Aurelian Vale;
Fire.
It is always fire.
The dream never changes, no matter how many years pass or how much blood I wash from my hands in real life.
No matter how much control I gain over the things in my life, I still can not control this.
The nightmare repaints itself before me, and that tight fear in my heart returns.
I am small again.
…Too small.
My knees are drawn pitifully to my chest as I crouch in the corner of the room, with my bare feet pressed against scorching floorboards that bite into my skin.
The walls glow an angry orange, and shadows stretch and warp around the flames like monsters of darkness coming for me.
The air burned my throat as smoke stole purity from it.
Smoke stabbed its way into my lungs, merciless and suffocating. I couldn't breathe… no matter how hard I tried.
I remember how my chest hurt. How everything hurt.
I couldn't breathe through the heat, and it hurt. It felt like I was being cooked alive. The air, the floor, the walls… my own skin…
