It was just a dream, but what are dreams if not our souls making sense of our lives?


What are dreams, in a land of misery and power, if not the only thing you can keep on holding on?


Dreams, she thought, are just figments of our imagination, our brain examining the day, our emotions. Never could she have imagined that a dream would have brought her here, today. Never could she have imagined that a dream would have come true. 


The endless green now splattered with red. Earth’s colorful masterpiece decorated with human’s actions. The nighttime spectacle of pastel colors now turned into hues of pearl and gray.

It was just a dream she had, but it came true. The reality of it struck her when their stagnant eyes kept looking up, the stars calling to their souls.


“Lucky bastards.” She sighed looking up, the brightly shining moon and stars reflecting on her warrior shades, showing her the way home. One thing she promised herself that night, no dream would ever be ‘just a dream’ again.


No other dream came true for a long time, and she forgot the promise she made to herself. She forgot to remember the last words that her grandmother once said to her: “Never, child, forget about your dreams.” She had nodded at those words, but she forgot them. Dreams, for her kind, provide breaths of fortuity, as a guide leaving choices to lost hikers. Not listening to them, forgetting her grandma’s advice was the biggest mistake she ever made for she never saw coming the following month. Her last month.


Is it just a dream when it wakes you up to your skin’s echoing shivers? Is it just a dream when everything seems to stop breathing from how silent it is? Is it just a dream when, glancing around, everything is perfectly wrong? Every book, reversed. Every wardrobe, open. Every chair, facing you. 

“Oh hell no. Nobody fucking interrupts my sleep.” Every last drop of weariness replaced by fury. Doors open, but nothing broken. Her black-pointed nails slightly touched the table where a daffodil now laid. A flower of rebirth, a flower she knew all too well. They once took him too, took her heart and destroyed it to ashes.


She never truly believed in dreams, but she always believed in blood. Always believed that you should carry a knife, just in case, and know how to use it. Know how to draw blood, to make it last or to end it fast. This, for her, was what being a warrior-born meant. Being able to take a life, as much as spare it. They’re the strongest, fastest, and the ones who feel the most.


The first rays of dawn making their way through the windows shed light on what happened while she slept. Nothing. Nothing happened. But something did. And still, she went back to sleep, putting everything back to their rightful place, burning the flower until no trace remained behind.


Forgetting is a human’s trait, and as such we shall treat it. No human that she knew of has ever been able to recall everything. We forget, we fail, we hurt, we love. But sometimes, we don’t just blank out, we overlook on purpose. 


When she woke up, an early morning of the following month, she did so in her bed but not in her room. Around her everything was an overpower of lights and dark, sounds and silence, crowd and desert, cold and warm.

A phantom touch seemed to reach for her and her body response was a light tremble. Blaring alarms screaming in her mind to act, to kill. 


“Never, child, forget about your dreams”. Her grandma’s voice sneaking its way through her rambling thoughts. The myriads of forgotten dreams she ignored now forcing their way into her mind like a tide, encasing themselves into every shadowed corner. The mistake has been made and only emptiness laid ahead, only a void where her choices of paths should have been. 


Words filled with fury and fear left her dark painted lips. The heart pumping blood through her veins picking up a faster rhythm, her breath coming in short. Little beads of sweat coating her forehead and leaving a transparent trace. Tears desperate to break the barriers of her chocolate colored eyes, but she won’t let them. 

Black and red stains decorated the decaying walls, the smell of musk mixing with that of blood. Scarce delicate rays of light showing her the little bouquet of daffodils sitting in a faraway table. 


The flowers hunted her memory, her heart, her soul. But she was stronger this time. This time, it won’t be the pain controlling her. This time, like the first time, she will spill blood. 

Her body vibrated with cold, calculated wrath. A tempest of vengeance reflected in her eyes full of an intensity that promised destruction. 


From the dark ahead, twin pools of emerald locked with her eyes. She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know how she got here, but she did know whose eyes those were. She also knew that today, the rule was to kill or be killed.


“Why are you here?”


“Because they deemed it to be so.” His voice unwavering yet hints of frailty resounding within. His eyes slowly closing and leaving her alone again. 


“They told me you were dead.”


“Never believe in anything else other than your dreams.” His voice like a dark blanket of truth, reminding her of old times gone. “Don’t act on rage but listen to your dreams, to your soul, and feel what you need to do. Find your answers within yourself. Spill their blood, make them proud.”


“Their blood is our wine” She let the words spread in the darkness encasing her. “Their voices are our instruments.” Her eyes close, letting her mind wander in the darkness beyond, hoping for counsel. 


Remember, Kaelo, remember. 


