Cassi's face began to blur as he carried me over the sand, his warmth and voice slipping away like a dream dissolving at dawn. Then he vanished entirely.
I was alone.
The world around me was dim and damp, a vast cavern with walls of stone, cloaked in softly glowing moss. It pulsed faintly—like a heartbeat—casting the chamber in an eerie, green-blue twilight. A thin mist curled along the floor like whispering spirits.
At my feet, a crystal-clear pool mirrored the mossy ceiling above. I stepped closer, my reflection rippling into focus. But it wasn't me staring back.
A strange figure looked up at me, motionless as a statue.
Her skin was a deep, earthy green, twisted and textured like the bark of a young tree. Bright pink petals unfurled from her head in a wild, regal crown, draping down like a half-worn flower bonnet. Her arms and legs were slim and slightly gnarled, as though shaped from vines. But her eyes—hazel and aching—were unmistakably mine.
We watched each other across the water, perfectly still, caught in a tense, silent standoff.
Curious, I lifted a trembling hand—and she mirrored me instantly. I raised both arms; she did the same. I bent low; so did she.
My heart pounded. Slowly, hesitantly, I looked down at myself.
Gone was my familiar form. I saw green skin, delicate yet rough, alive with the subtle shimmer of veins beneath the surface. My body felt lighter, more fluid, as if every movement was drawn from the earth itself. I raised my arms again, finding a strange grace I had never known, as natural as breathing.
Drawn by an invisible music, I began to move, twirling softly around the pool.
The cavern responded.
Out of the mist came others—figures with a gentle, ghostly beauty. A tall girl with hair like spun silver and cheeks sprinkled with starlight. Another, crowned with wild green curls and skin rich as fresh soil. They circled me at a distance, their bare feet whispering across the moss, their hands weaving patterns through the heavy air.
We danced together, though we never touched.
Wherever I stepped, tiny flowers bloomed—violets, daisies, petals of every shade—unfolding as if welcoming me. Laughter, light as dew, filled the cavern and echoed from the stones. For a moment, I felt weightless, part of something older and more beautiful than I could understand.
But then—
The air shifted.
A cold gust swept through the cavern, snuffing the glow from the moss. The nymphs froze, their eyes wide with terror. One by one, they fled into the shadows, vanishing like smoke.
I turned—slowly, unwillingly—toward the thing that had frightened them.
A shape loomed beyond the mist: dark, towering, and wrong. It pulsed with malice, and the stench of decay rolled off it like a storm. My chest tightened, panic clawing its way up my throat.
"Vie!" a voice called—distant, desperate.
I barely turned before the darkness reached me.
Then—
I slammed back into my body.
Cassi was holding me, his hands trembling as he propped up my head so I could breathe. My chest heaved as I gasped for air. Without thinking, I flung my bandaged arms around his neck and sobbed.
"I thought—I thought they would kill me," I choked out.
Cassi gathered me into his arms and gently laid me back down, cradling my head in his lap. His hand moved to wipe away my tears with infinite tenderness.
"I'm here, Vie," he murmured fiercely. "They won't touch you again."
There was a sharp anger in his eyes, but his touch remained careful, reverent, as if he feared breaking me.
"I don't know how they snuck up on me," I whispered, shame burning hotter than my wounds.
"They were jungle cats," he said, smoothing my tangled hair. "They walk like spider silk. Even the ground can't hear them."
I stared up at the thatched roof, trying to hold onto consciousness as the world spun around me.
"How long?" I managed to ask.
"You were injured yesterday," Cassi said, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "You've been crying out in your sleep."
"I was dreaming..." I said, almost in disbelief. "About your mother's sisters."
At my words, his hand paused mid-stroke. His fingers tightened, ever so slightly, against my shoulder.
"No one is going to hurt you, Vie," he said roughly. "I promise."
I shuddered. "They were running from something. Something dark..." I hesitated, my voice catching. "And I was so strange—I was a plant."
Cassi gave a short, breathless laugh, but there was a strain underneath it. "It was only a dream, Vie. I promise you—you are human."
"I know," I mumbled, though doubt still coiled inside me.
He tilted my chin gently, forcing me to meet his gaze.
"I will protect you, Vie. Always." His voice cracked slightly. "Because—"
"Alone together," I whispered.
His eyes closed briefly, as if the words wounded and soothed him at the same time. He nodded. "You are my best friend."
As he resumed tending my wounds, he hummed under his breath—a low, comforting sound that vibrated softly against my skin. I pretended not to notice how his hands lingered longer than necessary when they brushed my lips, his cheeks pinkening with every tender touch.
When he moved away, I held onto the fading warmth of his palm, willing it to chase away the last shadows of the dream and leave only safety in its place.