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It was the same dream every night.
Alice was at a party, surrounded by people whose faces she couldn’t make out, laughing and smiling. They stood in what looked like garden, a clear blue sky above them and red roses on all sides. She held a tea cup and gently clinked it against someone else’s. Whoever she was speaking with winked at her cheekily, causing her face to feel warm.
But just as she was relaxing, the world suddenly flipped on its head.
The sky turned as black as ink, not a single star or the moon in it, and a fierce wind blew. The tea cup Alice held slipped from her grasp, shattering as it hit the ground, but she paid it no mind as she turned around. She gasped at what she saw.
A boy she didn’t know stood before her, red fire glowing from his right eye. His skin was as white as a ghost, causing the black designs that looked like a cross between ink and lace to stand out like a sore thumb. He wore a tattered red and black dress which had hearts and roses incorporated into its design, a black crown resting on top of his head. Behind him was a monster, which somehow looked like a heart shaped vial of ink had grown a body to resemble the boy, though it held a tree with roses on it in its hand.
Next to the two was a monster that was, somehow, even worse. At a glance, Alice would refer to the monster as a giant cat, but that wasn’t right. Not with the snake for a tail, dragon wings on its back, bird like hind legs, tentacles from its neck and blue fire in its ears.
Alice’s heart raced in fear as she stumbled back. She knew what came next, what always came next, but that didn’t mean she was ever prepared for it.
The boy raised his hand and pointed directly towards her.
“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!!”
The ink monster swung the tree, causing the thorny branches to scratch at Alice’s arms as she raised them to protect herself. As if it had been waiting for her to look away, the cat monster ran towards her, a large clawed hand swinging out at her and catching her in the side.
Alice screamed as she went flying—
And fell out of her bed entirely, crashing into the floor.
“Alice?!” her older sister cried.
“I’m fine!” Alice reassured, but there was no point. Her bedroom door swung open violently as her older sister, Cordelia, ran in. She still wore her pajamas, no doubt having been woken up by the sound of Alice hitting the ground, her face filled with concern.
“What happened? This is the third time this week you’ve fallen out of bed!” Cordelia fretted, checking her younger sister over for any injuries.
“I’m fine, promise,” Alice sighed, swatting her sister’s hands away before she stood up and sat on the side of her bed. “I’ve just…been having really vivid dreams lately. I’ll be fine in time for school.”
“I don’t care about school, Alice,” Cordelia sighed, sitting beside her sister and resting a hand on her shoulders. “Honestly, you’d go to school even if you had a head wound, wouldn’t you?”
Alice didn’t answer, glancing away. There was no reason to admit her sister was right, after all.
“Alice…”
“I said I’m fine, so don’t worry so much.” Alice shook her head. The movement caused a strand of her dark brown hair to fall into her eyes and she irritatedly brushed it aside. Apparently, she thrashed enough in her sleep that the bun she tied her hair in had come loose. She’d have to fix that before she went back to bed. “Now go on, you need sleep for work tomorrow. I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re sure,” Cordelia agreed, though she was obviously reluctant.
“I am.” Alice rolled her eyes, just to make her point clear. Cordelia smiled, clearly amused by her sister’s ‘teenage rebellion’ as she so often called her attitude, before she stood up to leave.
“I love you, Alice,” Cordelia whispered, kissing the top of her sister’s head.
“I love you too, sis,” Alice whispered. After all, it was just the two of them in this world.
Cordelia smiled before she finally left Alice’s bedroom, shutting off the lights she turned on in her rush to reach her sister’s side. Once she was alone, Alice let out a groan as she untied her hair, allowing her curls to fall freely to her shoulders.
Right…first things first, retie her hair. Then sleep, because the last thing she wanted to do was fall asleep in class tomorrow. Satisfied with her plan, Alice got to work.
But as she worked, she somehow failed to notice the glow which briefly lit up her vanity mirror. And down the street, a horse drawn carriage slowly approached her home.
It was the same dream every night.
Shino was running across a field, a frisbee in her hand. She knew she was playing a game, though she had no idea what her teammates or opponents looked like. But what she did know was that the person approaching her was strong. Stronger than her and she respected that. But that also meant that she wanted to kick his ass fair and square.
Unfortunately, she never got that chance.
The ground suddenly became slick with ink and Shino fell, the frisbee slipping free from her fingers. She cried out in frustration, pushing herself up to continue the game, only to freeze.
