The world was fracturing. What had once been a vast, infinite expanse of white was now splintering into jagged chasms.
I could see the reflection of the crumbling sky in his eyes—a raw, unchecked terror.
He lunged for me, pulling me against him with a strength that bordered on desperation.
I thought we were safe here. I thought this dream within a dream was an endless sanctuary, but the void was reclaiming its space.
As the ground beneath us shuddered, a violent force began to tug at me. It wasn't pulling us; it was pulling only me. It felt like an invisible tide trying to sweep me out to sea.
"Ele..." he whispered, his voice cracking.
"Ele!"
He gripped me tighter, his fingers digging into my clothes. It didn't hurt, but the intensity was suffocating. I looked up at him, my heart hammering against my ribs. What was I to him? Why was he so desperate to hold onto a ghost?
Then, the white world shattered completely. The horizon fell away like broken glass.
"What's happening?" I screamed, the wind beginning to howl around us.
"Do something! Someone is pulling me!"
I reached up to touch his face, but my hand came away damp. His features were blurring, dissolving into the white atmosphere. He wasn't bleeding red; a thick, milky-white substance was seeping from his skin, blending into the dying world around us.
Fear, cold and sharp, finally took hold of me. I gripped his arms, my voice trembling.
"Hey... hey! What's wrong? Please, tell me what's happening!"
I stared at my hands, coated in that strange, pale ichor. "Are you bleeding? Why is it white? Please, talk to me!"
He was the only constant I had—the only bridge between my dreams and my reality. If he faded, I would be truly lost.
He looked down at me then. The terror in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a devastating, calm sorrow. It was the look of someone delivering a final goodbye. Without a word of explanation, he gathered me into his arms and lifted me off the ground.
With a guttural cry, he threw me.
He hurled me with everything he had, launching my body directly into the largest, darkest crack in the world. I soared through the air, the force of the throw stealing my breath. As I fell, I saw him standing at the edge of the abyss, his expression peaceful despite the chaos.
"Ele!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the void.
"This time... I will do better!"
"Why?"
I screamed back, my voice thinning as the wind caught me, spinning me into the dark.
"Tell me why!"
He smiled then—a small, tragic tilt of the lips.
"My name... I have a name."
"It's Ame. .....Call me Ame!"
I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to bear the sight of him disappearing. The world became a roar of wind and gravity, spinning me until I lost all sense of up or down.
Then, the wind stopped.
The silence was heavy and familiar. I opened my eyes to a ceiling I recognized, the smell of stale air, and the weight of a real blanket.
The silence of the "living" world.
"I'm back," I whispered. But the name Ame still tasted like salt on my tongue.