The dining hall broke out into a panic as Lila’s petite frame bristled with inhuman power. Ed watched as his wife struggled to her feet, dragging the guards off the ground with her. Her muscles rippled with strength far beyond her own. She tossed the guards aside like playthings. Their bodies went limp as they crashed into the wall.

Lila stood still, hunched over, her body shaking like a mad animal. Her petite frame convulsed, back arching and fingers curling like a rabid animal. Her muscles rippled, building against the fabric of her tight-fitted dress. Veins popped along her neck and head, as if she was exerting herself beyond her limits.

Her warm brown eyes had shifted to chilling purple irises, surrounded by bloodshot white. The same eyes he had seen in the cave when everything was at its darkest.

Ed recoiled in horror. They weren’t the eyes of his wife, but the eyes of Somnia.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?” King Tobin shouted as he flailed about in his giant seat. “Tristan, what is this accursed thing you brought into our home?”

Ser Tristan watched Lila, his face contorted in equal parts fear and anger. “Someone do something!” he shouted. The entire room was frozen, watching in disbelief.

Except one. Ren lunged towards Lila, brandishing her massive axe. A lump so large caught in Ed’s throat he thought he would choke and die right there. He finally found the presence within himself to stand up and move again.

“STOP!” he shouted. He wasn’t sure if he was yelling at Ren or Lila.

Lila’s body twitched at the sound of her husband’s voice. Ed kept talking hoping to break through her trance. The same way the others had done for him back in the cave.

“Lila, break out of this. Tristan and I can help you. Just get away from the hourglass,” he pleaded with his wife.

Tristan’s face twisted in embarrassment when Ed mentioned his name. As if being associated with whatever was happening was worse than stopping it altogether.

“Yes,” Tristan muttered reluctantly. “Lady Lila, let us help you. I should not have brought the hourglass out so eagerly.”

“Are you all daft?” Lady Ren’s voice cut through the room like a knife. “This sandscalp and his wife are a threat. Look at what she did to our guards.” She turned to the king. “We need to get you out of here. Now.”

Ren motioned to the remaining guards, standing in shock nearby. “Guards, arrest both of them.”

King Tobin waved his stubby hand dismissively at Ren, and the guards didn’t move. He turned his attention to Lila.

“My dear, can you explain to us what is going on?” His voice was soft and non-threatening, like he was talking to a child.

Lila didn’t respond, but she looked back at Ed. He realized he had moved closer to her, maybe ten feet away. The same distance between her and the hourglass.

“Lila,” Tristan snapped. “Our king asked you a question.”

A tear streaked down Lila’s face as her expression changed. Changed back to the soft and caring woman Ed knew. Her eyes flickered from crazed to scared and pleading in an instant. In that moment, Ed wanted to embrace his wife and run away forever. Away from this dinner, the hourglass, the royals. All of it.

But he didn’t have a chance. Lila’s demeanor switched back to frantic and possessed just as quickly.

“The Dreamkeeper has returned,” Lila said in a voice wholly unlike her own. It sounded like multiple voices inside of her fighting to get out first. It was shrill and deep and loud all at the same time.

And then with a guttural cry, Lila lunged forward towards the hourglass. She leapt like an animal taking down its prey, crashing her body into the massive artifact. It crashed into the floor.

The glass shattered, a high-pitched ringing filling the air, and the purple sands surged out like a flood. The sands swept across the room in seconds like an ethereal wave, unfurling into a fog of deep purple. Not a fog of water or mist, but of sand and dreams and nightmares.

Ed felt a coldness wrap around his throat as the purple fog encircled him. The grains of sand bit into his skin like tiny teeth, gnashing at his flesh. Voices of the dinner guests were silenced, shouts and screams fading away. One by one, people in the room fell into an enchanted slumber. Some slept with their heads on the table, others fell to the floor. None of them awoke.

The banquet hall, minutes ago filled with laughter and warmth, was now a quiet tomb of silence and sand. Even King Tobin was slumped over and drooling in his chair.

Except for Ed. He stood dumbfounded, watching the large man seated beside him collapse to the floor in a heap. He slowly glanced around the room, trying to decipher any meaning or explanation for what was happening. The purple shade that had darkened the room was all too familiar. Ed’s mind was plagued with sudden memories he had wished to forget.

In the cave, he had felt the same compulsion as Lila was now. He vividly recollected wrapping his hands around another man’s throat. The feel of the man’s fragile windpipe, the taste of his fear. Ed remembered clearly wanting this man to die. To see his essence fade away, his spirit returning to the nether and the light leaving his eyes. It was like a waking nightmare that Ed couldn’t wake himself up from.

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He was sure he would have killed the man if the others hadn’t pulled him off. He was shocked that Ser Tristan allowed this dinner to happen at all. Even more shocked that he was invited, and that no criminal charges were pressed. Ed didn’t even know the man’s name, but he wasn’t at the dinner tonight.

How stupid could Tristan possibly be? Ed thought to himself, anger boiling in his stomach. The thought crossed his mind that Tristan planned for this. He knew of the chaos the hourglass would possibly unleash. But that was giving the idiot too much credit.

The sound of splintering wood crashed into Ed’s ears and snapped his attention back to the dinner hall. Ren was still awake, and she had just tried to chop Lila in half with her massive axe.

