Lewis’ head was pounding, even more than it had been before. His ears still ringing, he lay face down. He could already feel the bruising beginning to swell all over his body from the impact.

He had no idea how long he lay there, slipping in and out of consciousness, before he heard the door open and two sets of footfalls running in. Before they reached him, another two sets of footsteps reached the doorway, and a woman’s voice filled his ears as she screamed a name: ‘Arden’.

From the direction of the desk, he heard a low groan and movement as hands reached him, turning him on his side. ‘Emily?’ he muttered as braided red hair cascaded around him.

‘What?’ she said, backing away suddenly.

Lewis rubbed his eyes. On her knees beside him was a woman a couple of years older than Emily in a blue dress, and behind her in the doorway stood Emily, her face like marble.

‘You're alright, Lewis,’ a deep voice echoed. Looking up, Lewis saw Captain Caldwell crouched down.

‘I think I’ve got a concussion; I’m seeing two of Emily,’ he said, sitting up gingerly and looking around. ‘Thomas?’

‘I’m okay,’ he called, slowly appearing from behind the desk, a cut pouring blood just above his eye.

‘Check on the emperor and his son,’ he said, nodding in the direction of them, both of them moving gingerly.

‘I don’t think you’ve got a concussion, Lewis,’ Captain Caldwell said slowly. ‘Or at least that’s not the reason that you’re seeing two of them.’

‘Lewis? Emily near the door asked, slowly moving forward.

Before he could respond, the sound of Captain Caldwell drawing his sword filled the room. ‘Who are you, both of you?’ he demanded, levelling the blade between the two of them.

‘Emily Bridwell, I spent time at a small cabin in Fir Forest helping Lewis recover after we returned from The Misty Islands,’ the Emily nearest the door said quickly, swatting away Captain Caldwell’s sword.

‘And you?’ he asked, turning to the one who had called him Arden.

‘Lewis? You’re not Arden. You said you were taking me to Arden,’ she shouted, rounding on Emily.

‘The tomb in the garden broke open. Her name is Lillian; she was trapped in there by Arden Vandemark,’ Emily said, pushing past Captain Caldwell as Lewis got to his feet slowly, hobbling over to the desk.

‘How? Arden Vandemark has been dead the best part of two and a half centuries,’ Captain Caldwell asked, turning the blade to Lillian, as Emily had called her.

Emily winced. ‘That’s one way to rip the bandage off the wound,’ she muttered. ‘Speaking of which, you’re bleeding,’ she added, pointing to the blood slowly seeping into Lewis’ shirt.

‘What?’ Lillian demanded, squaring up to Captain Caldwell’s sword. ' How can he have been dead that long? The tomb only got sealed a couple of days ago.

‘I may be able to help,’ Thomas said, appearing at Captain Caldwell’s side, his bloody hand pushing the sword down. ‘Get Emperor El-Farha and his son to the infirmary and take care of their injuries.’

Reluctantly, Captain Caldwell sheathed his sword again, helping the dazed Emperor to his feet while Louise helped his son to his feet before he shrugged her off. In silence, Lewis waited, steadying himself against the desk as his head swam momentarily. Awkwardly, he led the emperor away, who, Lewis presumed, was cursing in his native tongue under his breath.

‘What the hell just happened?’ He asked as he lifted his ripped shirt to inspect the wound on his abdomen. ‘I heard a boom, and then all the windows exploded.’

‘I was in the garden when it happened,’ Emily said. ‘When I looked around, I saw the green star streaking across the sky, but it disappeared out of sight behind the castle.’

‘There it is,’ Thomas said, shakily extending a hand towards the window.

‘By the precursors,’ Emily muttered.

In the distance, past the city walls, a green fire the height of a house was burning just beyond the edge of the forest. Moving to the broken window, Lewis stared out at it, the cold night air whipping his hair around his face. He grabbed the wall as his head swam again. The green fire seemed to intensify in front of his eyes as a sharp pain coursed through his head.

The city between himself and the fire disappeared, and all he could see was the green flames and something moving within them. He tried to peer closer, squinting against the bright light. It moved again—a figure, a man in rags.

As quickly as it had come, the pain vanished, the green flames disappeared, and the city returned. ‘What is it?’ Thomas said desperately, his eyes wildly looking between Lewis, Emily and Lillian as Lewis turned back to the office. Both Emily and Lillian were clutching their temples, eyes screwed shut.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

As one, the three of them responded, ‘There’s a man in the fire.’

Lillian backed away a couple of paces, staring between Emily and Lewis. ‘You’re a Seer Precursor,’ she said, pointing at Emily. ‘But you, Seer Precursors, are always female. Unless...’

Before any of them could say anything, a woman shouting from the corridor outside the office drew Lewis’ attention. ‘Lillian, you can’t go in there! Lewis is busy right now!’

‘I have to! Let go of me!’ a young girl shouted, barrelling through the door a moment later, a long strip of fabric trailing behind her.

‘Emmy!’ she shouted, sprinting into Emily’s arms.

‘What’s wrong?’ Emily asked, lifting her off the broken glass and sitting her on the edge of the desk.

‘I’m sorry! I can’t quite keep up with her at my age,’ a woman Lewis recognised as the little girl’s mother said as she appeared in the doorway out of breath. ‘She had a nightmare or something.’

‘There’s a man in the fire; you have to help him!’ she said, looking to Lewis.

‘You saw him too?’ Emily asked.

The little girl nodded, wiping away her tears on the sleeve of her teddy bear-covered pyjamas, and clutched the piece of fabric to her. ‘There’s this too,’ she said, holding out the fabric to Emily. ‘The last one is new.’