Her faceless opponent was gone, replaced now with a man who she didn’t recognize, his left eye glowing with orange fire. His skin was gray, as if he were sick, and ink seemed to cling to his skin. He wore what she thought was traditional tribal wear and had lion ears on top of his head. Behind him was a monster which looked like a lion, except instead of a face, it had an ink filled vial.
Next to the man stood a monster which was somehow even more horrifying the longer Shino stared at it. It looked like a Frankenstein amalgamation of so many animals that Shino couldn’t even start to identify them all. Blue fire puffed from its mouth with every breath it took and fear gripped Shino’s heart at the thought of being burned to a crisp by such a thing.
Everything about this was wrong and Shino needed to run, but she couldn’t make her body move.
It seemed the man knew it as well, as he smirked at her before pointing a clawed hand towards her.
“The King’s Roar.”
Shino’s body moved without thought as the lion monster swung its claw at her. Despite her best efforts, it still cut into her pant leg, causing her to fall back to the ground.
The Frankenstein monster didn’t waste the opening presented to it, pouncing on Shino and pinning her to the ground. All she could do was stare up in pure terror as the monster opened its mouth—
Shino’s eyes shot open as she came to with a gasp, her heart racing so fast in her chest that she could have sworn it had stopped.
But no, it was still beating, strong and proud even as it struggled to match the level of adrenaline coursing through her body. She sat up, holding her hand against her chest as if that would stop it from pounding so hard.
“It was a dream…just a dream…” she whispered. Her eyes focused on the familiar walls of her apartment. There, her clock, flashing the time at her. It was only 3 am…and she had to teach a jiujitsu class before her first university course tomorrow.
Meaning that if she didn’t get to sleep soon, she ran the risk of being late or worse, missing both her obligations entirely.
“Fuck…” Shino groaned, running a hand down her face. Seriously, fuck those dreams for messing her sleep schedule up. This sucked and she was unlikely to get back to sleep any time soon.
Maybe a glass of water would help? It was worth a try at least.
With that thought in mind, Shino forced her body to move to her modest kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. Her messy dark purple hair fell over her shoulder as she took a drink. It was starting to get filled with knots, no doubt caused by all her restless sleep lately. She needed to sort it out before it became too tangled come morning, which would really put her behind.
Shino set the glass down before she moved to her bathroom to begin carefully untangling her hair. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, especially at three in the morning, but the actions were…calming, somehow. If Shino had still been living at home, her mother would have undoubtedly offered to untangle her hair for her, just like she had every night Shino woke up from these incessant nightmares. With how busy her mother’s work schedule and Shino’s own had been, it had been some of their only bonding moments, sad as it was.
But Shino hadn’t thought it sad at all. If anything, it just meant she knew that she could always count on her mother to care for her, no matter what time of day it was. And growing up with only her mother to rely on, Shino treasured that more than she could ever put into words.
Once she was satisfied with her hair, Shino nodded firmly and let out a yawn. It was time for her to get back to bed at last, then.
She turned the light off as she left the bathroom behind, never noticing the brief flash of light in the mirror. And neither did she hear the sound of a horse drawn carriage as it approached her unsuspecting apartment.
It was the same dream every night.
Rielle was swimming through the ocean, chasing after his friends. He couldn’t see their faces, but he knew without a doubt that they were his friends. They were teasing him, trying to get him to reach them, but he was just too slow. He was always too slow, especially when it mattered most. But then one of his friends floated before him, extending a hand as if to help him, and Rielle just knew he was smirking teasingly. Taking his hand was always a risk in these kind of games.
But right as he was about to take that risk, everything as he knew it ended.
Ink hit him directly in the face, causing him to choke as he fell backwards, tripping head over tail. When he righted himself, he gasped. The ocean was now inky black and his friends were gone.
Instead, what floated before him was a boy he knew all too well, his left eye glowing with purple fire. He was in the same octopus form Rielle knew all too well, but black ink coated his skin, making him look more like a monster than the boy Rielle knew. Behind him was an octopus monster, its head replaced by a vial of ink, and it held a triton made from ink, holding it towards Rielle threateningly.
Beside the boy was a monster unlike anything Rielle had ever seen on land or sea. Somehow, despite being underwater, it still glowed with blue fire, its tentacles keeping it from losing its balance amongst the roiling waves.
Rielle wanted to stop them, tears welling in his eyes, but not even his magic came to his answer at this time. Of course it wouldn’t, after all, he had already…
The boy’s smirk became a wide, terrifying grin.
“It’s a Deal!”