The warm amber of her eyes clouded in despair were now glowing with unshed tears. She didn’t know that voice, but the dream left her desperate. Liquid fire flowing through her veins the reminder of the forgotten promise she once had made to herself. No green met her brown this time, but the certainty of his presence was branded in her heart.


No human was ever born with the ability to see in the dark, but once you sit in it for a long enough time, it will feel like you can. Details of their surroundings welcomed her. The ghostly glint of a reflecting knife caught her attention. She had woken up without her weapons, and she needed her freedom, his freedom. She needed the knife to be hers. 

“Mine.” She didn’t say it, didn’t pronounce it, didn’t scream it. She declared it, she wanted the metal to know who its new master was. “Mine.” She said it louder this time. Sitting up, she looked straight at the knife, laying too far for her to reach. Knees and shins touching hard flooring, hands at their side, needing the connection with the Earth. 


Her true eyes, those of a warrior-born, replaced her two pools of chocolate. The tides of darkness and ice replacing them and taking each one their birthright side, conferring her an ethereal semblance.  

“MINE.” She screamed the word, unrelenting power leaving her body, replenishing life where there was death, light where there was darkness, melody where there was silence. 

The knife in her hands trembling with barely contained revenge, millions of voices imploring and bellowing for her to listen. 


Remember, Kaelo, remember.


That same voice, sweet and remote, unknown to her. Not a woman, not a man, not a child. 

“Come with me. Come home. Spill their blood and be reborn.” She doesn’t look back, she’s not strong enough for his eyes.


“Look at me, Kaelo.” The light she brought upon them made it easy for her to find him, sitting just a couple of steps away. “I’m not a man that can be rendered whole again. Spill my blood first, let me join the voices you will always carry with you.”

Her striking eyes still blaring with danger became thin and locked on his emerald ones. “Fuck you.” Not a single more word. She knew what she had to do, and it wasn’t killing Leilani. 


Red painted lips were now the only truly colored feature adorning her face. Like lighting strikes of black and white, daedalian designs followed lines and hollows, transforming her from gracious to menacing. The thirst for blood almost consuming her.

Outside was as black as inside has been, with the difference of the glittering sky. She was home, at last, and the moon would show her the way. The cement was icy under her feet, a light breeze making her skin react with little goosebumps wherever she wasn’t covered. She was alone, and she thrived on it.


The intricate two-colored patterns now intertwining on the hollow of her neck giving the impression of sparkling jewelry. 

“Their blood our wine, their voices our instruments.” Her voice was deprived of any emotions, only instincts guiding her body and soul. Sounds of creatures answered her silent call, welcoming her. “Where?” She asked softly, and the whole world seemed to tremble upon her request. 

Once she found her targets, she drank their blood and played their voices. A butchery carefully executed. Only one she kept alive, only one for her to enjoy and get information.


She went back, looking for Leilani. Black and white meeting glassy green. There was no sparkle, no emerald in those eyes. Eyes she’s always loved looking at. Eyes that loved hers. 

“Lei?” She whispered, her voice back to normal, her semblance slowly changing back. A tear slipping through the strong barriers she always kept erected. A tear that became a sob, a cry, a scream. She’s never cared about blood on her clothes, but when Leilani’s blood joined that of her other victims, she screamed harder, cried harder. “LEI!” She wanted him to answer her. He didn’t die by her blade like he asked, and his voice would forever be lost. They told her he was alone here, safe for when she’d return. Rage, red-hot exploding wrath seized the whole of her, needing to be let out. She screamed, cried and fell asleep on a body becoming colder by the minute. A body she wasn’t yet ready to let go of. 


She woke up screaming for a dream she couldn’t remember. Panic making her whole body shaking, she hugged her legs tight to herself while laying on her side. Looking around her, she found one thing missing: Leilani. Every trace of his body was gone, no blood, no anything. Just gone, like he never existed.

“Lei…” her voice was low, timid, filled to the brim with ‘what if’s and ‘could have been’s. She got up on a weak body and started to make her way home. 


The welcoming yellow lights brought a slight smile, she was alive, but she couldn’t help but burn with desperation. Nobody came to help her, nobody said hello when she passed the streets up to her house, nobody even looked at her. They knew, they all did, and that was reason enough to treat her as a ghost, as the monster she is.


Her bed wasn’t in her room, and she made do with comfortable pillows and warm blankets to cocoon herself in. She whispered his name for hours, days. Her body growing weaker and weaker without food nor water. She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t want to live either.


