He found himself in an empty eternity, caught between fading reality and the whispers of the Dream. The last memories of his former life vanished, leaving him alone in the void. Then, sensations returned. Awareness seeped in, and faint impressions began to imprint themselves onto his mind: the gentle touch of a breeze on his skin and the distant murmur of invisible streams.

  His eyes remained closed, and he saw only darkness, but his other senses painted vivid impressions: a symphony of rustling leaves, whispering winds, and the tangible warmth of…

  Questions began to rise in his mind, and he instinctively reached for answers that remained just out of reach.

  Is this real? Do I truly exist in this moment, or am I only a ghost? An echo drifting through time? Who was I before this? What was before?

  As he wrestled with these thoughts, a feeling of isolation crept in, a numbing embrace that held his limbs in stillness. Though his body lay motionless, a storm of thoughts and emotions blazed in his mind.

  In this state, somewhere between waking and sleeping, he became aware of her presence. It was a fleeting impression, like the echo of a past he should have remembered. Even with his eyes still closed, he could feel her gaze upon him, an invisible thread tying their souls together.

  With each passing moment, her presence grew stronger, urging him to finally open his eyes. Amid the storm of thoughts in his mind, one truth remained clear: he wasn’t alone.

  She was there, a beacon of light within the dark.

  At last, he opened his eyes. He would forever remember the first thing he saw when he arrived in the Dream.

  It was a bed of gravel, ordinary, unremarkable… boring, even?

  He lay on that gravel bed and felt the uneven stones pressing into his body. White, gray, and brown. Tiny pebbles…

  Blurry shapes began to take form in the distance as his eyes adjusted to the light.

  Had he ever lain on a gravel bed like this in his previous life? In the world he had once called “reality”?

  Had that life even been real at all?

  What did “real” even mean?

  He didn’t know.

  He couldn’t remember.

  There was only the rough sensation of small stones beneath him and the light that pierced through his darkness.

  Above him, whitish-gray clouds drifted across a dim, desaturated sky. He blinked several times, trying to adjust to the brightness. Nearby, trees stood tall, green giants and smaller bushes.

  And then he saw her.

  Not far away.

  Her long, fine hair shimmered golden in the pale light. As her green-brown eyes met his, he felt lost in her gaze. Though she looked dazed and confused, a smile played faintly on her lips. She seemed caught in a beautiful memory. Her wrinkled gray linen clothing didn’t diminish her grace… it only enhanced her quiet majesty.

  She felt familiar to him.

  From before…?

  She blinked, confused, but didn’t look away.

  Slowly, he looked down at himself. He too wore rough gray sackcloth. His feet were wrapped in worn leather sandals.

  Fragments of his past life tried once more to surface… and then faded completely.

  But she was still there. Still somehow familiar.

  Do I know her?

  He felt a warm sense of recognition when he looked at her, comforting.

  Still dazed and lightheaded, he slowly sat up. His hands dug into the gravel, sweat ran down his forehead. He groaned as the numbness crept back into his limbs, but he forgot the discomfort the moment he heard her soft voice:

  “What… what happened here? I…! You, who are you?”

  His name? He didn’t know.

  But the moment she asked, he responded effortlessly, as if it had always been there.

  “I’m Dio.”

  Her hesitant smile flickered again, almost as if she had expected the answer.

  “Dio? I… I’m happy to meet you. Do you know where we are? The only thing I remember is…”

  She trailed off, her gaze drifting sadly into the distance.

  “…it’s not really important, is it? You probably don’t remember much either. My memories have all faded… and I doubt I’ll ever return to the places they came from.”

  Dio must have looked sorrowful, because she quickly added in an encouraging tone:

  “Don’t worry! I’m sure we’ll have fantastic and wonderful experiences here too. New memories! I don’t think I’ll ever forget you, at least. My first face, right? Though… I feel like we already know each other really well. Strange, isn’t it?”

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  She giggled and blushed.

  Dio felt the heat rise in his own cheeks as well, and quickly looked away. This reaction to her also felt familiar somehow, which only confused him more. He turned his attention to the surroundings to distract himself, his eyes wandering to the tall green trees.

  Confused, Dio wondered how he was still able to speak and think, even though his memories had faded.

  Strange… and interesting.

  His thoughts drifted, until he once again heard her calming voice:

  “Hey, I didn’t mean to be intrusive. You’re just…”

  She fell silent. When Dio looked at her again, she was staring at the gravel near her sandals, avoiding his gaze, and he quickly tried to keep the conversation going.

  “Sorry… I didn’t mean to seem distracted! I’d really like to know who you think I am - because honestly, I don’t know myself right now,” he admitted carefully.

  Slowly, like a shy animal, she looked up and met his eyes… and something about the way she did made his stomach flutter.

  “I… you’re something really… special?” she said hesitantly. “I just have this feeling that you’re… someone special. Do you know that feeling?”

  She laughed only softly, but even so, it sounded wonderful.

  “Sorry, I talk too much. You probably have the same memory loss. That was a silly question. And I haven’t even introduced myself. My name is… Ray. At least, I think it is.”

  Ray glanced down thoughtfully, as if she were wondering how she even knew that, then shook her head and gave Dio a shy smile.

  “I think that’s a beautiful name,” Dio said.

  Ray was still smiling, but she seemed lost in thought. Then, suddenly, she crawled over to him, reached out, and touched his face, almost like she was exploring its shape with her fingertips.

  “I like your name too. You feel… familiar. Just before I woke up, I had the feeling that I already knew you were there…” she said.

