Amaro hit the ground with a thud, groaning as he pushed himself up. He was in a forest of twisted trunks and knee-deep snow. Had he been transported outside? There was a faint light in the distance. He walked towards it. Pain shot up his right leg. His pant leg was soaked through with blood. Why wasn’t it healing?

The light grew brighter as he approached. Three figures sat around a campfire, their faces obscured by hoods. They did not have tails, were they human?

“Who are you?” He asked, “Can you help me I’m-” The figures all turned to him with unnatural speed, antlers poking past their hoods, two faint dots of light reflecting where their eyes should be. The eyes of predators. Their forms grew, pale legs sprouting from their lengthy robes until they loomed over Amaro. The flickering light of the fire showing those jagged grins before it vanished. He could not see in the dark anymore. All he could hear was the snapping of bone as their blackened silhouettes straightened out. Amaro tried to turn, but his leg gave out. He felt his back punctured, his spine was being extracted like a root from the ground. The pain was unimaginable. The forest around him vanished, replaced by hundreds of twisted figures.

He remembered now, he was the last survivor. The final rabbit among hungry wolves. Every safe bastion had fallen until now. He had held out hope that there was someone else. Foolish hope that those three had still been human since they huddled so closely to the light.

His name… what was his name again? If only he had more time to remember it.

It was just those monsters. They had lured him, and now they were laughing at his agony. His spine bent and snapped in half. They dug into him, pulling open his ribcage from the back and scooping him out and chewing his meat. They did not bother to swallow. They did not need to eat him. He couldn’t move. He longed for death. Those elongated fingers sunk behind his jaw and pulled his face from his body like a mask.

Death finally took him. He was spinning in the void, disoriented. The echoes of their laughter danced in his head.

A voice displaced the laughter, that same voice which had greeted him before.

For all that which persists, it is punished. For all that does not, it is punished more. Evil punishment finds its way to you whether you confront life or avoid it. When are you not punished?

Amaro felt the answer in his soul, and so did not hesitate, “When I’m dead.”

Wrong.

A pinhole of light shined through the darkness, expanding until Amaro once again found himself in Deka’s tent. He did not want to remember what had happened to him, and so he did not attempt to stop those dreamlike memories from fading away. Soon enough, all he knew is that he didn’t want to know. Even if his soul still knew what a fate worse than death was, at least his mind was safe from whatever horror he had just endured.

He buried his head in his hands. Was anyone else awake? Would they notice if he started to cry? Amaro had hoped that he would get to experience another wonderful vision of the future. Whatever he had come back from, he knew it was far from a happy vision. What had happened again? Why did he feel like crying?

He had likely failed another test. Whatever these scrolls were, it was not something they should be toying with. He noticed Deka begin to stir, “Damn it…” He spat under his breath.

Vilka stirred next.

“Did you find anything?”

Vilka bowed her head, “Regrettably, I failed.”

“Then what good are you?”

“Apologies, master.”

Amaro raised his head, attempting to act as if he had just come out of it.

“How was your first experience, Amaro?” Deka said, his tone having done a complete one-eighty, “Was it everything you imagined?”

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“I’m afraid I don’t remember exactly what happened in my vision, but all I know is that I failed.”

“Rather difficult, is it not?”

“Indeed. You would have to be a prodigy to get it on the first attempt. A prodigy greater than I, at least. How did yours go?”

“That much is true. I need not tell you how far along I am. Regardless of what Anitus has said, this is your reward. Even if it might benefit me to have more minds to decipher the scrolls, I am confident I can do it myself.. Even if it would take more time.”

“Why haven’t the others woken up yet?”

“They are likely still experiencing their visions. Whether that’s a good or bad thing I couldn’t tell you. As I warned you all, these scrolls have the potential of making you live an entire lifetime in a few minutes and then forgetting about it like it was just a dream. It also has the potential to burn away years of your actual life living only a few minutes in the vision.”

“How would we know the difference when it happens?”

Deka shrugged, “You won’t.”

“Then what if one of them experiences the wrong dream?”

“Oh, you can wake them up, but I and Vilka happen to be the only ones who know how.”

“Another bit of leverage for yourself, I take it?”

“You could say that. However, you are all more useful to me, conscious and sane at the moment- You know, that does give me an idea…”

“What?”

Deka waved his hand dismissively, “Nothing you need concern yourself with.”

Amaro did not like the sound of that. What was he planning? He looked to Kaara, and then to his siblings. At least he did not need to worry about them not waking up in the end, “How long will you give them?”

“I will give them until midnight before I wake them up.”

“And the second scroll?”

“Ah yes, I did promise to reveal a second scroll to you, didn’t I? Are you certain you still want to?”

“I’m not. In fact, I think we should bring these to the adults.”

“Denied.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t need to justify myself to a subordinate.”

“But don’t you see how dangerous this all is?”

Deka laughed dryly, “Hardly. The worst that happens is a bad experience in the vision, and then you forget all about it. There is only a small chance to encounter the wrong dream. The odds of both me and Vilka encountering it at the same time are slim to none. And if that happens, it will only take a few days before the adults wake us up instead.”

“So you’re planning to keep these scrolls for as long as possible. To what end?”

“As I said, I don’t need to justify myself to a subordinate,” Deka said coldly.

Amaro grit his teeth. Whatever knowledge was hidden in these scrolls was something Deka wanted for himself. Was it possible he thought the adults would take it from him? It’s not like he could judge that line of thinking. After all, he had done the exact same thing.

He looked to Kaara again, who slept so peacefully on the bed. Maybe if they had gone to the adults in the first place they wouldn’t be in any of this mess. He could have actually enjoyed the days leading up to the Siren Ceremony instead of fighting in someone else’s war.

He laughed to himself. He was thinking like an adult again.

One by one the rest began to stir. He had been worried a dullard like Raktus would be asleep forever, but he seemed fine. They traded stories. Raktus had been a pirate fairing the seas before being dragged into the depths by a three headed monster. Arik had been the fourth member in an expedition into the mountains which ended in a cave collapse. She did not remember what happened after that.

Rorik had no memory whatsoever, and neither did Anitus. They all looked to Kaara, who had been the last one to wake up, “How did it go? What did you see?”

Her eyes seemed to scan her surroundings. There was a blankness to them, her eyebrows knitting together.

“Kaara?” Arik said.

“Are you talking to me?” she said.

Arik laughed nervously, “Who else would I be talking to?”

“Where’s-” A tear rolled down her cheek, “Oh.” she quickly wiped it away, “Sorry, when I realized it wasn’t real…”

A gust of wind blew through the tent, Arik’s arms wrapped tightly around Kaara, “It’s alright, you’re back here, Kaara. You know your name is Kaara right?”

“Yeah! Don’t worry. I remember everything now.” She wrapped her arms around Arik, “It’s weird. It felt so long, but now when I look back on it, I feel like it was just another dream…It doesn’t feel like any time has passed, it doesn’t even feel as real as it was a few moments ago.” Her arms tightened, around Arik, “But it makes me sad to think it wasn’t real I guess.”

“What happened?” Amaro asked carefully.

He caught Kaara glance over to him, and then down at her feet, “I was a mother to three young xio. I still remember their names.” She swung her legs on the bed, “I like to think I was a good mother to them, even if I don’t remember everything I did.”

“What were their names?”

“Sudavon, Koliri, and Savekio.”