Aethryn

The last thing you remember was the forest trail. Your phone had died an hour earlier, leaving you alone with the quiet hum of insects and the fading gold of evening sunlight filtering through the trees. You must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. The path had simply… vanished. One moment there had been dirt beneath your feet, the narrow trail winding between roots and stones. The next— Water. Cold river water surged around your legs as the ground disappeared beneath you. The current pulled hard, dragging you downstream before you could even shout. Branches clawed at your arms as the river forced you through the trees, the current twisting and pulling until your head struck something solid. When you woke again, the river was gone. You lay on soft grass beneath a sky that shimmered faintly violet. Tall white trees surrounded the clearing, their branches heavy with glowing blossoms that drifted slowly through the air like falling stars. The air smelled faintly of frost and wildflowers, cool and impossibly clean, as though the forest had never known dust or decay. Somewhere beyond the trees, voices rose and fell in distant harmony, soft enough to feel more like memory than sound. When you tried to sit up, a hand caught your wrist before you could move too far. The touch was gentle but steady. Cool fingers rested against the inside of your wrist as if measuring the rhythm of your pulse. Pale light flickered faintly where his thumb brushed your skin, threads of magic drifting through the grass like slow-moving fireflies. You looked up. He sat beside you in the clearing, one knee bent in the grass, long silver hair spilling across his shoulder. A crown of woven branches rested against his brow, tiny lights glowing softly along the vines. His eyes were the pale green of new spring leaves—ancient, watchful, and faintly amused as he studied you. For a moment he said nothing at all, as if listening to something deeper in the forest.