The sunlit eyes of a young girl cracked open beneath the water's surface. They danced around for a moment, shifting across the clear pool and the little flowers petals prancing over her head. She had seen this place before. The very way the water moved against her, the way it tugged her hair like a child with a school boy crush... it was all too familiar.

She was under water, yet there was an ease to the way she held her breath. The warmth of the day pierced down in the tides, heating her pale skin and easing her shoulders. She had always found an odd peace when tangled in the incandesce of the golden rays of dawn. There was no exception, not even when buried under waves.

The fallen flower petals hanging over her were pale purple. Lilac, maybe. They were so graceful, moving with the water like they were in a delicate dance. The girl held her breath while gazing up, and no matter how long she stayed she never worried about how long she could.

Her hair swayed to the same rhythm, floating across her bare shoulders which were doused in a constellation of freckles. The strands were a golden haze around her face, and her cheeks were tinted a berry hue. Above she could see a blurred outline of the world, and the wind that moved the decaying flowers along like the sands of an hourglass.

As she keenly observed, every bit of tension in her body dissolved. Every worry lurking in her chest, every scream that wished to ravage her throat, every ache in her bones... it all faded. Her shoulders were weightless in this river, the one with the purple petals and rays of sunlight. The one she'd seen in her dreams a few times before.

Slowly, the girl rose her hands and began to swim to the surface. She knew she needed to, before she was shaken away from the world and dragged to what was real. But first, she knew there would be a man waiting to speak to her at the surface- he was as consist as the petals and sun. Always patient, always waiting, always warm as day. And sometimes a bit annoying.

As she moved up the pale amber dress she wore tugged down. It fell perfectly against her thin frame, like it had been made specifically for her. And maybe in this foreign dreamland it had been. Her hands broke to surface, and water began to trickle off her skin. Little beads caressed her as swam the small distance to the shoreline. She could now hear the birds and how they sang.

It was so peculiar the way they made their music, because it was a chorus of the most beautiful sound she'd ever heard. The little birds flitted from the lush trees, always chirping their songs together. A rhythm followed them wherever they went, as though they were an orchestra receiving instructions. The melody was swift, and sounded like a summer's kiss being manifested into noise.

She brushed her hair to the side carefully, and allowed her stare to drift from the creatures. Her eyes trailed to where they always did. A large tree extending towards the glistening cerulean sky, dawned in dainty pink and yellow flowers. She was always compelled to walk towards it, and the man sitting beneath it.

When she saw it there was a restless in her gut. She had to visit this tree, but she could not for the life of her understand why. It was like she was standing on a tightrope, and on one side was all the things she spent her life running from and on the other was a safe haven. She had no choice but to keep running, to reach the haven that was this restful tree.

And so, that's what she did. With soft steps she moved across the lush, evergreen grassed which was littered with smooth stones. Everything had an almost pearly glint when the light hit it, making it abundantly clear that it wasn't real. Still she trekked the space between herself and the man, who finally glanced up from the fiddle in his lap.

His eyes were similar to her own. Much like the sun, they were inviting yet intense. If drops of light could fall from the sky, those dapples of gold would be his eyes. They were doe like, interested and innocent yet riddled with a twinge of tragedy. His frame was cut from marble, and he had blond hair that was tousled and tucked behind his ears,

A smile spread across his tanned face like it always did, splitting his lips and putting his pearly whites on display. Although, the girl couldn't help but notice something off about his grin. She tilted her head just as he waved her over, beckoning her like she was a friend he'd not seen in awhile.

She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of honeysuckle and her childhood home. The first made sense, in fact she could see a hummingbird nestled in a bush of honeysuckle, nipping at the flower. However there was nothing similar to the distinct comfort of the latter. Still, the aroma of rich plums stewing in a bath of cinnamon and cloves parading around inside the air.

And come to think of it, her mouth tasted like a drink her mother used to make around the holidays. For her and her brother it was half hot chocolate, and half-coffee with a peppermint stick. For their mom, it was the same but with a splash of brandy. It coated her tongue, swirling with childhood memories not soiled with grief. She had no idea how though, since it had been years since she'd had it.

The breeze tickled her skin, somehow drying her hair and dress despite the wind being faint as a whisper. It wasn't long before she reached the underbelly of the tree, where the branches made shadow patterns across her face.

The man looked at her, still smiling and nodded softly. "Atlas," he greeted in a deceivingly chipper tone. His voice always made something in the back of her mind itch. She was sure that somewhere in the universe, in this life or one past, she had been tethered to this man somehow. Because his voice rang in her head like a song she'd known as a kid, but hadn't heard since. "It's been awhile," he added.

A storm lingered on his tongue that he tried to disguise with a glittering smile. His eyes were burdened, and she could practically see cracks on lightning within the confines of his irises. His broad shoulders were normally relaxed, yet today they were back with tension.

