BETA
The first time it happened, I thought it was just exhaustion.
This is the second time I'm the dream… I knew it wasn't just a dream.
The forest in it was too still. Too quiet. And the trees? They whispered. Not in some poetic, calming way. No—they spoke.
They called me by name.
"Beta."
It sounded like it wasn't my name. Not my real name. Not the one my mother gave me. But it was the only name I'd ever known.
Until now.
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In the dream, I stood barefoot on ash. Not snow. Not soil. Ash—black, clinging to my skin, soft as regret.
Around me, the forest groaned like it remembered death.
I turned, heart thundering in my chest, trying to find a way out—but the woods shifted, reshaped. Each time I moved, the trees leaned inward like they were watching. Judging. Waiting.
And then I saw her.
A woman cloaked in dark green, her hair braided with tiny silver bones. She stood beneath a twisted tree, one I knew instinctively had no roots—only scars.
