"Gods do not sleep. They wait. And dream of vengeance."
---
Selene awoke in a cold sweat.
Not from pain.
Not from exhaustion.
But from visions.
Endless mirrors. Bleeding moons. Wolves howling backwards. A silver cradle floating on a sea of bone. And at the center of it all—eyes.
Eyes without lids. Without pupils.
Watching.
Waiting.
She clutched her chest, breath shallow.
Kai stirred beside her, shirtless, his chest wrapped where the god's blow had landed last night. He moved with a wince and reached for her hand.
"You dreamed again," he said.
Selene nodded. "It wasn't mine this time."
---
Riven paced the ruins, her broken arm in a sling, freshly healed but still aching. She was quiet. Ever since the god Torvax died, something had shifted in her. She no longer barked commands or snapped with sarcasm.
She listened.
Nyra watched her from across the fire, sharpening one of her new knives.
"Where's your bite, priestess?"
Riven didn't look up. "I buried it with him."
---
Later, as the moon rose, a fog fell.
Thick. Dense. Cold.
Unnatural.
And with it came whispers.
Kai turned first, eyes narrowing. "Something's wrong."
The pack stirred.
Then they came—visions.
One by one.
Each wolf collapsed to their knees.
Screaming.
---
Selene's vision twisted again.
This time, it was clearer.
She stood on a snowy plain. A black throne of ice loomed before her. Shackled to it was a god.
Not chained.
But sleeping.
Its body was made of mirrors, each reflecting a different world.
Its mouth opened—
And it sang.
No melody.
Just truth.
> "You are not the first fireborn.
You are not the last.
You carry our sin.
And you shall carry our war."
Selene blinked.
And the god's name echoed in her skull.
Velex.
The Dreamer of Endings.
---
Back in the waking world, wolves were howling.
Not in pain.
In fear.
Some clawed at their own faces. Others whispered words not spoken in thousands of years.
Riven barked, "It's psychic! Dream magic!"
Kai growled. "Can we stop it?"
"Only one way."
Selene stood tall.
"We go to it."
---
Nyra spat. "You want to march into a dream god's lair? Where thoughts kill and memories lie?"
Selene's eyes blazed gold. "Yes."
Riven nodded solemnly. "Then we head north. To the Frozen Temple."
---
The journey was brutal.
Glaciers as tall as mountains. Creatures that should not exist. A wind that whispered your name and threatened to rip the skin from your bones.
Each night, the dreams got worse.
Selene saw herself—killing Kai.
She saw Kai—dying in fire she started.
She saw Nyra—crying, alone, at a grave that read "Selene of No Moon."
---
One night, Kai snapped.
"I can't take this!" he roared, his claws bursting out. "He's inside my head!"
Selene rushed to him.
He shoved her away.
"Don't touch me," he panted. "Not until this is over."
Selene stared.
Something inside her cracked.
---
The next morning, the Fang of the End pulsed in her satchel.
It wanted more godblood.
But worse…
It wanted a new wielder.
And it chose Nyra.
---
Selene found her kneeling beside the fire.
The blade was floating inches from her palm.
Nyra's eyes were unfocused. Possessed.
"You need to stop," Selene said.
"I didn't call it," Nyra whispered. "It came."
Selene reached for the blade.
It burned her.
She gasped.
Nyra looked at her, for the first time in days, with sorrow.
"It's choosing me."
---
Later, Riven pulled Selene aside.
"There's something I haven't told you."
Selene glared. "If it's another secret—"
"My sister," Riven said. "She's not dead."
Selene froze.
"She serves Velex now. She gave her soul in exchange for immortality within dreams."
"What does that mean?"
"It means… if we go in there… she'll know every weakness you've ever had."
---
They reached the temple at last.
It wasn't carved from stone or frost.
It was a mirror.
Towering into the sky.
Reflecting not what was behind them, but what they feared most.
Kai saw himself drowning in lava.
Selene saw the world burning, her body crucified to a tree of bones.
Nyra saw her mother, smiling as she died.
---
Selene turned to them.
"This is it."
"We walk in," Nyra said, "or we never sleep again."
Kai stepped beside her, lips tight.
"I lost you in the dreams," he murmured.
She nodded.
"Then don't lose me now."
He kissed her.
And the door to the temple opened.
---
Inside?
Was silence.
A perfect, endless hallway of mirrors.
Each mirror whispered.
Each showed a different world.
One where Selene was born human.
One where she killed Kai to ascend the throne.
One where she and Nyra shared a kiss under moonlight.
She paused at that one.
Nyra did too.
Awkward silence.
"Damn mirror," Nyra muttered.
---
Then the walls rippled.
And the air split.
> A voice echoed.
> "Welcome, Selene. Daughter of Bastard Flames. Killer of Hunger. Lover of Wolves."
> "You are early."
A figure emerged from the mirror.
Riven gasped.
"Sister…"
She was stunning.
Hair like snow.
Eyes like abyss.
Velex's priestess.
> "Come," she whispered. "The Dreamer awaits."
---
And somewhere, behind the veil of sleep…
A god opened all his eyes.
And smiled.