Prologue
I often wonder what fate is.
Is it something we write ourselves? Or something predetermined that pulls us into its gravity?
And who decides it... God, or merely the echo of our own dreams?
At times, fate doesn't announce itself.
It lingers at the edge of vision, tempting you to follow...
until one day, you realize it has already led you somewhere you cannot return from.
Maybe that's why I can't let go of her.
I saw her again.
The same image.
The same shadow.
I've seen her dozens of times by now, yet I fail to understand.
That silhouette in the sunlight, fleeting through crowds. Sometimes, it appears on silent streets.
I don't know whether I hallucinate or she is really there.
She reminds me of a memory I cannot place. Too distant to grasp, yet impossibly close when I see her.
Long hair flowing with the wind... a slim neck crowned like cherry blossoms in spring...
And her face... always smiling, always radiant.
A perfect embodiment of hope!
It's as if she carries a message I cannot comprehend. And each glimpse deepens something inside me... a pull I cannot resist.
And even when I fail to hear it each time, she still appears. Like she knows something in me recognizes what she wants to say.
Yet it doesn't last.
Like the string of a freely floating kite that slips away right after making you feel you've grabbed it.
And when it slips out of your grip, it leaves a sharp sting of loss where joy once was... pleasurable at first, but leaving you with a wound.
When it passes, it feels like a dream from last night, lingering but untouchable.
I can't tell whether it is a dream or reality.
If it is a dream, why does it repeat itself?
Is my deeper mind attempting to warn me of something?
Or am I living a reality where the line between dreams and real life has been blurred?
Some say such visions are prophetic, revealing fragments of what is to come.
A catastrophe hidden beneath beauty... or a blessing beyond discomfort.
Once meaning is given, it becomes inevitable. They call these visions The Dreams of Fate.
I wonder what mine hold.
Will my fate bring me the deepest longings of my heart?
Or will it tear me apart, like a bird trusting the lure of food only to fall into its predator's trap?
Today, I saw something different.
Instead of a smile on her face, I saw dread. It was like the end of something. It was like the death of hope.
I don't want to give it a meaning this time. I don't want to think about it.
But maybe somewhere deep inside, I already have.
A fate I hope never comes to pass.