The ink monster’s tentacles wrapped tightly around Rielle, pulling him in close to its body, tightening further and further until it became impossible to breathe. He choked, bubbles escaping his throat as he stared at the surface, so far away.
The fire monster snarled as it swiped a claw out, cutting Rielle’s tail as if it were nothing more than a ribbon for it to tear apart.
Rielle opened his mouth to scream—
Only to sit straight up in his bed, his hand coming up to clutch at his throat. That’s right, Rielle had no voice, not anymore, which meant he had nothing to scream with.
Sometimes, Rielle regretted giving up his voice. But on nights like this, he really couldn’t bring himself to regret it at all. Especially as he glanced towards his roommate’s bed.
Fisher was sleeping just as soundly as he always did, never aware that Rielle suffered from such horrific nightmares. That was most definitely a good thing. Fisher spent so much time studying for the exams given at Royal Sword Academy, the last thing Rielle wanted was to interrupt the little sleep his best friend got.
Besides, Rielle was well used to handling these dreams on his own by now.
At the thought, his hand left his throat and instead held the shell necklace which was always tied around his neck. It was the one thing he never removed, not even when he slept at night. Somehow, it had become a grounding presence because of that. As long as Rielle held onto his necklace, he knew he was awake.
If he repeated that enough, perhaps his heart would truly start believing it like his mind did.
Shaking his head, Rielle forced himself to lay back down, turning towards the window. He could see the ocean just outside his window and the sound of the waves crashing against the bluffs soothed him like nothing else ever could on these late nights.
He was fine, he was safe. And there was no way his dream would ever come true, absolutely no way.
Azul wasn’t nearly so carefree as to overblot like that.
Confident in his thoughts, Rielle closed his eyes, forcing his breath to even out. Everything would be just fine.
As he fell asleep, Rielle had no idea, could have no idea, that deep in the vault in Octavinelle, the contract with his name signed on it seemed to wink in the night. Events were starting to move again, it seemed, and that contract would come into play far sooner than Rielle ever thought it would.
It was the same dream every night.
Kalim was dancing his heart out. Where he was, he couldn’t even begin to say. But that didn’t matter! Not when he was dancing with his most important person in the world! Kalim never felt more at peace than he did in these moments, dancing alongside the one person who mattered. And Kalim knew he was there, just as he always was. Even if he couldn’t see his face, Kalim would know his dancing just as well as he knew his own. He wanted to dance like this forever!
But in dreams like this, that wish was always shattered like a diamond under too much pressure.
The floor vanished from under Kalim’s feet and he would have fallen into the abyss if it weren’t for the Carpet catching him. He grasped onto his friend desperately, turning his head to catch his partner’s gaze only to find him gone.
Instead, a boy he never truly knew stood before him, the building collapsing around the two of them like the Cave of Wonders and his left eye glowing with dark red fire. He wore the attire of a grand vizier, but his skin was ashen and stained with ink. Snakes replaced his hair and they hissed angrily at Kalim. Behind him, a monster shaped like a red genie stood, its head a vial of ink rather than anything familiar.
But what was most terrifying was the monster that stood beside the boy. Kalim had heard of sphinxes, a lion with a human’s head, but this went even beyond that, as if someone had decided a sphinx wasn’t horrifying enough. The snake on the monster’s tail hissed as loudly as the ones on the boy’s hair, or were they the boy’s hair? Either way, none of the snakes staring at Kalim liked him, at all.
Kalim tightened his grip on Carpet, trying desperately to escape before the entire building came down on him. But no matter where he turned, there was the boy with the monsters.
The boy’s smirk was unfamiliar and twisted in a way Kalim didn’t recognize.
“Snake Charmer.”
Suddenly, everything started to become hazy. Kalim knew this feeling, but just this once, he fought against it as hard as he could.
As if it knew he was fighting, the genie swung out an arm, causing fire to shoot out towards Kalim. The Carpet dodged as best as it could, but Kalim could feel his world growing hazy, his grip on the Carpet growing weaker.
The not-a-sphinx leapt forward, opening its mouth as wide as it could, as if it were being offered a tasty treat. At the exact same moment, Kalim’s grip finally loosened on the Carpet and he fell down…down…down—
“JAMIL!” Kalim screamed as he came to, clutching onto his sheets for dear life. He could feel his nails digging into the fleshy part of his palms and instantly stopped as soon as he realized it. Jamil never liked it when his hands were injured, even from simple things like calluses.
