Chris dreamed and he cursed his mind for conjuring up a new nightmare from the one that had haunted him since his battle with the Dullahan.

This time he was not being harmed by the twisted mockery of his mother, for he stood on a hill with dry earth and dead twigs pressing against his bare feet so sharply that they felt like blades which would soon cut flesh and draw blood.

As he looked around this enviroment, he saw that he was standing in some valley, though he could not recognise it from any previous memory.

The trees and earth around him were bone dry, some sections of the valley were eroded and every single tree was completely dead from what he could tell. He listened to his enviroment and his experience from multiple patrols in the forests surrounding the capital had taught him that even in a forest like this, there should have been the sound of some sort of wild life, but not even the smallest insect could be heard.

He tried to move but his motor functions had been wrenched from his control and he could only observe this horror as a prisoner in his own flesh. In his frustration he tried cursing but his mouth didn't even register this desire.

He then heard whispering coming from the darkest and deepest pits of the valley that was clouded in shadows so thick that he could discern anything within them.

The voices were a thousand mixed in one and Chris felt his muscles relax as his worries wash away as a deep yearning to meet the legion of voices.

It was like his very existence belonged to only finding the source of the voices and claiming it. He desperately tried even harder to thrash against the invisible force that had bound him in place.

To his joy the shadows began to extend over the valley as if in response to his desire. Like large out stretching arms did they come swallowing everything in their path.

The trees and earth became blurs before vanishing into shadow as if being consumed by it. Chris's anticipation grew as everything within him screamed to be embraced the shadows.

As the shadows reached within inches of him, he felt a pair of hands grab onto his shoulders and with a powerful jerking motion yanked him backwards and out of his dream.

His eyes though heavy and sore shot open to find Pyrrha Ulster hovering above him with her hands resting solely on his shoulders while her face scanned his own in concern.

His heartbeat was so fast it felt like any second from now it would explode by how fast it was beating. His body was drenched in so much sweat that it looked like he had taken a dip in a pool of water and his lungs hurt with each breath as if he had been running for hours without rest.

"What...?" his pained lungs made his question almost too painful to ask but Pyrrha understood and she produced a face cloth from her pocket and she began whipping his face of the sweat.

Chris wanted to move his head away from her so that she couldn't see his cheeks that were red hot as an after affect of her being so close to his half naked frame, but his body felt drained of all it's strength.

"You were screaming and thrashing in your sleep" She stopped talking as she looked at him and she clearly saw his blush.

A small moment of silence followed them. Chris could see her cheeks reddening and his body felt hotter.

"Is just me or is it getting hot in here?" he wanted to smack himself in the face as he thought, "Idiot, why would you say anything flirty at a time like this you fool ".

Pyrrha looked like she was about to stutter out something but she simply went to open the window which allowed fresh air to wash the heat off of his body and probably off hers as well.

"Fourth time this week," she said as she walked towards her bed.

"Fourth time?" Chris asked her in surprise. "What in Lezas name is wrong with me?"

He had been in the Spinxans medical wing for six days now. Not even Avalons amazing advancements in the medical field could help you heal from multiple broken ribs, a cracked orbital bone and a torn ACL in less than a week. Chris didn't think that it was that serious, even if the Provincial Minister and Mayor tried to raise a big stink about it in some childish quest to undermine each other.

"It's blight sickness," Pyrrha responded.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"And that is?"

"You were exposed to some serious Dark energy. The mental scars and nightmares last for ten days at most," she replied and Chris groaned in frustration as he thought about having these nightmares for six more days.

"You got hurt as well, are you... you know?" Chris asked her as he thought, "Why the hell am I asking her this, I don't even like her? "

Pyrrha did not meet his gaze, in fact she did not even meet his question with a response, she simply asked him,"Do you remember when we were kids and you would obsessively collet those trading cards?"

"Yeah, I remember," Chris responded, his mind drawn back to a better time, but those memories soured as some others resurfaced to his consciousness.

"I also remember a friend who hated and almost killed me," he said and the tranquil smile was washed off the elfs face.

"I did... I... I didn't mean it," Pyrrha stuttered out and Chris could not help but sneer in anger.

"Dont give me that, you can satisfy others with that nothing response, but I was your best friend one, and you betrayed me, almost killed me, I deserve to know why!" he demanded with such fury that his voice reverberated across the entire wing.

But he didn't care if anyone heard him or if he was waking up whatever other few patients remained in the wing, he had to know the truth.

Pyrrha tried to open her mouth and argue but she saw the raw determination upon his face and she relanted saying, "When your mother's other half was corrupted, she almost killed my mother and my father joined those who sided with her. My home life was destroyed and I was so angry that I thought lashing out would fix it but I was wrong, I was a foolish chil..."

The door to the wing was swung wide open and a doctor came in. His white and black clothing mixed with the lamp that held into made him appear otherworldly.

"Are you two still awake at this witching hour?" He demanded in shock. "Off to bed with the lot of you. Now rest, heal and get the hell out of my medical wing."

