Erias slept deeply in the rich bed Dream made for himdeeper than any night since his parents died. The warmth of blankets embraced him, and the silence of the house wrapped around him like a promise.
But sleep, for this boy, did not mean peace.
He dreamed.
Not the jagged, fearful dreams of before. No shadows standing at his bedside. No echo of the traitor watching him.
This dream was different.
A soft meadow, warm wind, empty sky.
Erias stood barefoot in the grass, blinking at the strange serenity. He felt safer here than he had in years, though he didn't know why.
Then he saw her.
A woman walked toward him across the field, tall, sharp-featured, with eyes the colour of molten silver and hair flowing like dark smoke. She wore robes woven from drifting threads of starlight. Her presence was calm, powerful, and quietly curious.
Seros.
Dream's most trusted.
His quiet blade.
His watchful shadow.
She approached Erias with deliberate but gentle steps, her expression unreadable.
"You are Erias," she said.
Her voice was soft, but not weak. It carried the weight of skies.
The boy nodded nervously. "Who… who are you? This isn't what I usually dream."
"No," she said, tilting her head slightly. "Because you are speaking with me."
Erias blinked. "You made this dream?"
"In part," Seros replied. "I shaped it to be safe. You have seen too much darkness for someone your age."
The boy relaxed a little. "Are you… a friend of Varos?"
Seros paused.
The question held many truths.
But she did not answer it directly.
"I serve someone who wishes to protect you," she said. "And I am here because you have been touched by something dangerous."
Erias swallowed. "You mean the cave."
"Yes," Seros murmured. "The cave. The door. And the being you saw."
"You know about it?"
"I know enough to be concerned," she replied. "Tell me what you remember."
Erias sat down in the grass. Seros lowered herself beside him with the strange, flawless grace only a dream-born could have.
And the boy began talking.
He told her everything.
About the dream of the door.About the mountain cave.About the figure made of shifting mist.About the silent touch on his forehead.About the nightmares that followed.About the villagers' fear. About the day Dream, Varos found him.
Seros listened without interruption, absorbing every detail, memorising every tremor in his voice.
Hours passed in dreamtime.
The sun fell and rose again. Clouds drifted lazily across the dream-sky. Wind combed through the grass in patient waves.
Erias talked until he had nothing left to tell.
And Seros listened until she understood not just the events, but the boy himself.
At last, as dawn neared in the waking world, the dream began to thin. The meadow dimmed. Shapes wavered.
"Am I waking up?" Erias asked, his voice small.
"Yes," Seros said.
The boy stood, looking at her with an expression halfway between hope and fear.
"Will I see you again?" he asked.
Seros looked at him for a long moment.
Then she did something deeply dream-born:
She gave no answer.
Silence was her truth.
The dream dissolved.
Erias woke with a start, inhaling sharply as morning sunlight poured into the ornate bedroom. For a moment he didn't remember where he was. Then the rich bed, the velvet curtains, and the smell of warm food reached him.
He rose, washed his face in the basin Dream had prepared, and walked down the wide staircase to the dining hall.
His mouth fell open.
Varos, Dream sat at the head of the long dining table.
The table was covered in food. Fresh bread.Roasted meat.Fruit from distant orchards.Cheese, warm pastries, bowls of spiced porridge.A breakfast fit for a noble household.
Erias froze in the doorway.
Dream looked up from his seat.
"Good morning," he said.
The boy blinked. "Varos… did you make all this?"
Dream's expression was mild. "I arranged it."
Erias approached the table slowly, as if afraid it might vanish if he moved too quickly.
He sat at Dream's left, wide-eyed, and began to eat with an appetite born of years of hunger.
Halfway through his meal, he paused.
"Varos," he said slowly, "I had a dream last night."
Dream raised an eyebrow. "A normal dream?"
"No," Erias said. "A… different one."
Dream leaned back in his chair, listening.
"There was a woman," Erias said softly. "She had silver eyes and dark hair. She asked me questions. She knew about the cave. She knew about that… thing. She talked to me for hours."
Dream went still.
He knew exactly who the boy described.
Seros.
His most loyal. He's the most careful. He is the most observant.
And Seros now knew everything the boy knew.
Dream hid the truth behind a calm, thoughtful expression.
"What did she want?" he asked gently.
"She wanted to understand," Erias said. "To know what I saw. To know what touched me."
Dream nodded.
"And how did she seem to you?"
Erias hesitated.
"…Kind," he said finally. "And… sad. Like she knows something terrible."
Dream exhaled quietly through his nose.
Yes. Seros would be sad. Because she would now know what Dream already suspected:
The traitor had not only fled deeper into Vvralis, but it had moved.
To a larger place.A more crowded place.A place where it could hide behind a thousand dreams.
Dream pushed his chair back and stood.
"Finish eating," he said.
Erias blinked. "Why?"
"Because we will be travelling soon," Dream replied. "Today."
"To where?"
Dream looked toward the window, where the distant horizon gleamed under morning light.
"The city of aramoor."
Erias's eyes widened. "Why… the city of aramoor?"
Dream offered a faint, unconvincing smile.
"There are answers there," he said. "And someone I must speak to."
He did not tell the boy the truth.
He did not tell him the traitor had moved there.
He did not tell him that the city of aramoor's crowded dreamscape would make tracking the traitor harder, but confronting it safer, for the boy.
He did not tell him that the Fallen's influence had woven itself through the deeper cellars of that shining city.
No.
Dream simply watched the boy eat, and waited.
Because the next part of the war for Dream's realm would begin in the beating heart of Vvralis's greatest city.
And Erias dream-touched, frightened, stubborn Erias had unknowingly become the key everyone was now moving toward.
I watched.
Because the road to the city would not lead to safety.
It would lead directly into the traitor's newest shadow.