Soraya.

Waking with her heart in her throat, Soraya tried to reorient herself. Blinking away the haze, she peered into the dark and was confused when she couldn’t recognize anything in her room.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Something shifted behind her, and her body tensed before memories flooded back: the bar, colorful drinks, honey tea, jade.

Tariq.

Her cheeks flushed when she remembered about Tariq. The complete stranger she had laid down in bed for and—

Heart pounding, she peered over her shoulder at the massive form lying beside her. She watched as his chest rose and fell with even breaths; he was fast asleep, an arm thrown over his head. But he wasn’t what had woken her.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Leaning up, Soraya tried to see through the gossamer curtain. It was silent, except for the constant flow of splashing water tinkling into the room from beyond the lattice windows. And the ticking clock on the mantle.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Her heart began to beat faster as her instincts strained against her skin, urging her to move. With care, she peeled the silken sheets away and glided off the bed. She winced as she stood, her lower region thoroughly sore and aching from her earlier activities. Cupping her sex, she realized she was stark naked.

Searching for her dress, she spotted a robe hanging on a hook beside the bed. Pulling it on, she fastened the sash but paused, the silk dangling from her fingertips.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Energy crackled through the room. Soraya’s eyes darted to Tariq—he hadn’t moved an inch. The air thickened with the smell of earth, moss, and orchids. Then, a green glow crept into the room. It was coming from outside the windows.

Stepping cautiously away from the bed and the sleeping Tariq, she hesitantly parted the gossamer fabric to peek out.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The room was exactly the same, except for the eerie green light seeping through the latticework. It washed everything in its neon glow and made the shadows crouch behind the furniture. Soraya turned fully toward the windows, trying to understand where the light was coming from, when she noticed something strange—a door.

A door in the window.

It hadn’t been there before.

Making her way to the lattice door on soft feet, she reached out to grab the handle, her silk sleeve drooping from her wrist. A fierce jolt of nerves, sharper than anything she’d ever felt, shot through her body, halting her in place. Was it a warning? It didn’t necessarily feel like one.

Tick.

After a second's worth of hesitation, she gripped the handle tightly.

Tick.

She pulled the door open.

Tick—

The last tick echoed out, and the clock fell silent, frozen in time. A deep silence settled over the room…but Soraya had just stepped out the door to notice.

Soraya wasn’t sure what she expected to find.

Brushing aside some hanging vines, she came face to face with the source of the water—a gigantic jade fountain. Not just a big fountain. It was a mammoth-sized structure. From her perspective, it appeared to be taller than a ten-story building. She couldn’t even see the top from where she stood under the alcove.

Walking slowly across the balcony, she found herself—she took in her surroundings with shocked wonder. The jade material from the room continued seamlessly outside onto the balcony—it was everywhere. Massive pillars of jade adorned either side, extending beyond the railing and reaching twenty feet above, supporting a curved ceiling.

Passing by a comfortable-looking seating area, she shivered when she stepped off the woven rug onto the cool floor. By the time she reached the railing, she realized she was gazing out into a spacious, circular “courtyard.” It felt like she was staring out into a small city.

Wrapped completely around the open courtyard were balconies and pillars identical to the one she stood on. The fountain, which was about the size of an entire city block, sat dead center, surrounded by greenery and wooden structures. It wasn’t until she stepped closer to the railing that she realized the green she’d been seeing was the tops of slender trees growing on the level below—she was on the second floor.

Looking up and past the fountain, she noticed balconies above her. Then her eyes darted further up to the open night sky above it all—just pure night sky. At least, that was what it looked like at first glance.

Her eyes widened.

The full moon was out. But…so was the sun.

She rubbed her eyes and looked skyward again. The sky was still dark, with stars twinkling brightly as far as she could see, and streaks of shooting stars arcing across in brilliant flashes.

But the sun was out.

Yet…it didn’t brighten the sky. Instead, it shined in place, a river of pure light pouring down from it in a single beam, directly focused on the fountain—like a flashlight. Just one ray.

The light hit the fountain perfectly, illuminating it from within and turning it into a brilliant green. The entire courtyard was bathed in the vibrant neon glow, even casting a green tint over her skin.

Soraya.

