A red carpet lay unfurled beneath her feet and to either side Jara could see banks of cryo-pods that lined the corridor. Reflections of mountain tops and seas of green pastures shone on the pods' crystal casings. As she moved down the corridor, her feet hovering just above the plush fabric, the reflections began to change.

  Suddenly dominated by the shifting red of blooded ferns, the hilltops and valleys erupted into wildfire and smoke until they were wiped clean and lifeless. The once majestic peaks were craggy and littered with an endless expanse of writhing bodies, each twisted and malformed, howling and calling in the way that harkened back to the screams Jara heard on Valrakee. As she passed more and more cryo-pods, faces began to show.

  First were simple folk, common faces she'd seen back on the station day-to-day; people she'd never known more than a passing smile or a wave. Next were that of the berserkers, each poised and determined to break into a besieged Valrakee and fight the evils within; their eyes shut. Jara wanted to slow, to stop her endless glide and turn and run. She reached down with her toes, trying to grab hold of the carpet. As she did, between her toes she grasped not the plush fabric, but shredded blood ferns that seemed dappled with a shimmering black sludge.

  The black sludge reacted to her touch, reaching back at her feet. The viscous liquid slowed her travel and her unease shifted towards dread. In the next few pods, Jara could now make out the faces of Dan-Dan, of Flokk, of Tomo and Olek, of the rest of the troupe, and of Ruby unmasked; her blue skin, her missing nose, her greyed, short hair, her haunted white eyes trained on her, all in full display.

  Next to Ruby's pod was that of Jonothen's. His calm smile gave him what Jara knew was a peaceful sort of hope. Across from Jonothen was Bael, his pod battle-scarred yet regal, emblazoned with not the emblem of his house – a grey wolf – but of a furious jet-black dog.

  The Spider du Mzam's pods were next to Bael's; three pods, each an aspect of Takeshi, Tsuchigumo, and finally of Hachiman.

  All of the eyes that faced Jara remained shut, save for Ruby's. Jara's heart strained for sanity, for meaning. She knew this was a dream, and she shouted for her family, her friends, her protectors to wake up. And hear her they did.

  All at once they began to speak. Softly at first, a slow mumble as if they were waking from a year-long sleep, then it became clear what they were saying.

  “Trust your brothers,

  trust your sisters!

  Here comes glory, glory,

  oh bloody and hardfought glory!”

  Jara squirmed, trying to turn and flee, but the black sludge held her firmly on the floor. She tried to cover her ears, but something held her hands to her side. She tried to look away, but something begged her to listen.

  "Sons and daughters..."

  "Brothers, sisters!"

  "Trust your brothers, trust your sisters!"

  "Here is glory, glory. Oh, bloody and hardfought glory!"

  Jonothen's and Bael's and the rest of their eyes opened together, staring white-hot through her. Their cries echoed throughout the corridor, their haunted melody itching at the back of Jara's head.

  “We’ve won glory,

  We’ve won glory!_

  Brothers, sisters,

  Sons, and daughters."

  "Stop!" she cried, "please stop! I can't take it!"

  Jara's head turned toward the corridors' end where a figure stood. Both beautiful and terrible, as if flashing back and forth between each.

  "A draw will regains me no lands, and no honour!" the host of bodies said in Takeshi's voice, "Your wickedness has come to an end! May death be our only defeat!"

  Gunfire from the berserker's rifles erupted up and down the corridor as they broke free from the cryo-pods. Each of Jara's family, new and old, found and blood-borne, clambered out towards her, fighting to free her from her torment. They reached her and began ripping and tearing at the black the bound her feet.

  "Trust your brothers,

  trust your sisters!

  Here is glory, glory,

  oh bloody and hardfought glory!"

  "Give rest to those, Brave..." Jara sung as tears streamed down her face, "...that gave us hard-won peace..."

  And with that the figure at the end of the hall stopped shifting, locking in on the beautiful resonance from her first dream. The ithcing at the back of her mind slowed and evaporated, the gunfire ceased, and the warmth of Bael, of Jonothen, of Ruby, of Dan-Dan and Flokk, of the troupe, of Greyface, and The Spider, and the man at the end of the hall began to fill the space, forcing out the blood-red ferns, the writhing bodies on the hilltops, and the terror that had tried to work it's way into her.

