Chapter 6: Dreams and Realities

Nienna shot upright from a deep sleep, covered in a cold sweat and clutching at her chest. Her breath came in ragged bursts, and her heart thundered so hard in her chest she thought it would tear right through her ribs. She pulled her knees up to her chest, rest her head on them, and steadied her breathing. She was awake now, her nightmares far behind her. At least, that’s what she kept saying to herself. It wasn’t real. It was just a nightmare, like the one before it and the one before that.Just a nightmare. Her mantra calmed her, and her breathing eventually began to even out.

It had been the same nightmare which had plagued her sleep regularly over the years. No matter how familiar they had become, she never got used to the violent end. When consciousness faded away each night, Nienna found herself in the bountiful fields of Shaemoor and on her way to the river to meet her old friend, Torran. Some of the details had changed over time, but the end was always the same. Whether it was at the hand of a dear friend or a shadow of herself, Nienna always ended up dead in the river.

Her body ached and begged for more rest, but her mind kept rushing from one thought to another faster than a skritt hunting treasure. She stretched out onto her back again and stared at the wood ceiling of her little chamber as she tried to relax and. Light from the small brazier illuminated the cobwebs stretching along the wooden ceiling panels. She turned her head to the side and looked at the books and crates stacked in the corner. They must have been long since forgotten, because they had gathered layers upon layers of dust.

Jakob had been able to secure a few rooms for them all in the back of the Priory Headquarters, out of the way, and more importantly, out of sight. The others let Nienna have the small room all to herself so she could rest uninterrupted. As she got settled, Alena and Dee whispered quietly to each other. Nienna heard the words ‘stay’ and ‘worried’ in the midst of their conversation, but in the wake of her exhausted scowl, the two ultimately decided to leave her in peace. She looked over to the closed door and wondered if they were still quietly hovering outside.

Unable to rest, she finally sat up on the edge of the cot and let out an agitated groan. Her thoughts went to Seren again. With the new information revealing their familiar connection, Nienna couldn’t help but wonder how it would change things between the two of them as well as with the others. Of course, none of it would matter if they didn’t get Seren and Salara back alive from the Byrnes. Hopefully the sun was on its way up; she didn’t want to wait much longer before getting underway. Even though the Priory team Jakob spoke of was already tracking the failing ship, she wanted to be there herself. Their business had yet to be finished.

Nienna rest her hand down on the cot beside her, and her fingertips grazed the edges of the parchment pages Quint had left behind. She had finally read them before settling down to sleep. As she read those carefully scrawled words, her heart skipped a beat. She finally had answers she needed, and her former adviser had risked his standing within the Order, and probably his life, to bring her proof that destroying the blade was possible. What was recently a hope now was a very real possibility of becoming a reality. But what it would take—she hadn’t expected it.

With shaking hands, she folded up the pages and stuffed them back in her under-wrapping. She grabbed her boots and slipped them on. Nienna had left her gloves on while she slept, and she stopped for a moment to look at the dark material, half expecting to find frost on her fingertips again. She rubbed her fingers together and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no ice this time. The gloves weren’t necessary, but it made her feel better to hide the dark lines tracing her veins. Had they grown? Had they changed? What in the Underworld was happening to me? She pulled both gloves off and tossed them aside on the bed.

The intricate series of dark pathways had grown their way up her arm on all sides from her hands and had nearly reached her elbow now. She swallowed hard, wanting the marks to disappear, but she knew no amount of wishing would actually make them go away. After wielding Dhuum’s scythe in the battle against Lady Eira and Lord Aedan Byrne, the darkened veins appeared. Alena seemed to think there was a direct link between their existence and the power of the scythe, as if her body was reacting to the dark energy. The asura’s assumption made sense, but until they could be sure and find a solution, Nienna was intent on covering them up. There were more pressing matters at hand, and she needed the others to stay focused.

“Nienna…I miss her…”

She paused halfway pulling her gloves back on and looked at the door. “Dee? Alena? Is that you? You can come in. We should get going anyway. I don’t want to waste more time sitting around here doing nothing.”

