“... And from their mighty host, they swept across the lands, grinding their foes into dust. From atop their mighty steeds, they pierced the veil of shadows with a lance of light. Harken thee! For they were the warriors of the stars. Be not afraid. For their souls surely watch over us, as does the Goddess herself. So stand! Stand tall, and fight! ”

  - Justicar Weylan Harcort, Warrior Priest of the Order of Golden Stars, “Rallying Cry of the Spurs”

  “Madness.” Mila cursed.

  Sophie pressed forward nonetheless, her new path now clear for her to see. Mila had fallen into formation behind, anxiously holding onto the hem of Sophie’s shirt. Though now that she noticed, she was wearing the exact same tunic and pants that Mila wore. Likely a side effect of the dream, I didn't even think about it until now.

  What she did spare a thought for, was how the Inquisitor’s hand was trembling. Mila was trying her best to suppress it, though the subtle shifts and awkward steps behind Sophie gave it away. An understandable sentiment in her eyes. After all, unlike herself, Mila only had one life to live. And one she almost lost already.

  “It should be fine. Just let me know if something feels off.” Sophie reassured her.

  “If something feels off? I’m staring at a hurricane while apparently walking around my own nightmare. Adding onto that, you’re also here and conscious, which uhh, last I checked, we aren’t telepathic. So if you’re asking me, I think everything is a little off.” Mila scoffed exasperatedly.

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine. I think at this point I’m used to being dragged into some weird damned shit because of you.” She growled under her breath.

  “I’ll be here. It’ll be fine.” Sophie mumbled.

  “Mmm. Sure.” Mila grunted.

  The girl closed the gap between them, shuffling a little closer despite her protestations. Sophie reached backwards with a free hand, her offer of security. After a few moments of pause, Mila accepted it, letting Sophie lead her forward.

  Together they approached the maelstrom, the cracks of lightning and whirlpools of crimson buffeting them the closer they got. Even Sophie couldn’t help but tense up. The biological urge to avoid dangerous phenomenon making itself known. She shifted uneasily, trying to keep her own discomfort hidden from Mila. Goddess only knows what happens if this goes wrong. I just hope that any discomfort in the mind isn’t brought onto her physical self.

  Sophie steeled herself, silencing her own mind and taking a deep breath. Seeing her, Mila did much the same. The two of them are preparing themselves for the storm ahead.

  “Any idea what’ll happen?” Mila asked.

  Sophie reluctantly shook her head, “Not really. First time in someone else’s dream after all. Well, aside from back then, and uhh, you again, I guess.”

  They both shared a snicker.

  “So you don’t do this with Sophia?”

  “H-huh? What do you mean?”

  “I mean however you communicate in your heads or what not. I can sense mana, and you two aren’t actively using a telepathy spell. But I can tell.”

  “Wha-? How?” Sophie could only gawk in surprise at the sudden revelation of Mila’s insight.

  “Pffft. How? Really? C’mon, what do you take me for? I’m trained to notice certain things. While she’s a tough nut to crack, you uh… let’s put it kindly and say you don’t hide very much.” Mila chuckled.

  “What is that supposed to mean?’

  “You’ll look over, nod or shake your head, make a few subtle gestures here and there. Then the two of you will do something or present an idea that seems suspiciously well timed and supported by the other. Took me a while but I noticed well enough.” The girl smirked.

  “Bah! And you’re saying I’m the one that gave it away?”

  “Of course. She barely gives away what she’s feeling on a good day, let alone when we’re all plotting something.” Mila chuckled, but Sophie could tell that the girl was still nervous.

  Sophie grumbled under her breath and pouted. The idea that the secret connection she shared with Sophia would be so easily revealed was troubling. That she was bad at keeping such things hidden even more so. Not that it matters now. The priority is making sure Mila is alright and getting her out of this nightmare.

  “Focus on me. I’ll lead the way.” She gave out one last instruction, the two both aware that getting any closer to the storm would likely deafen them.

