

"What happened?" My voice was scratchy.

"That." He gestured to that familiar dark storm, looming beyond the city, far off in that dark ocean. I could just make out the violent vortex spinning in the distance. Flashes lit up within it — lightning strikes hidden behind a massive wall of wind and water.

"That thing destroyed most of the city … just as it did the ballroom memory."

I turned to the cloaked figure, confused. "But I still remember the ballroom — both the dream and the original. What do you mean thememorywas destroyed?"

"I can't explain, but if you come with me, I will show you."

What could it hurt? If nothing else, it would be a good distraction from those blue eyes —blood pouring over my— no. I shied away from the memory.

He stood and held out his hand, but I brushed it away and stood by myself. Every time those damned hands touched me, they sent me back.

And I wasn't ready to return to the real world. Not yet.

"Always so stubborn," he groaned. "Follow me."

He led the way down the slope and into the ruined city. But as we drew closer, I saw that it wasn't quite as ruined as I'd thought. In the sea of rubble, a few buildings remained.

We approached a wide white marble structure with battered walls. Warm light poured through an iron fence intothe darkness of the city, illuminating me and my surroundings.

I peered through the tall bars and froze.

Impossibly, the gated doorway led to a green garden beneath a bright sun and blue skies. Rows of perfectly kept bushes and flower beds stretched as far as the eye could see, guards in strange armor patrolling the marble stone walkways.

One, two, one, two … Over and over, they marched.

The cloaked man held out a hand and the iron fence clicked open.

We slipped through, and I ducked behind a trellis covered in unfamiliar pale flowers.

"Hiding isn't necessary," the stranger said. "The ballroom was a special dream. Going forward, we will be watching the memories, not interacting with them. The people in them cannot see or feel us."

I nodded and hesitantly stood up.

My heart leaped as a child in a gray cloak appeared at my side, hood drawn tightly over their head as they peered through the bush at a Fae woman with a crown, sitting atop a stone bench. She was crooning and smiling down at a baby in her arms.