Night wrapped Aramoor in warm shadows, and from the window of the inn atop the cedar-lined street, the sounds of the great capital drifted softly into sleep. The city's torches glimmered like scattered stars, flickering against stone walls and winding roads.
Inside the room, Erias slept curled beneath blankets woven by Aelus's quiet magic dream-silk layered into warm mortal fabric.
Dream sat at the table, hood pulled low, pretending to read a traveller's ledger.
But his eyes watched the boy.
And when Erias's breathing shifted, when his mind loosened, when the veil between waking and dream parted
Dream felt it.
The boy crossed into the dream realm again.
Erias opened his eyes to a horizon of impossible colour.
He stood upon a field of floating light, where rivers drifted upward like silver smoke. Stars hung low, shimmering close enough to touch. Platforms of stone and cloud stretched across a sky with no end.
Erias blinked, turning slowly.
"This… this isn't a normal dream…"
He spun and froze.
A familiar figure stepped toward him.
"Seros…?"
She looked exactly as before: ageless, calm, robed in swirling starlight and moon-thread. Her hair moved without wind; her silver eyes glimmered softly.
"You return," she said, voice gentle. "Your mind crosses easily."
Erias swallowed.
"W what is this place? Who are you? Why am I here?"
"There is no time," Seros said, though her tone was kind. "A great one wishes to see you."
"A… great one?" Erias whispered.
"Yes," Seros replied. "One who guards this realm."
Erias's heart pounded.
"A god?"
"No," Seros said quietly. "Something else."
She placed a hand on his shoulder.
The sky cracked open.
Light pulled them both upward.
Erias gasped as the world dissolved, colours swirling, platforms folding, rivers bending into a great spiral.
Then
A hall emerged.
A hall larger than mountains.Columns taller than the sky.A floor of liquid starlight. Walls made of drifting constellations.
And at the far end
A throne.
Upon it sat a figure of living cosmos.
Not human.Not mortal.Not like any god Erias had heard stories about.
The being was carved from night and radiance, its hair falling like mist, shaped from galaxies themselves. Its eyes were swirling nebulae, burning and calm.
Erias's legs buckled.
He bowed instantly, trembling.
He did not know this being. He did not know any being like this.
This was not Varos.
This was someone something far beyond any name he knew.
Seros bowed beside him.
"Great Dream," she said, voice low.
Erias's chest tightened.
"D–Dream…? That's your name…?"
The great being leaned forward slightly.
Its voice rolled through the throne hall, deep and soft, like starlight turned into sound.
"Rise, mortal."
Erias stood, barely.
The being's presence pressed on his ribs and lungs. It was not hostile. But it was vast terrifyingly vast.
Dream's eyes dimmed into gentle spirals.
"You seek strength."
The words were not a question.
"Yes," Erias whispered. "I… I don't want to be helpless anymore."
"Why?" Dream asked.
Erias hesitated.
He remembered the bandits.
Varos is lying still. His own fear.His weakness.
He clenched his fists.
"I want to protect myself," he said. "Protect others. I want to stop being afraid all the time."
Dream's head tilted.
"You wish to fight."
"Yes."
"You wish to grow."
"Yes."
Dream's wings rustled softly.
"Strength is not a gift. It is not given. It is built."
Erias swallowed. "I'm ready."
Dream looked him over, seeing every spark of potential, every weakness, every hidden fire.
The cosmic being's voice dropped to something deeper, almost intimate.
"Then you will be trained."
Seros's eyes widened slightly.
Dream's gaze flicked to her.
"You will teach him."
Seros bowed deeply.
"At once, Great Dream."
Erias gasped.
"Y–you're going to train me? You… you're really going to?"
"Yes," Dream said. "But understand this."
The throne hall trembled.
"Strength will demand everything from you. Pain. Patience. Isolation. You will break before you rise."
Erias's knees shook, but he answered with all the courage he had:
"I accept."
Dream leaned back.
"Then your training will begin soon."
The hall dimmed.
"Now waken."
Erias's vision blurred.
The cosmos dissolved.
He fell.
He awoke with a gasp, sitting upright in his bed.
Morning sunlight filled the room. Dream, Varos was setting bread and fruit on the table.
Erias ran to him.
"Varos! Varos! I saw I saw someone some being this giant thing made of stars"
Dream lifted an eyebrow, calm and mortal.
"Slow down."
" I think it was a god!" Erias said breathlessly. "No, not even a god. Something… beyond that. Seros took me to him!"
Dream paused halfway through pouring tea.
"Oh?"
"He asked if I wanted to learn to fight. And he said someone named Seros would train me!"
Dream set the teapot down.
"You spoke to a powerful dream-being?" he asked slowly, playing the role perfectly. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure!" Erias insisted. "He sat on a throne. He was… huge. A thousand times stronger than any god in the stories."
Dream hummed thoughtfully.
"Well," he said softly, "dreams sometimes reflect our desires. Perhaps this being saw your wish to grow stronger."
"I don't think it was just a dream," Erias said.
Dream smiled faintly.
"Then perhaps your destiny stirs."
Before Erias could reply, someone knocked.
Dream opened the door.
Aelus stood there, eyes wide.
"Varos," Aelus whispered urgently. "One of Torvas's priests is searching for you and the boy."
Erias stiffened.
Dream's mortal face remained calm.
"Did he say why?"
"He senses something," Aelus murmured. "A presence he cannot name. A presence that arrived with you."
Dream exhaled quietly.
Of course. Torvas's priests could feel distortions in cosmic balance.
Aelus swallowed.
"What would you have me do?"
Dream looked at him.
And spoke softly:
"Keep the boy safe. No matter what."
Aelus bowed.
"As you wish."
Dream closed the door.
Erias looked up at him.
"Varos… what's happening?"
Dream took a slow breath.
"Something is moving in this city," he said. "And we must be ready."
Erias nodded slowly.
He didn't realise
He had already taken his first step onto a path that would reshape the fate of Vvralis.