Atlas, the girl, felt her stomach stir. That wasn't supposed to happen here. This was a haven, this was the only time her dreams weren't burdened with visions of the past. The only time when her worries disappeared, if only for a second- but here she was, with worry spiking her heart.
Her eyebrows fell into a slant, and for a moment before speaking she pursed her rose stained lips.

"What's wrong?" Her voice was very different to the man's. Even when not steely, it was never really warm either. She always had this misty aura of emerald surrounding her, drowning out the daylight of her appearance. Her voice was smooth, with every word pronounced to perfection. A conversation with her was a conversation with all the muses of your heart, every desire was a softly spoken syllable on her tongue. It was something to cherish, but not something to trust.

Their matching eyes met, one with fading light and one already entrenched into dark clouds. He tapped his fingers mindlessly against the fiddle in his lap, silent for a second too long. Atal's shoulders tensed up as the crescendo of quiet played like a gut wrenching string chorus.

Finally he broke the static with a grey little laugh. "I was hoping to avoid that for awhile, though I should have known you'd notice something was off," his chuckle petered out pitifully and at the same time his smile vanished from his lips. He looked away from her and up at the labyrinth of branches above them. She peered at him with narrowed eyes and a heart like a caged hummingbird.

The world around her had always evoked the calm within before. It called upon the last traces of happiness in her turmoil and drew on them to create euphoria within her mind. This was all shattering now, because worry plagued her like a sickness. Not because the man had done anything that bizarre, but because when she observed his straying smile it sent a million flares off in her head. Because this had never happened, and rarely were new things ever a good thing for Atlas.

"I can't tell you everything," the man said after a brief hesitation. His fingers, nimble and long and untouched by any imperfections did anything to keep busy. At first he played a phantom tune on his fiddle, then he ran his fingertips over the blade of grass beneath him, then pulled apart a little wildflower. She could not see his face, not well anyway, as it was still directed to the sky.

Atlas crossed her arms over her chest, and took a breath. None of this made sense, or perhaps the joyous delirium of this place was washing away her ability to think clearly. She gazed at him while scrutiny found a home in her eyes. "You can't tell me everything..." she repeated. "What can't you tell me about?"

A sigh plumed from his lush lips, and Atlas had a sense she was getting some bad news. She grit her back teeth, preparing for the impact of his next words. How bad could they be? Atlas' mind was buzzing around in a haze, like it did in this little universe created by her slumber. In her waking hours she assumed it was a trauma response. Finding a world in your most vulnerable state, sleep, and forcing away every bad thought into an unseen hive somewhere seemed like a way to cope.

So what had changed?

He turned his head back to her and their glittering eyes met. It looked like two fireflies colliding in the ebony night that was their separate worries. "Something is coming, Atlas," any trace of smiles echoing on his face ceased with the swiftness of a light being switched off. "Something big," that smooth honey tone of his became morose, the type of way you tell someone their loved one died.

A shiver darted up Atlas' spine, and sent daggers in her chest. Her skin crawled, and her fingers tightened around her upper arms until all pigment flushed from her tan skin. She was living, breathing but she felt like she was getting told she'd died. Something big? She started shaking her head, pushing away the memories that tried to creep back up on her.

"What do you-" Atlas began but was abruptly cut off. He silenced her question with a continuation of his damn explanation which only raised more questions.

"I can't tell you what I mean exactly, but you'll know when it happens," his said vaguely, with a nod to himself. "You'll feel it in your bones... instincts that you've never had before, trust them," he drummed his fingers against his thigh. Atlas saw his eyes fade in and out of focus, as though he was checking off an internal list of things to say. "The road ahead is going to be hard, with wrong turns and dead ends that you'll have to persevere through. And you'll have to start trusting people."

"How do I know that I can trust you?" Atlas asked so quickly sparks could have flicked from her tongue. Something big, a long road, trusting people? Trusting who? She had a plethora of things she didn't understand, and these concerns stacked up like dirty dishes in the forefront of her mind. "None of this makes sense! Why can't you tell me what's going to happen?"

"If I tell you everything, the threads of what's meant to happen will come undone," he answered evenly. "And as for it not making sense, well, it will in time." He spoke like a door closing. Atlas needed to hear more, she needed to break the threshold of the doorframe to understand. Though it was impossible, because the hinges were swinging and the light from inside was going to be only visible from the outside looking in.

"Atlas!" She heard from someone other than the man. She glanced around feverishly, watching at everything began to disappear. The tree dissolved before her eyes, the man, the grass, the birds and their song, it all dissipated like always. But this time she wanted nothing more than to stop it's undoing.

"Prepare yourself, Atlas," these were the last things she heard from the man.

After she was jolted back to the real world, with her brother standing over her and calling her name.

~Who do you think the man was?~

Hello lovely readers! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this new story, and I hope you're excited for the future ones! If you enjoyed, please let me know in the comments and consider adding this story to a reading list! Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!