One night, as Cody slept in the dungeons of Mournful’s kin, he had a dream similar to when he was still in Semiones and he once tried to reach Heyrone. Then he could feel his mind groping about the forest searching for life, but now he had a body, at least partly. He was a sort of apparition, appearing to be a ghost or spirit with transparent skin that seemed to glow a dim blue, but in all other respects he was exactly the same as himself. But there was one other key difference with the world in general: he was alone in the dungeon. And yet, he was not.

                Cody closed his eyes and thought about what he could feel. He knew instantly that somehow, nearby he could detect the souls of his companions and the dungeon master. They were not visible when his eyes were open, but with his eyes closed he could definitely sense, almost see forms near him. They each had a color that he could name, but they were not truly colors.

                After a while of focusing on the souls of his companions, Cody again opened his eyes and looked around in the darkness. It felt as though a light had been turned off, but he could still detect, albeit more vaguely than before, the shapes of those nearby. He walked over to the bars of his cage and found that he could not touch them. In fact, he passed straight through the bars without even a thought.

                What an amusing dream, he thought to himself as he left his cage and walked along the dungeon passageways. He passed the dungeon master’s quarters and felt the flickering yellow flame that was her spirit as he walked. Feeling humored he walked up the spiral staircase into the tunnel above. When he reached the tunnel, he was overwhelmed by the number of souls he sensed around, above, and mostly below him.

                One thing that caught Cody’s soul-seeking eye was a strong spirit that flickered a purple-grey color. He followed it up through the tunnel and into the throne room that he had first entered and seen the queen and her son. He approached the thrones and passed them without much care until he found a smallish tunnel behind them, hidden by a door of stone. He passed through the rock easily into a darkened chamber, where he could feel the presence of five beings near the end of a long tunnel. He recognized them as the queen, her children, and two guards. The souls stirred slightly but remained a sleep, though the queen and one of the guards seemed to subconsciously note his presence.

                Feeling a bit disturbed by their acceptance of his dream, Cody left their room and went back to the tunnel. He ran along a bit quickly to try and return to his cell and return to wherever he was supposed to be, but down below the ground he could feel so many souls, so many voices waiting to be heard. He passed the spiral staircase eagerly and sped along, down deeper into the tunnel.

                The tunnel quickly became more disorganized and branched to the side often, but he followed the flickering torches that were the natives of the mountain. As he came nearer, he could feel several of the spirits being aroused by his presence. By the time he reached the hall where they lay, not only did they acknowledge his presence as the queen and her guard had done, but a sort of whisper seemed to be sent out amongst them all. Suddenly, Cody felt his sleep wearing off. The whisper rose into a call of confusion, disbelief, and amazement.

                Walker? Walker lives. Walker is among us. Walker has come.

                Cody awoke only a short time after his dream faded. He opened his eyes and tried to remember what he could and could not do with his actual body. It was difficult to compare so soon after waking, but he soon sorted out that he could see, but he could not detect someone’s soul or walk through things, and once he made those notes the rest of his mortal control returned to him.

                He looked about his cell and the rest of the dungeon to find that all was quiet and everyone was asleep, though above him, where Mournful slept, he could feel the girl stirring as if in a bad dream. He could not tell for sure, but it felt as there was a sort of anticipation and eagerness in the air that was almost palpable with its weight. With a jolt, Cody realized that he had in fact dreamed of the spirit-like form of himself walking through the halls, but it wasn’t a dream.

                As Cody became more aware of his surroundings he realized that he could still hear the whispers from before, spoken aloud this time. They came from Graceful the dungeon master and even Mournful, though Avalsmokes and Omen remained fast asleep and completely unaware of anything happening around them.

                Graceful suddenly scurried into sight and raced up to Cody and Mournful’s cell. She acknowledged Cody with a brief nod before gently calling out Mournful’s name. It was enough that the gryphon leaped upright and looked around wildly. In a flurry of confusion Graceful opened the cell door, pulled Mournful out abruptly, and shut it again before disappearing around the dark bend in the cages. The noise seemed to wake Omen.

                “What happened?” the old blacksmith asked in weary confusion.

                Cody shrugged before answering, “I don’t know, but I had a dream last night that I was walking around the tunnels and woke everyone up, and when I woke up it seems as though it actually happened.”

