And suddenly, I woke up again.

  But this time—everything had changed.

  Chapter 2: One Must Replace Another.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  Salt burned my throat. My lungs screamed for air.

  I coughed violently, my body convulsing as I gasped for oxygen. My skin was wet, my clothes clung to me, and the air reeked of salt and decay. My head throbbed with sharp, stabbing pain..

  Where am I?

  My mind was foggy, my thoughts tangled.

  Who am I?

  Panic surged through me. My eyes burned, my body ached, and the air reeked of salt and decay. I forced my eyes open, but all I saw was darkness.

  Then, I choked. My stomach twisted. I retched, bile burning my throat. My body collapsed again, too weak to move.

  Minutes passed. Maybe more.

  Then—

  I inhaled sharply, forcing myself up. My head throbbed, pain lancing through my skull. I groaned, rubbing my temples. My voice echoed.

  Echoed?

  I froze.

  Something was wrong.

  I rubbed my eyes, blinking hard. My vision cleared just enough to take in my surroundings.

  A beach.

  I frowned. A beach? I didn’t remember hearing the waves. How did I get here? I was in my room just a moment ago! This doesn't make any sense.

  Wet sand clung to my skin. Behind me, the sea stretched endlessly beneath a dark sky, the full moon casting an eerie glow over the water. The waves swelled unnaturally high—fifteen feet, maybe more.

  I turned the other way.

  A forest.

  Twisted, skeletal trees loomed ahead. No rustling leaves. No movement. No sound. Just an unnatural silence that clung to the air like damp cloth.

  A cold shiver ran down my spine.

  Wake up. Wake up.

  I clutched my head. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. I was home..I was in my room...

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Then it hit me.

  May 32.

  The news. The calendar. The message.

  "YOU WISHED FOR THIS."

  My stomach twisted.

  Was that a dream?

  Or—was this the dream?

  A wave crashed behind me. I turned—

  And my blood ran cold.

  The water was rising, a massive, towering wall, at least fifteen feet high, surging forward with relentless force. It loomed over me, a liquid monolith, ready to crash down and consume everything in its path.

  Even without touching me, I felt its power, the weight of the air thick with salt, the deafening roar as it threatened to erase the shore beneath it. One misstep, one second too slow, and I’d be gone.

  Run.

  My body moved before I could think. I sprinted toward the forest, my feet sinking into the wet sand. The wind howled as the wave came crashing down, just behind me, just close enough for icy water to spray against my back.

  I didn’t stop.

  The moment I stepped into the trees, everything changed. The roar of the ocean vanished—no crashing waves, no rushing water. Just silence.

  Darkness.

  Not the kind that comes with nightfall. Something deeper. Thicker.

  The entire forest dissolved into a suffocating black void, except for a single path. A thin strip of dim, glowing light stretched forward, cast by the moon itself.

  I skidded to a stop, heart hammering.

  The path was narrow. Too narrow, as if one step off, and I’d fall into nothingness.

  My hands shook. My thoughts tangled. Everything, this place, the sensations, the weight pressing on my chest—was too much to handle. It swallowed me whole, leaving only fear and confusion.

  But then—hope.

  I didn’t know why. I didn’t understand it. But the light ahead, thin and distant, felt like the only solid thing in a world unraveling around me.

  So I ran.

  Feet pounding, breath ragged, eyes locked onto the glowing path.

  This passage is already strong, but here’s a refined version that tightens the flow, builds tension, and emphasizes the growing threat of the darkness:

  Sharp pain pricked my skin — scratches? Thorns? I didn’t know. The cuts started small, like tiny needles dragging across my flesh. But it wasn’t random.

  It happened whenever any part of me touched the dark.

  A hand. A shoulder. Even my hair. The moment it crossed into that endless black, something grabbed me — cold fingers, thin and jagged, clawing at my skin. Nails scraped down my arms and legs, sharp and relentless. Each time, they twisted and pulled, like the darkness itself was reaching for me.

  I couldn’t see them, but I felt them , hands snatching at my clothes, icy fingertips brushing my face. The more I ran, the more frantic they became tearing, dragging, desperate to catch hold and pull me under.

  I pressed my arms tight against my body, kept my steps careful but quick. One wrong move, one careless slip — and those hands wouldn’t just cut me.

  They’d take me.

  Just before, this light had brought me hope, a thin, silver lifeline in a world unraveling. But now... now it burned. Not like a beacon, but like coal, blistering, cracking, turning to dust.

  How long have I been running? I have never ran this much my entire life before.

  I wasn’t out of breath. My legs didn’t ache. Adrenaline kept me moving, chasing that thin, silver line of hope.

  But as movements passed, something was wrong. My body felt... lighter. Too light. Like I was losing pieces of myself with every step. My skin tingled — then tightened.

  I glanced down.. and my stomach lurched.

  My hands — they weren’t mine. They were thin. Wrinkled. The skin clung to my bones, dry and pale, like paper stretched too far. Veins bulged beneath the surface. My fingers bent at sharp angles, the joints swollen and stiff.

  It was as if I was aging, fast.

  My arms thinned, my muscles wasting away. My chest felt hollow, my breath shallow. Each step seemed to pull more from me, skin sinking against my ribs, my clothes hanging loose.

  I stumbled, barely catching myself. My bones ached, too brittle to take much more. But I couldn’t stop.

  Because if I did—

  The darkness would take me.

  And then —

  The trees thinned.

  The darkness broke.

  My chest screamed. My vision swam. Every breath burned — shallow, ragged, desperate.

  And through the haze —

  Fire.

  A flickering glow burned ahead. My breath hitched. I pushed forward, sprinting toward the light, desperate for something real.

  Then... people.

  Figures standing around the flames. Human shapes. Alive.

  Relief crashed over me. I wasn’t alone. I ran faster, heart pounding, lungs burning, the nightmare slipping from my mind.

  But then—

  Silence.

  The moment I stepped closer, the voices stopped.

  Every head turned toward me.

  And that’s when I saw it.

  The body.

  Or at least, what used to be one.

  Limbs twisted at impossible angles. Unrecognisable. A spine bent the wrong way. Eyes... gone. Torn from the sockets. The shape was human, but the way it was broken, mangled... was anything but.

  My stomach lurched. I staggered back.

  No. No, no, no

  I needed to run. I needed to get out of here.

  I turned,

  And froze.

  A girl stood in front of me.

  Warm brown eyes. A gentle smile. A presence so calm, so out of place in all this madness.

  "Hey there," she said lightly. "You better stop before you get yourself into more trouble than you already are."

  Her hand touched mine. soft, warm, real.

  For a moment, the panic in my chest eased.

  "It’s okay," she said. "You’re safe. For now."

  Safe?

  I yanked my hand away.

  "Safe?!" My voice cracked. "You think this is okay? That—thing" I pointed at the body, my breath ragged. "That’s a person! Or—it was! I don’t even know what that is—I don’t know anything"

  I stopped, gripping my head.

  This wasn’t right.

  This wasn’t normal.

  I always knew things. No matter the topic, no matter how obscure, I always had an answer. A guess. A theory.

  But here—

  Here, I knew nothing.

  I was small.

  Lost.

  Helpless.

  The girl just smiled.

  "I know," she said. "That’s why you’re here."

  She tilted her head.

  "Or maybe… it’s the other way around?"