Warrior of the Moon

14

Serena was caught in an agonizing dream.

She was a bystander as she watched herself blow up in her chambers, creating cracks in the ceiling, the floors, that started to cave in dangerously. She saw Tarin throw Cade aside and dive for her just as marble started to fall, threatening to crush her, crush all of them. His shield protected them, but she was sure it was not without immense effort on his part, especially given that he spared no magic to try to keep the rest of the tower intact. They continued to fall, and the castle collapsed after them.

Then the dream zoomed out onto the entire city of Azure. As she did not know what had happened after she went unconscious that night, she was not sure if she was experiencing any form of reality.

Most of the houses were aflame. Squads of Infernals ran and hollered through the streets, carrying torches and rusty swords that they swung at her fleeing people with abandon. They did not seem to be aiming, really, but they laughed every time they managed to hurt someone. There were bodies tossed to the side of the roads; those cobblestone roads she had always found so beautiful, so welcoming. Now they were stained with blood.

Many of the Fae were captured and dragged off into shadows, or trussed up in piles as if the Infernals were waiting for a wagon to throw them onto and transport them like bales of hay. Any that were not part of the Infernals' games, or already dead, seemed to be fleeing toward the North, away from the castle that had been meant to protect them, toward the lands most of them had never even seen in the hopes that the leaders of those cities would do a better job.

Then the vision shifted, and she saw an army of Infernals, looking as disciplined as she had ever seen the Fae armies look, lined up in perfect formations, holding their weapons at the ready. And there were so many of them, more than she had heard existed. Her dream made her aware of the fact that they had conquered half of her Realm already, and were seeking complete domination.

Between them and their next city stood just five people who showed no signs of backing down.

Serena glanced at each of their familiar faces individually, but she found no fear there. Determination, mostly. A little bit of sadness. Resignation, as if they knew they could not win, but were going to make their time count before meeting their end.

She knew what scene was coming next before it appeared before her. She had been shown these visions before. When she had first met Muiress, her ancestor had passed two visions onto her, two very different ways her future could go. The one where she was crowned, her Realm saved and united, was what she and Muiress most hoped for. But the other had shown her what would happen if she failed. And she knew that what she was about to see would stop her heart all over again.

Tarin, unmoving on the floor of what was immediately recognizable to Serena as her mother's throne room, though there was now rubble piled around and a darkness that she was unfamiliar with lingering at the edges of the room as if waiting for its moment to take over entirely. Infernals were in a ring around his body, while his head was nearly touching the platform that held a single throne now, a faceless, dark figure seated upon it as if the dream wanted Serena to guess at the name of her great enemy.

The imminent threat against Tarin's life was implied by his compromised position, and Serena turned to look at a vision of herself once more. This one was different; it was obviously her, but she hardly recognized herself. There was a strength in this Serena that she had never had before. Her shoulders were squared as if she was ready to put up a fight, though Serena had never dreamed of being capable of single-handedly defeating a roomful of Infernals. Most noticeably, this Serena's eyes blazed with a rage that made her look well beyond her years. The magic contained within her body was so staggering an amount that Serena could feel it from where she stood, and she wondered if the Infernals could too.