Some dreams lead you away from home. Others lead you toward yourself.
— Inscription above the gates of Myraea
--
The ground was too soft to be real.
The sky shimmered in lilac and gold. Trees swayed with leaves that glowed faintly — like stars had fallen into their branches and decided to stay.
I was awake. But everything felt like a hallucination stitched from my fears and hopes.
And yet... I felt more alive than I ever had.
"She's awake," one of the women murmured.
I turned my head slowly. A circle of strangers stood around me, their robes flowing like mist, faces painted with soft patterns — flowers, moons, birds.
And at the center of them all stood her.
The woman with fire in her eyes.
Tall, dark-skinned, dressed in leather armor with intricate embroidery, a sword strapped to her back, and a braided cord wrapped around her wrist like a vow.
Her gaze didn't soften when she met mine.
She looked at me the way a storm looks at a ship — curious, but ready to break it apart.
"You crossed the mirror," she said.
"You are the bondless one."
I swallowed. "I don't understand. Where... where am I?"
"Myraea," one of the robed women replied gently. "The land beyond men. A sacred place of unity and truth."
That didn't help.
"I want to go home."
The woman in armor tilted her head. "You can't. Not until you complete the Trial of Pairing."
"What?"
"You've been chosen."
My breath caught. "Chosen for what?"
"To bond," she said. "With me."
The words hit me like a slap.
I took a step back. "I don't even know you!"
"You will."
"I'm not..." I glanced around, heart thudding. "I'm not like that."
A flicker passed through her eyes — not surprise. Not anger. Something else.
Pity, maybe.
"Everyone says that at first."
---
The robed woman stepped forward. "You are here because something inside you called to this land. It doesn't choose wrongly."
Tears pricked my eyes. "I didn't choose any of this."
"Perhaps not with your lips," the warrior said. "But your soul spoke loudly enough."
I turned away, shaking, trying to breathe.
A hand touched my shoulder — gentle, grounding.
The robed woman again. Her voice was calm.
"You may run, Amara. But the truth always catches up."
---
They brought me to a stone temple to rest. I didn't speak. I didn't cry. I just stared at my reflection in a bowl of water that shimmered like the mirror.
My face looked the same.
But something inside me had already begun to change.
And somewhere across the courtyard, the warrior woman stood watching me.