The man moved swiftly through the dense underbrush, just a half-step ahead of Amriel. The ease with which he moved through the brushes looked to Amriel as if the forest was parting way for him. Bending itself to move from his path as if they sensed his urgency.

Overhead, the sky dimmed to twilight, the sun sinking below the horizon and leaving the forest illuminated only by the soft glow of the moon and scattered stars. The lush canopy filtered the light, casting dapples of silvery shadows along their path.

It felt like they’d been walking for hours when the man suddenly crouched, gesturing for Amriel to follow. She dropped beside him, the rustle of leaves and faint chirp of nocturnal creatures filling the silence. Peering through the brush into the clearing ahead, Amriel’s breath caught in her throat.

At the heart of the clearing, a bird-like creature stood in a shimmering pool, its white feathers glowing under the moonlight. The ethereal light turned the creature into something almost otherworldly, its graceful form a vision of beauty so stunning it left her momentarily speechless.

“What… what is that?” Amriel whispered, her voice trembling with awe. She glanced at Dex, who crouched beside her, his sharp features illuminated by the pale glow. Meeko, her faithful companion, sat between them, his dark eyes fixated on the radiant creature.

“It’s beauti—” she began, but Dex cut her off.

“That’s our way home,” he said, his tone resolute, and before she could react, he launched himself from the brush.

The serene silence of the grove shattered with a horrendous screech as the bird-like creature flapped its immense wings in panic. Amriel’s heart raced as she watched Dex tackle it with startling precision. Unable to bear the sight of such violence, she averted her gaze, muttering softly, “No... please no…”

“I got it!” Dex’s triumphant voice broke through her despair. Tentatively, Amriel turned back, expecting carnage but finding none. Instead, the warrior knelt in the moonlit clearing, a single, pristine white feather glowing faintly in his hand.

“You didn’t… kill it, did you?” she asked, her voice uncertain as her eyes searched for any signs of blood or broken feathers. The forest floor remained untouched, the creature gone as if it had vanished into thin air.

Dex raised an eyebrow, as though surprised by her question, then shook his head. “No. Why harm the creature when all we need is a feather?” Rising to his full height, he crossed the clearing, holding the feather aloft. “This,” he said, his emerald eyes gleaming, “is our key to where we need to go.”

Amriel stared, her gaze shifting between the feather’s radiant glow and the sharp, shadowed angles of his face. “That has to be the strangest key I’ve ever seen,” she murmured.

Dex’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smile. “Strange? Perhaps. But why would you remember?” The cryptic remark made her blink in confusion, but before she could question him, he tucked the feather away and retrieved his gear from the brush.

Meeko, who had remained remarkably still throughout the ordeal, darted out to follow Dex as he moved toward the far edge of the clearing. They disappeared into the shadows without so much as a glance back.

“Wait!” Amriel called, scrambling after them, crashing through the underbrush with a little less grace than she would have appreciated.

For some time, they continue their way through the underbrush. Just when Amriel wondered if they were lost, the shrubs and other growth of the dense underbrush parted ways to reveal yet another clearing. This one, however, was larger

Amriel had taken pride in her knowledge of the Vhengal Forest. How close she had thought their bond was. But this clearing made her wonder if she knew the Vhengal at all. She froze at its edge, her breath catching at the surreal sight. Before her, the full moon hung impossibly low, arching across the clearing like a silver gate. A pool at its base reflected its image so perfectly that it seemed the moon had descended to touch the earth.

Her thoughts scrambled as the voice of a madman echoed in her memory: The moon is a lie!

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“What…” she stammered, unable to reconcile what she was seeing. “How does this make sense?”

Dex turned, his face unreadable but his voice calm. “This is where I will need you to trust me, Amriel.” Without waiting for her response, he produced the feather from his belt and strode toward the moonlit pool.

Amriel stood frozen, her breath caught in her throat as Dex waded into the pond, the glowing feather held aloft like a torch. The water rippled beneath his steps, but strangely, none of it clung to him. His boots remained dry, his movements unburdened by the liquid that should have soaked him through. It was as if the pond itself resisted his presence, bending to his will.

Reaching the center of the pool, Dex stopped, his silhouette stark against the shimmering light of the moon. Slowly, he raised the feather higher, its luminescence intensifying until it seemed to rival the stars above. He began to speak, his voice low and measured, the words both alien and strangely familiar, resonating in the depths of Amriel’s chest. The sounds were soft, almost melodic, like a song hummed by the forest itself.

