★★★
Nightmares - that was all the golden princess could cling to. Flashes of light, a blur of sound, her paws kicking at nothing as she tried to claw her way out of the darkness that had swallowed her whole. Whatever came before… gone.
She jolted awake beneath a canopy of frost‑kissed stone, breath catching as the last echoes of those dream‑demons faded. Faceless shapes, distant screams - she still felt them clinging to her fur like a stubborn mist. But she was awake now. Safe enough, for the moment.
Her purple eyes swept the world around her. Snow stretched across the land in a soft, unbroken sheet, and her breath drifted into the air in pale clouds. The cold bit at her nose, but it was clean, refreshing - alive. And threaded through it was the scent of others. Close, but not crossed. She hadn’t dared step over whatever borders lay nearby.
A sudden snap of twigs made her flinch. She spun toward the sound, ears flattening tight, tail curling beneath her belly instinctive and cautious.
Hello?she called, voice soft, warm even through the worry.
Is… someone there?
★★★