  “As if I have a choice. Just make this quick.” Mila replied, tightening her grip.

  The two resolved themselves to push forward. The daunting hurrcaine looming over them. Crimson flecks of water and blood sprayed down, drawn up by the vortex and cascading back to the waters below. A grotesque monstrosity, the real world forcing itself into the mind. But how?

  The wind roared in anguish. Whether it was growing stronger or gasping out its last, only Phaenyra would know. Whatever the Goddess of the Seas had in mind when allowing such phenomenon to develop, Sophie would never be able to understand.

  Within the vortex, a torrent of liquids poured over them, soaking them to the bone. Neither warm nor cold, just an eerily wet sensation that seemed to dig ever deeper the longer they spent here. A wild being unable to be tamed, like a monster. Inside this accursed creature was their goal. A shattered fabric of reality unlike the cracks in the sky above. An opening, a breaking point. And for Sophie, a terrifying door.

  For she recognized it before, but now she was certain. Entry into the abyss of nothingness. Into a realm where stars perished, where strength was found not in the light or the dark, but the absence of everything. And nothing survives there. And Mila’s coming with me. But this is just a dream, isn’t it? Like before? But will she be alright? What happens when she sees IT? Will she… come to hate me? In that realization, her own mind was overtaken by a cacophony of doubt. She froze. Long enough that Mila bumped into her.

  Panic befell Mila. Her sole point of guidance had stopped abruptly. She was caught in the open, exposed to the elements. Whipped by the winds and pelted by blood and rain, Sophie stood like an unmovable stone against the hurricane. Mila tugged at her arm to try and reestablish some sort of control. But it was to no avail.

  She coughed as water entered her mouth, the iron-like taste making her physically gag. Opening her up to even more of the liquid. Fucking hells, move! Sophie! Whatever you’re seeing, I can’t. Move for Goddess sake! Gah! Bitterly spitting out what she could, she began nudging Sophie forward with her body. The half elf seemed to have been moving in a straight line, a line that Mila could only pray did not deviate. Faith, have faith. In the Goddess’s plans, and in her.

  Mila clenched her jaw shut, her every step becoming more labored with each passing moment.

  “Get a grip, Sophie! Where the hells do we go?!” She yelled, her words drowned out by the din of the storm.

  Mildly terrified and frustrated in equal measure, she gave it her all and shoved Sophie with all her might. The sudden pressure seemed to finally break the girl out of her stupor, Sophie glancing backwards in a panic like she just remembered Mila’s existence. Mila, for her part, was mildly annoyed at being ignored in such a perilous situation and scowled as best she could. After all, she had no intention of being trapped in her own mind, whoever was the cause was an irrelevant issue if she remained here.

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  Startled back into their current predicament, Sophie motioned for Mila to follow, aggravating her annoyance. Yet the moment she drew closer, shuffled a step too far forward, her body practically pushed up against Sophie’s, she saw it.

  Like a gnawing void, a portal at the center of the vortex. Unnatural claws clung onto the broken partitions within the storm, the gut wrenching emptiness pricking away at her sanity the more she focused on it. Something foul leaked out of the rift, something that blocked out the sound of the storm raging around them. Her head started to ache, her eyes gradually unfocusing.

  She could tell that whatever it was reeked of unholiness. That it stunk like a festering wound in the already chaotic dreamscape she was trapped in. Heresy, she wanted to hiss, but couldn’t stand the thought of exposing her mouth to more of the storm.

  In her haste, she tried to step backward. But she was too distracted, just like back then Melton, then Gratia. With a single disjointed movement, she tripped, her eyes too focused on the glow of stars beyond the rift. The mesmerizing lights ensnaring her alongside her fear of the unholiness that came from it. Her focus lost amidst the panic, her fall from grace sent her mind spiraling equally deep into despair.

