aletheia starborn

I was sitting on the couch, reading, when the shift came. Subtle as always. A kind of inner tug. It never announces itself. It just pulls.

And just like that, I wasn’t in my living room anymore. I was standing in a strange, sterile space with bright lights, humming machines, and a metallic cold in the air. A lab. And on the table in front of me, there was a man. He was barely dressed, covered in wires and sensors, and he was sweating. A lot. His whole body was tense, like he’d been holding on for too long.

I knew instantly that something was wrong. That this wasn’t research. It was cruelty. The man in the lab coat-the one clearly in charge-was doing something to him. I think it was electricity, or something close enough. And I felt it, somehow. I hated it. I wanted to stop it, but I couldn’t move.

Then everything shifted again. I wasn’t watching anymore. I was in the man’s body. I could feel the pain, the exhaustion, but I also felt something else-like I was giving him just enough strength to keep going. Like I was somehow keeping him alive.

The doctor kept asking him questions, but I didn’t truly hear those questions. I could hear myself talking in a deep mans voice, I was answering to the doctor in charge: “I will never tell you anything“. I was the one answering. At least, thats what think. It’s hard to tell, because I was slipping in and out of him, like we were connected. I started to wonder if this was the mission. Maybe I was sent here to help him. Maybe he was a twin flame or someone I had known before. It felt like I had.

Then the doctor turned, I saw his hands, he was picking up another device. Something worse. I felt it in my chest, this one would finish him off. Even with me there, it wouldn’t be enough. So I did the only thing I could.

I pushed everything I had into him. Every last bit of strength-mine and his-and forced the body to move. I reached out and grabbed the cables, tore them loose, and just started swinging. I wrapped them around the doctor’s neck and didn’t stop until he stopped moving.

And then I was me again.

I was holding the man – James. That’s the name that came to me, like I already knew it. He was leaning against me, weak but still breathing. We got out of there somehow. I don’t even remember how. Just one moment we were in that nightmare, and the next we were back in my flat.

I had flatmates, and they were looking at us like—who is this half-naked man and why does he look like he’s been through hell? I didn’t tell them anything. Just told them to trust me.

James said he needed a shower, so I showed him the bathroom, gave him a towel. I could barely think straight. I wanted to go with him. Not even in a seductive way, just… I didn’t want to leave him alone. But I did.

When he came out, he looked better. Still distant. Still tired. But better. We ended up sitting on the edge of the bed, just talking quietly. I told him I didn’t want him to get hurt, that I hadn’t meant for any of it to happen. He looked at me like he knew I meant it. Like maybe he trusted me.

I wanted him to kiss me. I didn’t say it, but I think he could tell. I asked him why he hadn’t, and he said he thought I was going to make the first move. So I did. And it was like something clicked into place.

I don’t remember much after the kiss, I was too tired from fighting. At some point I drifted off into sleep, when morning came, I slipped out to get breakfast. Thought he needed sleep. Thought I’d come back and he’d still be wrapped up in the blankets like nothing had happened.

But when I returned, the front door was wide open.

I dropped the groceries onto the floor with a loud crash. Something wasn’t right. The air felt tense. One of my flatmates rushed out of the kitchen, pale and shaking.

“They took him,” she said. “They came in—just stormed the place. I couldn’t stop them.”

My stomach dropped.

Before I could ask who or how or anything that made sense, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the door.

“Come on,” she shouted. “We don’t have time. I know where they’re taking him.”

And then we were running.

We flew through the streets, breathless and barely dodging people. I asked about the train-the one I thought we were supposed to catch-but she shook her head. “No,” she said. “There’s a better one.”

She dragged me down a set of metal stairs that led beneath the platform. Another train was there, its doors about to close. Between us and the train, a wide empty track, just space and gravel. It was already preparing for departure.

She didn’t even hesitate. She jumped across the gap and into the train, grabbing the door to hold it for me. I paused-half in disbelief, half in panic-but then I jumped too. My timing was off. My body hit the edge of the door, and for a terrifying second, I was stuck. Half in, half out.

The train picked up speed. The pressure of the door was crushing me. I couldn’t breathe.

