Mating season- Longing.

Lucian had tried, over and over again, to make sense of the dream, but no matter how much he analyzed it, no matter how many times he forced himself to recall every detail, it remained a mess of images that refused to settle into anything logical.

A vast, barren landscape.

A sky so dark it felt like an endless abyss.

A tree- withered, gnarled, yet pulsing with something unnatural. Energy. Power.

Two figures knelt before it, their silhouettes flickering like shadows against the twisted branches.

They were worshipping it, surrendering to it. And just as Lucian had gotten close enough to see their faces...

He woke up.

Again.

The same dream has plagued him night after night, each time leaving him restless, unsettled, and gripping onto the last traces of sleep like they might offer him an answer. But they have not.