Imagine #1: A Dream...

Chapter 12: Dark Truth

VEX ARENDELLE

Monday, June 8, 2020 - 2080 RC

It was a few hours after our training had started, and we were all pretty much finished. We had decided to complete our practice with a collective sword-fight duel, just for practice in case we couldn't use our magic. Nightmares could block some types, and as with Dreamer magic and Dane's portals, we found out, overusing it can sap your energy quickly, which was part of the reason for Sylvia's collapse after fighting Nightmare.

I had won the fencing tournament we had set up, obviously, but Dane was a close second. I wonder how he knows... I had formal training, but did Dane? I thought he was just an assistant to the Royals? I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I had more important things to think about.

I knew this palace had a library, I just needed to find it. It must have SOME information on the Nightmares and their magic. I couldn't get Nightmare's words out of my head. I needed to figure out where my... different magic came from, and the Nightmares were my only clue. Maybe my mom would tell me, but it had been fifteen years that I had been alive with this magic, and she hadn't said anything. I doubt she was going to now.

I sighed at the thought of my family. I wished I hadn't said that to her. I wished that I could've told her that I didn't mean it. I wish I could have TALKED to her before the darkness hit and we ended up here. Gwen, Robyn, Mom, I hope they're okay on Animalia right now. I hope they don't worry about me too much.

"Vex!" A voice called out to me from behind, near the Training Room. Diana ran forward and caught up to me. "Are you okay?"

I tilted my head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"When you saw my robin earlier, you looked a little—" She shrugged unsurely. "Sad? I was wondering if anything happened."

"It's nothing,"

"Are you sure?"

I hesitated. I didn't need her sympathy for something that was my fault. I didn't usually tell anyone about my problems. They were personal, other people didn't need to help... but something about Diana's persistence was a little disarming. I sighed and explained.

"My brother's name is Robyn. Seeing it made me remember my family, and the way I had left them earlier. I said some... things to my mom. I wish I could have told her I didn't mean them, but I never saw them because of the darkness."

Diana nodded with a gentle smile. "Well, I'm sure your mom knows that you didn't mean it. And I'm sure that they're fine, happily relaxing on Animalia and waiting for you to come to them when you're done with the stuff we're doing here." She said reassuringly.

I gave her a small smile. "Thanks." For a moment, I could answer like a normal person, but the other half of my brain, the one who couldn't interact with others at all, quickly returned. I turned away from her to leave.

She didn't seem to mind. "Of course. You can talk to me whenever you need to." She said nonchalantly.

I nodded, walking away, but then I paused. "I need help right now, actually. Do you know where the library is?"

* * *

After asking Diana and a passing worker, around ten minutes later, I ended up inside the palace library. It appeared to be empty, but it was hard to tell from the entrance. It was easily the largest room I had been in since I came to the palace, I couldn't even see the whole room past the rows of shelves that reached from the floor to the ceiling.

How am I going to find something among all of these? I groaned internally. Books about Nightmares, if there are any even left, would be some of the oldest books here, and probably in a more secluded corner where they would be harder to notice.