No dreams came to her during those nights. Not until the last day of the month. It was no dream, but the darkness was filled with light, tiny, gray points. Stars, she realized, she was dreaming of stars. But nobody ever dreams of stars, because they only come to collect. She had let her body fall into deep ends, and this was the stars' way of giving her a choice, one last time.


Kaelo, my love, take my hand.


He appeared just like she remembered him. Emerald eyes shining with joy, raven hair framing his face, his dimpled smile welcoming her.


Take my hand, come see our new home.


She wasn’t sure she wanted to die, not like this. She was warrior-born. Drenching herself in blood was her calling. 


Kaelo.. I’m sorry, my love.


His hand was right there, she only needed to reach out. His eyes were begging her, a crease between his eyebrows showing his fear and confusion. She could read him without the need for him to say a single letter. He was her soulmate, and she was his.

This time, he didn’t speak. He lowered his hand at his side, letting his smile and crease fade. He nodded faintly, not needing for her to speak, turned around and started walking. Leilani’s silhouette, she noticed, was made of stars, he was glowing. He was her gift if she decided to let go. He stopped, without looking back and just stood there, with his head bowed down and tight fists at the side of his powerful frame.


You’ve always been my heart, my soul. The reason for which I lived. I loved you, and I always will. Whether you choose to live or die, I wanted to tell you this one more time. I love you, Kaelo. 


She stared at him, tears flowing free and rapidly. She couldn’t watch him just walk away, and yet, that’s what she was doing. The words left her before she even registered them.


Will you.. Will you come back for me next time?


Only the stars have the answer to that question, my love.


He looked back at her, their eyes exchanging as many words as the number of stars lost in the universe. Her body wrecked with indescribable pain and overwhelming love.


Leilani, love.. I couldn’t love you more even if the stars gave me the possibility to do so. But I’m a warrior-born, I can’t-


I know, my love, I know.


She fell on her knees, not feeling any pain, hands covering her sobbing, in her body the sensation of an earthquake. Nothing could ever compare to her decision to live, to not join him. To continuing living as a worrior-born meant leaving Leilani here, meant being strong alone again.


Kaelo, show me your eyes, kismet.


She opened them and found him sitting in front of her. Softly touching her chin, Leilani brushed his thumb on her skin and sweetly smiled. 


You’re the strongest woman and warrior I’ve ever known. You’re bright, emphatic, ambitious, and so brave. You go on and I’ll be waiting.


She nodded and touched his face with a trembling hand, bringing her forehead to his. Just one last time, she told herself, just one last touch, one last kiss. Their kiss felt like fire and ice, passion and hate, happiness and mourning. Her voice was shaking and tears kept flowing free but neither cared, they just took all the time they had and sat there, embracing each other, exchanging soft words, for one last time. She could feel the moment everything started to fade around them.


I love you, Leilani. Always have, always will. My soul, my heart. My kismet.


He just nodded, kissed her forehead and smiled, letting her go back to reality. 

She woke up in a silent scream, convulsing with too many emotions but knowing what she had to do. Her body too weak to even move her hands, but she got up against its outcry, ate and drank. 

For a month she took care of herself, nourishing body and soul, listening to her every dream, waiting for a new target to meet her knife.


Little charms of shiny green found their way on her doorstep one morning. Touching the emeralds, Leilani’s essence twined with hers. One single tear left a salty trail on her cheek where a soft smile was now adorning her features. She never took it off, never marred it, always kept it perfectly clean. No trace of her enemies’ blood ever found its home on her bracelet. 


She was a warrior, and she was proud of it. 

Every new drop of blood spilled felt like a badge of honor on her clothes. Her new knife resounding with a chorus of faith and motivation. 

Blood and dreams crowning her life, her mismatched eyes following her prey day and night, haunting them. 

When she roamed the streets, she did it with splattered crimson beads on her skin, the people passing her by now looking at her with disgust and terror, giving her a wide berth.


She never again saw white petals in her home, but she went looking for them time and time again, waiting for her vengeance to be satiated. And once she found them, white became ruby. Death replaced life, and when she looked up, the stars were looking right back at her.


She killed with precision. She killed with purpose. She killed until death found her. Until all that remained of her was her home, lifeless but not empty. She had no one to tell her stories or to train as warrior-born, but she had a promise to uphold. 

And when her eyes found his once again in a field shaded in dark blue and tainted with lavender and pink, she knew the wound inflicted was too much even for her. She killed them, but they were going to be her death just as well. 

Closing her eyes, she felt his presence behind her and spoke softly.


Hello, my love, I think I killed enough now. I made my family proud and brought revenge.


He smiled brightly. At the touch of their hands, everything went bright and Leilani hugged her tight.


No more blood, no more dreams, kismet.