Seiji was calling someone’s name.

“Hong Yi...?”

Except...it wasn’t a name he knew.

“Hong Yi,” he chuckled. “Where are you?” 

I’m dreaming I’m someone else?

In a state of flux, he seemed to be simultaneously watching, but also experiencing what this man was thinking, feeling, and doing, as if he was in two places at once.

Who is he?

Seiji watched himself laugh softly, boots crunching in the gravel path as he walked towards a large strangely styled pavilion with a domed roof.

Hidden within filmy gauze curtains, a woman pushed herself up from a daybed in the center of the pavilion, blinking sleepily in the sunlight. The curtains seemed to obstruct her view of him as she didn’t notice him nearing. Cautious not to alert her, he walked around the outside, shadow dancing on the gauzy fabric as he crept up on her. 

Stretching languorously, the woman’s slender white arms tinkled with the movement of the thousand fine gold chains that adorned them. Two golden combs formed in the shape of wings held back her long, flame coloured hair, and she was dressed in robes redder than a thousand autumns. 

I love this person, Seiji realized as his heart pounded with excitement at the sight of her.

Grinning, he watched himself sweep the curtains aside with a playful flick. His long blond hair spilled over his shoulder as he leaned over her, blue eyes sparkling with humour and affection. No matter how he looked at her, he couldn’t quite make out her features, but he knew in his heart that she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever known.

Smiling, she reached up to stroke his brow and as she did so blue scales shimmered faintly over one of his arched eyebrows confirming that he was a dragon by blood.

What a thing to dream about…

“Did you fall asleep in the garden again, you lazy bird?” he heard himself ask as he sat down next to her. He could tell that his smile was warming her to the core.

“Sei...” she said softly, tilting her head to the side.

Seiji felt a fierce longing that did not belong to him and it filled him with confusion. Unable to control himself, he reached out.

She did not resist when he threaded his fingers through her red hair, cupping the back of her head to lift her lips into a kiss that stole her breath. He could hear her heart thumping loudly in her chest, mirroring his own, and she flushed as he continued to tease her with his tongue, drawing her deeper, tasting her, eating her…

Unable to breathe, she pushed him away.

“Sei!” she laughed. “What is it?”

“I can’t get enough of you,” he admitted, eyes full of desire. Tilting his head, he slid his fingers sensuously down her sternum.

“Your heart...” he whispered, eyes glowing red as he punched his hand into her chest. “...I want it so badly.”

Inside he screamed, desperately trying to keep himself from lifting her bloody, beating heart from her broken ribcage. Trapped inside his body, he couldn’t stop.

“No! No, don’t!” he screamed at his dream self. His heart exploded with self-loathing and horror at what he’d done. 

The look of betrayal on her face was unbearable and he wept silently while the man in the dream smiled a cold smile, bringing the still beating heart to his lips.

Too shocked to even scream, a single tear trickled down the woman’s cheek as the pain choked her.

“Sei!” she whimpered. “…Why?”

Frozen inside his body, he felt like a ghost.

“I don’t know,” he answered as he wept, causing the dream world to disintegrate into ash and flame.

Why? her voice echoed.

Seiji jolted awake in his own bed, dripping with sweat. Swiping a hand over his face, he tried to collect himself     .

Ever since the last full moon, the dreams have been getting worse…he thought, groaning with exhaustion.

What does this mean? Who is the red-haired woman and who is Sei?