The darkness was endless, the kind that swallowed even silence. No sky. No ground. Just the sensation of floating in something that wasn't quite air. Sticky, Cold… Wrong.
Stars began to rise. One by one, faint white light floated up from beneath Arbor's feet. The surface below was thick like syrup. Their legs didn't sink into it, but every shift of movement clung to them like tar. Ripples of white light followed every twitch.
More stars rose, outlining their silhouette. The sharp curves of their fox-like ears — two on top, two on the sides — caught the glow, giving them a faint halo of light. The golden chain earring swayed gently on their right ear with a crescent moon charm. Matching gold cylinder earrings on their lower left ear twinkled with each subtle head tilt.
As the light rose higher, their form came into full view. There figure was Androgynous. Small but sharp. Their dark skin shimmered, the faint glow revealing their face — soft, almost human, except for the subtle curve of a fox's nose. Their hair, a light, baby blue, was pulled into a loose ponytail, with bangs falling past the sides of their head. A stubborn bang hung dead center, as if it had claimed that spot for life.
Their body was covered in simple gray shorts and a gray cropped shirt, but over that was something far more ghostly — a white, sheer poncho edged in gold trim. It flickered with a soft glow, almost like a spirit's veil, and its matching glowing leg warmers shimmered against their fox-like feet. Their hands seemed to be normal, besides their nails being longer, thicker, and sharper than the average human with a poofy blue tail that wiggled around as if it had a mind of its own.
The ripples of light grew stronger. Each shift of the water sent out pulses of white. It was a clash of opposites.
Arbor frowned. "Not this dream again," they muttered, curling their arms over their knees as they sat on the sticky black surface. Their gaze scanned the endless void. Nothing but darkness and that faint, infuriating glow. Their ears twitched in irritation.
Their breath came out slowly. "I'm getting tired of this," they yelled into the open void, voice echoing further than it should have. "You hear me?! I'm over it! Give me something else!"
But nothing replied. It never did.
Arbor exhaled hard, running a hand through their ponytail. This dream had been coming back for weeks. Same sticky black water. Same rising stars. Same silence. But this time… something shifted.
Something was moving.
At first, it was just the subtle rise of a shape in the distance. Slow. Heavy. Ripples of white light burst from its base in tiny shockwaves, and for a moment, Arbor squinted, trying to make sense of it. It was... a mirror.
The frame of it poked out of the black water. A gold border surrounded the oval-shaped mirror, at its base sat two sturdy gray feet. Beneath it, grass began to grow from a tiny dirt mound.
Arbor stood slowly, feeling the pull of the sticky water as it tried to grip them tighter. They stepped free with an annoyed grunt. The white glow followed every ripple they made.
With nowhere else to go, Arbor turned back to the mirror. Their lips curled in a scowl. "Yeah, alright," they muttered. "Let's see what creepy nonsense you've got for me this time."
They walked. The closer they got, the more the surface changed. The sticky water thinned into grass. The mound had grown into a full patch of it beneath the mirror.
They crouched in front of the mirror, expecting to see their reflection. Their fox-like face. Their tired eyes. Their messy ponytail.
But the mirror showed nothing.
Arbor's eyes narrowed. They tilted their head to the side, then the other, waiting for their reflection to catch up. It didn't. The mirror stayed blank.
"Of course," they grumbled. "Of course it's weird."
They raised their hand toward it slowly. "Don't do anything stupid," they muttered. They tapped it with one finger. Then another. The surface gave way. Their hand sank in.
White ripples exploded across the mirror's surface. The glowing waves darted from their hand outward, circling the edges of the frame. Their breath hitched.
"...Not good," Arbor hissed, yanking back on their arm. It didn't budge.
They pulled harder. "No, no, no. Nope. Nope. Nope." Their heart pounded in their ears. The mirror wouldn't let go. It gripped them with the same tar feeling as the water below.
Then the ground shook.
The black water behind them rippled violently as something heavy moved beneath it. Slowly, from the surface of the water, a wall began to rise. It towered above them, thick and rough like ancient stone. White liquid oozed from the cracks, glowing molten. The rumbling stopped.
On the wall, a symbol began to glow - a circle lined with runes. Inside the circle, one side held a small, earthly caramel flame flickering. On the other side, a huge, angry flame of dark red and yellow swirled. In the center of the circle was a round symbol Arbor didn't recognize. They squinted at it, trying to make sense of the markings.
"Symbols now? Really?" they muttered, yanking on their arm again. "Let me go! Let me go!"
Then something in the mirror moved.
Something orange flickered inside it. At first, Arbor thought it was another flame, like the ones on the wall. But then it moved again. It was too fluid and smooth.
It wasn't a fire. It was fur.
A pair of glowing orange eyes opened in the mirror.
The last thing Arbor saw was a huge mouth opening in front of them, with lines of teeth. It lunged forward, and before they could scream, the jaws snapped down on their head with a deafening CRUNCH.
Everything went dark.
Somewhere, in the back of their mind, Arbor's voice echoed through the quiet.
"Sometimes I wish… I could have some peace."
"But I guess, I haven't gotten lucky yet."
"...Not yet."