  Dio couldn’t bear the intensity of her gaze and looked down at the stones beneath them. He felt another gentle hand on his shoulder. When he looked up, Ray was beaming with joy.

  “I’m sure you’re someone special! I just… have this feeling!” she said with a wide smile that instantly calmed him.

  “How do you know that? You’ve only known me for a few moments!” he replied.

  Still holding his cheek, Ray gently but firmly kept him close. His face was burning, but she didn’t seem to mind and her smile only grew warmer.

  “Maybe… in that other… time… maybe we knew each other really well?”

  “Maybe. But… Ray, where are we?” Dio interrupted.

  She glanced around and, as if pulled from a trance, withdrew her hands.

  “A… clearing. Probably in a… forest. But something’s missing. I don’t know what it is… something important!” Ray said, narrowing her eyes like she was trying to see something hidden.

  “People?” Dio suggested.

  “No. I mean… yes, but… sorry, I can’t quite explain it…”

  “Shouldn’t we move away? Explore the area? I mean… we both seem to be dead and now living on in this… Dream? It’s likely there are other people here too… people who died, I mean…”

  “The Dream…”

  Ray had stopped looking around and turned back to face him.

  “This is the Dream. I know it, just like I know my name. Is it the same for you?”

  “Yes. But… why is it called that? I vaguely remember dreams. Aren’t they visions you have when you sleep? Do we still need to sleep? Or eat? Do we age here…? How does any of this even work…?”

  “I guess we’ll find out… one way or another.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. We should explore as much as we can!”

  “So, should we head out? Leave the clearing, I mean?”

  Dio looked at Ray. Her golden hair caught the soft, dusky light and he felt a sudden surge of determination.

  “Yes, we should get moving! Maybe we’ll find something that explains where we are,” Dio suggested.

  Ray nodded and looked around. “Yeah, I think so too. Staying here won’t help us remember or find any answers.”

  With those words, they slowly rose from the gravel bed, and Dio shook off the numbness clinging to his limbs. He reached out a hand to Ray, which she accepted with a quick smile. They supported each other as they took their first tentative steps away from the gravel and toward the dense forest, Ray a little unsteady on her feet, needing his support for a while.

  As they reached the treeline, the air grew cooler and carried the scent of… pine? Beams of soft, almost dim light filtered through the canopy, casting dappled shadows across the forest floor. The earth beneath their feet was soft, covered in fallen needles and leaves, twigs and small puddles—a sharp contrast to the hard gravel they had left behind.

  They walked in silence for a while, their steps muffled by the undergrowth, while the rustling leaves whispered overhead. Dio found the natural sounds calming, even though his mind buzzed with questions.

  “Do you think we knew each other before?” Ray suddenly asked again, breaking the quiet.

  Her voice was gentle, almost hesitant.

  Dio thought for a moment. “It feels like we did. There’s a familiarity… like a memory that’s just out of reach.”

  Ray nodded thoughtfully.

  “I feel the same. It’s strange, isn’t it? To feel connected to someone when we don’t even know who we are.”

  Dio looked up at the towering trees above, their branches intertwined to form a protective living ceiling.

  “Maybe our memories will come back with time. But… they also feel strangely unimportant to me. Maybe we’ll make new ones that mean just as much… or even more? Like you said earlier? I thought that was beautiful…” he mused.

  Ray smiled at him, warmth in her eyes.

  “That would be wonderful. But… it’s comforting just to know I’m not alone.”

  They continued walking, and the forest grew denser. The underbrush thickened, and they had to step around tangled roots and fallen branches. Despite the obstacles, Dio felt elated. Every step forward felt like a step closer to understanding their situation. At least, that’s what he told himself.

  “Do you remember anything at all?” Ray asked again, her voice full of curiosity.

  Dio shook his head.

  “No. You?”

  “Not really,” Ray replied. “Feelings, not images. Like déjà vu… but stronger. I know the names of things around us, some sayings, I think… even though certain words in them don’t mean anything to me. But not much else.”

  Dio was about to agree, but stopped as he caught a sound in the distance.

  “Do you hear that?”

  He froze and listened. He realized he could hear birds chirping somewhere far off.

  “Birds… I think I remember birds. Sparrows… ravens…”

  “Shmuttles and trunkies…”

  They both stopped and looked at each other.

  “What kind of birds are you talking about?” Ray asked, confused.

  Dio stared at her, just as perplexed.

  “I was just about to ask you that. What’s a ‘shmuttle’?”

  “A bird. Fairly big… I think. With rainbow-colored feathers. They shine as bright as… They’re beautiful.”

  “I’ve never heard of that, I have to admit.”

  “And what’s a raven?”

  “A black bird. Pretty boring, honestly.”

  Dio hesitated. The image of a black bird had appeared in his mind. But he was sure it wasn’t a memory; it felt more like his mind was trying to give the word a shape. Something else was pushing his thoughts, too.

  “Hm.”

  “Hm?”

  “If you and I know different birds, we probably didn’t come from the same… region. Our former selves, I mean.”

  “You’re right. That’s strange. I could have sworn…”

  She suddenly stopped, her hand tightening with such force that it made Dio flinch.

  “Ray, what is it?”

  She didn’t seem to hear him. She was staring at a bush nearby. It was very dark there. Unnaturally dark. Almost black…

  “Do you hear that?” Ray asked, her voice trembling.

  She stepped closer to him, pressing against his side.

  “No… what is it?”

  “In the darkness… isn’t there something there? Dio, I’m terrified of it. Of the darkness… I think something is whispering to me. From the shadows… And the stench… I want to leave, go back to the light… The light was so beautiful, and it felt so fresh…”