They found an area secluded from the wind with a clear view of the stars. There they sat down to rest. Kiyora spoke with the trees around while William set down his bedroll. Massacre was looking at him pointedly. William sighed before drawing out the harp and almost beginning to play. Then he stopped.

"Massacre," he said, "if I play this music, it might draw the creature to us."

"Oh, don't worry about it." said Kiyora, "You can't get so caught up in these things."

"Have you been paying attention?" asked William.

"It was a nightmare," said Kiyora, "it happens sometimes. The best thing is to forget them."

With a sigh, William began to play the harp. The melody resounded through the trees, and he found his frayed nerves calming at the sound of it. Massacre, too seemed to be calming, and Kiyora sat down to listen. He played and played until he was tired of it, and then he stopped. By then, Massacre was sleeping.

"You have a lot of talent with that," said Kiyora.

"It's the harp," said William. "The worst musician in the world could make beautiful music with this. Though Rusara taught me how to play."

"I'm terrible with musical instruments," said Kiyora. "When I was a little kid, I wanted to join the school band, but I was so bad they kicked me out."

"About this school, you keep referring to," said William. "Is it like those in Magicora?"

"Magicora?" asked Kiyora. "What's that?"

"It is a city far from here where many wielders of magic study together," said William. "I don't really know much about them. They teach people to commune with spirits and have a wealth of knowledge about the world beyond. Rusara studied there, actually.

"Father has been trying for years to get some of their texts for our library back home, but he hasn't managed it yet."

"Well, we don't get taught magic if that's what you mean," said Kiyora. "Nothing so interesting. No, we learn normal stuff. Mathematics, literature, history, homemaking, martial arts, that sort of thing."

"Oh, so it's academic," said William. "They have such places in Calisha, or so I am told. And also on the elvish reservations."

"Elvish reservations?" asked Kiyora, an edge in her tone. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Um..." William tried to think of a way to say things tactfully. "A long time ago, the elves were the supreme rulers of the world. They didn't really regard those they called lesser races as people. So they tried to exterminate us. But Elranor came, and he organized us with aid from the dragons, Smyngoth and Vrengar. They gave us a fighting chance.

"Then our greatest king, Anoa the Bright, came to power. He rallied all the races together and conquered the whole of Harlenor. The wars were bloody; both races were waging wars of extermination against each other. But there were a lot more of us, so the elves were overwhelmed.

"Eventually, Elranor brooked a treaty with Alchara, the goddess of the elves. He gave them the whole of Seathorius. But they were weak after the wars. So the Dust Elves stole a large part of the territory from them. They were the ones who built Baltoth's Retribution. Meanwhile, Anoa founded Harlenor. He and his heirs expanded it throughout their lifetimes."

"And I subconsciously desire to exterminate my species." reflected Kiyora. "Weird. So you're from this Harlenor place, then?"

"How can you not know all this?" asked William.

"I'm not really big on history, even in the real world," said Kiyora with a shrug.

"Well-" William began. Then suddenly, he stood up, feeling a familiar presence approaching. He was here.

Then a shape burst out of the shadow of a tree and fell at their feet. It was covered in filthy rags and breathing heavily. Its skin was dark, and as William kneeled by it, he confirmed who it was. "Felix!"

Felix looked up, eyes bleary. "It... I heard music... came..."

William set a hand on his shoulder and called upon the energy which had possessed him before. It surged into Felix, and William felt it is restoring the boy's strength. Cuts and bruises on him were healed, and he arose, bleary-eyed.

"Can I... can I have some water?" asked Felix.

William offered him the last of his canteen, and Felix drank it in gulps. Then, finally, he looked up. His eyes were wild with fear. "We have to get away from here now," said Felix. "That thing is coming."

"We may have already met it," said William. "Kiyora, come on, we need to go."

"But we just got here," said Kiyora. "Can't we rest-"

"Felix knows what he is doing," said William. "The music probably attracted it. Now let's move." William rolled up his bedroll and stowed away his harp. Felix kneeled on the ground, bleary-eyed and unsteady as he did so. He looked like he had been lying in a ditch for a week, but it couldn't have been that long since they parted, could it?