Ed moved to save his wife but felt something soft and warm wrap around his leg. Panicking, he looked down, expecting tendrils of sand. Instead, he saw an amorphous lump curling around his ankle. The king’s lumie. Its bioluminescent skin was pale blue with fear. It let out tiny whimpers, seeking protection from the chaos.

“I don’t have time for you right now,” Ed muttered, trying to comfort the creature. He had to make sure his wife was okay.

Lila was awake, but not okay. Her eyes burned intensely with a purple hue. The crazed look had given way to something worse, something more present and aware. But it wasn’t Lila. Ed couldn’t recognize the woman standing in front of him.

“Lila,” he begged, “what are you doing?”

“Leave, Eddarion. You were the only one who was to leave this dinner untouched,” his wife responded with a voice that was not her own.

Ren lunged again at Lila, swinging her axe with reckless abandon. She roared with unbridled rage.

Lila smacked her aside with a flick of her wrist, smashing her body across the dinner table. Goblets of wine spilled, food went flying, and the table buckled under the weight of the massive woman. Lady Ren didn’t stir, lying motionless.

The little lumie had let out a yelp and crawled up Ed’s body at the sight of Ren flying across the room. Ed cradled it in his arms, unsure of what else to do with the poor thing. It was shivering with fear.

Lila turned back to Ed. “Leave, now. I won’t say it again—"

Ser Tristan tackled Lila from behind, sneaking up on her. She fell to the ground and the two struggled against the other’s will. Ed saw a dagger in Tristan’s hand, covered in bright red blood.

“No!” Ed shouted, his cry echoing throughout the hall. He tried to run for his wife, to save her, but his legs wouldn’t respond. He could only watch in horror, helpless.

Tristan drew back his hand, brandishing his dagger, aiming for Lila’s exposed back. The dagger plunged downward in slow motion. At the last second, Lila whipped around with inhuman speed. She caught Tristan’s wrist, stopping the blade inches from her chest. A thin line of blood trickled from her hand where the tip had grazed her.

Relief flooded Ed, but only for a moment. Lila tightened her grip, twisting Tristan’s arm at an unnatural angle. Tristan cried out, dropping the dagger as his bones broke.

Then, Ren started to stir at the table as she regained consciousness.

“No, we don’t have time. This ends now,” Lila snapped.

“Who are you talking to, Lila?” Ed pleaded with his wife, his voice cracking. He knew the answer but couldn’t bring himself to accept it.

Lila ignored him and raised her hands. She traced an arcane pattern in the air, and the purple sands responded. They formed thick tendrils, snaking their way throughout the room. Every person in the room was encased in sand, like some kind of nightmarish cocoon.

“The pretty one comes with us,” Lila said, pointing at Ser Tristan. He was crying on the floor, holding his ruined arm with the other hand.

Us? Ed thought. His worst nightmare apparently was true.

The sands came for Ed. He tried to fight against it, but it was impossibly strong. He clutched the crying lumie tightly to his chest, the only solace he could find in this entire dinner would be saving the helpless thing. The lumie emitted a faint glow, radiating subtle warmth despite the whirlwind of sand engulfing them. Ed cried out as the sand battered him, filling his mouth and ears and eyes with biting pain. He saw Ren beside him, struggling against the same relentless attacker. Ed choked and gagged helplessly as his vision narrowed. He glanced at Lila, praying that she would snap out of this. But her back was turned, still performing the ritual with her hands.

The edges of the room darkened into nonexistence.

He was drowning. Not in water, but in sand. In that suffocating void, Ed’s last thoughts were of his wife. He thought of their travels in the desert together, when the sands were warm. The harsh embrace of Vaalem’s deserts was a mercy compared to the torture of Somnia’s sand. Even memories faded as the nether beckoned him.

In that blackness, the faintest whisper of a voice reached out to him. It was a familiar chirp; one he had just become acquainted with.

A soft glow appeared before Ed’s fading vision. It was the lumie, hovering in front of his face. Its fur glowed vibrantly, the pale blue from before replaced by a magnificent deep blue. The creature placed its tiny tentacle arms on Ed’s cheeks. A warm energy flowed into him, pushing back the icy grip of death.

The lumie’s glow intensified, radiating outwards like a bubble. It pushed the menacing sands backwards. Ed could see, hear, and breathe again. Ed glanced around in equal parts shock and confusion. They were surrounded by darkness, illuminated by the lumie’s blue glow. It gripped his collar with tiny teeth, dragging him upright.

The darkness wavered against the lumie’s light. The impossible blackness seemed to shred and tear, giving a glimpse of something beyond. Ed saw a circular image of light form, flickering into view. He could see stone walls, cavernous and ancient. Strange whispers and skittering sounds echoed from it.

It was as if the lumie had torn open the fabric separating the nether from the real world. The sundered darkness rippled, as if it was fighting against this glimpse into another world. It was wavering, as if it threatened to close at any moment.

The little lumie leapt forward, scurrying towards the image of caves and stones. It turned around and urged Ed forward.

Ed followed instinctually, feeling an innate desire to get out of this world of darkness. With great effort, he pulled himself up and followed the lumie. It disappeared as it crossed the border, and Ed followed. It collapsed inward as Ed stepped through; sealing shut as quickly as it had opened.

Everything went dark again.