Dawnbreaker [Inheritance Cycle]

1. Dreams

She turned away from a blinding light and ran through a strange room, down a bone-white hallway with a sense of urgency.

In front, a strange man ran towards her, hand outstretched.

"Sera!"

Talion, no!"

Then she was enveloped in a flash of white light.

-

With a startled cry, Serafyna sat upright in her bedroll, heart racing.

The sudden noise and movement woke her brother beside her, who groggily got up on his elbows and looked around in mild alarm but found nothing.

"What happened?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

Serafyna shook her head. "Nothing, just a nightmare. Go back to sleep, Eragon."

Eragon nodded sleepily and relaxed. He lowered himself back down to his bedroll and closed his eyes. Within a few moments, his breathing slowed.

Serafyna, on the other hand, stayed up for several troubled minutes. Mulling over her strange dream in silence.

For reasons she couldn't quite explain, it felt real. Too real. It unsettled her, even as most of the finer details of the dream slipped from her mind.

Softly, she sighed. Her breath misted before her face in the cold, mountain air.

Looking around the dark valley, surrounded by trees, she could hear a nearby stream. An owl hooted nearby and a distant wolf howled. All around, various insects chirped.

Serafyna looked up. The night sky was clear tonight, moonless, with the stars in their infinite numbers, arrayed against total darkness.

As she watched, she caught sight of a shooting star. A quick streak of light shot across the open sky, impossibly fast. Idly, she thought if she should make a wish, but shook the thought away, figuring the moment was long past.

Rearranging her bedroll and her blanket against the giant oak tree, at the base of which she and her brother had decided to camp for the night, she laid down.

For a while, she watched the overhead branches sway gently in the wind until sleep claimed her.