The night was still breathing when the dream began.
It didn't start with visions or voices this time—just texture.The air rippled, softer than silk and heavier than water, carrying the faint scent of ink warmed by starlight.
✦
[ System Notice: Environmental Activity Detected ][ Classification: Subconscious Reality Expansion ][ Description: The world is… dreaming. ]
I blinked at the message. "The world is what now?"
Arjun drifted close, flickering like a lazy thought. Dreaming, apparently. Didn't think universes needed sleep cycles.
"Neither did I. Maybe it's been reading too much."
✦
The ground beneath me shifted—subtle, like a heartbeat under soil.Light pulsed through the cracks, not golden, but pale blue, the color of a memory trying to stay relevant.
Shapes bloomed and faded along the horizon—half-familiar, like recollections from books I'd never written.A castle that leaned toward the moon.A sea made entirely of glass.An empty chair waiting in the middle of a forest.