  And as the man, beautiful and serene, opened his mouth to speak, reality came back to Jara like a hammer.

  "Jara? Earth to Jara...?" Ruby said, rocking her shoulder with her gloved palm, "where have you gone off to again?"

  "I–" Jara started to say before realizing who she was staring at. Right infront of her was the man from her dream, from her visions, for the audience at her performance. And now he stood here in the Hjalmaborg's great hall a step from her.

  "Well he is cute," said Ruby. "I guess I can't blame you for staring."

  "Nor, I," said the man, and Jara realized this was the first time she heard his voice. Not in her dreams nor the visions did he ever speak. For this reason, Jara knew she must be awake.

  "You're... real?" Jara asked.

  "Of course he's real! Are you okay?" Ruby asked.

  Ruby let go of Jara's shoulder and held a gloved hand out to the man. Amused by Jara's question, he smiled.

  "I'm Ruby, and you are?"

  "Brenmurinnen. Or, Bren if you like," said the man, shaking Ruby's hand.

  "You sure don't look like the rest of the guests, Bren," said Ruby which earned a look of shock from Jara.

  "You can't just say that, Ruby!" Jara said. But it was clear to Jara that this man was different. Still the height of the average odeen, Bren had not the characteristic pale white skin of other odeen. Instead, adding to his stark beauty, his skin was a deep brown, his eyes a pale hazel.

  "It's quite alright, Jara– was it?" Bren said, holding a hand out to Jara, "I could say the same about your friend here."

  "Are you with the Sovereignty– did you come here with the other dignitaries?" Jara asked. "If you're trying to blend in you're doing a terrible job"

  "In a manner," said Bren with a chuckle, "I find I have the most success with this appearance."

  "Success?" Ruby questioned.

  "Standing out from the crowd is sometimes good, sometimes not so good," he clarified while eyeing Ruby; a seemingly double-edged blade. "But, in this particular instance it seems it helped you find me."

  "Why do I know you?" Jara asked to Ruby's confusion.

  "I think we both know why," Bren said, affirming Jara's suspicions that this was the very same man from her dream.

  "What are you two talking about?" Ruby pressed.

  "Ruby, I have been seeing–" Jara started.

  "I knew you were seeing someone! Come to think of it I've seen you at our performances before," Ruby said, "I can't believe you didn't mention him earlier! No wonder you were so nervous all day."

  Jara could see she was losing her, not sure how to stop her train of conjecture.

  "No, Ruby, you've got it wrong," Jara said.

  "Suuuure," Ruby said, and Jara could almost feel her roll her eyes behind her opaque visor, made easier that she had a vision of her face. Was that her real face?

  "Look, I'll leave you two to catch up. I see a plate of hors d'ouevres calling to me," said Ruby before abruptly stepping off.

  "Hi," Jara said, a little bewildered.

  "Hello, yourself," said Bren, "my intent wasn't to startle you with all of this, I trust you understand."

  "Fine party, this," Jara said in an attempt to lighten the tension. "I hear talk of a massive burning effigy being setup on the lawn outside for later. Something spectacular to round out the night."

  "It is among one of the finer I've seen," Bren said, "though I expect nothing less from a Jarl with something to prove."

  "You think Jarl Gand has some ulterior motive planning all this?" Jara asked, smugly.

  "Even the birds know the Jarl has some needle to thread. Watch out for that one," Bren warned, "That one has his own ends to meet. But I expect you want not to banter all night, you have the look of someone with questions."

  Jara nodded and sucked in a breath.

  "What is all this? Why am I seeing you in my dreams – my visions?"

  "Before I answer that," he said pointing downward, "look at your feet."

  At first she wasn't sure what she should be looking at, then it donned on her.

  "A red carpet," said Jara.

  "Precisely. And the tapestries along the wall?"

  She turned to see the same tapestries of heroes lining the walls; mostly green in colour, woven with black thread.

  "Are these signs from my visions?" Jara pieced together.

