"Strange dreams?", William repeated with interest. He lifted his legs onto the wall and sat down cross-legged in front of the High-Magician, who scratched his face in embarrassment.

"I don't know, it's strange. Sometimes they come at night, sometimes I suddenly have them in the middle of the day, like a daydream I can't control."

William tilted his head and took a closer look at Grischa. He was uncomfortable talking about it, William could tell right away, but something about the look on his face told William that wasn't all of it.

"What kind of dreams are they, if you don't mind me asking?", he inquired cautiously.

"By the Eldest's beard...", Grischa muttered sheepishly before laughing out loud. "Please don't think strangely about me, they are just dreams."

"Of course not", William replied calmly, waiting anxiously for Grischa to explain himself.

"It's really... very strange. For example, today: I visited my family and talked with my wife, as I usually do, and later played a little with my son Fabio. My son is 6 you must know, he always says that quite proudly", Grischa explained with a grin. "So I'm playing ball with my son and suddenly, out of nowhere, I see another kid in front of me. It was Caleb, I'm absolutely sure of it. He was about my son's age, too, and he was sitting under a little bridge in the water, crying, in the middle of the night. I had that for a very short time, maybe 20 or 30 seconds, then everything was normal before the headache came back."

"Again? Was it bad?"

"Not as bad as when I had it with Caleb, but still noticeable. It lasted a few minutes and then it went back to normal, like nothing ever happened", Grischa gave off nonchalantly, moving his arms along at the same time as he talked.

"And you got that a lot?"

"Yes, that was just an example. I stick to the rule of going to sleep normally every day to relax my mind and body, as the Eldest said so well. But then when I go to sleep, I always dream. Once I dreamed about how I was Sefra's student and she was teaching me about magic. Sefra Risztus, the High-Mage who picked up Aaron earlier. I have no idea why her, of all people, only that she was dressed in thick clothes and we have a lot of snow around us. But it hardly snows at all in Altona."

"That sounds a lot more normal than your first daydream, to be honest."

"Maybe... yes. Maybe so", Grischa murmured thoughtfully. "Once, I was having breakfast and suddenly I was standing in a strange kitchen, cooking food for soldiers from Sylve."

"What?", William exclaimed amused and even Grischa cleared his throat laughing.

"I don't know. I have it all the time, with no apparent connection, and every time I have a headache for a few minutes afterwards. It gets shorter with each time, but it's still weird. I had a dream once that I met Aletta's fiancé, Miguel Heriog. I didn't even know him that day, it wasn't until later, once he came to the Magistrat, that I knew who the man in my dream was."

"You had a dream about Miguel? What happened then?", William gave out interested.

"Sir Heriog was in the company of Aletta and I was with Caleb. For some reason, we were talking about the Kama swor..."

Abruptly, Grischa stopped and looked at William in horror. It took the prince a moment to realize why Grischa paused.

"It's all right, I know. I know about Karekama and also that Miguel owns Zurakekama. It's not really a big secret anymore."

"Why am I not surprised, actually?", Grischa muttered before continuing. "In my dream, Caleb and Sir Heriog were talking about the legendary swords, and Caleb even handed him Karekama. I know Cale, and I doubt he would hand over a weapon to a stranger so easily, which is why I was so surprised."

"Maybe an inner fear? It is often said that dreams have a spark of truth in them, as they show the thoughts and worries of the persons", William philosophized, which made Grischa relax.

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"Could be, yes. A subconscious fear doesn't sound so wrong. But why do I have it so out of nowhere?"

William shrugged. With the best will in the world, he was not a healer and definitely could not understand the depths of the human mind. But it was interesting to hear what a High-Magician had to deal with. It made Grischa seem rather human.

"Did you have any other dreams like that?"

"Yeah, a couple. Once, I had just gotten back to my apartment, I looked out the window and saw flying ships in the sky."

"Flying... ships?", William repeated.

"Yes. Caleb and I... we are currently working on developing a flight crystal to make travel easier", Grischa explained. "In the process, we came up with this."

"A flight crystal? Really?" exclaimed William excitedly, and Grischa calmed him down first with his hand gestures. "That's amazing!"

