Smaravrtta

The first time the dream came to Aria, she didn't think much of it. It was just another restless night in a world that had slowly become too small to hold the things she didn't understand. The stars had been too bright that evening, as if the universe itself had decided to burn a little hotter. She had closed her eyes, and the world around her melted into shadow, only to be replaced by something... else. A city made of glass and light, the air thick with whispers. Streets twisted into spirals, and buildings stretched impossibly high, their foundations built not on stone, but on memories. And at the center of it all, standing beneath a sky that shimmered like a thousand forgotten dreams, was a woman. Her name was nothing more than a soft murmur, a song Aria couldn't quite hear, but she knew her face. It was the kind of face that looked familiar but distant, like someone she'd loved and lost a thousand years ago. And then, in the space between breaths, the woman reached out, her fingers brushing against Aria's own-a touch so real, so sharp, that Aria woke up with her heart racing, as if something had shifted inside her, something deep and ancient. The dream faded, but the feeling didn't. For weeks after, it came back every night, like a thread pulling her deeper, further into something she couldn't escape. The images were always the same: the shimmering city, the woman with the forgotten name, the sensation of being on the edge of something immense, something that connected the past and the future, the living and the dead. But it was the last dream that changed everything. This time, when Aria woke, her pillow was wet with tears-tears she hadn't known she'd been shedding. She sat up, heart hammering, eyes wide with the realization that she wasn't just dreaming anymore. The city, the woman, the whispers-they were real. They had always been real. And somehow, she knew, her life was about to unravel in a way she hadn't expected. Because Smaravrtta-whatever that name meant-wasn't a place or a memory. It was the key to a past she had no recollection of, but one she was now bound to find. Aria wasn't sure if she was ready for this journey, or if she ever would be. But she understood, deep in her bones, that some paths-some destinies-are never a choice. They're a summons.