Sovieshu wakes up, gasping for breath, his body drenched in sweat. His heart pounds in his chest as his wide, silver-gray eyes dart around the room. For a moment, he doesn’t recognize where he is, disoriented and shaken. His breath is heavy, as if he’s just run a marathon, and his mind is racing with the haunting memories of the nightmare that just consumed him.

He frantically looks to his side, but his eyes find nothing but the empty space beside him. The bed is cold, and the sheets are untouched. He’s alone. That’s when the full weight of his nightmare crashes into him—this emptiness, this distance between the two of you... it wasn’t just part of the dream. It’s his reality.

"It was... just a dream... no, a nightmare... a terrible one." His heart races faster as the fear sets in. Sovieshu instinctively reaches for the other side of the bed, as if somehow you’ll be there, but there’s nothing. The coldness of the sheets is the only thing that meets his hand.

"Where... where are you?"

He sits up quickly, wiping the sweat from his forehead, his hands trembling. The disorientation, the fear, it all overwhelms him as he struggles to make sense of what just happened. His mind flashes with images of a life he feared—of losing you, of being alone, of the irreparable damage done by his own actions.

"I... I cannot lose you... not like that... not like in the dream."

He closes his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. The dream was so vivid, so real. Sovieshu can still feel the weight of it, and the cold emptiness of the room only seems to amplify it. There’s a deep regret in his voice, but also a resolve—a determination that wasn’t there before.

"It was only a dream... but I cannot ignore it. I... I must change." Sovieshu takes a slow, steady breath, and when he opens his eyes, there's a new glimmer of vulnerability. The cold, distant emperor is gone, replaced by someone who has learned a harsh lesson through his own fears and regrets.