Jamil…
Kalim threw himself out of bed, just barely registering that he was still in his room in Scarabia, before he practically flew out into the hallway. It wasn’t a long run to Jamil’s room, if anything it was only a few steps.
Despite that, Kalim was panting when he thew open Jamil’s door, startling the boy awake.
“Kalim? What’s wrong?” the servant questioned, awake instantly, magic pen at the ready for whatever threat awaited him.
“Nothing…nothing…” Kalim sighed in relief. He collapsed onto the bed next to Jamil, not caring that his face was smushed against the blankets. “I’m just…so glad you’re okay.”
“Kalim…did you have another nightmare?” Jamil asked, sounding so exhausted.
Kalim bit his lip, refusing to answer. He woke Jamil up like this far too often and he always felt terrible, but…what else was he supposed to do? His heart wouldn’t relax until he confirmed with his own eyes that Jamil was all right. And even then, he still couldn’t sleep following those dreams, not unless…
“Kalim, we can’t keep doing this, you have to be able to do all this stuff by yourself,” Jamil reminded him. He pushed against the heir’s shoulder until he rolled over. “What are you gonna do when you’re married, huh?”
“Well, I’m not married yet,” Kalim pouted, hating the reminder. He was a teenager, for the Seven’s sake, he didn’t want to think about marriage yet. Not unless it was to—no, don’t think about that. “Come on, can’t you just use it? I sleep a lot better when you do.”
Jamil sighed, shaking his head in a fond manner.
“Fine, come on, let’s go back to your room,” he agreed.
Kalim beamed as he followed after his friend. Jamil really was the best!
Only minutes later, the incantation for Snake Charmer rang in Kalim’s ears and it sent him into an all too familiar state. Hypnotized as he was, Kalim failed to notice the glint in Jamil’s eyes, as well as the plans brewing within. Plans which all centered around Kalim himself.
It was the same dream every night.
Odette was dancing on a stage, the spotlight shining warmly down on her. She had a faceless partner who was helping guide her along, but it was clear that he hadn’t been trained in ballet like she was. That was okay though, because he was making the effort to stay awake and dance with her anyways. Others were watching them, some calling out critiques while others cheered them on, but the two of them were having fun and that was what mattered the most. Their grand finale, the lift they practiced for so long to perfect, was coming up.
But that finale would never come.
Suddenly, everyone surrounding Odette fell to the ground and somehow, she knew they had been poisoned. Ink surrounded her on all sides, trapping her, and when she looked towards the audience, she saw what had caused all of this.
An unfamiliar boy was smiling despite the fact that he was paler than any ghost Odette had ever seen and dark blue fire was glowing from his right eye. He wore a beautiful dark blue, gold and black dress and a crown with a design that reminded Odette of a peacock’s feathers. Behind him was a monster, shaped like a slouched over old woman who held a basket of apples in one hand and wore a crown which was hidden by the hood of her cloak. But what was most startling about the monster was the fact that instead of a face, it had a vial of ink.
Next to the boy was another monster, this one reminding Odette of the cryptids that her brother had shown her simply to scare her when they were younger. It barely looked like it should be alive, but there was no denying that it was, and that it was angry.
Odette shivered as she stared at the three. She knew, even without looking around, that there was no place for her to run and no way for her to fight. She was simply at the mercy of the boy and these monsters. She stumbled back instinctively.
The boy only smiled at her as he threw a glass on the ground, causing some sort of gas to rise into the air.
“Fairest One of All!”
Breathing was already becoming difficult and Odette tried desperately to preserve what little oxygen she had by cupping her hands around her mouth. The boy let out a derisive snort, as if her efforts were amusing to him. The ink monster grabbed an apple from the basket it held and threw it towards the center of the stage. It didn’t strike Odette herself, but as soon as it hit the stage, it melted and released even more gas, making breathing even more difficult than it was before.
The cryptid seemed to realize that Odette was growing weaker because it suddenly reared up onto its hindlegs and jumped onto the stage, snarling in her face. Odette wanted to shrink away, to escape, but there was nowhere for her to run.
The world was growing blurry as Odette felt herself losing consciousness. The cryptid’s tentacles reached out for her neck just as its hands grabbed onto her legs when—
Odette gasped awake, sitting up and coughing as she struggled for air that felt like it simply would not come. That same dream, and just like always, it felt far too real for her comfort.
“Why are you breathing like that…?”
