Kaila stirred in her sleep.
In her dreams she stood before great body of water, still and serene, but so too was it dark and cold as rain struck her face. A voice called out in all directions but she could not recall what was said. Her name perhaps, but something more which seemed to fade into the distant. She searched, but stood alone in the mist, and something about that absence weighed heavily in her chest, as though it might swallow her whole.
When she turned again to watch the lake, it hit her all at once.
The fog took shape, and figures danced and images flashed in distant thunder. Movement, words, sounds, all in overwhelmingly rapid succession as though witnessing a lifespan in an instant.
She could hardly make out what she was seeing and it made her eyes water, so much happened, always too much, as it had always been.
The last she saw were glimpses of something—or someone—inhuman. Too close to say if she were looking at a face or something else, but their skin bore a symbol. It was beautiful in a way, so clearly natural and yet the marks looked as though symbolic of a winged creature.
All else faded from memory as though unimportant.
Only the mark remained.
It beckoned her, pulled at her senses as though it alone offered comfort.
And many comforts she'd sought, this too withered at her touch.
Kaila shot upright in her gravity bed, and shuddered.
