The dream I saw that night was so different from the others I'd had before.

I have never been someone who could fall into uninterrupted sleep. I would wake up shivering from the cold at night or have nightmares. My nightmares were always so simple, yet so complicated. Ascula used to say that every dream had meaning for those who knew how to see it, that holy spirits of the sky were trying to warn us. I didn't know how much I believed in that. My dreams were meaningless. They were like short scenes adapted from the horror stories I heard as a child. If the "holy" spirits weren't mocking me, then Ascula was wrong.

It was the evening of a tiring day. I was transferring the writings from old parchments onto new ones on the wooden table in Ascula's basement. The candlelight was dim, and the room was cold... I still had hours of work, but I was so tired that day. I remember my bones aching, even though I don't remember why. Without understanding the ancient writings, I was copying the same sentences onto another parchment, over and over again. Ascula had never thought it necessary to teach me Ancient Sapphiris.

Although I didn't understand the sentences, they were spinning in my head like a whirlpool. My neck was getting heavier. I slowly put the pen I was holding on the table. What harm would it do if I took a nap for a bit? Or if I were in my room, in my bed, buried under the heavy, warm blankets... I closed my eyes to doze off. I imagined my house.

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I forgot most of the dreams I saw when I fell asleep that evening. It was a very, very long story. I saw a dear friend; a soft kiss, brown hair, golden hair, sapphire eyes ignited by sapphire words, pure white clothes, smooth hands, calloused hands, fiery skin, icy skin, a wooden bridge, an endless river...

It felt warm.

Then, I saw bodies.

Bodies that had died of hunger and blood, stacked like fish on top of each other; none of them looked human, they were like stone statues. I called for children from these bodies, the freezing, trembling children. "Come to me, all of you," I said, "if you come to me, you won't be cold, I will grow you in my heart, you will be warm, and you will be safe." I hugged one of each child, and I held them close.

They died as soon as I hugged them.

Their flesh turned into coal, their bones turned into ashes, and were blown away by the wind.

I saw myself from above. I was at Ascula's wooden table in the basement under a dark sky. Instead of a roof, there was a black sky, and instead of bookshelves, there were faces spewing blood on the walls.

Thousands of faces.

Thousands of them were watching me.

I knew them all.

I looked at my empty lap without lifting my head. My eyelids were closed.

When I opened my eyes, I was in my room, sobbing under the heavy blankets.