                It was a rough explanation, but the only one Cody could come up with. As difficult as it was to believe, he knew that what was going on and his dream were at least loosely connected, if not entirely so. He pressed his face against the bars of his cell and listened for any kind of conversation, but he couldn’t even hear Graceful and Mournful, though he was sure that they were in Graceful’s quarters. All was silent for a long time, but whether it was a few minutes or an hour, Cody could not tell, when Mournful was finally brought back and rushed hurriedly into the cell. Graceful, rushed off again immediately after locking the cell.

                “What’s going on?” Cody asked seriously, undecided about whether he should tell her about his dream.

                Mournful seemed to ignore him for a minute, but then she said, “I don’t know, it’s too confusing. It would take too long to explain.”

                That was when Cody realized how stressed she was, so he didn’t question further. He pulled himself over into a corner and thought over what he did know: which wasn’t much. In the end he decided that everything would calm down soon enough or someone would eventually barge in and stir something up. Until then he had to wait, and he knew that nothing he said or did would change that. For the next hour or so the noise died down a bit and was centered in about the same area as the main hall, while in the dungeons the only noises were the hushed whisperings of Aval and Omen.

                Cody slowly began to relax and focused on controlling his breathing, making sure that everything was calm within his own head. But it wasn’t a moment later that six people, once again each over eight feet tall, came into the dungeons. Graceful led them, but she didn’t seem to be paying any attention to anyone at all, always keeping her eyes fixed on the ceiling where the noise had come from first.

                The people, guards, Cody assumed, opened the cell doors and pulled each of the prisoners out before binding their hands again. The rider remained expressionless while his hands were bound and he and his friends were half dragged through the dungeons and up the spiral staircase. They were pulled through the halls downward, deeper into the heart of the mountain.

It was only a few minutes before the tunnel emerged into a large cavern. Other tunnels branched off on all sides in seemingly no order at all, though it was very clear that some of the tunnels were more important or more recently used than others. There was also a massive opening to the tunnel a long ways away, though Cody could see that it was more than large enough to allow a dragon at least half Argos’s size to enter. He also saw the outlines of two people on gryphons guarding the entrance.

Before Cody could focus much on the rest of the cavern, he and his friends were whisked down another passage and a door was closed behind them. They walked for a short time in the tunnel, just long enough for Cody to see that it was about half the size of the entrance to the mountain city they had passed. The tunnel opened suddenly to a large room where Blissful sat hunched over a large desk. The guards threw the prisoners onto the ground in front of the desk and spread themselves throughout the room, Graceful at the far end beside Blissful. All was silent.

Cody glanced quickly around the room and figured that it was a room of some import. Perhaps a war room it was large; at least 50 feet high and as much as 100 across with nothing but the desk for furniture, though the desk was perhaps thirty feet around and took up a decent portion of the room. Cody also noticed a sort of presence on his mind that reminded him of his cell, which made him assume that it was also protected from using thoughts to speak.

Done with his inspection of the room he focused on Blissful, who didn’t appear to live up to her name based on his posture. She was standing hunched over the table with some sort of scroll rolled out before her that Cody couldn’t read from the angle he was sitting in. Her features were hidden in the tresses of drooping white and black hair that hung from her scalp and her whole body was tense. She remained still and silent for a long while, seemingly not noticing the people around her.

Finally Blissful straightened and pulled most of her hair back behind her ear before studying the group and then relaxed just enough to speak. “I’ve seen through your plan Mournful. All these years you’ve gotten smarter, slyer. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.”

“What?” mournful looked up in surprise. “What do you think I’ve done!?”

Blissful smiled, more of a sly snarl than anything, before she answered, “You thought I wouldn’t guess your trick! You’ve uncovered the secret to Dream-Walking, haven’t you? And when you did, you decided to use it to win your way back just to destroy us! Don’t deny it! I know you’ve done it!”

Mournful gaped in surprise and sheer shock. “I have done no such thing! You’ve seen the Foretelling yourself: None that seeks it shall find; but those that are, for it, built and designed. Of a race born and made in this way, only a stranger shall bring forth the waking day. You know better than most that I could not have done it.”

