The carriage rolled to a slow halt as they reached one of Aramoor's great stone plazas. The clatter of hooves, the murmur of crowds, and the distant bells of temples surrounded them. The city's towering structures cast long shadows over the street, balconies, banners, market stalls, and stone arches that stretch toward the sky like the ribs of a giant beast.
Dream opened the carriage door and stepped out.
Erias followed him and froze.
His eyes widened like twin stars. Buildings are three stories high. Colourful markets. Temples carved into mountainsides. The distant glint of the king's palace atop the hill. The dazzling roar of a thousand lives unfolding in one breath.
His jaw fell open.
Dream watched him, a faint amusement touching his mortal features.
"Your first time in the city?" he asked.
Erias nodded wordlessly. "It's… beautiful. And huge. I've never seen anything like it."
Dream placed a few coins, a rather large amount, into the boy's hand.
"Explore," Dream said gently. "Buy whatever you wish. Food. Clothes. Trinkets. Anything that catches your eye."
Erias stared at the money as if afraid it might turn to dust.
"You're… sure?"
"Yes," Dream replied. "Just do not wander too far. And do not leave the plaza."
Erias bowed his head slightly, an instinctive gesture of respect, then ran off into the bustling marketplace, lost instantly among vendors and crowds.
Dream watched him go.
He waited until the boy was out of sight
and then took the reins of the horse and guided the carriage quietly into a narrow alley between two tall stone buildings.
Shadows closed around him.
Here, the city's noise became a distant hum.
Only then did Dream act.
He placed a hand on the horse's neck. The creature bowed, eyes glowing faintly with dreamlight.
"Return," Dream murmured.
The horse dissolved into shimmering mist. The carriage followed collapsing inward like a structure folding back into a dream, wood and iron evaporating silently.
Within seconds, nothing remained.
Dream stood alone in the alley, mortal form steady, divine essence hidden beneath flesh.
He exhaled one word:
"Seros."
The shadows rippled.
A seam opened in the air like a crack between sleep and waking.
Seros stepped through.
Her robes fluttered like fragments of starlit night. Her silver eyes glimmered with exhaustion and urgency.
"My lord," she said, bowing lightly.
Dream did not waste time.
"What have you found?"
Seros's expression darkened.
"The traitor is here," she whispered. "In this world this city."
Dream's gaze sharpened.
"And the others?"
Seros swallowed.
"My lord… half of his followers are with him. Half. Five hundred corrupted dream-born walk the waking world."
Dream's breath hitched not from fear, but from growing fury.
"And the other half?"
"Still in the dream realm," Seros said. "Preparing. Watching. Waiting. They will follow when the boundary weakens."
Dream closed his eyes, inhaling slowly. The air around him trembled.
An army in two realms.
A disease spreading in both worlds.
"And his goal?" Dream asked quietly.
Seros shook her head. "Unknown. But he is not hiding. He is gathering power rapidly."
Dream nodded once.
It was enough.
He raised a hand.
A fracture split the air at his feet dark, swirling, cold. From it crawled a shape forged from the deepest nightmares of the dream-realm.
A Nightmare.
Its form was shifting, shadow-horned, winged, eyes burning with silent hunger. A creature mortals instinctively feared.
It lowered its head to Dream as if kneeling.
Dream spoke softly, his voice edged with cosmic authority:
"Find the traitor."
The Nightmare hissed low, a sound like cracking stone.
"Find him as a mortal would. Smell his path. Sense the places where he feeds. And return to me."
The Nightmare bowed deeper, then dissolved into shadow, slipping through cracks between buildings and into the alleys of Aramoor hunting.
Seros stepped back.
"You have unleashed a terror among mortals," she whispered.
Dream's eyes were cold.
"The traitor unleashed far worse."
Seros bowed again.
"Shall I continue searching the dream realm?"
"Yes," Dream said. "Warn me of any movement. Any ripple. Any disturbance."
Seros touched her hand to her forehead a salute of the dream-born.
"As you command."
She dissolved into mist.
Dream was alone again.
Then
He felt it.
The boy searching for him.
Dream turned and walked out of the alley, stepping back into the lively plaza.
Erias stood near a fountain, clutching a small paper bag of pastries. His face brightened when he spotted Dream.
"There you are!" Erias said, hurrying over. "I thought you'd left without me!"
Dream gave a gentle, reassuring look.
"No. I had business."
The boy nodded, though he obviously had no idea what kind of "business" Dream meant.
He looked around, uncertain.
"So… where do we stay tonight?" Erias asked. "There must be inns. But the city is huge. I don't know how to choose."
Dream gazed across the capital the temples, the markets, the towers painted gold by the afternoon sun.
He sensed the traitor's shadow.
He sensed the Nightmare hunting.
He sensed danger tightening around the city like a coiling serpent.
But for now
The boy needed safety.
Dream placed a hand on Erias's shoulder.
"I know where we will stay," he said.
Erias blinked. "You do?"
"Yes."
Dream started walking.
"And with luck," he murmured, "our stay will be quiet."
But even I knew:
There would be no quiet in Aramoor.
Because the traitor was already moving.
And Dream's arrival had not gone unnoticed.