Skulduggery Pleasant - Night of the Dying Rose

Chapter 14: Dreamer

Valkyrie sat on one of Artemis' many arm chairs, her hands trembling as she gripped her mug of coffee. Usually she wasn't scared of people trying to kill her. But this, this was different. It was different because she KNEW that Little Rose could kill her easily, she didn't have the element of luck or surprise, and that scared her. It terrified her. Skulduggery had gone into Artemis' study room, and they were talking in voices too low to make out, but Skulduggery's voice sounded agitated and worried, she wasn't surprised. Valkyrie had so many questions, some about Little Rose and her backstory, and what they were going to do. And for one moment, one terrible moment, she wished that Darquesse was still here. She would be able to do the job, she opened a portal to the Faceless Ones for gods sake. Valkyrie smirked at what the outcome could be if Little Rose and Darquesse were to fight, and then her eyes widened at the horror of that smile. 

"What the hell am I doing..." Valkyrie muttered to herself. It was fear, that's all, fear made your mind go to dark places. Everything would be fine. Everything always turned out fine, most of the time. She sighed, setting aside her mug. She was just so tired, so she sat back, resting her head against the back of the armchair and falling asleep.

And then the dream came.

The sky was red, and the Faceless Ones were on the ground, slowly crumbling to ash before her very eyes, letting out deafening stress that made Valkyrie clutch her ears and cry out. The wind howled, but it didn't cool her, it was scorching against her skin as she was pushed around. She looked around, her eyes wide, and she saw the stone village that she had once found Skulduggery in crumbling apart, as if it was being sucked into a merciless tornado, she heard the screams of people, or of ghosts, and it chilled her to the bone. She let out a whimper of fear, looking for a way to escape. But there was none.

And then the ground cracked, cleaving in two as if the very earth was splitting apart, and Valkyrie stumbled away so that she wasn't sucked in. And at that very moment, Valkyrie looked up.

And she saw herself. No.

She saw Darquesse.

Her arms were outstretched and she wrecked chaos amongst the world, her gaze was towards the sky, and even from the ground Valkyrie could see the playful smile on her face. She was still wearing the red outfit that Stephanie had died in. She hadn't changed.

Skulduggery had been wrong, or wrong within this dream. Darquesse had defeated the faceless ones.

And then she turned to Valkyrie, looking straight into her eyes. She put a finger to her lips, Darquesse's magic amplifying her voice.

"Shush now Valkyrie," Darquesse smiled. "I'll be coming back to end it all soon..."

Valkyrie gasped and woke up.