The Warning

Darkness.

Not the peaceful kind.

The kind that watched.

Daniel couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Could barely breathe.

He wasn't in a dream yet.

He was somewhere before the dream.

Somewhere… in between.

And he wasn't alone.

A voice, soft and distant, whispered through the void.

"You weren't supposed to take anything."

Daniel's pulse pounded.

He tried to move. Tried to force his limbs to respond. But his body was frozen—paralyzed in the weight of something he couldn't see.

The voice came again, closer this time.

"You're breaking the rules."

Daniel's breath hitched. His mouth opened, but no words came out.

Then—

A hand emerged from the darkness.

Pale. Slender. Fingers curling like smoke.

It reached toward him.

Daniel willed himself to wake up—

And just as the hand touched his chest—

The world snapped into focus.

A Different Beginning

Daniel gasped, bolting upright.

Wind.

Cold. Sharp. Rushing through his hair.

His heart slammed in his chest as he realized—

He was falling.

Through the sky.

Wind roared in his ears, whipping against his skin as he plummeted toward the ground below.

It took half a second to process—

Then the memories hit.

Daniel Hawthorne. Pilot. Air force captain. Thirty-two years old. A veteran of over fifty combat missions.

And right now?

His plane was gone.

His parachute wasn't deploying.

And the ground was coming fast.

Instinct took over.

Daniel grabbed for the emergency cord on his chest, yanked it—

Nothing.

The wind howled as the trees rushed up to meet him.

"No, no, no—"

Then—

The world flickered.

For a split second, everything froze.

Daniel focused—pushed, willed something to change—

And suddenly—

The impact never came.

Daniel landed with a jolt.

Not on the ground.

But on a bed of soft moss.

The kind that shouldn't have cushioned a fall from thousands of feet.

He sat up quickly, heart racing.

Around him, a dense forest stretched endlessly in all directions. Tall, skeletal trees twisted into the misty sky, their branches bare and unmoving despite the wind. The air smelled damp, earthy, wrong.

Daniel's pulse was still hammering in his ears.

What just happened?

Had he stopped the fall?

Had someone else?

A shiver crawled up his spine.

This dream wasn't normal.

Something was different this time.

And he had a feeling it had to do with the coin.

A rustling in the trees.

Daniel's body tensed.

Then—

A figure stepped into view.

Tall. Thin. Wrapped in dark, tattered robes.

Its face was hidden in the shadows of its hood, but Daniel felt its eyes lock onto him.

A shudder ran through his bones.

Because he knew this thing.

Not from this life.

Not from any of his past dream-lives.

But from the void.

From the whispers.

The figure took a slow step forward.

"You are interfering."

Its voice was like wind through dead leaves.

Daniel swallowed hard. "Who are you?"

The figure didn't answer.

But in the silence, Daniel felt the truth.

This wasn't a person.

It wasn't part of the dream.

It was something outside of it.

Something that watched.

Something that knew.

A cold dread settled in his gut.

"Why am I here?" Daniel demanded. "What do you want from me?"

The figure lifted a hand.

Daniel braced himself—

But instead of attacking, the thing simply… pointed.

Daniel turned.

In the distance, past the mist and the skeletal trees—

A small cabin stood in the clearing.

A single lantern flickered in its window.

And deep inside him, something whispered—

"Go."

Daniel approached slowly, his boots crunching over damp leaves.

The cabin looked… old. The wooden walls were warped, covered in moss and strange, curling symbols.

It felt abandoned.

But the lantern in the window flickered, steady and warm.

Someone was inside.

Daniel hesitated.

Then he stepped forward—reached for the handle—

And the door swung open before he could touch it.

A voice drifted out.

Calm. Waiting.

"Come in, Daniel."

His breath caught.

They knew his name.

He stepped inside

*****

A single candle burned on a wooden table.

Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with ancient, crumbling tomes. Maps and star charts were scattered across the floor.

And sitting in the center of the room, legs crossed, hands resting lightly on his knees—

Was a man in a black coat.

Older. Late fifties, maybe sixties. Deep lines creased his face. His eyes, sharp, piercing, he watched Daniel with a quiet intensity.

He didn't look surprised to see him.

In fact…

He looked like he had been expecting him.

"Sit," the man said.

Daniel hesitated. "Who are you?"

The man smiled faintly. "The better question is, who are you?"

Daniel frowned. "What the hell does that mean?"

The man leaned forward.

"You think this is your first time here?"

Daniel's stomach dropped.

"What?"

The man gestured at the room. "This place. This moment." He tapped his temple. "It's happened before, Daniel."

The air felt thicker suddenly.

Like the world itself was waiting.

Daniel clenched his fists. "That's impossible."

The man tilted his head.

"Is it?"

Daniel's pulse pounded. He shouldn't believe him.

But something deep in his bones told him the man was right.

Daniel had been here before.

And somehow—

He had forgotten.

The man sighed. "You've been breaking the rules, Daniel."

Daniel tensed.

"The coin," the man said simply. "You took it with you."

Daniel's throat went dry.

"How do you know that?"

The man smiled, but his eyes were sad.

"Because you've done it before."

Daniel's breath caught.

His mind reeled.

No. No, this was his first time doing that.

Wasn't it?

The man stood. "Listen to me carefully, Daniel."

He leaned forward, voice dropping to a whisper.

"You need to remember what you've forgotten."

The air in the room shifted.

Daniel felt it—like something clicking into place.

Something waking up.

And then—

The world collapsed.

*****

Monday Morning. Again.

Daniel shot up in bed.

Gasping. Sweating.

His heart pounded against his ribs.

Something was different this time.

His mind felt heavier, like something was pressing against it. Like something had been erased and was trying to come back.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

The man's words echoed in his head.

"You need to remember what you've forgotten."

Daniel swallowed hard.

Because for the first time since this had all started—

He was terrified of what he might find.