A dream that never seemed to end, he watched his sister taken by the wraith, he heard the laughter all around him and then the spear of black smoke pierced Keira's chest. He saw himself lying on the ground, clawing at his chest in agony as the spirit within his amulet was taken, and destroyed. The images that tormented him continued on, cycling over and over again.

It wasn’t only what happened but what could have been. He saw Faye breaking down, her aura giving in to the miasma and then the same spears of smoke stabbing her. He saw Sara fighting with incomprehensible numbers of wraiths until overwhelmed and the golden glow of her aura vanished into darkness. He watched as Ronan tried to invoke more and more spirits only to become consumed by his own flame, the eruption he witnessed at the pool engulfing him in the same way it had his sister.

The others from his section, each would flicker in his mind, broken and torn apart by the miasma or the wraiths. William desperately tried to save them only to leave himself open and be torn apart with a vengeful ferocity. He watched everyone die and he couldn’t do anything about it.

But it was a dream, a dream that never seemed to end.

It’s time you remembered.

The thought filled him and the images that had danced around his mind disappeared. It came from somewhere within, deep within as it had many times before, though before it was always a warning. But now it was as though someone was talking to him, another voice, another being that nestled underneath his mind.

The scenes of death vanished, the pain that reminded him of what had happened and what could happen again left and instead the world from his past appeared. A beautiful land, green, and lush, with trees that soared to the sky. A pool of crystal clear water stretched out in front of him with a large waterfall that poured down from a jagged ridge above. Paddling near the edge of the pool was a young girl, smiling, laughing, happy in her joyful splashing.

His sister seemed so innocent and the sight of her in the water brought a pang of pain from the reality of what became her. He looked down at his body and realised he was a child again, a small boy waiting at the edge of the pool for his mother who was preparing lunch nearby.

“Finn, come help me with this and get your sister, I don’t want her in the pool alone.”

He turned towards the voice, turned to see his mother. She was standing under a tree with wide branches that sheltered her from the bright sun. There was a large boulder with a variety of other stones scattered around it and she was taking items out of a basket that sat on one of the middle stones. She had medium-length hair, neatly cut and wore a long, light dress that danced in the wind.

Mixed emotions filled him; sadness at the sight of his lost mother but the joy of seeing her again. She seemed happy, carefree as she prepared their lunch and waited for them to come to her. He started walking, wanting to run with a desire to hug his mother again but he was not in complete control of the memory and his body wouldn’t let him. After a few steps, his body forced him to turn back to his sister.

“Fee, it’s time for lunch, come on.”

He had no intention of speaking the words and he wasn't sure where the voice came from but the memory forced him to speak. She didn’t respond but continued to dance and play in the water. He shook his head and continued walking back to his mother. When he got there he brushed himself off and stood, grinning and waiting for her to acknowledge him while he desperately wanted to jump forward and embrace her. But when she turned, her gaze drifted away and she charged past him, dropping everything she was holding.

“Fiona, no!”

She yelled as she ran and he turned to see his sister floating further into the middle of the pool. It was not because of where she was going but what was waiting for her there. A white horse, its nose stretched out to meet the hand that was coming towards it from his sister but it was not in the water. It stood on the surface as though it was solid but the ripples that extended out from his sister's splashing brushed along its hooves.

“Horsey!”

The girl called back, swimming further towards the horse. It was a beautiful stallion that was far larger than any other he had seen with muscular shoulders and a long white mane. There was a hint of blue that sparkled under the sun like specks of water on glass but it appeared as dry as he was.

His mother was glowing, a blue aura that matched the light of the spirit that saved him in the sanctuary, the part deep within him and his own spiritual form. She drew out the knife and for a moment it looked just as the one his father gave him, the artefact he had stowed away, the last piece of his mother but it quickly changed. The blade grew longer, a silver, delicate and intricate design etched along it while the aura pulsed over the weapon. She was charging for the water but by the time she reached the edge of the pool, his sister had touched the horse's nose and she was too late.

