Chapter 75 The dreamscape

Chapter 75 The dreamscape
The ritual required darkness.

Not the artificial darkness of drawn curtains, but true darkness, the kind that existed only in the deepest places of the world. I had my handmaidens clear the furniture from the center of my chambers and draw a circle on the floor in powdered obsidian. Candles were lit at the five points of the Morrigan star. Ash was placed in the center, his small body barely rising and falling with each breath.

"This is dangerous, Your Majesty," Liriel said. "Entering another creature's dreamscape is forbidden magic. Even in Hel, it's only practiced by the most skilled shadow-weavers."

"I'm aware."

"If something goes wrong, if you can't find your way back..." 

"Then I'll be trapped in Ash's dreams forever. I know the risks." I met her eyes. "But Ash has been with me since I was a child. He's saved my life more times than I can count. I won't abandon him now."

The door burst open. Cardan strode in, his expression a mixture of fury and fear. "I just heard. Nyx, you can't..." 

"I can. I will."

"This is forbidden magic. If the council found out..."

"The council can burn." My shadows were rising, responding to my emotions. "Ash is dying, Cardan. Something from the Umbral Host latched onto him in the northern mountains, and it's been feeding on him ever since. I'm not going to stand by and watch him fade away."

"Then let me help. Let me come with you."

"You can't. You don't have my kind of magic. You'd be torn apart." I cupped his face in my hands. "I know you're afraid. I'm afraid too. But this is something I have to do alone."

"Nyx..." 

"Trust me. Please."

He stared at me for a long moment. Then he pulled me into his arms and kissed me, hard and desperate, as if it might be the last time.

"Come back to me," he said against my lips.

"Always."

\-—————————————-

I lay down beside Ash and closed my eyes.

The shadows rose around me, cool and familiar, and the world dissolved into darkness.

Ash's dreamscape was a wasteland.

I stood on a plain of black glass, cracked and broken, stretching to a horizon that burned with sickly green light. The sky was the color of a bruise. The air was thick with the stench of rot and old blood.

And Ash was there.

But not the Ash I knew. This Ash was at his full size, his wings spread wide, his scales gleaming with their old luster. He was fighting. Creatures swarmed around him, twisted, writhing shapes of flesh and teeth. The Umbral Host. They clung to his legs, his wings, his throat. They were feeding on him, their dark forms pulsing with stolen light.

"Ash!"

He turned his massive head toward me. His eyes, usually burning with intelligence and warmth, were wild with pain and fear.

Little one, his voice echoed in my mind. You should not be here.

"I'm not leaving you. Hold on."

I raised my hands and let my shadows rise.

They poured from me like a gassy flood, dark and cold. They wrapped around the Umbral creatures, tearing them away from Ash's body, hurling them into the void.

But there were so many. For every creature I destroyed, two more took its place.

They latched onto me in the mountains, Ash said. His voice was weaker now. When we fought the Host. They've been feeding on me ever since. Using my dreams to spy on you. To watch your movements. To report back to their master.

"Who is their master?"

I do not know. Something that sleeps beneath the northern peaks. Something that has been waiting for a very long time.

A massive shadow detached itself from the swarm. It was larger than the others, a hulking, twisted thing with too many limbs and eyes that burned like dying suns. It turned its gaze on me, and I felt its consciousness press against mine.

'Andromeda's child,' it hissed. 'The daughter of shadows. We have been watching you. We know your secrets. We know your fears.'

"You know nothing about me."

'We know you are afraid. Afraid of losing your king. Afraid of the darkness in your own blood.'  It laughed, a sound like breaking glass. 'You are more like us than you know, little shadow. More like us than you want to admit.' 

"I am nothing like you."

I reached deep into the well of my power, deeper than I had ever reached.  The power that erupted from me was not shadows, but a wave of deep violet fire.

It consumed the Umbral creatures. It consumed the massive shadow-thing and its burning eyes. It consumed the wasteland and the bruised sky and the sickly green horizon.

And when it faded, Ash and I were alone.

Little one, Ash said. His voice was stronger now. You saved me.

"Always." I pressed my hand to his massive snout. "You're my family. I'll always save you."

The dreamscape dissolved around us, and I fell into darkness.

\-——————————-

I woke to chaos.

My chambers were in disarray. The candles had been extinguished. The circle of obsidian powder was scattered across the floor. Cardan was kneeling beside me, his face pale, his silver eyes wild with fear.

"Nyx. Nyx, can you hear me?"