Startled out of her stupor, Soraya jerked her head to the left at the sound of her name. A cool breeze caressed her face. Her eyes sharpened as she peered into the gloom.

Her eyes narrowed, focusing on the shadows behind the pillar at the edge of the balcony. There, she noticed a gate.

She walked over to it and peered past its iron bars. Beyond them, a darkened staircase descended into the gloom. She considered turning back around, slipping off her robe, and crawling into bed with the muscular, love-making machine. However…something was calling to her, drawing her out…and she had to know what it was.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Opening the gate, she stepped out onto the rectangular platform. Looking down the stairs, she realized she couldn’t see anything beyond the last step.

Something in her chest tugged her forward, and before she realized what she was doing, she began to descend. One step at a time.

When she reached the bottom, she found herself slightly out of breath; the descent had been much longer than it looked.

Casting a glance around, she felt small standing in the mighty hall of this wondrous place. She looked to her right, then left, noting the patchwork of green light washing up the walls between the shadows of the pillars. Not a soul to be seen.

An eerie feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, but it didn’t stop her from heading in the direction to her right.

A short distance away, she spotted a giant opening. Peering around the corner, she saw a long, empty hallway. Moving cautiously, she stopped when she reached the center of the opening and looked ahead. The hall was dark, but beyond it, she glimpsed the tops of greenery and an open black sky, with falling stars sparkling in the distance.

It wasn’t the direction she wanted to head in. Ripping her eyes away from the sight, she continued to walk to the right.

Something—instinct perhaps—told her to keep very quiet. The sound of the fountain masked the soft patter of her bare feet against the cold floor. She felt like a mouse sneaking through the house of a giant, her heart pounding steadily as if she might be caught creeping at any moment.

It wasn’t long before she came upon a smaller hallway. Moonlight poured through it, revealing a blue night sky at the far end. She tiptoed down the hallway, emerging on the other side.

Directly in front of her, a bare staircase led down into what looked like a forest…no…a jungle. To the left, the dense greenery sloped downward, where she glimpsed dozens of glowing lights flickering in the darkness.

But once again, instinct told her not to look.

Not wanting to tempt fate, she eased her way down the set of stairs until her feet hit the soft, mossy grass. Without a trace of fear, she made her way into the jungle.

Stepping over and around long, twisting roots, Soraya headed deeper into the trees, uncertain where her path would lead. With every step, the jungle seemed to come alive in response to her presence. Bioluminescent plants bloomed and spread their petals as she passed, casting a soft glow that helped to illuminate her way. What she assumed were danced between the trees, their flickering lights growing by the number the further she explored as if they were guiding her through the thick foliage.

She had no idea how long she wandered before she came upon a massive tree, its trunk thick and imposing, with heavy vines cascading from its sprawling branches. High up in the canopy, something stirred, concealed behind layers of dense, padded leaves. Then, a soft trill echoed through the air. The rustle of wings followed, and a red bird with flowing, brilliant feathers dropped gracefully from the branches above. It circled the tree trunk once, its wings cutting through the air in a blur of crimson, before landing atop a gray stone sculpture just ten feet ahead of her.

It was a beautiful creature. The bird reminded Soraya of a peacock, if a peacock were red, orange, and yellow. Its black reflective eyes gleamed, and she could see her own reflection in them.

Twigs snapped to her left, pulling her gaze away from the bird just in time to see rabbits hop into the clearing. Their bodies reared up when they spotted Soraya, whiskered noses twitching in the air.

“You look taller.”

Soraya snapped her head back toward the firebird, only to find a woman perched where the bird had been a moment before. The woman’s hair was a shade lighter than her onyx skin, and she was dressed in a beautiful white gown.

“Who are you?” Soraya asked.

“I am what I am.”

Soraya didn’t know how to respond to that when a thought occurred to her. “I’m dreaming.”

The woman smiled. “If you like to think so.”

Nodding, Soraya looked skyward. Between the leaves, she could see the star-studded sky. The tails of shooting stars flashed, there and gone. “I do.”

The woman chuckled, and a soft breeze hummed through the trees in response.

“You want something,” Soraya said. It wasn’t a question.

Cocking her head, the woman replied, “The time has come, and I wanted a good look at you.”

A beat of silence followed.