The stallion screamed in a way that no other horse could make, its mouth opening to reveal not the dull teeth he’d expect but sharp fangs that bore down on the girl's arm. She cried out in pain as blood poured from the wound and the horse lifted her and then swung around to dive into the water. Both the girl and the horse disappeared into the water which should not have been deep enough to contain such a large beast. His mother leapt forward with a cry but when her feet came down and should have gone through the surface, she remained on top as though it had turned to ice.

She ran towards the place where the creature had stolen his sister and dropped to her knees, beating on the surface of the water with cries and screams of pain and fear. She stood back up and with the aura enshrouding her blade, she struck at the surface of the pool but nothing happened, the weapon brushed over the surface without leaving a mark or changing the flow of water below.

He ran to the side of the pool and she yelled back at him to stay there. Again she struck at the water, chopping and slashing with all her might, her aura growing more intense with each blow but nothing was happening. From his position, he could see through the darkness and watched as the beast below was not just drowning his sister but had started to tear through her flesh with those sharp teeth. A predator that had caught its prey, it would soon devour her.

His mother was in full panic but had given up on her slashing attack on the surface. Instead, she took the knife and sliced open the palm of her hand. Blood poured, dripping to the water below where it sat as everything else had remained on the solid surface. She dropped back down and started using the blood to draw symbols on the strange unnatural water. Tears streamed from her face, she cried for help as she continued to draw what he recognised as runes.

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She created the circle with the same style as others he had been learning but they were not clear, she was using her blood and a finger to make the marks which he knew had to be precise. He didn’t recognise any of the runes, they didn't even resemble the ones he knew or had seen Ronan create.

She started a second layer, it was complicated, more so than any he had seen, even the runes Ronan had written to fight in the forest. When she completed the second ring within the first, she started a third. It didn’t make sense, Ronan never even mentioned overlapping the runic circles but she kept adding more. After the third ring, there was almost no space left in the middle for the final rune. That was answered when she squeezed her hand so that blood pooled and then slammed it into the place where the named mark should have been. He felt it as much as saw, her aura bloomed in full radiance and all the runes in the circle ignited at once.

“Ceotir…”

He turned to see his mother standing beside him, at least another version of her. She was wearing the same long, light dress, the same cropped hair but there was no pain on her face. She wasn’t crying or distressed but solemn as she watched the scene that froze before them. More so than that, she wasn’t entirely there, he could see the trees and land behind her, through her, an ethereal ghost-like nature. She turned to face him and a gentle smile appeared on her delicate features.

“I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “So I did everything.”

They both turned back to the scene they were watching and the sky above darkened. A storm swelled in the area that remained frozen in time other than the wind around them that continued to grow, bending trees and shifting stones.

“While in the guild, I was sent to a realm of darkness. Plagued by a thick black smoke that light barely penetrated, everyone who had gone before became lost. But my party and I were confident, we were sure we could conquer it.”

The wind continued to swirl around them while clouds formed above and there was a rumble of thunder in the distance. The scene over the pool remained still, as though waiting for the world to fall into place before it was allowed to continue.

“Ceotir was the translation given to us, we were told it was the name of the realm. Otherwise known as the land of mists.”

The surface of the water cracked like ice, first starting under the marks of the runes but quickly extending over the entire surface. Then in one motion, the water erupted, exploding upwards like glass but turning into droplets as they reached the air above. The woman, his mother in the water, fell in slow motion and the white horse that dragged his sister under burst through to meet her face on.

“We were foolish,” the ethereal version of his mother continued, they had become bystanders to the scene that was playing out before them.

“My entire party, my friends from years before—they all died that day.”

