Celestial Brides

As the sun sank behind New Haven's expansive horizon, Aria Sullivan looked out her bedroom window. The city, a colourful tapestry of glass towers and busy streets, never seemed to stop moving quickly enough to allow for peaceful reflection. But amid the unrest tonight, Aria longed for a brief moment of calm.

At seventeen, Aria juggled her duties in her mother's library with the usual challenges of high school life. Aria's single mother, Evelyn Sullivan, was a devoted librarian who taught her daughter to enjoy reading and learning. A sort of legacy from Evelyn's passion, their tiny flat was crammed with bookcases, each one brimming with volumes of mythology, fantasy, and ancient lore.

"Aria, dinner's ready!" Aria was startled out of her daydream by Evelyn's voice calling from the kitchen.

Aria sighed reluctantly, wrenched her eyes from the city lights, and headed downstairs. The subtle smell of old books seemed to fill every nook and cranny of their house, mixed with the aroma of Evelyn's handmade lasagna.

The walls were covered with framed pictures of legendary animals and maps of the heavens, and they sat at the little dining table. Still thinking about the dreams that had ruined her sleep, Aria swirled her fork absently.

"I had another one last night," she admitted, ending their cosy silence.

With a look of worry on her face, Evelyn looked up. "Another dream, Aria?"

Aria blushed a little as she nodded. However, it's always the exact location. There's a presence, like someone waiting for me, in a great hall with sky-high pillars.

Evelyn put a comforting hand over Aria's as she reached across the table. "Dreams have a lot of power, particularly when unsure where you fit in. It could be the way your mind processes information.

Aria wanted to probe further, to explore the depths of her recurrent visions, but she was at a loss for words. Instead, she gave a feeble smile and nodded. "Maybe you're right."

Aria withdrew to her room after dinner, the day's events weighing heavily on her. Another day of feeling lost in a sea of classmates, battling to keep up with schoolwork, and enduring the persistent feeling that she didn't quite belong, she had made school especially difficult.

Aria looked at her assortment of journals, which were neatly arranged on her desk, as she got ready for bed. To make sense of the mysterious visions that followed her everywhere, each one was chock-full of drawings and notes concerning her dreams.

She muttered, "Goodnight, Mom," and went to bed.

Evelyn was both proud and concerned as she saw her daughter. Even though Aria was unaware of it, she had always felt that Aria was meant for something unique. Lately, the dreams had become more vivid, with an intensity Evelyn could not fully understand.

Aria sat beneath her covers with her bedside lamp's gentle glow, creating reassuring shadows on the walls. The familiar landscape of her dreams started to take shape as she closed her eyes.

The last of Aria's conscious thoughts vanished into the comforting embrace of sleep as her eyelids fell shut. The colourful environment of her recurrent dreams replaced the room around her. The magnificent hall she had witnessed innumerable times immediately materialized in front of her with startling clarity. Intricate carvings decorated the surfaces of tall, elaborate pillars that seemed to have a life of their own and stretched towards an invisible ceiling.

Long shadows swirled elegantly across the marble floor as the air was dense with an ethereal radiance. Aria stood in the hallway, her heart racing with excitement and anxiety. Tonight, she could feel the presence she had experienced in past dreams more strongly, an unseen power that appeared to be directing her movements.

The ground beneath her feet replied with a gentle radiance as she took her first hesitant steps forward, illuminating the way ahead. Every breath she took filled her lungs with a sense of purpose she had never known, and the environment was infused with electricity.

"Aria," came a clear and resonant voice, erupting through the hall with a hint of haste. She looked around, but she couldn't find the source. The voice surrounded her like a reassuring hug as if it were coming from the walls themselves.