  Bren nodded and Jara suddenly recalled the fire and death; recent additions to the usual tranquil scene of life and warmth.

  "Is something terrible about to happen?" she asked, a chill running through her bones; the itch returning to the back of her head.

  "I am sorry," Bren said with sadness in his eyes.

  "You don't have to do it, whatever it is you're about to do," Jara tried to reason with him.

  Bren smiled and shook his head, a lock of hair falling to his cheek as it lost purchase from his hairline.

  "You've got it wrong, I'm not here to cause any trouble," Bren assured her.

  Ruby who had returned from forcing crab cakes into her helmet and had been hovering nearby inched up behind her, sensing Jara's discomfort. Bren didn't seem to be bothered.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "What's going to happen?" Jara pressed.

  "Nothing good, but nothing unnecessary."

  Jara cocked her head at this. What did he mean by unnecessary?

  "I can't say too much, lest I alter thing unexpectedly."

  "I'm afraid I don't understand," she said. Jara could feel herself shaking, unease welling up beyond her knees. Ruby stepped forward and grabbed her hand and squeezed.

  "You're stressing her out," Ruby insisted, "Want me to go find Black Dog?"

  Jara raised a hand as if to stall her.

  "You're scaring me," she said.

  "I know," he said, bowing his head as if somehow ashamed of his actions.

  "Then why are you here? Why are you forcing me to have these visions?"

  "I am not the cause of your visions, Jara. I am plagued with the same. I am a mere catalyst, a messenger who-in lies some of the blame."

  Jara stepped back feeling her unease bloom into something broaching nausea as Ruby tried to steady her.

  "I am but words on the universe's timeless lips," Bren said with a kind of insistence in his words.

  Ruby, who had been focused on Jara suddenly snapped her head to been Bren's eyes. Each of them focusing on each other as a sort of knowing recognition arced between them.

  "Prophet!—" Ruby's suit comms crackled and Bren responded with a slight bow.

  "Ruby... Ruby, I can't–" Jara struggled to say as she began to lose her footing.

  "Stop doing this!" Ruby insisted, "what have you done to her?!"

  Bren took a step back from them as Jara's vision narrowed.

  "I'm sorry Jara, I don't mean to take you away from all of this," Bren said to her, "Know that there was no other path."

  Ruby, still grasped Jara trying to right her as Bren moved into the crowd. Jara could feel the concern her friend felt for her, see it as if she could see the alien woman's face. But she could see her face, could see clean through her visor as if she wasn't wearing it at all; she could see the truth of it— of all things.

  Her mind woke, then. As if she had been dreaming her whole life. From her childhood on Valrakee surrounded by Jonothen's warmth, to her sequestration on the cryo-pod following her father's and the bererkers' last valiant stand – gun shots echoing amongst the screams, to her rescue and recovery amongst her found family, Bael, and finally to her fire dancer friends and their loving acceptance and support as she worked to conquer her art. But beneath the events, the people, the worlds that she travelled to was a thrum; a pattern that grew from the fabric of everything.

  Behind the walls of Valrakee, back on that day she could finally see the beasts that drew toward her. Terrible screams they gave off as they ripped and slew apart the bodies of the berserkers despite their gunfire. They were horrors beyond her imagination, something never shared in all the stories she'd heard as a child, nor since during her travels. Slick-skinned, long-clawed, and fast, they tore up the corridor toward her cryo-pod, even after the last of the berserkers' guns, and their warrior hymns, fell silent.

  She could even see the moments after her cryo-pod pressurized, exited the station, and began the process of preserving her. Jara could remember things she hadn't witnessed, see things she ought not have seen. In her memories she glimpsed the last moments of Jonothen's life. On his face had been fear, painted with a layer of love for his daughter.

  But after her pod had exited and left him to the reality of his fate, his fear overtook him. Horror washed away and buried the hope and love, as the monsters rounded the corner and faced him.

  Jara could now remember his death as they tore him apart as if searching for something. Then as some sort of realization donned on the beasts she'd assumed mindless, they slowed. Of the twenty or so twisted forms that had pushed their way into the room with Jonothen's corpse, all of them turned to face the bay her pod had exited from and stared with their eyeless faces.