Odette startled as she looked up only to see her younger brother, Frederick, staring at her from her open door. A quick glance at her bedside clock confirmed that he was likely heading to work at the local hardware store. Typically, Odette slept through his leaving, but apparently today wasn’t one of those days.
“It was just a bad dream, Rick, I’m fine,” she sighed, shaking her head.
“Uh huh, sure, and it doesn’t sound like you’re about to have a panic attack or something.” Frederick rolled his eyes. Odette narrowed her own dark brown eyes at him.
“You know, you’ve been snippy since you turned fifteen, I don’t like it,” she stated, crossing her arms.
“Too bad,” Frederick grinned, sticking his tongue out. “I’m heading out anyways, you want breakfast?”
“Might as well,” Odette groaned, forcing herself from the comfortableness of her bed. It was 5 am so she could at least justify this. “Not like I’m gonna be able to sleep again.”
The two made their way to the kitchen before Odette pulled on her brother’s arm, refusing to meet his gaze when he looked at her.
“Thanks,” she muttered. Frederick said nothing in response, but the gentle squeeze of her hand was more than enough of a response.
What neither sibling realized, however, was how their mirrors gleamed as a horse drawn carriage approached on the horizon.
It was the same dream every night.
Martha was in a flower field, though she couldn’t even begin to say just where it was, but she wasn’t alone. Beside her were two faceless people, one a little boy and the other a young man. She was teaching the little boy how to make flower crowns while the young man was seemingly trying to shield himself from the sunlight. Martha finished her flower crown and then placed it on top of the young man’s head and though she couldn’t see his face, she knew he was blushing. The little boy let out a delighted laugh. It was a peaceful moment.
It was also one that ended a second later.
Before Martha could blink, the ground under her suddenly split and she fell down, down, down into the Earth below. She screamed, reaching out for something, anything, to grab onto, but there was nothing except air.
Just as suddenly as she started falling, she suddenly came to a crashing halt. It was so sudden, she felt as if all the breath had been pushed from her lungs. She pushed her body up, only to gasp when she saw just what stood before her.
A young man she didn’t recognize…or would it be more accurate to call him a cyborg? It was hard to tell considering his entire body looked to be made of metal, the only things that weren’t being the blue fire that served as his hair and his eyes, the right one which was glowing with the same light blue fire. Ink floated around him ominously before it began to bubble up into a monster beside him. The monster seemed to be made of far too many broken vials, covered by a gray chiton to give the image of a body, with its head replaced with a fancy vial of ink.
Beside the young man was a monster that seemed to resemble the myths of chimeras which Martha had grown up reading rather than any monster she had ever heard of. The snake on its tail hissed at her, as if particularly angry at her.
Martha forced her body to move, pushing it back as far as she could, but the young man let out a chuckle, as if she were pathetic for even trying to escape.
“Gate to the Underworld.”
The monster beside the young man waved its strange arm, causing what Martha could only describe as ghosts to come flying towards her. They grabbed her arms, pulling her away from her precarious position to hang over what she could only describe as a bottomless pit. It glowed a sickly green and she wanted nothing more than to run far, far away. But the only thing keeping her alive right now was the ghosts.
The ghosts, who let her go at that exact moment.
Martha screamed as she fell once more only to see the chimera monster jump from the ledge after her. Its mouth opened wide, blue fire sparking from its maw—
Martha screamed as she came to, clawing at the person holding onto her.
“Martha! Martha, dear, calm down, it was just a dream!”
It took a moment for the voice to register in her mind, but once it did, Martha collapsed into the arms holding her.
Her mother…of course it was her mother. Who else would be here?
Tears formed in Martha’s eyes and she found herself crying into her mother’s arms like she was a child. Undeterred, Chloe folded her daughter into her arms, gently petting her auburn hair.
“It was just a dream, Martha, you’re okay,” she soothed as Martha shuddered in her arms.
“It felt so real…” Martha whispered.
“All nightmares do in the moment, but that’s all they are, nightmares,” Chloe promised, continuing her soothing motions.
Martha bit her lip and remained silent. She had these dreams ever since she was young and the older she got, the less they felt like dreams and more like…something else. She couldn’t say what, but they felt significant somehow. How else could her mind create such vivid creations when she had never seen anything like them before?
Ink monsters? Chimeras with blue fire, tentacles and dragon wings? The two boys she saw, who she always somehow knew were brothers?
None of it made any sense, but she knew well that if she ever told her mother, Chloe would take her to see a professional. And they had already tried that when Martha had been younger and had insisted she needed to find the boys.
