Makaela couldn't bring herself to visit Sebastian in the infirmary. The medics told her he had suffered a concussion and slight internal bleeding. They had managed to stop the bleeding, but they were still waiting to see if he would make it out the night.

If he died, that would've been another life gone because of her.

She stared up at the ceiling.

He threw away his entire life to save her.

Pressing her fingers against her lips, she closed her eyes. Last night they kissed for the first time. She never thought it would've been their last too. The image of his limp body being dragged by Thorian terrorized her mind. When she saw him, it felt like someone had ripped out her heart and stomped on it.

It was all her fault.

A bright light flashed beyond her eyelids. Opening her eyes, she glanced down at the Illumio. The golden gemstone strobed like a searchlight. Rays of amber light bathed the walls of her cabin, dispelling the shadows filling up the small room. She squinted at the ring, shielding her eyes from its light.

What is this?

Whispers rushed into her ears. She tried calling for her help, but the words crumbled in her mouth like a sandcastle in a high tide. Her mind couldn't grab hold of a single thought. The whispers grew in volume, forcing out everything else in her head until they felt like the only thing she'd ever known. Gritting her teeth, she clamped her hands over her ears.

Then they vanished. A single voice remained.

Come dream with me, child.

She hadn't recognized any of the voices whispering to her. But she knew this one.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

The darkness swallowed her whole.

#

Makaela was dreamwatching again.

Rusted, metal bars stood before her. Brick walls were placed within, creating a series of dark holding cells. At her back was a stone wall lined with torches burning with purple flames. The air inside was cold, almost like she was stood in the middle of a frozen ocean. All of the cells in the dungeon were empty.

Except for one.

Ahead of her, a man laid in the shadows. She could hear his teeth chattering as he shivered. Her eyebrows lifted as she approached his cell. Slivers of moonlight slid in through deft cracks in the walls. They dragged their fingers across the man's figure, giving her a glimpse of his face.

Makaela's head swam. She choked back a sob, her hands clamped over her mouth.

"Uncle Ollie?" she breathed out.

She couldn't breathe. Her eyes darted around. The inside of her head felt like a pressurized pipe seconds away from bursting.

Olivier's golden eyes shone through the darkness around her. His head rested on the cold, concrete floor. Dried blood and grime matted his hair against his forehead. Small cuts, some partially healed and others fresh, marred his dirty face. His cashmere sweater sported more bloodstains than before. Every breath the man took was slow and ragged.

Makaela struggled to steady her breath. Stumbling forward, she gripped the bars of his cell. Invisible arms squeezed her body, constricting like a boa and robbing her lungs of air. Her choppy breaths mixed in with her uncle's labored ones.

He was alive, but barely.

She should've been relieved. Grateful, even. But all she felt was immense, crushing guilt.

He was there because of her. She told him-promised him-she'd come back for him.

But there he was, locked away in a cell because she broke that promise. She lied. No one had come back for him. He had been left to fend for himself against the Shades and their sinister psyches. Who knew what they had done to him over the past few days?

She called out to him again, her voice raw.

He didn't hear her. That's when she remembered. She wasn't there.

He was alone.

This was the man who raised her like she was his own child. The man who taught her magic. The man who taught her to protect herself. He was there when no one else was. He had always been thee.

But when he needed her the most, she wasn't. He was there, broken and afraid, in a cell because of her. Because of her weakness. She couldn't protect him the way he protected her all those years. Her weakness got him captured. It got him tortured.

Tears spilled from her eyes. She couldn't stop them, no matter how hard she tried.

Crying was for weak little girls. Yet, she had been doing a lot of it recently. Much more than she would've liked.

A voice in the back of her head told her that's exactly what she was: a weak little girl who couldn't save any of the people she loved.

Her parents, her housemates, her uncle. Even Sebastian.

She couldn't protect anyone of them.

Sniffling, she wiped her eyes and hung her head.

"I'm glad you are here."

Makaela froze. Fear stabbed her heart with a hot knife.

She spun around. A maskless Thorian stood mere inches away from her. His Shade robes were gone. His hair had been taken out of its signature braid; platinum-colored locks fell down his shoulders like a river of silver.

Makaela stiffened under his stare.

Then it hit her.

"You brought me here."

He nodded. "I suspected you were dreamwatching me before, but I wasn't sure." He smiled. "Now I know."

"I'm going to kill you," she told him. The tears were gone from her eyes. All that was left was uncontrollable rage.

Thorian ignored her. "My great-grandfather was a dreamwatcher, you know. I suppose that's who I inherited the trait from." He gestured at his forearm. Blue veins stood out against his white skin. "Dark blood ran in his veins. It flows through mine." He pointed at her chest. "It's in you as well. We have much more in common than you might think, child."

Makaela was caught between laughing and screaming.

"We have nothing in common. You hear me? Her face shook with anger. "Nothing!"

"You know nothing, child."

"Why did you bring me here? Actually, how did you even bring me here?"

"With great practice, you can control much more than your dreams."

"Answer my question, Thorian."

He ran a hand over his ghoulish face and exhaled like an exasperated parent. "Please, I am trying to have a civil conversation-"

"Civil?" She laughed incredulously. "Do you hear yourself? You just invaded Hodvekt and murdered Achilles. You killed my parents, my entire house." She pointed at her uncle's cell. "You did that! And now you want to have a 'civil conversation'?" Scoffing, she shook her head.

He was out of his mind.

"I did what I had to do!" Thorian roared. Makaela recoiled. For a split second, fear replaced her anger.

"I gave you chance after chance after chance. Do you think I enjoy killing magicians? I'm trying to bring our people together. All the houses. Eldaires and Solaires. But you and my traitor son keep standing in my way."