  She could feel their gaze, their contempt, as if she was staring back at them right now.

  With the monsters subdued, their screams silenced, a new voice thrummed on the horizon of the universe. A beat, almost like the twong of Olek's war drums, but infinitely distant.

  A shadow crept towards her from before her. From behind her, great volcanic-glass forms the size of moons, moved through the vacuum of space. Something spoke to her, though she couldn't make out the words yet she knew their intent.

  There was a timeless war coming; a war without end.

  "Bren..." Jara tried to say before her world went dark and she collapsed to the floor.

  Yet something was different; strange. I was different from her dreams, different from her visions. She knew she was unconscious; her body at rest on the marbled floor of the great hall of the Hjalmaborg, her hand the clasped by Ruby as she tried desperately to wake her, even Bael had materialized at her side as he barked for aid, having returned to the hall in time to see her collapse.

  Strange it was to see the events around her just as she's witnessed from her cryo-pod, but now in realtime as they happened.

  Time in this state was also strange, happening and not happening all at once.

  Jara saw the concern, the love from her people that surrounded her now followed closely by emergency personnel that rushed to her aid. She could even see Bren and the path he took as he walked away from her through the crowd, up the stairs that led out from the great hall, to the courtyard outside, to the outer concourse, to the city streets of Drassil, to the spaceport, and even the path his shuttle took as it exited the atmosphere, all before she lost focus.

  Back in the great hall, the music and chatter had ground to a halt as concern grew for Jara's unresponsive body. Even the Teikun and Jarl Gand had grown silent as they watched from their seats at the end of the hall. Hushed words were all the noise that could be had, save for the back and forth of the emergency personnel.

  That's when it happened. A fire lit and spread up a tapestry on a far wall, quickly leading and licking up the other artworks. Tumult filled the hall as smoke billowed to fill the ceiling domes. The guests' concern for Jara evaporated as fear moved their feet towards the exits.

  The emergency personnel abandoned Jara with some reluctance and quickly rushed to pull people away from the fires as they swelled up the walls and throughout the room as others pulled extinguishers from hidden panels behind the walls to battle the flames. Greyface and the only other fels in attendance moved to place themselves between the fire and the other guests of flammable species.

  Bael, seemingly paralyzed with where to direct his concern, let go of her and stood, looking toward the Teikun's seat.

  "Go, I'll get her out of here!" Ruby told him.

  "Stay with her, and stay low. Find Wulm, and get her back to my estate!" Bael demanded, before heading off and pushing through the torrent of bodies toward the Teikun.

  Seconds later, shots rang out as everyone around Ruby and Jara ducked. The gunfire had come from the direction of the Teikun's seat, the direction that Bael had headed.

  "Come on!" Ruby wailed, as she hoisted Jara's body across her shoulders. The gunfire, however brief, had hastened the rest of the people to exit the great hall. Ruby carried Jara out the main entry and out back toward the performance stage.

  Hurrying away from the rest of the people, Ruby made her way toward the dressing tent and pushed through, using Jara's feet to part the tent flap.

  Ruby placed Jara's body on the nearest pouf, propping her up against a dresser.

  "This... isn't my home..." Jara groaned, her eyes still closed.

  "Jara!" Ruby yelped, "Jara are you alright? You had us so worried!"

  "I'm– ow..." Jara started, before a twinge of pain erupted from the base of her neck.

  "Easy, you fell pretty hard back there!" Ruby urged.

  "Thanks for getting me out of there," Jara said. "Where's Bael now?"

  "He rushed off to tend to the Teikun. You missed quite a lot after you went out," Ruby said.

  "Fire, I know," Jara said.

  "How could –?..." Ruby said with a crackle.

  "I saw it, somehow," Jara admitted, "almost like I was dreaming it. I could hear you, see you and Bael and the people attending to me. I even saw the fire breakout. I heard the gunfire. I even followed where Bren went off to."

  "You... saw all that? How?" Ruby questioned, to which Jara just shrugged.

  A shooting pain went up her neck again and she groaned.