Reluctantly Chris followed the doctors instructions and he lay upon his bed, thinking about Pyrrha, before he slipped into the waters of the subconscious and back into the nightmares.

XXXXXX

The next morning was a welcome reprieve from yet another nightmare. Chris found that with the arrival of the rising suns rays, Pyrrha had already departed from the wing before he had even awoke.

"She didn't even bother explaining herself. Bloody coward, I should have known, " he thought in contempt as he looked at the now empty bed.

Chris hated the rest of his stay in the medical wing. He could only rest in bed and hope that someone would visit him and keep him company. Sleeping was not option to pass the time, unless he wanted to drive himself mad with what twisted dreams his mind would conjure up next.

The most interractions he had were with the doctor and Leza be good, the man had no good bedside manners.

He would carry out inspections on Chris's body to see how well he was recovering, and rather than some encouraging words, he would tell Chris and I quote, "Good, now heal faster. I have had enough of you, be gone from me."

Everyday he said the samething and it was the same today. He placed a vibrating blue stone on Chris's midsection and though his ribs stung from the vibrations, it was far milder that what had happened two days ago when it felt like red hot knife was being passed through his ribs.

"This is good, eighty five percent recovery. Just a day or two and you won't be my problem."

Chris looked at the supposed medical expert in thinly veiled contempt "Pray tell, how did you become a doctor if you hate your patients so much?"

"By being a savant at healing..."

"More like an uncaring narcissist," he thought as the doctor continued speaking.

"And not being my patients damn mother, caring for their feelings is not my job," he finished as he removed the vibrating stone off of Chris's midsection, thought the sting did not go with it.

"You must be fun at family get togethers," Chris snipped, his patience at its limit with this man.

"Of course I am, my nephew in particular considers me the funniest thing since this joke we call life began."

"Then I dread to think what he finds unfunny," the Prince grumbled as he settled into his bed.

"His near death at the hands of a Dullahan might be one of those things he dosent find funny," as the doctor said this, Chris was ready to commit violence against him for this bard gone too far.

The doctor's face then began to change, much to his confusion. His flesh turned to deep blue and his eyes were golden orbs with yellow lines running down his cheeks.

"Dolton?" he gasped in suprise.

"In the flesh, though not really," he replied and Chris didn't bother trying to hide the confusion on his face. "More like a copie of myself. I am currently in the Greylands, or rather Kagenhild to be more exact."

"Your mission up north," Chris muttered as the memories of his interaction with his uncle trickled back into his mind.

"Correct, I can't exactly leave with how delicate things are up here, so I decided to split a part of myself and send it down here."

Chris was dumbfounded, the very idea of being able to extend your consciousness into extra copies was not so far etched, at least to the best wizards in Avalon, but he had never known Dolton to poses such an ability.

"And you sent your copy down here to check on me after the fight?" Chris asked him. "As sweet as that is, could you mind explaining why you had to disguise yourself as the world's most unfriendly doctor."

Dolton simply shrugged his shoulders. "It was all for fun, I have played enough good doctors to last a lifetime, variety is the spice of life nephew. As for why I am down here, its equal parts to check up on you after your little incident and also to deliver a message."

"And the message is?"

"Our northen borders through the Greylands have been breached." as soon as those words had left Doltons mouth, Chris could hear a pin drop as the world around him went silent.

"Come again?"

"About three days ago a unknown object from the direction of the Lunar Empier breached our borders and flew into the Greylands."

"WHAT?!' Chris could contain himself and his voice echoed through the entire medical wing.

"Can you be quite," the older fae shushed him. "Now where was I. The object came from the Lunar Empires side, but according to my agents in the Empire's structure, even they don't know where it came from. We have managed to keep things quite as we surched for it, but now that we have its location pinned down, we are going public with this"

Chris could not belive what he was hearing, one point in all this stood out and stung at his heart. "And in those three days you didn't tell me any of this?"

"Would you rather I grabbed your half comatose body and dragged it to the Greylands. Your father and mother maybe my closest friends in the world but they would kill me for daring that."

He understood the logic behind the Fees argument, but that didn't mean he liked it much.

"If it makes you feel any better other than the Imperators and ministers of the Greyland garrisons, you are the first person to hear this news... at least for the next thirty minutes, then everyone will know."

Chris threw his head back on his pillow, a sharp pain pricked his brain from all the frustration building up within him.

"And so what now?" he asked the spymaster.

"Now, we take a little trip further up north and you join us in finding out whatever it was that breached us."

"Mom won't like that." with his current physical state and his previous encounter with the elder Night Terror, he could almost hear his mother's scolding.

"True, but she wasn't the one who asked for me to come down here and look out for you."

"Then who did?"

"I will tell on the ride," Dolton replied, avoiding Chris's question. "I suggest you go gather your things and speak to the Imperator. You see, as we speak he has just received a important communication ordering him to allow you to depart from Spixan and go north".

For the first time in the past few days,Chris felt his frustration and bitterness sooth as it felt like the heavens were smiling on him once more.