Then came the groaning. The trees were moaning around them with effort. William looked around at them and realized that they were shifting. The wood was changing before his eyes. He'd thought that Baltoth's Retribution was the source of the instability in Seathorius. Instead, it seemed it was just another means of control.

He packed as quickly as he could. "Kiyora, do you know where we can find some water?"

"I'll ask the trees," said Kiyora before setting a hand on one of them. There was a long pause. Then she looked up, a little pale. "They're afraid. The trees are afraid. This has never happened before now."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Okay, but do you know where we can find some water?" asked William. "We won't get far without it."

"Um..." Kiyora concentrated. "Okay, they've agreed to lead us to a pool. But... they want us to get out of here. They're trying to stop him from coming, but he is forcing his way through."

"We should make a break for it," said Felix. "Run now."

Massacre made a sound in agreement. William considered the idea but shook his head. There was no time, but they could not wait.

"We need water first," said William. "We have no idea how far away we are. Or how often we'll find water."

"Can we go, please?!" asked Kiyora.

As it turned out, the trees led them away. They saw no sign of whatever struggle was taking place beyond their sight. The roots and branches seemed to duck out of their way. They almost bowed before Kiyora as they made their way onwards. Even so, it was hardly easy, for Felix seemed on the brink of collapse.

Every so often, he would stumble, and William would have to stop him from falling. Finally, the ground sloped downwards and became rocky and easy to trip over, and the going became harder. Finally, Felix dropped to his knees and breathed for air, unable to rise.

"Felix," said William, "it is only a little further."

"How can you know that?" snapped Felix, "I've been running and hiding for days... that thing is still out there..."

"That is exactly why we need to keep moving," said William. "We're moving away from it right now. And we need to keep running away from it.

Then there was an ungodly shrieking noise, not precisely heard but felt in their souls. William felt they were in terrible danger, and Felix felt the same. The other boy bolted forward, tripping over a loose stone and picking himself up in moments. They ran the rest of the way, sprinting through the rough ground as they got lower and lower. William found his strength diminishing, and Felix was on his last legs. Kiyora didn't seem used to this running, yet she seemed the least concerned of the four of them. Massacre raced ahead, occasionally doubling back to find them struggling to keep up.

His heart beat faster and faster, his legs ached, and his pace began to slacken. They were all tired, too tired to keep on moving. Then William saw something horrible out of the corner of his eye. He was spurred on in a panic, finding he had more strength than they had thought. The path led them ever onward until, at last, they came to a large stream running through the woodlands. Here they stopped in exhaustion. William filled his water skin, drank it, and filled it again. Felix and Kiyora did the same, and all three of them washed the dirt and grime from them as quickly as they could. Finally, all three of Massacre's heads drank the water thirstily.

"Why... why are you traveling with the chimera?" asked Felix. "And what is she doing here?" He looked to Kiyora.

"Oh, Massacre?" asked William. "She saved me from the demoness, and I healed her. We've been hard put to it. What have you been up to?"

"I made for Artarq as you said," said Felix. "But then I ran into a... something, I'm not sure what. I never saw it full-on, but it wasn't very pleasant. Just... horrible. I ran from it. I didn't know where I was going, so all I could do was try to stay alive.

"I forgot things, everything, even my name. Then I heard the music of that harp. I recognized it... though I needed to figure out where and I followed after it. Things started coming back to me. Then I found you."

"Then I'm very glad Massacre wanted to hear the music," said William. "What you saw is called Laughing Wraith. I gather Kiyora has clashed with him before." The pain in his scar returned, and he winced.

"I haven't fought him if that's what you mean." said Kiyora "I don't fight; I help people. People fight each other, but I don't dream about committing violence."

"We should rest here for the night, violence or no." said William "I doubt we can go on any further."