Though she strained to catch the meaning, the language eluded her. Yet, somehow, it tugged at her memory, a distant echo of something she had once known—or perhaps dreamed. The cadence of his words seemed to resonate with the world around them, the very air thrumming in time with his voice.

As the incantation continued, the moon overhead began to ripple, its surface wavering like water caught in a breeze. Its pale light shimmered, bending and twisting in impossible patterns. Amriel’s gaze flicked between the moon above and its reflection below, her heart racing as the ripples grew stronger, spreading outward in hypnotic waves.

Then, without warning, the moon and its mirrored twin fractured, their forms shattering into cascading beams of silver. The shards dissolved into the night, leaving only a gaping void—a deep, black abyss where the celestial light had been moments before.

The darkness was absolute, a void so profound it seemed to swallow the world around it. The air grew still, heavy with an unearthly quiet as if the forest itself were holding its breath. A chill ran down Amriel’s spine, the emptiness before her was unlike anything she had ever encountered.

Dex turned his head slightly, his profile illuminated by the faint glow still radiating from the feather. His voice carried across the water, calm yet filled with gravity. “The path is open,” he said, his words slicing through the oppressive silence. Then, without hesitation, he stepped into the abyss and vanished.

Amriel stood trembling at the water’s edge, the void beckoning her like a whispered dare.

“Please forgive the theatrics,” Dex said, turning toward her with a faint smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “But this is what’s required to pass a mortal through the gate.”

“The gate?” Amriel repeated, her voice breaking through the haze of her stunned silence. She stepped closer, urgency sharpening her tone. “The gate to where?”

“To the Vale,” he said simply as if it were the most natural answer in the world.

Amriel’s brows knitted in confusion. “The Vale? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Dex paused, the water lapping softly around his knees yet his clothes remained dry. The moon’s light cast an ethereal glow over him, highlighting the sharp angles of his face and the resolute glint in his emerald eyes. At that moment, he seemed less a man and more a figure from a tale whispered around fires on winter nights.

“The Vale,” he began, his voice steady and deliberate, “is the land between light and shadow. It divides the realms of dreams and nightmares.”

The words sent an icy shiver down Amriel’s spine. “You’ll need to explain more than that if you expect me to follow you,” she said, her voice firm despite the maelstrom of disbelief swirling in her mind.

Dex tilted his head slightly, his expression unreadable. After a moment, he nodded as though conceding her point. “Fair enough. But it’s not an easy truth to hear, let alone accept.” He swept his hand in a gesture that encompassed the clearing, the shimmering pool, and the ominous void where the moon had been moments before. “This world you know—the mortal realm—is just one of three realms that exist side by side. It lies in the middle, a bridge between the others.”

“The middle realm?” Amriel echoed, her confusion deepening as she tried to piece his words together.

A faint wry smile tugged at the corner of Dex’s lips. “At least you’re open to the idea of there being three realms. That’s a start,” he said, his tone laced with dry humor. “This mortal plane was created to serve as a buffer. It keeps the realms of Dreams and Nightmares from colliding. Their existence is hidden from mortals for good reason.”

Amriel’s mind raced, her thoughts colliding in a chaotic storm of disbelief, curiosity, and dread. Finally, she managed to focus enough to ask, “And which of these realms are we headed to?”

Dex’s shoulders relaxed slightly, as though her willingness to entertain his words brought him a measure of relief. “To the realm of Dreams,” he said softly, the weight of his answer heavy in the cool night air.

Amriel swallowed hard, her pulse racing as she glanced once more at the void where the moon had been. It seemed to beckon her, not with menace, but with a strange, almost magnetic pull.

As she stared into the great blackness now a gaping hole that seemed to draw the very air toward it, Amriel felt her fear slipping away. Almost as if the portal was drawing it away.

“Alright,” she said with a nod, “I’ll go.”

Dex’s brows rose ever so slightly in surprise, but just as quickly, a small, almost imperceptible smile curved his lips—not of triumph, but of understanding. “Follow me,” he said, his tone both an invitation and a command. Without another word, he extended his hand toward the void, the feather in his grasp shimmering faintly as he stepped further into the water.

Amriel hesitated only a moment before following him into the pool, the chill of the water strangely absent as it rippled beneath her steps. As the void loomed closer, her heart thudded wildly in her chest. The air grew heavier, crackling with an energy that felt alive.

And then, with a sudden rush of light and shadow, the world dissolved around her.