The evening was as clear as forever, hanging about him red and purple, as if he were the center of it. The clouds swirled behind him in an unearthly blend of colors, a dreamscape built out of the imagination of someone. Oddly enough, it seemed almost real to him despite its colors and its vibrancy. The ground was covered with snow, yet the air was not cold.
As he turned to survey the landscape, he saw seven pillars in the distance. They were the only object he could discern, so he began walking toward them. The seven pillars loomed taller and taller. They were upon some sort of building, but he could not tell whether it was unfinished or in ruins, for the pillars stood alone.
It was the same dream he had had every night since meeting Morrigana, but now he seemed to find additional details, and he was sure that he would remember it now. The vague uneasy sensation upon waking that he had not truly rested might be gone now that he could remember the dream. The first awareness that he had had of it was when Morrigana mentioned the barest details to him the night before.
There were strange birds everywhere. He was sure he had not seen them before, not in reality or in the dream. They were white against the backdrop of the dream, and he wondered if they were some sort of apparition.
As he drew closer, he could see the seven women standing in front of the pedestals. Each face was shrouded in a gossamer veil yet the eyes were visible. Each of them had lavender eyes. He did not remember that before either. He knew what happened next and he walked up to the first one of the ladies. He touched her, and she was consumed in a pillar of fire, then she vanished with only something… left charred on the ground.
He proceeded to the second, and the same thing happened. Again with the third, the fire replaced or consumed her. He looked down at the charred object, and realized that it was a heart. He reached down and touched it, a sudden impulse seemingly driving him. He did not remember this happening before either. It was… most disturbing. The heart sighed and vanished.
He reached out for the next woman, but this time something different happened. As it had before in the dream, the woman turned to stone, and the stone crumbled away to dust. Just so with the next two, and not even the heart remained… only sand.
He turned now to the last. Her eyes were clear, a dancing shade of lavender that the light reflected and highlighted. These were eyes he had seen before. She smiled and held out her hand. As he touched her, he had the oddest sensation of warm and cold all at the same time. The veil fell from her face, and it was Morrigana who stood before him. He had known that it would be.
"The dream is more than a dream. It is past and prophecy," she whispered to him. "You must scry its meaning before the next will come. You have two weeks, then it will fade forever."
She reached out and touched his cheek, and an aching filled him that he had never felt before. He realized that it was her own aching that she had conveyed to him somehow. He turned around as the birds cried out, but they were all gone, and he was alone when he turned back.
He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them he was alone in his room, in his bed. He remembered the dream clearly this time, and Morrigana was right for he did feel more rested for remembering it. He had the odd sensation that his waking hours would now be the ones disturbed, and not his sleep.
He arose to cleanse himself to face the day. As he put his hands in the basin, a thin layer of ash floated out over the water. Ash… left behind from a fire that should have stayed behind the veil of dreams.
Quests
Tome of the Virtues
Twilight Dreams
