“Orien, you know what you have to do. Joining the right side is the only way you can save the world. You can convince your brothers, they will listen to you,” a mysterious low voice echoes.

I stand in a canyon where there are black cliffs left and right and the sky above me us blood red as if all mortals have evaporated. Where am I and what is going on?

“Orien, think about it. You can save the world and everyone you love if you join the right side. You don’t have to deny the darkness in you any longer. Do what is right for you and your people,” the voice continues.

A tall figure steps out of the shadows of the cliffs, a smile slapped on his face as if he is greeting someone he hasn’t seen in a long time. His long, black hair falls in front of his face and his red eyes match the color of the sky. His pale skin looks out of place in the grim area such as the one we are standing in.

He steps closer to me but I won’t let him anywhere near me so I back myself up against one of the cliffs. “Who are you and where am I?”

“You mean to tell me you don’t recognize your own father?” the man asks with a chuckle of disbelief that follows. Shadows start to loom around him and he begins to walk closer to me. “I guess we haven’t seen each other is centuries so it would make sense why you wouldn’t recognize me. How have you been my dear daughter?”

My face cringes as the word daughter is spat out of his mouth. How did I get and why am I here?

I open my mouth to ask the question but then I hear a familiar voice scream above me? I look above Darkness’ head and see Hammonet getting held over the cliff by a shadow holding only the collar of his shirt. His legs kick all over the place as if they are trying to find ground to stand on.

“Hammonet!” I yell.

“Don’t pay attention to him dear daughter. He is already done for. Your brothers killed him in the mortal world, remember?”

How is that possible. I see him above me. He’s not dead.

“Make that thing put him down,” I demand to Darkness.

Darkness smiles at me, “I’ll make you a deal. You join me and I save him from his death. There is still time for him to make it out of this.”

“I will never join you,” I spit out.

“No? Are you sure about that?” Darkness snaps his fingers and the shadow holding Hammonet’s shirt let’s go and Hammonet is falling into the canyon. I scream and try to run to catch him but more shadows block me and I can’t stand how cold it feels so I back up.

When I look to the ground, I don’t see Hammonet’s body. I look back up and on my way looking back up I see Hammonet’s body being held in midair by a shadow again. This time he is upside down and he is only being held up by his leg.

“I’m sorry Orien, I should have never turned Darkness. Please save me and I promise I will follow Light for the rest of my life. Just, please don’t let me die. I love my family and I can’t bare to think of them grieving over me,” Hammonet begs, “Please, save me.”

“The man has asked you nicely, Orien. I told you how you can save him. So, what is the conclusion today.”

I look into Darkness’ eyes and back to Hammonet’s swinging body. My body makes a decision before my mind gets any opinion.

My hand reaches for my side where my glint is sheathed and I take it out stabbing it in Darkness’ side. He screams and crumbles to the ground, that’s when I take my chance and lunge over him and towards Hammonet, but before I can reach to him, I get knocked to the ground my Darkness. He snaps his fingers again and another shadows comes out from the ground and pierces Hammonet into the chest. His flailing body goes limp and he slowly dissolves into the red mist and flows up to the sky. In a matter of seconds, his body is no longer there.

I get up from the ground and try running to where I saw Hammonet’s full body last but the same shadow that pierced Hammonet knocks me into the cliff. The breath in my lungs are forced out from the rock hitting my back. The shadow pins be against the rock and Darkness slowly walks forward. “Look what you did Orien. You killed a man instead of saving his life. You are truly my blood. We are no different and because of that you belong here.” He comes closer with a smile widening on his face, “You have always belonged here… daughter.”

I scream and thrash as the cold shadow pins me harder against the rock. Darkness laughs before he disappears into thin air. I squeeze my eyes shut and kick as hard as I can.

This isn’t real.

This is a nightmare.

You just need to wake up.

Wake up.

WAKE UP!

When I kick again, this time I make contact. A yell and a grunt makes me open my eyes to see who I have kicked. Theon hold his nose and two royal nurses are running to aid him. Strider takes a second to realize what’s happening before he holds my legs down.