“But you are a stranger! You were banished from our race and came by the secret on accident,” Blissful growled, her eyes glowing.

“What are you talking about?” Cody asked, more confused with every word that was spoken. He figured they were talking about what had happened in the night, but he could not be sure.

Mournful and her sister were silent for a long while, but finally a strange voice answered from the edge of the cave-room,

“When darkness descends and the races are warring,

A walker shall emerge, both silent and roaring.

He will come in a dream,

Sent to redeem,

The races doomed to die.

A power he will possess,

One that none can guess.

None that seeks it shall find;

But those that are, for it, built and designed.

Of a race born and made in this way,

Only a stranger shall bring forth the waking day,

And save the races doomed to die.

Alone he cannot stand powerful and tall,

But alone he will crumble, tumble, and fall.

An alliance of courage, strength, and some of royalty,

Bound only by the power of determination and loyalty,

Shall save the races doomed to die.

The warriors, of scales and even of fins,

The guardians, of dreams and ever-changing skins,

Torn by lies and weakness of heart,

A terrible pair that never will part,

Is what doomed the races to die.

Unless Dreamwalker comes to give the battle-cry.”

The room was silent after the voice’s echoes faded. There was not a single person in the room that didn’t look around in confusion, and still not one person was found that could have said the words. Nor, as Cody eventually found out, could anyone on the outside have spoken. The silence remained for a long while longer.

“That…is how the Foretelling goes…” Blissful said slowly as she seemed to relax somewhat. Looking to Mournful she seemed to have a sense of clarity and calm fill her eyes and said, “I am sorry, Mournful. All these years my poor judgment has clouded my eyes and sparked vengeance in my heart. I am glad that someone has reminded me of the foretelling, for it reminds me that only a male can be Dreamwalker…and in that case, one of your party must be the one. I cannot in good conscience imprison the one who brought Dreamwalker to us. Can you forgive me?”

“There has been bitterness in my heart too many years for me to forgive you straight away,” Mournful  answered.

Blissful sighed, “I expect nothing else. You are free to wander about the realm of the Dreamkeepers as a guest, and can perhaps be welcome back into our hearts with time. I almost feel as though I would be comfortable giving you full citizenship now, but please understand that others will not think so.”

Mournful reluctantly dipped her head and responded, “I do understand. What of my friends?”

Blissful’s eyes narrowed, and she seemed to notice the others for the first time, as though she thought that they had disappeared when the strange voice came. “While I feel I can trust your judgment of their characters and I believe that they mean us no harm, I cannot allow them to wander around.”

“But one of them is Dreamwalker!” Mournful protested, though she paused for a moment after the words came out, as though she were shocked to be hearing them.

Blissful quickly answered, “I have no doubt of that, but it is possible that one of them is Dreamwalker and another wishes ill will upon us without our knowing. Until we can clear up this matter, I have no choice but to keep them all imprisoned, for which I apologize. I cannot ignore the fact that it was a dragon and rider who killed our father.”

“What!?” Cody burst out. “A dragon and rider!?”

Mournful reluctantly nodded and answered, “Yes, that is why you have been treated so, not because of me.”

“Do not feel too saddened,” Blissful said cheerily. “I can’t allow Dreamwalker to rot in a jail cell, now can I? You and your friends will be kept in the lowest halls that we dwell in, and will be free to roam the lowest floor as you will, and you will have servants at your beck and call. Also, Mournful can visit you whenever she pleases or you request, as well as me and the king. You will be treated as guests, far enough away from the other Dreamkeepers that they will not be disturbed. As soon as I can, I shall give you full rights to the city.”

At that moment Cody wanted desperately to shout out that he was the so-called Dreamwalker, though he still did not know much about it. He wanted to let them know so that he might, perhaps, be allowed to explore the realm of Dreamkeepers. And by the look on Aval and Omen’s faces, they wanted him to as well. But something kept his mouth shut, and theirs as well. Whether it was because he didn’t want the attention, or perhaps even instinct, he did not know.

He merely dipped his head to the queen and answered, “As you wish.”

Blissful dipped her head to him in response and said, “The guards will take you down now, and I will send word when you can be released. Farewell, Riders, until next we meet.”