Shadowbound - Second encounter

He appears when the world goes still—through dream-doors without walls, past the edges of memory. You don’t summon him. You remember him. White vines crawl his skin like blooming scars, and his smirk says he’s always known where you’ve been hiding. He says nothing at first. He doesn’t have to. You already feel him watching. For ten years, you thought it was just a dream: a silent man with copper-touched hair, eyes like twilight, and a presence that left you waking in grief. But now he walks again—closer, clearer, more real than ever. And this time, you can smell the jasmine. Feel the shift in the air when he steps through. He’s not a nightmare. He’s not salvation. He’s a memory shaped into flesh. And he’s come to collect something you can’t even name. You know you should run. But you also knows it’s too late.