  Like a phantom responding to the possibility of prey, the storm only roared even more ferociously at her confusion. Thunder and lighting now struck the bloodied pool around them. Her thrashing agitating the elements even more.

  In a desperate attempt to rectify the situation, she felt a heavy tug yanking her arm forward. The last thing she saw was Sophie’s face growing pale. Her mouth managed to mouth out a singular word that Mila could understand. Sorry.

  A heart beat. Then two. Then a pounding that made her eyes shoot open. Darkness? Stars? I- She reached out only to choke. Awareness was its own curse, she was choking. She gasped for air but found none. Her nightmare was now manifesting itself physically. She couldn’t breathe.

  Muffled sounds echoed nearby, but as she tried to turn, she couldn’t help but let horror set in, she felt weightless, adrift. Lost in the labyrinth of her mind. Unable to breathe, unable to move. She was helpless.

  She wanted to scream, to cry out, but no sounds came from her throat. She had a thousand things she wanted to say, a thousand more to see, and perhaps even more to do. Fate, it seemed to her, was a cruel mistress.

  Then she froze. Not in the throes of death or suffocation. But in unmitigated terror.

  From what looked to be pitch blackness, the universe seemed to quake. The unending void parted to reveal a sickened otherworldly leather. Revealing itself to be the bottom of something even grander. Palace sized holes expanded across the infinite void. The colorless surface was now dotted with an unsettling amount of bulging veins and orbs. Everything seemed to contort and shift all around it, but it remained unchanging, unmoving.

  All sounds came to a standstill, her own heartbeat deafeningly quiet. Not even the faintest whisper of breath or even an internal scream. There was an unceasing silence that bludgeoned the soul, the mass of darkness that clouded one’s mind just as meaningless as the hope that filled it.

  A million thoughts raced in her mind, all screaming for attention even as she failed to do so. The understandings that held the world together seemed to fall by the wayside. The incomprehensible shapes and sights fusing together into nothing more than a confused blur.

  Uncertain of where to turn her gaze, she cast it skyward. Her bewilderment only magnified tenfold when she caught a glimpse of the world around her. Where there had been nothing but blackness and nothingness, there were now walls and trees. Where there had been the flickering of glowing stars, now only a terrifying ring of half compressed dust swirling around the massive object.

  Her heart then raced in a panic when she saw more of her surroundings. Standing atop a roof top, she spied her only salvation. Her one companion amongst the madness of her mind. The bizarre sights were a truth too strange to comprehend, but she was the one thing that Mila had some measure of understanding over. Sophie.

  Yet Sophie was captured. Caught in the grip of an otherworldly grasp. A strange black tentacle wrapped itself around her, holding her in place. But in the brief moment Mila could see Sophie’s expression, she found no hints of fear, only distress. She wanted to scream, to catch her attention, but her breath was fast running out. The pounding in her head reached a tipping point as consciousness began to slip away. Stars above, she cursed.

  Regrets, fears, sadness and hopelessness washed over. Without a whimper or a whisper, her eyes slowly drew shut. Whatever thoughts or worries that ran rampant in her mind fading as the certainty of a peaceful rest awaited her. No longer would she be trapped in a bizarre nightmare, no longer would she have to atone for the sin of failing her family, friends, and the people of Cyndralia. An ignoble end for one who had reached far above her station.

  It was wet yet dry. A slimy but rough feeling greeted what exposed skin she had, tearing off the hairs on her arm. What should have been pain, instead felt almost like a soothing balm. The only off putting fact being that whatever it was now coiled itself around her. Ahh… damn… unable to muster much energy for resistance, she surrendered to her fate. Choosing instead to believe in the Goddess and whatever Sophie had concocted. She resolved to fade into the darkness, her uncertainty washed away alongside her. For in the silence of her mind, there was a peace of sorts. One that she could scarcely comprehend.

  Then, she gasped. Her own voice now echoing from out her mouth and into her ears. The sound was quickly followed by the greedy inhalation of air. Her exhausted eyes flickered open once more, the brightness of the world around blinding her.