But somehow, I forced my hands between the gap and shoved the door open wide enough to fall inside. I hit the ground hard, but I was in.

There were people on the train-though people doesn’t quite feel right. They stared at us like we didn’t belong. And then they started coming at us.

One by one, they charged, and I met them head-on. I don’t even know what they were, hollow, weightless, like ragdolls made of air. I threw them aside like they were nothing. It wasn’t even a fight. It was just noise. It was like they knew where we were headed, and were trying to stop us.

When the train finally stopped, we were somewhere rural. A small village or a station in the middle of nowhere. I stepped off, still catching my breath, and that’s when I saw him.

My horse.

A big, bony, brown creature with wild eyes and a white companion beside him. They were both starved. I could see every rib, every shadow of muscle under their skin. My heart dropped.

He was stealing food from a nearby restaurant. I shouted at him-not in anger, but out of pure heartbreak. “Venca!” The name came to me like I’d known it forever. “You can’t steal!”

But he just looked at me, and I heard his voice-not out loud, but in my head. I’m hungry.

“I know,” I said, walking to him slowly. “I can help.”

He lay down on the ground. I placed my hands on his back and gave him my energy, let it flow out of me and into him. I felt the bond reconnect. The strength return. His eyes cleared, and he stood up like nothing had ever been wrong.

He turned to me and said-without words-I know where James is. I can take you.

So I climbed onto his back, and we rode.

We reached another facility. Another lab. But this one was worse. I could feel it before I even stepped inside. They had James again. I saw them dragging him down a corridor. His body was limp, but he was still fighting, still trying to resist.

I stepped into the hallway and yelled for them to stop. I said I’d fight them if I had to. I didn’t care who they were. I’d do whatever it took.

One of them turned and held up a vial of pink liquid. He told me, “We’re trying to recreate this. This is the key to opening the dimensional gates. But we haven’t been able to synthesize it.”

I asked what it had to do with James.

He smiled, cold and calm. “He drinks it. Morning and night. Like it’s water. We think he is the liquid. We think he is the portal.”

I didn’t even respond. I just lunged. The fight was chaos-machines crashing, bodies flying-but I was winning. Until one of them jabbed a needle into James’s neck. He dropped like dead weight. I screamed: “James!“.

Then another one came up behind me, pressed something to the left side of my face. My vision blurred immediately. I felt my skin go numb, muscles freezing, like my whole left side was being shut down from the inside out.

I knew I had to leave. I wouldn’t be able to save him like this. If I stayed, I’d end up just as trapped.

I stumbled out, found Venca waiting, and climbed onto his back again. We rode until we reached a small open clearing in the middle of a wide field. Quiet. Still. Like the world held its breath there.

I could feel them coming. We weren’t safe yet. I needed help. Something with wings. Something older than this fight.

So I called for a dragon.

And he came.

A beautiful brown beast, powerful and grounded. But before he could reach us, a black dragon swooped in, carrying a woman with eyes like ink and a mouth full of curses. A witch, or something worse. She tried to block my dragon from reaching me. Tried to pull me down.

I pushed back, using whatever was left inside me. She screamed and vanished. But the black dragon still clung to the back of mine, like a parasite.

I told the brown dragon, “Shake it off. You came for me.”

And he did.

I climbed onto his back, pulled Venca up with me, and we flew. The wind was cold, but I didn’t care. I just needed to get away.

We landed under a giant tree. The dragon laid down beside me like an old friend. I slid off, my body nearly collapsing under its own weight. I could barely move. I was losing feeling again. The poison-or whatever it was-was spreading.

I told them they had to wake me up. I had to go back for James. I had to find him before it was too late.

The dragon leaned down, looked me in the eye, and said, Look at the sky.

There were three moons above us. Two sharp and glowing, one soft and fading.

“It’s the new moon,” he said. “A perfect time. The veil between the dimensions is thin now. That’s why everybody wants him, the man in lab coats, the witch. He is the key. You have to protect him.”

And as I closed my eyes, slipping deeper into the fog, I held one thought like a lifeline:
I have to wake up. I have to go back. He’s waiting.

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