IN ANOTHER WORLD

ANOTHER WORLD


And somewhere, in a world where stars whispered and time bent, Aria stood alone—on the edge of truth, wondering if she had paid too high a price for it.

The soil beneath her boots was soft, dusted with glowing moss. The sky above shifted in shades of violet and blue, pulsing like a heartbeat. This world—neither living nor dead—was a reflection of secrets hidden too well. Her fingers brushed the bark of a tree that hummed softly under her touch, as if the universe itself was trying to speak.

She could hear the sound of rustling winds and wolves howling. She could hear the shrieks of humans.
“What is this place?” she wondered.

She was transported to a land where she knew nothing about; she hadn't heard or read about it.

She slowly walked through the paths that looked like the path of death—if there was anything like that.

She heard wolves howling, but for a split second, it was closer to her. She turned around in shock, and a wolf charged towards her.

She turned around to run but fell down. The wolf wasn't looking like it was backing out. She got up immediately and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

She couldn't find any shade or cave to hide.
“What the hell? This wasn't the plan,” she muttered under her breath.

The wolf was getting closer to her. She increased her pace, but it wasn't helping. She finally saw a cave that looked dangerous, but she had to escape the wolf which was chasing her first.

She rushed inside and hid. The wolf couldn't get inside because it was too big.

Aria was panting heavily, looking for a suitable place to rest from the race.
“That old hag!” she cursed.

“This wasn't the plan. I came to find answers, not get chased by some piece of trash as a wolf,” she hissed.

She leaned backward towards a rock lying behind her. She sighed and rested her head on the rock.
“This is the worst day of my life,” she scoffed.

She dozed while thinking of the more dangerous things she was going to encounter in her journey to finding the truth.

Back in the human world, Damien was crumbling.

His once sharp eyes were dim now, veined with exhaustion. He sat beside the fireplace, an untouched cup of tea growing cold in his hand. His body was failing him—not from injury, but from grief and consequences. He hadn’t shifted in days. His wolf, once vibrant and wild, had grown quiet—like it, too, was mourning her absence.

The house felt empty without her—no sudden laughs echoing through the halls, no footsteps in the corridor, no scent of her lingering by the balcony she loved to stand while watching the sky.

Each night, he’d wake up in cold sweat, calling her name. Sometimes, he thought he heard her voice in the trees or saw her silhouette in the fog. But she was never there.

“Come back to me…” he whispered one evening, his voice cracking like old wood. “Please.”

But Aria couldn’t hear him.

In the other world, Aria got up from her not-too-good sleep. She tried standing, but her legs and neck were sore due to lying uncomfortably.

She stretched her legs and neck.
“When did I doze off?” she whispered.

She crawled out of the cave slowly, inspecting if there's any predator waiting to devour her.

She walked slowly, looking for a stream or anywhere to get water. She didn't come with anything—not even a single drop of water.

She began journeying in search of water and food to sustain her dying soul. She prayed she wasn't consumed by the creeping and wild things that were there.

She heard the sound of rushing water, but she was skeptical about going close.
“Maybe it's a trap,” she thought.

But she was too dehydrated to listen to any voice in her head. She slowly walked over to the lake.

She knelt beside the lake and drank to her satisfaction. She got up, but it wasn't her face that was mirrored—but Damien’s. She gasped.

He looked thinner, paler, and haunted. Her breath caught. The price of her journey was etched into his suffering.

She walked away from the lake feeling disturbed and sad.
“Did I make the right choice?” she sighed.

She regretted her actions.
“Why did I do it? I haven't found any answer since I got here,” she complained.

She wished Damien wouldn't get hurt because of her bad decisions.
“I don't want to lose the only person who cared about me,” she said.

She walked past different stones that had questions she couldn't answer and things she didn't understand.

“What is all this?” she asked while reading the words on one of the stones.

She had come in search of answers. The ancient woman had promised her that this place held them. But all she had found were riddles carved in stone, spirits that vanished before they could speak, and memories that didn’t belong to her.

Each passing moment made her chest heavier. Aria clenched her fists, whispering to the wind,
“Why can’t the truth just be simple?” she whispered.

She was growing weak due to walking for hours. In this world, it felt like time wasn't moving. The more she walked, the further she was from getting her answers.

“I need to get a safe place to stay for the night,” she said while searching around.

She decided to create a shade under an old oak tree. She set up fire to warm herself and keep creeping things far.

She sat down and looked at the star, with regret clearly shown in her eyes.
“I was wrong,” she said softly, staring into the sky.
“There’s no truth here. Only shadows,” she muttered.

The wind howled in response. She stood, her legs trembling with fatigue. She had to return—even if it meant defying the laws of this realm.

Because the truth she had searched for wasn’t in this strange world of bending time and whispering stars.

It had always been in him.

And now, she prayed she wasn't too late.