Elara closed the book, her eyelids heavy. Just a quick nap, she thought. Then I'll get back to it. She leaned back in the armchair, Helaris curling up on her lap, and drifted off to sleep.
Her dreams were vivid, intense, and strangely… familiar. She wasn't herself. She was someone else, someone consumed by a longing so profound it ached in her very soul. She was watching a scene unfold before her eyes, as if it were a play, yet she felt it in her bones, the raw emotion of it resonating deep within her.
A woman, ethereal and beautiful, stood before a man. Her face was obscured, hidden in shadow, but her voice… her voice was filled with a pain so deep it resonated with Elara's own hidden sorrow. "Why does it have to end like this," the woman pleaded, her voice breaking and on the verge of tears, "what did we do?" It was a desperate plea, a premonition of loss hanging heavy in the air.
A deep, resonant male voice, filled with concern, responded. "I'm sorry." he said, holding the woman closer.
"If you let go…" the woman sobbed, her voice cracking, "I'll disappear… forever… and ever."
The man tightened his embrace, understanding dawning in his eyes. He knew, somehow, that her words were true. He held on with all his might, but it wasn't enough. He watched, helpless, as the woman began to burn, flames licking at her form, consuming her slowly, agonizingly. A scar, raw and unhealed, appeared on his heart, a permanent reminder of his loss.
The woman's sobs intensified as she burned, not from the pain of the flames, but from the agony of losing herself, of losing him, of losing everything. Her last words, whispered on the dying breath, were a string of unintelligible sounds, "&#£₩-%£/".
Elara, watching this tragic scene unfold, felt a wrenching pain in her own chest. She tried to understand the woman's last words, to decipher their meaning, but they were beyond her grasp, a language she didn't recognize, yet somehow… understood.
Suddenly, she was awake, jolted back to reality by the insistent licking of Helaris's tongue on her cheek. Tears streamed down her face, and she was sobbing uncontrollably, her heart breaking into a billion pieces, one by one. The sorrow was a physical ache, a burning sensation clawing at her insides. It was more than just sadness; it was a profound sense of loss, a panic rising within her, threatening to consume her.
She scrambled off the armchair, falling to the floor, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She clutched at herself, hugging herself tightly as if trying to hold herself together, as if she were about to disappear. The dream, the woman's despair, the man's anguish… it was all swirling within her, amplified by her own hidden pain. She cried out, a raw, guttural sound, her voice filled with a grief she couldn't comprehend. It was a primal scream, a release of all the pent-up emotions she had been suppressing for so long.
Thankfully, her mother arrived just then, sensing her distress. Her mother, usually a picture of composed elegance, rushed to Elara's side, her face etched with worry. She recognized this look, this wave of inconsolable sorrow that periodically washed over Elara. It was a remnant, she suspected, of her daughter's fragmented past, a shadow of a life lost.
Without a word, her mother began to chant, her voice soft and soothing, weaving a spell of comfort and peace. "Oh spirits of light, please guide this poor soul into your peaceful arms. Elhara Diama Slevora." Her mother gently chanted a spell. The magic enveloped Elara, calming her racing heart, easing the ache in her soul. Slowly, her sobs subsided, her breathing returned to normal, and she drifted back to sleep, a sense of peace settling over her.
But… even in the peaceful slumber induced by her mother's magic, a tiny seed of unease remained. The dream, the woman's desperate plea, the unintelligible last words… they lingered in the depths of Elara's mind, a mystery waiting to be unraveled, a puzzle she didn't even know she was meant to solve. The dream she felt, was more than just a dream. It was a memory, a fragment of something lost, something vital. And deep down, she knew with a certainty that chilled her to the bone, that it was connected to her, to her past, to the aching emptiness that haunted her waking hours.