  She winced, the sudden intake of air catching her off guard. Frowning, she slowly tried to open her eyes once more, praying that the dream would make more sense than the one in which she hopefully escaped. Catching sight of the strange tendril holding her up in the air only brought her dismay. She was still stuck here.

  “... We are over open seas right now, a storm…” Sophie’s pleasantly grating voice reached her.

  Letting out a soft groan, Mila tried to get a better look, taking care not to stare at any more mind altering sights. She failed almost instantly, meeting the gaze of a being so alien that she didn’t know what to think.

  She had been to Saintsrest, seen the Twin Cathedrals, the Chamber of Stalwart Justice in Arteria, countless other cities and palaces too. All of it had dwarfed her, humbled her with the sense that she might be an Inquisitor, but still played only a small, if key part in the continuation of civilization's fight against the Darkness.

  But this, whatever this was made the world that she knew feel insignificant. No, she managed to calm herself enough to think, it is the size of a hundred cities, no, a thousand.

  Surrounded by the thousands of holes and eyes was a singular, gargantuan one that seemed to be looking directly at her. Whatever secrets, rituals or mental defenses she had were stripped away. Knowledge once preserved was now given without protest. She couldn’t resist even if she wanted to. She didn’t even understand what she was looking at.

  “...there might be a way.” Sophie spoke once more, a bit further this time.

  Mila craned her neck to search for the girl.

  “... I see… she’s fine.”

  Drawing what reserves she could, she found just enough strength to squirm.

  “I will. I will.” Sophie’s voice dropped to a whisper, “In the Nothingness, there is strength.” A cult chant?

  The entire world seemed to shake, whatever was holding Mila let her go. Mila cried out in alarm. A noise resembling a boom reverberated throughout her whole body. Then she fell. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  “Easy, you’re fine. You’re fine. She’s fine, right?” Sophie approached her.

  Fuck? Mila cautiously opened her eyes, anxiously scanning around herself. Huh? Sophie was upside down. Or rather, she was off the ground and Sophie was just standing there.

  A low rumble answered Sophie and Mila flinched. Sophie’s hands then rested upon her shoulder and helped her to steady herself.

  “Take a deep breath, Mila. Easy now. I've got you.”

  Mila stared at her, a little too shaken up to process what happened. Only when her feet touched what felt like ground did she calm down a little.

  “I… huh.” She grunted.

  Sophie muttered something else and Mila was alarmed to discover a tendril bobbing in agreement to her. What the? At the end of the otherworldly appendage was what looked to be a bulbous eye. It turned to regard her, making Mila take a few steps backwards.

  “We have to wake up. No, I think it was my fault. I know.” Sophie talked to another tendril.

  She’s… she’s consorting with demons, no whatever this is! Heresy! It is. It has to be. But what the hells is this? Where are we? Mila’s thoughts began racing.

  “Mila. Trust me. Just hold on tight, and we’ll be awake soon. I'll explain everything once we're up.” Sophie gently reassured her with a hand left outstretched.

  Surrounding the half elf, several tendrils, some with eyes, some without, formed an indistinguishable pattern. The only thing that Mila could tell was that it made her uneasy, the formation itself causing a deep seated revulsion within her. Despite all of that, she reluctantly held onto Sophie’s hand. It was cold, clammy, suspiciously devoid of all warmth. What choice do I have?

  “I… I think I see now.” Sophie muttered to one of the eyed tendrils, “I will be the guide.”

  Soon, a fleshy growth sprouted from one of the one’s close to Mila, unleashing a black tar-like sludge from its opening. One that exposed only a never-ending emptiness where the insides should be. Her eyes widened, but she couldn’t run, Sophie had caught her hand in a vice-like grip. It’s getting closer, oh Goddess, it’s getting closer.

  Terrified, she clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. Then the world around her exploded into a brilliant white light.

  Awaken, child of the light.