Kiyora threw herself to the ground while Felix set about to make a fire. William drew out the book he had stolen from the mansion and began reading it. The wood began to burn, warming them; the others warmed their hands.

"William," said Kiyora, "what are you reading?"

"Oh, this?" asked William. "It appears to be a chronicle of a sorcerer named Emiran Alkatosh, who came to that mansion we saw. He wanted to study the nature of Seathorius in the hopes of harnessing it."

"What did he learn?" Kiyora asked, sitting up.

"Well, his accounts are pretty boring for the most part," said William. "At least so far. Emiran was a Calishan, I think. The name sounds Calishan."

"He was," said Felix. "Emiran was a powerful sorcerer who served in Baltoth's court. He fell out of favor, though, and retired. Eventually, he moved to Seathorius in the hopes of studying it. He gave several reports and then disappeared.

"I studied him when my mother and I still lived in Calisha."

"Emiran seems to have been busy," said William, "he used his powers to force the local satyrs to leave. This caused a migration of sorts. Then, once he'd claimed the area for himself, he started trying to harness the energies of this place."

"Wait a minute," said Kiyora. "I thought you said people could only use magic by drawing it from other sources."

"Yes," said William, "there are different types. For example, someone who draws power from a god is a holy agent. Someone who makes a pact with a demon is a heretic. Someone who deals with lesser entities such as nature spirits and djinn is a sorcerer. Now can I please continue?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," said Kiyora.

"Anyway, Emiran cleared out this whole region north of Baltoth's Retribution," said William. "And went there once himself, though he nearly got killed. He concluded that the magic of Seathorius comes from an outside source. The dreams and nightmares of people from this world and other worlds are made manifest here.

He seems to have contacted Kiyora to know how things worked." He looked up. "Why didn't you mention this?"

"Look, I've got a lot of worshippers. One guy asked me a bunch of questions I don't know the answers to isn't something I'm going to remember," said Kiyora. "He was a real jerk too. I'd never been in that mansion before; I'll tell you that."

"Well, whatever the case, it doesn't change what happened," said William. "Emiran looks to have become obsessed with harnessing Seathorius. He seems to have tried to have conjured up a dreamer of his own."

"What?" said Felix.

"He became obsessed with what he called dreamers. I guess that means people like Kiyora. He mentions them in almost every entry. He reasoned that since they can enter the world, there might be a way to draw them in." said William. "He seems to have consulted with Melchious on this subject. The two of them worked closely, hoping to summon a dreamer."

"What would Melchious gain from that?" asked Felix.

"I have no idea," said William. "Emiran suspected Melchious wanted a pawn. Someone to take control of the satyrs who didn't worship him. In this case, the dreamer would not have any of his memories. The idea would be that they could create an entity that could interact with the world like a dreamer. But they would be subservient to the two."

"Did it work?" asked Kiyora.

"I don't know," admitted William. "He didn't know either. He performed the ritual. However, his pentacle was meant for demons and otherworldly creatures. It escaped and began hunting them and everyone else in the region.

"It seems that his servants started having horrific visions and then dying. Emiran becomes increasingly desperate after that. It looks like he could not escape from Seathorius; he returned to the manor every time he tried to leave.

The last few passages are a frantic scrawl...

"'He is laughing.'"

"Oh, like the walls. So that's where Laughing Wraith came from," said Kiyora.

William and Felix looked up. "What?"

"Laughing Wraith," said Kiyora, "he was the other dreamer. Wow, I've got an evil counterpart; this is so cool!"

"You might show some moderate concern at all this," said William.

"Nah," she said with a yawn. "Well, I'm going to sleep. Good night."

And she lay down before almost at once falling asleep. William shut the book and stowed it away back in his pack. He looked at Felix.

"I cannot read that girl," William said.

"I don't much care," admitted Felix.

William played the harp for Massacre again as the fires died and finally set down his bedroll. He lay back and waited for sleep to take him. The last thing he saw before he drifted off was two of Massacre's heads sleeping while the third stood guard.