‘Emily?’ Lewis asked carefully as he watched the colour drain from her face as she looked at the piece of fabric thrust in front of her.

‘I need to talk to you, right now,’ she muttered, staring back at him intently. ‘Thomas, you as well.’

‘What about-’

‘Not now!’ she hissed, pulling him away from the desk and beckoning for Thomas to follow. ‘Just give us a minute; wait here,’ she said as she passed the little girl’s mother and led them into the corridor, the fabric still clutched in her ghostly white fingers.

‘Emily, what’s going on?’ Thomas asked quietly as he pulled the office door shut behind him.

‘I don’t know, and I think this is going to sound completely crazy,’ she said, pushing the two of them, still bleeding, into a dark side room.

‘Emily?’ Lewis asked as she shut the door behind them, plunging them into darkness save for the dregs of moonlight from outside.

‘I think she’s from the past or the future somehow; I don’t know,’ she said slowly.

‘Emily, that’s not possible. There’s no way that woman could have survived inside that tomb for that long,’ Thomas said.

‘She said it felt like it had only been a couple of days.’

‘That doesn’t mean it’s possible, though,’ Thomas reiterated.

‘It is possible,’ Lewis interrupted. ‘Russell, the person Emperor El-Farha mentioned He was at the tower with me. They said training a precursor takes a long time, so they had created a way to slow the ageing process there. What if a similar thing had been put on the tomb when it was made and she was shut inside?’

‘History says precursors were powerful, but I doubt they could meddle with time on the scale of what would be needed with the tomb,’ Thomas said.

‘Emperor El-Farha told us not even an hour ago that there are jewels that could turn the desert into lush green fields,’ Lewis said. ‘Why would it be less believable than that?’

‘None of that matters!’ Emily cut across his speculation. ‘This is what scared me,’ she said, holding up the fabric.

‘What is it?’ Lewis asked.

‘When Lillian started getting the visions, like I do occasionally, Sebastian taught her a way to record them and interpret them essentially. This shows her vision. The new one she showed me is a streak across a night sky with a snake sleeping in a nest,’ she explained.

‘You all just saw the same thing,’ Thomas said.

‘Exactly!’ Emily said. ‘Lillian, the older one just had that vision. When I found her in the tomb, she showed me the tapestry and said there were some on there from before she could remember. That was one of them.’

‘Are you saying...? Thomas began slowly as Emily nodded.

‘Somehow young Lillian ended up two and a half centuries in the past with this tapestry,’ she said, waving the fabric in front of them. ‘With no memory of her life now, she grew up there and was then trapped in the tomb by Arden until now.’

‘I think my headache is coming back,’ Lewis muttered with a glance at Thomas.

‘Just look at the other tapestry,’ Emily insisted. ‘Please?’

‘Alright, let’s go and have a look,’ Lewis said, hoping Thomas might have some more input. When he remained silent, Lewis opened the door and stepped back into the corridor.

‘Maybe we don’t tell the young Lillian what we just discussed,’ Thomas suggested.

‘Agreed,’ Lewis and Emily muttered in unison.

Lewis’ mind was already reeling from trying to comprehend Emily’s theory; it wouldn’t be any help to a nine-year-old. Could what Emily be suggesting actually be possible? With the exception of the basic history taught in the schools, he knew very little about Arden Vandemark. Was the ability to stop time on that scale even possible?

Returning to the office, Lewis was almost glad of the silence, as awkward as it was. Near the doorway, the young Lillian had returned to her mother’s side, resting against her while her mother ran a hand through her hair soothingly as she watched the older Lillian like a hawk. She still looked shaken by what she had seen.

The older Lillian was looking around the office curiously, taking in the paintings on the far wall and the broken glass that covered a lot of the floor. As the three of them entered, she looked up, her eyes locking on Lewis’ after a withering glare at Emily. ‘What’s going on?’ She demanded, squaring herself to him.

‘I think that is something we’re all trying to work out right now,’ Lewis said, paying no mind to the older Lillian’s focus on him as he moved towards the desk, righting one of the chairs and slumping into it. His head was pounding, and the image of the man in the green flames seared into his mind. ‘Thomas, you should go to the infirmary and get that cut checked.’ As he opened his mouth, surely to disagree, Lewis continued. ‘Once you’re cleaned up a little, get Captain Caldwell and meet us in the courtyard. You’ll come with us?’ He asked, looking at Louise.

‘Of course, do you want me to get anyone else?’

Lewis paused for a moment. ‘Please, can you go to the barracks and find Edward for me? Perhaps he’ll have some insight on the prophecy warning now that it’s come crashing down.’

Getting to his feet once more, Lewis took the tapestry Emily had shown him and moved towards the younger Lillian and her mother. ‘Thank you for letting me look at this,’ he said gently, holding it out to her as he crouched in front of her. ‘Does your head hurt at all as well?’

Silently, she nodded slightly, traces of tears on her cheeks. ‘Are you going to help the man in the fire?’

‘Yes, we’re going to go and find him and make sure he’s okay,’ Lewis said. ‘You should try to get some rest for that headache, and we’ll tell you what we find in the morning, okay?’

For a moment, it looked like she was going to argue before, with a gentle squeeze of her shoulder from her mother, she nodded, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her pyjamas. Straightening up again, Lewis stepped back as Lillian’s mother ushered her away and out of the office.

‘So much for an early night, I guess,’ Lewis muttered as he watched them go, leaving him standing in the office with Emily and the older Lillian, neither of whom seemed to be taking their eyes off him. He sighed, looking around the half-destroyed office littered with broken glass and papers. ‘We should go; they’ll be waiting for us downstairs.’