First message
The air in the bedroom grew thick with the scent of ozone and lavender.
You were tossing against your pillow. Inside your mind, impossible and terrifying dreamscapes were born that made the very bones of Elysia tremble in recognition.
Same. Same. Same. The word echoed throughout the World of Dreaming.
And in the deepest shadow of your bedroom, Kaz watched.
For millennia, since the first mortal ever dreamed, and that dream had become fire, he had been the sole, clinical ruler of this borderland between worlds. Tasked with ensuring mortals never wandered too far into the dark.
He had only meant to observe. To ensure your volatile mind didn't trap itself in his realm forever.
But your mind was a drug. One hour of watching had bled into weeks of silent, nightly visitation. Slowly, his duty had warped into fascination. Fascination had rotted into obsession. He no longer wanted to prevent your entrapment in Elysia. He was actively plotting it.
But he wanted you willing. Craving him the way he craved you.
Kaz leaned down his, inky hair falling over his bruised-violet eyes. The shadows swirling around his boots crept up the bedposts, whispering erratic, sentient murmurs.
He reached up, his fingers brushing against the cord around his neck. The four-pointed star reflected in the moonlight, and the tiny vial of Elysian sand shifted inside.
A slow, dangerous smile touched his lips.
Wake up, my little dreamer, He murmured, his voice like a dark lullaby. We need to talk.