The night was loosening its grip on the sky, but tall trees, shrouded in mist, made the path ahead feel distant.. almost unreachable. After wandering the woods aimlessly for some time, an opening was barely visible, with pale golden sunrays, cutting through the mist, bringing in an otherworldly feeling.
At the edge where the forest ended, there was a slope leading down to a grass plain, similarly veiled in fog. The slope wasn't steep, but it was enough to demand caution with every step.
Standing at the edge, a faint sense of recognition finally stirred within me. I knew this place. It was a hidden ground, tucked a little too deep inside a spinney that bordered our village.
And that was when it struck me—this was a dream.
Maybe i missed this place, now that i'm 22, time feels too tight for careless wandering.."well, not that it ever stopped me." But this dream felt far too real, and I was lucid in it, like never before in my life.
Following an intuition, I climbed down and started walking deeper into the mist, the moisture in the grass felt cool to the touch, helping me notice i wasn't wearing any shoes. The ground stretched, like part of some dried up river, as time went by, the sunlight forced away some of the mist, making the surroundings visible.
In the direction opposite to where i came, the forest started again. Somewhere between both sides a lone tree stood, almost at the centre of this grassfield. The tree radiated some kind of feral energy.
My primal fear receptors picked up the danger at first glance.
There was a huge shadow cast by the tree, forming a wide, unnatural circle around the clearing. It didn't feel right. The shape, the stillness, it all carried an eerie weight that pressed quietly against my senses.
I slowed down to a standstill. For a moment i just listened.
Then, carefully i started walking again, my guard rising instinctively - as if something unseen might be waiting just beyond the fog.
As I drew closer to the tree, something shifted within the shadows.
Before I could make sense of it, a lioness burst out.
Without a second thought, I turned and ran in the opposite direction.
She was as tall as me, her body all lean muscle, every movement precise and powerful. A pale golden light seemed to seep from her skin, faint at first, then unmistakable-unnatural, almost otherworldly.
It chased after me, and I ran with all my might toward the slope. But it was too late. The lioness, as if reading my thoughts, cut me off before I could escape. Panic surged, and I veered toward the opposite edge of the grass plain.
Somehow, I reached it ahead of her. Without stopping, I began to climb, dragging myself up the slope. But the moment my head rose above the ridge, I froze.
There, in the dark depths of the forest, were countless gleaming eyes-watching, waiting. The light had not yet touched that place… or perhaps it feared to.
If the lioness exhibited a raw untamed power, not necessarily pure or evil. The beings that belonged to the dark, was pure malice-evil was what they were. Stuck, barely hanging down the slope, i turned my head around, to look for the lioness. She was behind me, just standing there menacingly, staring at me. No it was not directed towards me, she was staring down whatever was hiding in the shadows. I had a weird understanding then, that whatever was in there, was held at bay because of her.
As she shifted her gaze slightly, looking right into my eyes, i felt something - an odd sense of familiarity.. .. like something i had been missing forever. Something that belonged to me, that completed me.
Along with it came an overwhelming longing, tangled with a fear so intense no words could hold it.
And then....i woke up.
Slowly opening my eyes, the familiarity of my room pulled me back to reality. What a strange dream.
I'm a degree graduate currently taking a year off to "rediscover myself"—or at least, that's the alibi. The truth is, I feel like I'm losing my mind. I'm a hyperaware individual, perhaps a little paranoid.
Anyway, I feel like something has gone catastrophically wrong with the world, or you know just me? I don't see any notable change, other than just more of violence, and countries at each others neck, nothing new I guess, but I feel it everyday, from the moment I wake up, or even when I'm sleeping...I'm constantly on edge — like there is no safe place in this world anymore. This is the case for almost two years now, and it is weighing down on me, not a day goes by where I refrain from questioning my own sanity.
And I refuse to accept that doubt is inherently bad. Doubt is what keeps us alive; more importantly, it is the birthplace of questions.
Before I forget, my name is Dharma. In the old tongue, it is said to mean duty, the order that binds the world together. There is a quiet irony in that, one I have only begun to understand.
My country is a developing one, there are cities here and there, but mostly, it is cluster of towns-suburbs, with dense growth of woodlands in between, connected to each other by roads and railways. I live in one such town bordering a dense spinney. There is actually a reserve wildlife habitat no more than fifty kilometers nearby. So some animals finding their way to human settlements is not that rare, but the forest rangers do a good job of bringing them back to their habitat. And, because of the possibility of some predator animals like tigers, it is generally not advised to wander at nighttime.
But, as someone who enjoys solitude, I often roam around at night anyway. I use an EV-scooter as my chariot, most of the time; only returning home some time before sunrise. And lately it has become more frequent, because sleep doesn't come that easy anymore…
There are a few frequent spots, I usually visit at night, A narrow road cutting quietly through endless rice fields. On either side, the land lies open and untouched, offering an uninterrupted view of the vast sky. Beneath a small tree by the roadside rests a worn stone slab—simple, unassuming. I sit there in the soft glow of moonlight, surrounded by silence, gazing upward as the sky unfolds above me—wide, infinite, and quietly breathtaking.
Tonight, I was planning to go there, but the dream was on my mind the whole day. It seems my mind won't rest unless I go there.
"Ah, if only I knew, my life would never be the same after that..."