We were standing outside of some tall iron gates, the strange woman, the strange man and a bedazzled me in the middle, still holding on to their hands. I didn’t know what to say.

‘We’re here love’, the woman said.

‘Off you go now’, the man said.

They pushed the gates open for me and I stood there in the middle, feeling like a little bug that had just spotted a human who wanted to crash it. I took the first step in and then looked back at them, wanting to ask them where I should go, what I should do. They weren’t there anymore. I was scared to move on without them, and even though nothing told me that they were safe to be with, at least they were… I wanted to say humans, but surely that wasn’t the case. Humanoids. Humanlike. Something.

I looked again at what was waiting for me inside the gates. It seemed like a little village, drowned in mist. Only the thatched roofs of houses were visible, along with trees that had golden and brown leaves. It was so quiet. So disturbingly quiet, that I had the impression I was in a ghost town. Which I might well have been since I was in a dream. Actually… this was a dream, I reminded myself and that realization gave me the courage I needed in order to finally start walking.

With my every step, the mist seemed to get thinner, as if to enable me to follow a path. After a few turns, I realized that these were not houses but stables, and all of them were filled with white horses, elegant and shiny and full of power. I went near one to have a closer look.

‘Be careful. She doesn’t like strays.’

That voice… Varjik. I turn to look at him but he was faster and was standing right in front of me before I even had the chance to fully turn my head.

‘Why do you keep calling me that? I am not a stray. I have a house and a family.’

‘Really?’, he asked, pretending to be serious. ‘And where are they exactly?’

He searched around with his aqua feline eyes, mocking me. ‘They are… they are in the normal world.’

‘Normal world?’, he hissed a laugh. ‘And what is here then?’

‘A… a dream’, I said, unsure of every letter in the word. He started walking around me again, like in the first dream, and bits of golden light was left behind him, like tiny stars. I felt his gaze traveling through my body, my mind, everywhere inside me.

‘You strays really have no clue, have you? It’s so sad.’

‘What are you even talking about?’, I said angrily. ‘What is this place? Who are you?’

He was again in front of me, his eyes gleaming and staring at me. ‘Finally, some useful questions. Allow me to be your guide.’

He extended his hand. I looked at the glowing purple veins, the unhuman color of his body and… I took it.

And then I was again in the darkness.