“Where are we?” Soraya asked. Dreaming strange dreams was not new to her, but for the first time, she felt grounded in one.

“A place that is a little bit here and a little bit there. It exists, but there is nothing tangible to hold on to.”

Soraya expected dreams not to make sense. They were dreams, after all. “Are you a goddess?” She didn’t know where that question came from.

“To some.”

“Do you consider yourself one?”

“Why, no. Do you consider yourself a goddess?”

Soraya, taking in her fill of the sky one moment longer, looked back down at the woman whose piercing gaze seemed to see right through her. Favoring the woman’s crypticness, she answered, “I am what I am, and I can be whichever I am.”

The strange woman laughed, the sound like a forgotten melody to Soraya. Another breeze kicked up, blowing through Soraya’s robe, the cool air tingling on her skin.

“You most certainly are, Soraya.”

“Are you, my mother?” She had always wondered what her mother looked like, even in dreams.

The woman’s brown eyes softened. “I am your mother the same way the moon and sun are your sisters.”

Soraya hummed. “I always wanted a mother.”

“What comes first, the mother or the maiden?”

Furrowing her eyebrows, Soraya tried to think, but like before, her head started to become fuzzy. “I don’t know.”

“No one ever does. Not clearly.” Soraya blinked, and suddenly the woman was standing right in front of her. “You have to go now, my dear girl. I’m afraid I was being selfish in bringing you here. I wanted to see you before he knew.”

Before Soraya could respond, a foul stench of spoiled meat wrinkled her nose.

The woman’s head snapped behind her. “He approaches.”

Soraya shrugged her shoulders while fighting the urge to cover her nose. “Let him come.”

A deep sadness filled the woman’s eyes as she turned to face Soraya. She nodded her head back toward the path she had taken before. “Go. I will hold him off until you return.”

With another shrug, Soraya turned and headed back through the jungle. She had just passed the first tree when she stopped and glanced over her shoulder, wanting to ask one last question. It was on the tip of her tongue when the words died off her lips. The woman was gone…and so was the entire clearing.

Turning back, mystified, Soraya blinked in surprise at her surroundings.

She was at the jungle's edge. Back at the start of her trek through the trees.

A shiver ran down Soraya's spine as an imposing pressure prickled at the back of her neck, urging her to move faster. Ahead, the jade staircase leading back to the palace stretched before her, but just the thought of the climb made her legs feel heavy with fatigue.

A breeze blew against her back, stirring her hair. Turning to look over her shoulder, Soraya’s eyes caught on something. Deep within the jungle, a darkness began to spread, a void creeping forward like a living thing. She watched as the tree trunks in the far distance started disappearing—one by one, swallowed up by the black void coming closer and closer to her.

Finding her feet, she looked straight ahead and hurried up the staircase without wasting time. When she reached the entrance of the hall, a gust of wind whipped around her, urging her pace to pick up. When she reached the end of the hall, back to the outer walkway of the courtyard, the wind began to howl through the opening, ripping at her robe.

Looking back, she saw the darkness swallowing up the tree line where she had stood just a moment before. Turning on her heel, she sprinted back the way she came. Quickly locating the staircase that led back to the balcony, she took the steps two at a time until she reached the metal gate.

She wondered if the darkness had reached the courtyard when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the sun no longer shining down upon the fountain. The vibrant green glow from earlier had dimmed, and the water, once burbling from the top, stilled just as a thunderous wind swept through the trees, making them tremble.

Soraya made a beeline to the door, pulling it open and shutting it quickly behind her. The sense of urgency never left her as she rushed back to the gossamer curtain. Pulling it aside, she leaped into the bed, only to realize that Tariq was gone. She turned around to see if he had gone to the bathroom when the latticework shuddered under the sudden onslaught of wind. It was like a hurricane had hit.

Ducking under the silk covers, Soraya slammed her eyes closed, willing herself to wake up. She tried pinching herself, but there was no pain.

Just as the rattling winds had started…they ceased. Soraya peeked out from under the sheets. The room had grown quiet. Not a sound could be heard.

Closing her eyes once more, Soraya willed her heart to calm down. A drowsiness of sorts overtook her then.

Can you become exhausted in a dream? She wondered before blacking out completely.