“They need me!”
Martha had eventually resorted to agreeing it was all a dream, because it was. Yet even now, some part of her still insisted it was all real.
Her eyes darted to the mirror on the back of her bedroom door and for the briefest moment it flashed.
Down the street, a horse drawn carriage approached ever closer.
It was the same dream every night.
Talia was standing under a sky that was full of so many stars, she found it difficult to look away. She was near a rundown building of some kind and there was a man beside her whose face she couldn’t see. Despite that, she knew she was safe, that he would never hurt her. This was something they did every night, a routine they would never break if they had the choice to. She turned to smile at him and knew, somehow, that she had received one in return.
He was going to say something, she knew he was, but whatever he was about to say was something she never heard.
Briars began to grow around her feet as the man vanished, circling her, closer and closer as if to trap her. Talia’s head shot up and it was then that she saw him.
A man she didn’t know, his right eye glowing with bright green fire—
“This dream again?”
Talia scowled as the dream dissolved around her, crossing her arms as she turned to face the silver haired boy who had interrupted her dream, just as he did every night for as long as she could remember.
“It’s not like I can control my dreams, Silver,” she scoffed. “Unless you plan to teach me how.”
“It’s my signature spell, it’s not exactly something anyone can learn.” Silver shook his head. “You already know this, Talia.”
“Now, now, there’s no need for my sun and moon to be fighting, is there?”
As the voice spoke, a man who looked significantly younger than Talia knew he was peeked out from behind Silver.
“Hello, my sun, how are you this fine evening?” he asked as he walked over to Talia, pulling her away from the remnants of her dream.
“The same as I always am, Lilia,” Talia chuckled, relaxing as the two of them reached Silver’s side.
“Come now, you know you can call me ‘Father’ here, just as Silver does!” Lilia suddenly let her hands go, raising a hand dramatically to his forehead as if in despair. “My dear moon doesn’t even refer to me as such during the day anymore, isn’t that just tragic, Talia?”
“Father, we go to the same school, it would be…strange for the others,” Silver sighed as he reiterated his argument for probably the thousandth time.
“Yes, yes, but still!” Lilia huffed, crossing his arms. Talia chuckled, lightly patting Lilia on the shoulder as if in consolation. “Still, this dream of yours, Talia, it’s quite strange.”
“It’s just a nightmare, it’s not that big of a deal.” Talia shrugged. She spent so much of her time asleep, the nightmare barely scared her anymore. Even more so with how often Silver saved her from it.
“You say that, and yet…” Lilia trailed off, clicking his tongue almost in irritation.
“Is something wrong, Father?” Talia questioned, curious despite herself. Lilia had never commented on the dream he and Silver found her in before now. What changed?
“I can’t put my finger on it, but…Silver, do you often find Talia in this nightmare?” Lilia asked, turning to his son.
“Every time I visit her,” Silver confirmed, his own expression growing concerned now that he thought about it. “Do you really…always have this dream?”
“As far as I remember, yeah…is that bad?” Talia questioned, her hands coming up to clutch onto her hair. The braid she wore her blonde hair in, so often compared to sunlight by Lilia himself, felt as if it were her only anchor in that moment.
“Perhaps these dreams are more magical than we first suspected,” Lilia hummed as he glanced back at her. Seeing the fear that was no doubt all over Talia’s face, his expression softened as he took her hands in his own, pulling them away from her hair. “There, there, don’t you worry now. Once Silver and I find you, we’ll figure out what these dreams mean.”
“You’ve been saying that for years,” Talia pointed out, even as her heart ached longingly. The orphanage she lived in was so cold, while Lilia and Silver were so warm…
“And we’ll find you,” Silver insisted, his auroral eyes shining with determination. Talia had always found his eyes to be his most striking feature, even more striking than her own despite Lilia insisting they were the same. “We swear it.”
And despite herself, Talia believed them. She wouldn’t choose anything else, after all. They were her family.
In reality, Talia’s body smiled in her sleep as she shifted, her mirror shining for the briefest moment. From down the street, a horse drawn carriage approached ever closer.
Seven fates. Five horse drawn carriages. One Royal Sword Academy student. One Night Raven College student. And one monster.
All of them would collide in the upcoming year and not a single soul, not even the Headmage of Night Raven College, could yet see the ending that awaited them all.
Would it be a happy one? A tragic one? Or perhaps something in between? Only time could tell.
Time…and perhaps the dreams which led these seven towards their singular fate.