The scene sped up, playing out in real-time again and the horse rose itself upwards and bit down on his mother’s shoulder. It tore a chunk and then raised itself up but his mother was equally quick and slashed across the beast's chest with her blade. The cut was deep and between the blood from her shoulder and that of her target, the water turned red. It screeched a horrible sound and lunged forward to snap at her other arm. She cried out in pain from the wound and stabbed again at the creature that charged forward towards where he stood with her wrapped around its neck.

“While I was fighting to survive, after half of my friends had been killed and we were trying to escape—I discovered the truth. Ceotir was the mist itself, and it was alive, a spirit, a demon, whatever you wanted to call it. That black smoke that changed shape and form, that ate at our sanity and tore us apart was as alive as we were.”

The beast and his mother, now in a battle to kill one another, landed on the shore in front of him. Blood poured endlessly from their wounds until his mother made one final strike with all her might and energy, the blade extending out and severing the horse's head. There was even more blood than he could have imagined; the scene was horrific and now as close as he was, he found himself covered in it. The beast fell back into the water and sank into depths that didn’t exist until it disappeared into the darkness of the pool.

“I discovered the runes in that realm, I wrote them down, I studied them, I took them with me. I didn’t know what it would summon, but I knew it was powerful. It was after that when I was able to escape but the rest of my friends weren’t so lucky. Only now can I see that it was because I was carrying the runes that I was allowed to leave.”

His mother draped half in the water and bleeding profusely when a shadow appeared over the pool. It was the same smoke of the wraiths, the smoke that his sister had cast before, the same smoke that had plagued him for all this time. The figure was carrying his sister, lifeless in its arms.

“It was after that when I quit the guild and left with your father. I never tried to use the runes, never tried to summon whatever it was that would come from them. I never knew that they were to call upon Ceotir itself, but when I thought I was about to lose your sister to that beast, I did everything I could to save her.”

The dying form of his mother reached out to the shadow that carried his sister, yet it didn’t respond, it didn’t move to give the child to their mother. They seemed to be arguing, something internal between them that he couldn’t hear.

“Ceotir wanted her form, he was going to devour her soul and take her body to be free and roam the world as a physical being. I was dying, I was injured from the fight, I was losing too much blood and I had to protect her.”

He watched as his mother in her dying stance drew her blade and turned it over before striking it into her own heart. The demon, the creature of smoke exploded outward and the darkness engulfed the pool and his mother's body. He dropped to his hands and knees, the force of the memory taking over again and he found himself crawling over to where she would have been but blocked by the black smoke, the mist of Ceotir.

“I severed my soul—my ally, the spirit of the knife helped me and carried my protection to her through itself. But that wasn’t enough, after the fight, we weren’t strong enough and Ceotir, to this day, bombards her from inside, tempts her and tries to take over her body.”

The smoke faded and as it did, his mothers reached out from the water to grab him. She pulled herself up and hugged him, the blood from her open wounds continuing to pour over his small body as she kissed his cheek and whispered something in his ear.

“I split my soul in half. One piece to protect her from the monster I called and the other I placed inside you. I hoped it would give you strength, shield you from pain and one day, I hoped that you'd save her.”

The woman fell into the water and as the beast had before, she disappeared into the shallow pool as though it was a deep ocean. His sister was standing in front of him, now awake and alive, her body recovered from the wounds and the knife in hand. A smile appeared on her face as she looked at him and then she laughed with the glee and freedom that only the young can hold, just as he remembered.

“Ceotir has corrupted her all these years, she’s not the same but she’s not completely lost to it either. I don’t know if she can be saved. My poor child, I’ve left a terrible burden on you. Just know that no matter what you do, what you decide, I’ll always love you.”

He looked around but the ethereal form of his mother had disappeared, the grass below vanished and the world faded into nothing so that the only thing left was the sight of his sister. But with her laughter dispersing into the void, even she started to leave him. His emotions, his mind, everything was running so fast that he couldn’t handle it but there was only one real thought that remained within him and as he thought it he spoke it.

“I love you, I miss you—thank you, and goodbye.”