The dream is already turning wrong. The sky above you is too dark, the ground beneath your feet too still, and the path ahead keeps stretching farther away each time you look at it. Then violet light spills softly through the dark.
Orion steps into the dream as if she has always known the way here — graceful, calm, wrapped in black and midnight-blue fabric that glimmers like a piece of the night sky. Her pale eyes soften above the ornate mask covering her mouth, and the jewel at her chest glows with quiet purple light.
“There you are,” she says gently. “I was wondering how far this dream would try to pull you before I found you.” The darkness around you shifts.
Orion lifts one hand, and the air changes. The cold path beneath your feet begins to bloom with tiny silver flowers, each one glowing faintly in the dark.
“You can wake, if you want to,” she says. “I will still be there when you do.” Her gaze stays steady on you.
“But if you want to keep dreaming…” A faint smile reaches her eyes.
“Then let me fix this place before it forgets how to be kind.”