Makaela backed away from him. He vanished, only to reappear behind her. His cold hands gripped her shoulders. She felt his fingernails dig into her skin.

It was the first thing she had ever truly felt while dreamwatching.

"What do you want?" Her tone was rigid as her body was.

"I brought you here to explain. I...I need you to understand."

"There's nothing for me to understand."

Thorian paused. "I'm not proud of everything I have done. But I cannot change the past. I can only influence the future. Our future. I am trying to build a better world for us and our people. Why can't you see that?"

"I brought you here to explain. I...I need you to understand."

Makaela turned around. "And how exactly do you plan to do that? You get all seven artifacts, and then what? Are you going to enslave all the ordinaires? No, you wouldn't do that. You'd just kill them all instead."

"It's what they deserve!"

"You're a monster."

"Don't pretend to know me, child. You haven't seen the things I have."

They went quiet for a moment before the dark magician continued.

"There was a time when magicians and ordinaires lived in unity, fully away of each other's existence. We shared out magic with those who had none. They worshiped us like gods. Then they turned on us. I suppose they didn't value us and our magic anymore. Perhaps they were jealous. Or maybe they were afraid of our power. The reason doesn't matter. What matters is that they started hunting us down, using our own magic and weapons against us. They sent us into hiding. Us!" He chuckled. "Magicians-beings who could end their lives with the swipe of a hand."

As much as she hated him, she couldn't ignore the truth in his words.

Magicians should've never had to hide from ordinaires. This world was theirs too. As a child, her uncle told her the old Eldenarian Council wanted to avoid conflict at all costs. So, they retreated into hidden cities and erased their names from history, reducing their legacies to myths and legends.

But Thorian didn't want to live in harmony with ordinaires. He wanted to conquer them. He wanted to destroy them. Makaela disliked ordinaires as much as the next magician, but she couldn't condone punishing billions for acts carried out centuries ago.

"You understand what I'm saying. I know you do," Thorian pressed. "Makaela, join me. We can bring about a new golden age for our people. We can accomplish great things together. I've seen the future and it's bright. I need you by my side."

The mere thought made her stomach turn.

Thorian reached out to touch her. She flinched away from his hand.

"Don't ever touch me," she hissed. "I will never join you."

"Never say never, Makaela." Straightening his shoulders, peered past her and at the man in the cell at her back. "Perhaps there is something I could do to persuade you."

Makaela glared at him.

"I'm going to find him. And when I do, you're going to wish you killed me when you murdered my parents."

His eye twitched.

Confidence swelled within her. She stepped forward until she was right in front of him.

"I was there that night, you know. I saw what you did," she whispered. His eyes widened. "I hid in that wardrobe while you murdered them. If only you had seen me too."

"I truly apologize for what I did to you, Makaela." He gently lifted her chin with his knuckle. "But it had to be done. Your parents, your house. They failed to see the bigger picture. They would've opposed me until the end." He took a breath. "I can teach you things beyond your wildest dreams, child. Things your people could've never taught you. The dark blood of Mauvorin resides in you just like it does me."

"What are you talking about?"

"They never told you?"

"Told me what?!"

Her brain recalled the scathing words spoken to her by his Shades back at Nightfall. They called her a halfling. A monster.

What did that mean?

"I cannot say I'm surprised they never told you about your true heritage. Pierre was ashamed of it. He was ashamed of you."

"That's not true." She shook her head. "That's not true!"

"Oh, but it is."

"Stop talking. Right now."

Thorian didn't listen. "Your mother was a creature of the dark, Makaela," he explained. "A Nightling."

A shrill ringing filled her ears as she blinked rapidly. Her throat closed up and her legs threatened to give out.

Makaela wiped her eyes. "You're lying."

Nightlings weren't real. They were constructs of the imagination, figures woven from darkness by mothers who wanted their children to behave. They weren't real. They existed only in stories and books.

Her mother couldn't be one of them.

"Don't you wonder how you've been able to perform dark spells?" Thorian smiled. "Yes, I've heard about what you've done. The blood of your mother runs through you. It makes you strong. It makes you dangerous. Your father hid the truth from you. He never wanted you to learn of your true nature. He was afraid of what you'd become."

Makaela couldn't speak.

She wished he was lying. She wished that he was trying to get into her head.

But she remembered how her mother looked the day she died. Her eyes were blacker than obsidian. Elongated nails had grown from her fingers. Her teeth were sharp like fangs.

That wasn't normal. For years, the image had been buried deep in her mind. Now it was free.

Thorian was right. Her father lied.

She couldn't stop the tears from cascading down her cheeks.

"I can help you reach your potential," Thorian told her. "No one will ever understand you the way I do. Under my teachings, you can become the most powerful magician this world has ever seen. At my side, we can rule this world together."

The whispers in her ear returned. They urged her to accept Thorian's offer. To join him and leave her friends behind. To fulfill her destiny.

"Can..." She swallowed hard. "Can I think about it?"

The words tasted like poison on her tongue.

"Of course, child." He pulled something out of his pocket. Taking her hand, he closed the object-a black lotus medallion-in her hand. "When you decide, use this to find me. And, please, come alone."

She glanced at the medallion. It felt like ice in her palm.

Thorian smiled. "We will accomplish great things together, Makaela."

Then he vanished, leaving her alone in the dark.

She wasn't sure what possessed her to accept it. There was no way she would join him.

The whispers in her ears told her she would. She screamed at them to leave her alone.

Breathing heavily, she turned to her uncle's cell. The dreamscape around her began to fade away.

"I come back for you, Uncle Ollie," she whispered.

Her vision waned and the darkness swirled around her like a tornado. She closed her eyes. A cool breeze hit her dark skin.

"I promise."