  "Seriously, stop moving," Ruby insisted. Lifting her head back toward the tent flaps, she said: "my suit tells me they've put the fire out. Rest now."

  "What the hell was that, were we attacked?" Jara asked between grit teeth.

  "I'll bet that Bren will have to answer to it someday, among other things..." Ruby said, trailing off.

  "He didn't start the fire, Ruby," Jara insisted. "He was with us when it broke out."

  "He knew about it though, that's surely suspicious," Ruby said.

  "So did I it seems," said Jara.

  "You knew it was going to happen?" Ruby pushed, "And, mind filling me in how you were able to recount the fire?"

  "Like I said, I was sort of dreaming while I was out. I saw it happening just as if I were awake. It's not the only thing I saw then. I've had dreams like this before. Never as clear though, and never things outside my perception. But somehow I was viewing things with my eyes closed, and seeing things around corners I'd never looked before."

  "You have visions – like premonitions?" Ruby asked, and Jara could sense she had some ulterior meaning.

  "I saw things; things I shouldn't have been able to. I saw the attack – the fire – sure, but I also saw the events on Valrakee, the last day I saw my father..." Jara said, before explaining everything she saw from that day.

  "I see... That's horrible," Ruby said, pussyfooting around asking something else.

  "Just say it, Ruby," Jara said, "I know you want to ask me."

  Ruby hesitated before speaking, her suit's comm buzzing with evermore vigour.

  "You said you had visions of the future before," she started, "the fire just now was present. The attack on Valrakee– well, that was past. But what about the future, did you see anything else?"

  Jara paused at this, how could she explain what she had seen?

  "I saw... I saw a calamity I can't quite explain," Jara said.

  Ruby sat cross-legged at Jara's feet and leaned in, urging for her to continue like a child during story time.

  "Massive, planet-size things; they were moving in space, moving towards something..."

  "You saw the obsidian," Ruby said after a moment of silence, "You saw the gods!"

  "Gods?" Jara questioned, "No, these are nothing like the gods from my peoples' stories."

  "But they are from mine," Ruby said. "Look, I know you know I'm not human. I've done little to hide it from you."

  "Why did you hide? You know the troupe would accept you no matter who or what you are," Jara said, before suddenly thinking of the rest of the troupe. Gods, had they made it out okay?

  "I could say the same thing to you, you've been hiding at least as much as I have," Ruby said in reference to the visions.

  "Fair," Jara admitted. "Have you heard from the rest of them yet?"

  Ruby shook her head.

  "Why the suit, then?" Jara asked after some time, "I suppose you don't really have some debilitating disease under there. Is it just to hide your appearance?"

  "Without it I'd die, so a disease isn't far off," Ruby explained. "No, my people's physiology is a lot different than yours despite outward appearances. Your atmospheres are toxic to us. Without this envirosuit I'd not last more than a day, maybe two if I was onboard the Troubadour. The only concession is lifting my helm to quickly eat while I hold my breath."

  "I saw your face," Jara admitted, "in my vision."

  "Really?" Ruby asked, "did you like what you saw?"

  Jara smiled at that and nodded.

  "It didn't escape me that you called Bren a prophet," Jara said, ruining the mood.

  "Yes well, there's a reason I'm here. Here with the troupe, I mean. My people undertake a pilgrimage, a right of passage in our early days before we return to our home, never again to leave," said Ruby.

  "You're on a pilgrimage? Are you looking for those gods?" asked Jara.

  Ruby shook her head.

  "Not really. It's mostly just ritual at this point, a way for the youngsters to get out and stretch their legs, get exploring out of our systems. But, there was a reason for it when it began. You see my people were looking for something; someone. We are sent to look for signs of their return."

  "Bren," Jara said.

  "He said it to you, the sign we're trained to watch for, a phrase that I expect unlocked something in you," she said, before paraphrasing Bren: "I am but words on the universe's timeless lips."

  "It unlocked something in me? What is that– my visions?" asked Jara

  "That's a bit beyond me. The tradition never mentions another, let alone something would happen to them," Ruby said, "What it does say is to report any sightings back home with all haste."

  "You're leaving, then? When?" Jara pressed, concern welling up past the searing pain in her neck.