There was no response, nor did they enter. Nienna finished pulling on her gloves and stood up to get her axe resting on a chair next to the cot with Quint’s long coat. The Gothic inlay remained dormant until Nienna neared and reached for it. She paused, her hand hovering just above the handle, and watched as the design etched into the dual blades glow red. She pulled back and reached for the weapon again, watching the illumination come and go again. The reaction puzzled her. Aside from the blade she guarded, she had not seen another weapon react in such a way. The axe had done the same thing when she encountered it in one of the Order’s storage rooms in the Chantry of Secrets. She eyed it, wondering about its origins. Maybe one day she’d be able to learn its story. For now, it would serve its her purposes.

Whispers rose up from the other side of the door again, and even though Nienna concentrated, she couldn’t make out what they were trying to say. She raised an eyebrow, curious what was going on out there as she strode over to the door while pulling on her gloves.

“Hey, didn’t you hear me? You can come in,” she called as she gripped the latch and pulled the door open. She expected to find Dee and Alena—or anyone out there—but the hall was empty except for the occasional torch dotting the walls.

“…findher…”

“Hello?” Nienna called out as she stepped out into the empty hall. Her own voice echoed up and down the passageway, adding to the whispers she continued to hear.

Footsteps off to her left caught her attention, and she turned just in time to see a shadow disappear around a bend in the hall. There was something strange about it—something not right about the edges and the movement. Despite every instinct screaming at her to find the others before following this stranger, Nienna curiosity won out, and she followed them anyway. Besides, they could disappear completely before she could return with anyone else. She couldn’t be too careful though, so she kept her weapon in hand just in case. She hoped what she was seeing was merely a priory member sent to retrieve something from one of these forgotten rooms. But whoever they were, they were moving quickly. Just when Nienna thought she was about to catch up, the shadow disappeared around another corner. She quickened her steps, hoping to reach them and get an explanation for their hurry—even if it was just to assuage her own fear.

At some point during the chase, Nienna lost track of how many corners she rounded. The distance between torches grew longer, and the stone wall began to take on a sickly green glow. She slowed, suddenly feeling unsettled by the gradual change in the environment. She did not remember seeing any part of the tunnels they came in through looking like this. But there was something familiar about the hue of color. Before she could give it another thought, the shadow rounded another corner. Nienna sped up after them, but as she turned the corner and emerged into an open chamber, she discovered the shadow she chased was no longer there.

“Hello?” she called out, but was met with only the echoing of her own voice.

Nienna stopped and took in her surroundings. The stone walls had completely melted away now, giving way to crumbling ruins and twisted, bare trees. She tried to figure out how she ended up in this place. How far into the bowels of the Priory’s Headquarters had she gone? How were there ruins inside the mountains? She had no answers, but when she glanced upward and saw a dusky sky covered in wispy clouds, she finally realized she wasn’t still in the Priory anymore.

“Where the hell am I?” Nienna murmured to herself.

A brisk wind whistled through the ruins and carried with it a cacophony of whispers.

“…Nienna…”

No matter how hard she tried to tune her hearing, Nienna couldn’t pinpoint where the voice was coming from. Her patience started to wear thin. “Who are you?” she demanded, emphasizing each word.

Spying movement along the jagged edge of the outer perimeter of the ruins, Nienna took cover behind what was left of a stone entryway. She carefully peered around the edge, moving slowly so as not to make a sound. The shadowy figure emerged from the other side of the ruins, searching around the crumbled stone and wood for something. From where she hid, Nienna leaned forward to try to get a better look, bracing herself against the rough stone, but it gave way under her hand. The sound of the stony bits clattered to the hard ground. Hoping the sound hadn’t given her away, she froze where she stood, but the shadowy figure’s attention immediately snapped over in her direction.

“Come out,” they ordered. Their voice was hollow and wispy, but there was also something recognizable about it—something familiar that Nienna couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Holding her axe firmly at her side, she slowly stepped out from her hiding place. To her surprise, the shadowy figure she had been chasing wasn’t shadowy at all anymore. They were as solid as she was, but unrecognizable underneath the large hood and cloak they wore.

