POV: DUAL (KIERAN → KAELIS)
Timeline: That same night, while sleeping
KIERAN'S POV
I'm dreaming.
I know I'm dreaming because I'm standing in water up to my ankles, and the sky above me is wrong—too many stars, all of them bleeding red.
"Kieran."
I spin around.
Kaelis stands behind me. But not present-day Kaelis. This version looks younger. Scared. His silver hair is tangled, his clothes torn.
"Kaelis?" I take a step toward him. "What's—"
"She's coming," he says. His voice echoes wrong. "She's coming for us."
"Who's coming?"
"Mother."
The water at our feet turns dark. Thick. Like blood.
"Kaelis, this is just a dream—"
"Is it?" He looks at me with storm-grey eyes that glow. "Or is it a warning?"
The sky cracks.
Literally cracks, like glass breaking, and through the cracks I see—Isolde.
Giant. Looming. Her face twisted with rage.
"MINE," she roars. "YOU'RE BOTH MINE."
The water rises. Fast. Too fast.
I'm drowning, choking, trying to reach Kaelis but he's being pulled away—
"Three days!" he shouts as the water drags him under. "We have three days!"
I wake up gasping.
Ravion is beside me instantly. "Kieran? What's wrong?"
"I—" My heart is hammering. "I had a nightmare. About Isolde. And Kaelis. And—" I touch my chest where the twin bond sits. It's pulsing. Urgent. "Something's wrong."
"What kind of wrong?"
"I don't know. But Kaelis—" I look at him. "I think he's dreaming the same thing."
KAELIS' POV
I'm underwater.
Not the Tidelands. Somewhere darker..
"Kaelis."
Kieran appears in front of me. He's trying to swim toward me but something's holding him back. Chains made of shadow.
"Kieran!" I reach for him but I can't move either. Water surrounds me like a cage.
"She's coming," Kieran says. Same echo. Same wrong voice. "Three days."
"Who's coming?"
But I already know.
The water around us shifts. Takes shape.
Isolde.
Our mother.
Made of water and shadow and rage.
"MY SONS," she says, voice reverberating through the water. "MY PROPHECY. MY POWER."
"We're not yours!" I shout.
"YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN MINE."
She reaches for us. Giant hands made of water and shadow.
Kieran screams. The chains tighten.
I scream. The water cage closes.
"THREE DAYS," a different voice says. Older. Echoing. "YOU HAVE THREE DAYS."
The Oracle.
She appears between us. Translucent. Glowing.
"Three days until she strikes. Three days until the eclipse. Three days until—"
Everything explodes.
I wake up choking.
Nyx is holding me, looking terrified. "Kaelis! Breathe! Just breathe!"
"Kieran—" I gasp. "Is he—"
"I don't know. What happened?"
"Dream. Prophecy dream. Isolde is—" The twin bond is burning in my chest. "Kieran felt it too. I know he did."
"Felt what?"
"The warning." I grab Nyx's arm. "She's coming. Isolde. She's coming for us."