My lungs burned as my legs pumped as fast they could. I knew this feeling well. This nightmare plagued my mind every night.

The knight’s tunic that I wore was torn and drenched in my own blood. The place where my captain badge usually sat was the most damaged from countless lunges for it.

My vision was stained with blood of many different colors as I ran blindly through the forest. I could feel stones and twigs through the worn soles of my boots.

A strip of fabric that I ripped from my pants was tied around what was left of my left arm as a tourniquet.

The sword that I held in my one remaining arm was chipped and stained with similar amounts of blood. I killed them. I had to.

The sight of my former subordinates' bodies lying lifeless on the ground was burned into my eyes. I saw it every time I closed my eyes. I didn’t mean to. This wasn’t what I wanted.

A bell sounded from far behind me. I didn’t look back. I couldn’t bear to see who was following me. I knew by heart how this played out by now.

All I needed to do was just keep my eyes in front of me and keep running. I had to wake up eventually. I always did.

The town in the distance never seemed to get closer. No matter how long I ran, it always stayed an unreachable distance away.

The sound of my name echoed through the wind and trees. Someone called after me as my feet beat a path through the forest. The voice was familiar but was not one that haunted my dreams.

The voice was female and sounded slightly annoyed at me but also bored. As I whipped my head around, my eyes opened and I saw the dank ceiling above me.

“Dude finally,” Alania groaned, “Why do you sleep like the dead? And do you always sweat that much when you sleep? You got my sheets all gross.”

I had only fallen asleep about three hours ago. As most nights go, I spent most of the night staring at the ceiling trying to convince my body that it was safe to sleep here. But I could see sunlight shining down the staircase into the dank basement. It was already morning.

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I could feel an indent on my face from where it had lain on my prosthetic in my sleep. My prosthetic felt stiff as it always did without hours of stimulation.

I got out of the small but comfortable bed and stretched my arms above my head and then reached down to touch my toes. This was just for my fleshy body parts, I had to do something different for my metal arm. I placed my good hand on the glowing joint and let out a small burst of wind to loosen it up.

I could hear a faint click along with a feeling of looseness in my arm. I stretched just my left arm in the air and I stayed there until I felt a pop in my shoulder.

Alania was still lingering in the room and observing my movements with a watchful eye. I flicked the air and put as much of my magic as I could into it. Alania was forced back a few steps and out the door. The wooden door slammed shut behind her.

A noise of indignancy came from the other side of the door before I could hear her footsteps leading away.

An air of urgency had surrounded Alania all week. Despite never being around her before this, I could tell something was off with her attitude. It seemed like she was trying to be more confident than she really was.

The room that I was in seemed to be a repurposed closet but it was still one of the nicer places I had spent the night. As I grabbed my coat off of the shelf I hung it on, it knocked a small wooden chest onto the ground. The loud noise startled me as an array of photos spilled out across the floor.

When I went to pick them up, I noticed that most of them were of Alania and an unfamiliar Luna Mothfolk. Her skin was pale green and covered in yellow patches all over. In most of them, her four arms were lovingly wrapped around Alania. But it wasn’t anyone that I had seen at the meeting the previous day.

With the way that Alania seemed to be staring at her in most of the photos, it looked like she was the leader, not Alania. There was a look of admiration that seemed to lace every action. Was this Seraphina? Was this why she was acting off?

I gathered up the scattered photos and piled them all back in the box. This wasn’t any of my business. I didn’t want them in mine so I wouldn’t look into theirs.

Sitting where I had placed it last night, my satchel was lying open on top of a pile of various invoices. Wait, did I leave it open last night? I can’t remember. I shoved all the trinkets that I had kept over the years back into the bag.

The golden star-shaped tassels on the ends of my coat jingled as I put it on. Looking in the mirror at the back of the door, I tied my shoulder-length hair back in a low ponytail.

I slung my satchel over my shoulder and opened the door. I glanced back at the bare room. Well, that's probably the nicest room I’ll sleep in for a while. If this mission doesn’t go off the rails then something is wrong with the world.