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“Sister, you are safe. You are in the castle of Chopver and it is just your brothers and nurses in here. There is no threat, you are okay,” Strider says as he struggles to keep my legs still.

Strider’s words register into my mind and my legs go still. Theon lifts his head and I see blood spilling out of his nose and around his mouth dripping on the ground. His eyes are glossy but wide as if he can’t believe that I kicked him and made him bleed.

“I’m so sorry Theon. Are you okay?” I say with a scratchy voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine. The question is, are you okay? What the hell was that?” Theon says as he spits blood onto the ground. One of the royal nurses gives him a cloth to put up to his nose and the other one looks at the ground with disgust.

“I- I don’t know. I think I had a bad dream or something,” I tell my brothers. “I had a dream that Darkness trapped me in some canyon and I saw Hammonet die. He said I could have saved Hammonet but he wouldn’t let me.”

Both Stider and Theon look at each other before they send the nurses away and when the room is empty and private, my brothers sit in the chairs that is right next to my bed.

“Sister, do you remember anything that happened?” Strider asks. I look between both of them trying to figure out what they were asking. “When you were waiting for Theon and I to come back, Hammonet attacked you with a bow and arrow. He had a new weapon that we have never even seen before. We aren’t quite sure what makes the weapon so special but we do know that it can severely hurt us.”

My mind clicks into place with what they are talking about. “Hammonet said that Darkness spilled a little bit of his blood onto the arrow. That must be why is is so special.” My eyebrows knit together, and I grab the blanket that is over me. I look at my gown and underneath it is my thigh wrapped in bandages. “How did you heal me?”

“We don’t know. We just know that both of us had to be around you at the same time in order for something to happen,” Theon responds.

“After Hammonet shot you, you seemed to have passed out. We saw black liquid coming out of your led and it seemed to have been seeping into your veins too because the veins around that area were turning black to. I told Theon to take you to the infirmary to see if there is anything that could be done. After I took care of Hammonet, I run in here and Theon looks at me with fear but when I step on the other side of the bed, you leg glowed bright light where the wound was. After a few seconds, the wound seemed to only bleed red blood. All of the black liquid left. We aren’t sure how but we just know that all three of us have to be in one spot in order to heal,” Strider follows up.

“And Hammonet? Where is he?” I ask.

Theon and Strider look at each other again as if battling who has to tell me what happened to Hammonet.

They take too long to answer before I snap, “Someone tell me what the hell is going on!”

“Strider killed Hammonet,” Theon blurts out. Strider looks over to him as if he was going to scold him.

“He’s dead?” I ask.

“He turned to Darkness and attacked you. There was no way we could save him and he could have injured you badly. It could have been a lot worse if we didn’t show up in time. Orien, if I didn’t get angry with you and leave you in the room, this could have all been avoided. I’m so sorry sister,” Strider says.

My eyes stare straight ahead. My mind is fuzzy and I can’t think straight. “Who else knows that he’s dead?”

“No one,” Strider says. “His body turned into dust before anyone else could find out.”

“We have to tell Amelia. She has to know that one of her head guards has been killed,” I say.

“Worse yet, we have to tell his daughter, who we are holding as prisoner in this castle, that we killed her father,” Theon points out.

June, oh June. What are we going to do with her. She will be devastated. Witnessing her and her father have a strong relationship was all I wanted of a parent of my own. I had no one who would try to protect me even if my life was on the line. Not in a parental role at least.

“We have to tell her,” I say.

“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea. We are the ones putting her life on pause by keeping her imprisoned. She might already have some pent up anger against us and if we tell her that we killed her father, all hell could break loose,” Strider says.

“If you were in her situation, who would you want to tell you that your father died? Someone who wasn’t even there and has no details or someone who was there for everything and can answer any questions?” I ask.

Strider’s eyes grow wide before they hit the floor in guilt. “We have to tell her ourselves.”

My brothers each grab my arm, helping me out of the bed and onto my feet.

Time to give June the worst news she will ever get.