"That's still in the stars and I'm not really getting anywhere at the moment anyway. It was just... for a moment, it felt so real, like it could really work."

"That would be incredible if it became a reality. Even though we'd probably have to share the sky with the dragons", William interjected with amusement and Grischa laughed weakly. He slowed down and became very quiet, until at some point he fell completely silent. The cheerful mood they had built up over the last few minutes had completely disappeared.

"The day Caleb disappeared, we had a meeting in the Magistrat. We High-Magicians had received about the insights of the future and talked about that", Grischa gave out gloomily, which made William instantly silent. "One of us had a vision in which Caleb and a few other people were attacked by a dragon. I saw that instantly in front of my eyes, the headache at that moment was on a whole other level."

Suddenly, William's breath caught in his throat and a chill ran down his spine. He wanted to retort something, wanted to ask what exactly the High-Magician had seen, but he closed his mouth without saying anything. Shocked, his eyes wandered to the floor as he remembered that night in the desert.

This couldn't be true. Was Cale really being attacked by a real dragon? The other people from that vision... were they the friends Cale missed so much? Had Cale...ever told anyone about this attack? Someone like... Grischa?

"What if... the things you saw actually happened?", William muttered.

"How exactly do you mean that?", Grischa replied, seeming all at once to recognize the serious expression on William's face.

"I mean, what if all your dreams have a kernel of truth. It might seem strange to you, but to others it might make sense. The kid, the cook, the High-Mage, the swordmaster, the flying crystal. What if it means anything? Similar to what you High-Magicians see in your insight."

"You mean I have vision of the future all the time that you have in the third stage?", Grischa summarized to the point. That seemed a bit far-fetched to him, since only the Eldest himself had such visions. But William couldn't possibly know what kind of Igrikum the Elder possessed, which is why Grischa didn't bring up the comment. That Aaron had told him long ago, Grischa did not know.

"It was, just a thought. Sorry if that came out wrong", William replied.

"No, that's all right. I don't think it's such a stupid idea. Maybe I'll talk to the Eldest about it sometime."

"You probably should anyway", William cleared his throat and propped himself up with both hands. "So, have there been any other interesting dreams?"

"There have been... yes. One that disproves your theory, though. In that dream, I saw the five of you - you, Caleb, Aletta, Philippa and Ben. You were all sitting squashed together in a small boat in the middle of the ocean and you had told the others who you really are", Grischa interjected. Surprised, William looked into the High-Magician's grass-green eyes, which demanded a helpful explanation.

"When I told them my real name, we were in a public bath. So... I don't know. Small pool of water. Big water pool. I see a connection there", William explained, though he wasn't particularly convinced of the idea himself. Grischa seemed even less so, as he rubbed his head thoughtfully and sighed.

"The dream went even further. After you revealed your real name, you had also told the others that you were doing an assignment for your father. You were to kill the Dragon Queen, and the 5 of you had all been on your way to the Holy Island of Velence at that time."

William's blood froze in his veins. Jerkily, he turned away from Grischa and hid his face, knowing full well that he could not control his expression. Panic spread through him abruptly. Since the attack on Exarion and his journey to Winstest, he had hardly given a thought to the dragons. He had almost completely forgotten why he was allowed to leave the palace in the first place. But how in the world did the High-Magician know about this? William had never told anyone about this conversation, not even his closest four friends.

If Grischa wasn't seeing visions from the future, what was it?

William held his chest, because he suddenly felt a twinge in his chest. All at once, he realized how stupid he actually was. He had talked at length with Edward, but he had deliberately avoided his father. How do you think he would react if William came home? Wouldn't he be pretty mad at him for failing? Or would he himself realize that he had asked far too much of him?

After all, not even Cale dared to approach the dragons. And in William's eyes, Cale was probably one of the most powerful people to walk the earth.

"William?", Grischa gave voice with a questioning tone, which made the black-haired swordsman wince briefly and regain his composure. The whole conversation all of a sudden seemed far too dangerous for him to converse with it so openly.

"Sorry. I just remembered something unpleasant. Go on, please."