“How are you here? You shouldn’t be here. Not yet.”

“Yet? What do you mean? Where am I?”

The stranger grew rigid as they looked around them. It was obvious they were not comfortable in her presence. The sharp action caused a lock of dark red hair to spill out from under their hood. Nienna squinted her eyes, trying to peer deep into the darkness of their hood to get a glimpse of any identifying features. It was like looking into infinite black. She couldn’t see anything at all. The figure cocked their head to the side, and then turned to leave without any sort of explanation.

“Hey! Wait!” Nienna called as she started after them. She had only taken a few steps before the shrouded stranger suddenly turned and sped toward her. Startled, she stopped suddenly. Their movement was too smooth, too unnatural, to be a living and breathing being.

“I do not know how you are here, but you should not be,” they said as they looked Nienna over. The voice had taken on a feminine tone, but she still couldn’t place her finger on the familiarity she sensed. “No one alive crosses into the Underworld like this.”

Nienna’s eyes went wide. Of course! She had seen the sickly green hue before when Grenth had visited her dreams and brought her into the Underworld. Somehow, she had crossed over during her pursuit. “H-how did I get here? And who are you?”

Slender, pale fingers reached up, gripped the front edge of their hood, and pulled it back revealing a middle-aged woman with dark red hair heavily threaded with strands of silver. Most of it had been pulled up into a high pony-tail, but her long bangs had slipped from the leather and hung in her face around the thin frames of her spectacles. Her bright green eyes peered right into Nienna’s.

“It doesn’t matter who I am,” she replied matter-of-factly. “What matters is how you got here.” She looked Nienna over again, and then suddenly grabbed her hand, pulling off her glove. She frowned as her fingers traced over the dark veins. “You used it, didn’t you?”

Nienna pulled her hand back, snatched her glove from the strange woman, and put it back on. She didn’t know what to say. The encounter had left her stunned, and she wasn’t sure if she could trust this woman. Yet, she knew of the blade and that it had caused the dark lines on her arms.

The woman narrowed her eyes at Nienna through her spectacles. “It was never meant to be used, especially not by a mortal. We may be protected, but using it still yields disastrous consequences.”

“How do you know-“

Something caught the woman’s attention, and she suddenly dropped Nienna’s arm as she looked off into the distance. “You need to go, right now,” she warned. “She runs a tight ship, and she won’t be happy to find out you snuck in.”

With that, the woman turned and ran away, her dark cloak fluttering behind her like a sweeping shadow. Nienna sprinted after her, speeding through crumbling ruins and through a copse of dead trees. This strange woman knew things about the blade, things she shouldn’t know unless she herself had been its warden. Maybe this woman had knowledge about the blade Nienna didn’t. Maybe she knew if there was another way to destroy the blade.

Nienna had almost caught up to her, the cloak within reach. But as she grabbed at the dark material wafting behind the stranger, the woman turned and thrust her palm against Nienna’s chest with a force that knocked the breath out of her lungs for a moment.

“Return!”

Feeling as if she had collided with a solid wall, Nienna let out a pained cry as she fell hard onto her back.

“Nienna?”

Ignoring her name being called, Nienna rubbed at her head and groaned as she sat up. Her entire back was stiff and sore from her collision with the stone floor, and her head spun from the sudden shift in realities. She looked down at the Priory’s stone floor and then up at the broad-framed figure looming over her. As they bent down, the torch’s soft light revealed Dee’s concerned visage.

“Nienna, what are you doing out here? Who were you talking to?”

“I uh…” Nienna started to reply as Dee helped her to her feet. Even as she quickly flashed through the recent events, none of it really made much sense. “I thought I heard you or Alena out here. I guess I got a little turned around.”

Nienna looked around again, a little unsure she actually believed what she had seen. Perhaps she had been sleep walking. Maybe it had all been a dream. The Priory walls were still intact, and the ruins she had seen before were nowhere to be seen now. She could feel her friend’s concerned stare boring a hole into her, but she couldn’t blame her. Maybe there really was something to be concerned about.