In their dreamscape, the challengers would be faced with the same initial scenario, but how each progressed depended entirely on the challenger. The premise was the same: the magiclesskingdom of Mysthelm to our south had invaded Veridia City, placing the central sector and the palace under their control.
“It might take a while for the challengers to discover their inciting incident—the situation that drives them to the crux of the trial,” Lark had explained to Rissa, Horace, and myself. “They’ve been put under great duress, whatever that looks like to each of them, and are facing a crucial decision of character. The emp—wewant to test where their heart lies. Once they work through the demands of the dreamscape and decipher reality from fantasy, they’ll wake up.”
“And…if they don’t wake up?” Rissa had asked.
Lark hadn’t answered.
For nearly three days, Rose had been trapped inside her own mind. The Fates only knew what she was enduring.
I had volunteered to patrol the forest surrounding the palace tonight. My sister hadn’t asked questions when I convinced her to accompany me for the second night in a row, although I knew she suspected the reason behind my insistence.
I wanted to be nearby in case Rose woke up. Or,didn’twake up. The idea of her in this unknown dreamscape, alone and confused and scared, had nagged me incessantly over the last two days. Especially knowing the terrors she’d been through in her life and how weighed down her mind already was.
“Leo, she’s going to be fine,” my sister said softly next to me. “She can’t be hurt. It’s only a dream.”
“They may not be able to harm her physically, but there are far worse ways to cause pain, Rissa. We both know that.”
If this dreamscape was by and large a product of her own subconscious, I feared it was more of a nightmare than a dream. I couldn’t stop thinking of how I’d found her in the hallway over a week ago, signs of a panic attack evident on her features. That girl held everything inside; what would happen when there was nowhere else to go besides the inner workings of her mind? When the demons that haunted her were brought into the light?
“I can’t believe Lark would agree to this,” I muttered as we made our rounds of the palace perimeter.
“You know she doesn’t always have a choice. If Gayl proposes an idea for the tournament, she has to go with it.”
“Yes, but why would he push for this? Something so…”
“Intrusive? Twisted? Wicked?” my sister offered.
I let out a humorless laugh. “Always such a way with words, sister.”
She nudged my arm with her elbow. “When was the last time you smiled? You’ve been an anxious wreck lately.”
The north palace entrance was in view, with the large gardens and their regal archways leading to the front doors. There was barely enough light from the setting sun to illuminate the path, but I could still make out smatterings of guests and members of court on nightly strolls beneath the dusk sky.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mumbled, pushing a branch to the side.
Rissa snorted. “Emperor’s tits, Leo, you never were a good liar.”
Suddenly, the palace doors burst open, and a figure stumbled across the grounds. My muscles coiled tightly as a pit formed in my stomach. Something about that figure looked so familiar.
It raced toward the forest, a courtyard’s distance away from where Rissa and I patrolled. Long, raven hair whipped in the breeze.
Without thinking, I moved. My sister hissed at me, but I ignored her, my feet carrying me along the treeline, scarcely managing to stay within the shadows.
She grew closer. I could tell the moment she noticed me; her neck turned and she froze, like a deer caught in the sights of a predator. And then, she was running.
To me.
“Leo!” she gasped, her face sallow, eyes wild, before she slammed into me.
I instantly brought a hand to cup the nape of her neck, my other holding her steady at her back. Her breaths were uneven andshaking against me, her nose nuzzling into my shoulder as I gripped her tighter.
“I’ve got you. You’re safe now,” I murmured into her hair. Her choked sobs wrapped around my heart the way my fingers wrapped around the strands of her dark locks.
I caught my sister out of the corner of my eye within the shadows of the trees, her knowing gaze searing into the two of us as she gestured for us to get out of sight.
“Rose, we need to get into the forest,” I whispered. She nodded, her hair brushing my neck, and let me lead her further into the treeline. I stopped once we were safely out of view and guided her back against a thick tree trunk. Her body still trembled, like there was some terror she couldn’t shake.
She finally met my eyes, a mere shadow of the vibrant green they normally were, and swallowed. “How do I know this is real?” she asked, so quiet I had to strain to hear her.