  "Now," Ruby said sheepishly.

  "Now– what do you mean now? With everything that just happened you're gonna just leave me and the troupe like this?"

  "I am sorry Jara," Ruby said.

  "Stop, just stop. Everyone is apologizing to me today," Jara said. "We don't even know where Dan-Dan, Flokk, and the rest are –if they're okay– and you want to just leave?"

  "I don't want to, I have to. News of the prophet has to be reported," Ruby said.

  "It can wait!" Jara said, pleading for her friend to not leave her.

  Jara started to spiral as she drew parallels to what happened back on Valrakee. A tragedy struck, Jara's own enfeeblement, and to be carried off and stashed away from danger all the while the one's she love – be it Ruby or Bael or Jonothen – leave her.

  "I've sent a bulletin to Wulm, he knows to come get you here," Ruby said, failing to hide her own sorrow behind her opaque visor.

  "Ruby, don't," Jara demanded. "We can get word back to your people when this all settles down."

  "You don't understand," Ruby said, her voice quavering. "This news is everything to my people, without it... well let's just say we've a god of our own and this news might loosen it's reigns a bit."

  "Ruby you're not making any sense," Jara said, tears streaming down her face.

  "I know," Ruby said, before looking down at Jara's evening outfit. "You tore your new blouse."

  "Oh," Jara said, nonplussed and fuming at her friend.

  Ruby stood and Jara reached a hand after her causing pain to leak from her neck into her mouth.

  "You'll be safe here Jara. I wont" Ruby said as she disappeared through the open tent flaps.

  Jara, unable to move, she let her tears flow as she slumped into the softness of the pouf.

  Minutes rolled by, giving way to hours. Wulm never came, nor did Bael, nor Dan-Dan, or Flokk, or Olek, or Tomo, or the rest of the troupe. What did come was pain.

  Spurred by a sudden rapport of gunshots somewhere distant but still within the Hjalmaborg's ground, Jara flinched and caused another searing pain to ripple through her neck.

  Pulling out her terminal, she could see it too had been damaged with her fall back in the great hall. Tilting its screen to make out details past the cracked glass, a news bulletin popped up with the highest priority.

  It was first footage of the spaceport, the same Bren had escaped toward, but it wasn't of Bren's ship. No, clear as day she could make out the insignia of Black Dog himself emblazoned on the side of his personal shuttle. The shuttle hastily exited the platform on the feed under cannonfire, perused closely by fighter craft and bombardments from somewhere out of frame.

  The headline on the bulletin read: The Teikun attacked, in critical condition. Suspect Jarl "Black Dog" Kagawa resists arrest, attempts to flee.

  Jara's heart skipped. Despite the report, she knew it was insane. Bael would never attack the Teikun. Bael and Gunma's bond went deep, there is no way Bael would try to kill him.

  She checked the rest of the bulletins rolling in; a battle erupting in the skies of Drassil as she heard in realtime as explosions sounded somewhere distant beyond the fabric of the tent. She saw feeds that showed Bael's shuttle docking with some larger vessel baring similar markings as other vessels swarmed and weaved either in defence or in an attempt to ground him.

  Bael's ship and the rest of his forces, seemingly attempting to avoid attacking the planetary protection forces, the Teikun's own, interspersed with that of Jarl Gands', made for high orbit before breaking off and heading away from the planet. All the while Jara could feel the last person she had expected to leave her, moving away from her at sublight. Scrolling through the rest of the feeds Jara saw Bael's fleet, each and every last ship, as they leapt out of sight.

  Jara dropped her terminal and tried to let her tears flow again, but she was too parched and too tired and her head hurt too much.

  She wasn't sure what she had done to it, whether she'd bruised or broken something, but the sensation was familiar. It was almost like the itch that had tickled the at back of her head ever since she woke in the cryo-pod, but now amplified a thousand times over. The pain gave way to an insidious urge, a crawling anxiety that seemed as though it was trying to speak to her.

  And in the lone silence of the dressing tent, as the lyrics from the berserkers' battle hymn played in her mind, Jara began to hum to herself.

  "...oh bloody and hardfought glory..."