Page 78 of Cursed By the Dawn

“Esmer?” Erebus’s voice was distant, muffled as though he spoke from another time.

I tried to hold on, tried to summon my magic, but it sputtered uselessly in the face of whatever force had claimed me. The shadows around me, once my allies, now seemed unknown, unresponsive. My vision blurred as the inn twisted and dissolved, plunging me into darkness.

When I landed, the impact jarred through my body like lightning.

I staggered to my feet, struggling to understand what I was seeing.

Where am I?

The dreamscape was unrecognizable. A nightmare. The uneven ground was filled with piles of ash, bones, and rotting things. It was difficult to stand, let alone walk. I could tell I was inside a broken, hollowed-out chamber, but it was impossible to say what it had once been. Above, a fractured purple sky pulsed with dark, jagged seams, as if there were demons on the other side trying to break free.

I’d never seen anything so hideous in my life.

BOOM!

I backpedaled as part of the floor dropped away—right where I’d been standing. The hole revealed nothing, only a pitch-black void. I shuddered, nearly stepping on a bone pile in my urgency to escape. It felt as if I was being watched. Shadows pooled weakly at my feet as I searched for some clue, some sign of where I was or who had dragged me here.

And then I saw the willow tree, its charred form reduced to almost nothing.

I was back at Evernight’s Dream Temple.

Right in Raelion’s twisted heart.

A figure emerged from the darkness. I stiffened immediately, magic slowly stirring to life as my instincts screamed at me to run.

“Mithras.” His name left my lips as a curse, venom dripping from my teeth.

Mithras, Noctis’s holy Light Bringer and Raelion’s unholy host, stepped closer, his once-bright form tarnished by decay. His golden hair was long and ratty, his armor tattered and dull. Even his eyes—once so piercing and bright—now held a weary flatness. Yet his presence still commanded attention: his movements deliberate, his gaze fixed squarely on me.

“You’re alive,” Mithras said, his voice far rougher than I remembered. “I can’t believe it.”

“And you’re decayed,” I shot back, crossing my arms. “Get out of my head.”

Mithras exhaled slowly, his expression pained. “Esmer, I—”

“Don’t,” I snapped, cutting him off. “You don’t get to approach me like we’re allies. What you did to our kingdom is unforgivable. How could you?”

“I made mistakes—”

“‘Mistakes’?” I choked out a bitter laugh. “A mistake is a misstep in battle. A mistake is speaking out of turn. A mistake is forgetting a name or losing a game.” I drew my sword from my palm, stalking forward. My shadows were weak, but I could still be strong. “But whatyoudid? That wasn’t a mistake. That was a choice. You’re not a fool who stumbled into darkness. Youranto it. You’re a monster.”

“You don’t understand,” he grated out. “If you’d just listened to what I wanted, then—”

“I don’t care what you wanted, Mithras.” I took another step forward, my anger flaring hotter. “Whatever you’re doing here, I don’t trust it. I don’t trustyou. Never mind what you’re doing in Noctis.”

“You didn’t trust me before, either,” he bit out, jaw tightening. “And look at where that got you. Look at what it caused.”

The words struck hard, unleashing a flood of dark memories: the fall of the seven Dream Weavers, Raelion’s attack, Erebus and I barely escaping with our lives. Had I listened to this traitor,wouldthings have been different?

I raised my sword, jutting it between us, but Mithras was unperturbed. He met me in the middle of the chamber, positioning his chest mere inches from the tip of my blade. He was unarmed, I noted. And his light magic was nowhere to be seen.

“What felt like a blink to you was five years to me. Five years of silence. Five years of believing you were dead. And yet, I can feel you now—sense your living heart. I can sense Erebus’s, too.” Overhead, the sky cracked like the shell of an egg. The jagged seams splintered, multiplying. “I ordered the tomb to be cleared, opened. I sent provisions your way. But no matter what we tried, we could not enter the innermost chamber. Your shadows fought us with everything they had.”

Light briefly flickered in his palm, but he squeezed it shut, extinguishing it.

“I tried to give you everything you’d need to safely awaken. Gold. Food. Horses.”

The admission should have moved me, but it didn’t. Instead, it merely stoked my anger.