What is happening??

The old woman seems to be weeping with her face looking down at the floor. The beautiful woman is looking at the old woman with a frown on her face as if she pities the old woman. I look up again and the demon is now staring at the door its eyes are white so white that it almost looks like you can see right through them I look back at the door and the tree with hand-shaped leaves are pointing at me following with every move I make the two women are looking at me with shocked facial expressions. Their mouth dripping blood with their finger pointing to something behind me I turn around and the demon is before me with its back facing me as if it was hiding. I swallow my fear and when I move forward every face every pointing finger follows my movement. I walk in front of the demon and the demon is pointing at the key. I grab the key and turn towards the demon the demons eyes fill the white color with the color blue. I feel a connection between me and this demon-like I've known them for years. I walk up to the demon as I approach the demon it kneels on one knee and above the demon's forehead, there is a keyhole I look at the key and I insert the key into the keyhole.

The key slides in slowly—almost unwillingly—and I feel resistance, like something on the other side doesn't want it to fit. The demon doesn't move, only stares at me with those pale, now-blue eyes. I hesitate. My fingers tremble as I rest them on the key.

Do I turn it?

A sound rumbles from deep within the walls around me—a groan, almost human, as if the room itself were alive and afraid. The two women carved into the silver key begin to change again. Their eyes blink. They are… watching me now. I want to scream, to throw the key across the room and run, but where would I go? There is only this room, the demon, the door, and this overwhelming sense of being buried in something far older than time.

I turn the key.

The demon gasps—a deep, low, guttural noise that shakes dust from the ceiling. Its hands grab its chest as if in pain, or relief, or both. The key turns with a click, and the keyhole in its forehead begins to glow.

Suddenly, I'm not in the room anymore.

I am standing in a forest of hands. Thousands—no, millions—of hands stretch from trees like branches, twitching slightly as if dreaming. Some are smooth and gentle, others gnarled and cracked like bark. The forest whispers my name with the wind.

"Kel… must… give… in…"

"No!" I yell, but the sound barely carries.

I turn in circles, the forest endless in every direction. Then I see her—the old woman from the key. But she's real now. Standing. Pale. Wrinkled. Her eyes sunken but burning with fire. She points to a tree, one larger than the rest, with hands tangled in chains. The branches groan under the weight of the bindings.

"You must decide," she says, her voice like gravel under a boot. "Enter, or awaken."

I look at the tree. The bark is covered in carvings. My name. Over and over again. Kelvanti. Kelvanti. Kelvanti. Some are fresh, bleeding sap. Others look like they've been there for centuries.

"What does that mean?" I ask. My voice comes out thin.

The woman's eyes glimmer with sorrow. "You've been here before. Many times. This is not your first dream. Not your first visit."

I blink. "Then why don't I remember?"

"Because you always choose wrong."

She turns and walks into the dark, melting into the forest like mist. I try to follow, but the tree suddenly shifts. It bends down toward me, lowering a single hand. It's mine. I recognize the scar across the knuckle. I got that when I was eight, climbing a fence.

The hand curls, offering something.

A mask.

It's porcelain, pure white, with only a mouth. No eyes. No nose. Just a hollow, expressionless grin.

I take it, trembling.

The moment I do, I'm yanked backward as if gravity flips. I crash onto the floor of the cold room again. The demon is still kneeling, its eyes fully blue now. It's no longer terrifying—it's… tired. Worn.

I hold the mask up.

"Why me?" I whisper.

The demon speaks for the first time. Its voice is low but clear. "Because you are the key, Kel. You are what binds the dream to the real."

I shake my head. "I don't understand."

"You will."

The mask floats from my hand and presses itself onto the demon's face. There's a blinding flash, and then the demon is gone.

In its place is… me.

Not a mirror.

Me.

Same eyes. Same posture. But hollow. Empty. Like a version of me that never woke up.

I back away, but he speaks.

"You cannot run from yourself."

Then he lunges.

I scream. Finally, my voice returns. The sound is raw, ragged. I trip and fall as he towers over me. His hands grab my shirt and pull me toward him. I close my eyes.

And I fall.

Fall endlessly. Spinning. Screaming.

Then—silence.

I open my eyes. I'm in my bed. My real bed. Morning light spills through the blinds. My phone buzzes on the nightstand. A notification. Just a dream, I think, panting, soaked in sweat.

I sit up.

And freeze.

The silver key is on my pillow.