Auhrnyah's Arc

Chapter 1 of 7

For six nights, Auhrnyah dreamed of the same man, and on the seventh, ships filled her sky. She stood in the crystal fields of her home world, lavender skin catching the twin moons, three small orbs drifting around her shoulders like patient pets. In the dream he always reached for her. She never reached the man before she woke. Now she woke to a sound the dream never had: engines. The orbs pulled tight against her neck. Auhrnyah ran to the ridge above the fields. A dark cruiser hung low over the valley, its hull layered and sleek, lights burning cold along its edges. She waited for weapons. None came. The ship only lowered itself onto the amethyst flats, gentle as a hand setting down a cup. Her people gathered behind her, silent and afraid. Auhrnyah stepped forward alone. The orbs spun faster, warning her. She lifted one hand to still them and kept walking toward the ramp. It opened. A tall man came down through the light. White hair. Pale blue skin marked with lines that glowed the same shade as her own. His eyes burned like low coals. She knew his face the way she knew her own hands. She had watched it every night for a week. "You," she said. Her voice shook. "I have seen you." He stopped one step above her. "And I have seen you," he said. "Every night. The same field. The same crystals. I thought I was inventing you." He looked past her at the glowing cluster of amethyst near the ramp, then back. "You are real." Auhrnyah did not step away. The dream had trained her hand to reach, and now she reached, and this time nothing woke her. Her fingers touched his forearm. The marks under her fingers grew brighter. So did the marks on her own skin. She had never seen them glow before. "I am Nerion," he said. "A prince, though that word means little now. My world is dying. The dreams led me across the dark to find yours." He glanced at the crystal fields, at the light inside every jagged stone. "They led me to this. To you." Her people murmured behind her. The dream was solved. The man was flesh, and he stood on her soil. But the peace in his voice did not match the ships still hanging above the valley, or the hunger in his eyes when he looked at the crystals. "You did not cross the dark for me," Auhrnyah said slowly. "You came for these." She pointed at the glowing cluster. Nerion did not lie. "For both," he said. "I need the crystals to save my people. And I need you to reach them." The dream was over. Something worse had landed in its place. Auhrnyah looked at the ships, then at the prince who shared her nights, and knew the choice ahead would cost her everything.