"Aeryn? Aeryn...?"
The voice was soft, warm, and impossibly gentle a far cry from the roaring infernos, dark incantations, and echoing voids that had consumed her mind.
Aeryn gasped, snapping her eyes open.
Standing right beside her bed, looking down at her with tender, worried eyes, was her mother.
"M... mother...?" Aeryn choked out, her voice trembling.
Before she could process the impossibility of it, her mother leaned down, wrapping her arms around Aeryn and pulling her into a tight, fragrant embrace. It smelled of sweet lavender and soft soap, not the acrid stench of dark fire and burning ash that had haunted Aeryn's memories for fourteen years.
Aeryn collapsed into the hug, tears instantly spilling over her eyelashes, wetting her mother's shoulder. She clutched at her mother's back with desperate, shaking fingers, terrified that if she let go, the woman would dissolve into grey dust once more.
"Oh, sweetie... it seems my daughter had a nightmare!" her mother said with an amused, comforting chuckle, stroking Aeryn's back gently as she held her close.
A nightmare...?
Aeryn slowly pulled back, wiping her wet cheeks as her eyes darted around the room. Her heart hammered against her ribs.
This was not the grand stone quarters of the Sahirran Palace. It was not a damp wooden cabin, nor the dark hull of the Mule's Breath. She was sitting on a soft, elevated mattress in a bright, cozy room. Above her head, a strange three-bladed contraption a ceiling fan whirred quietly, circulating cool air. On the ceiling, glass bulbs glowed with a steady, wire-driven yellow light. Strange garments hung in an open closet, and she was wearing a hilarious, oversized set of baggy cotton pajamas.
"Where... where am I?" Aeryn whispered, her mind spinning wildly. "What are these things...?"
Her eyes wandered across the room and caught her reflection in the full-length mirror of a vanity dressing table across from her bed. Aeryn froze.
The pale, ethereal girl with flowing waist-length white hair was gone. In the mirror stood a teenager with short, choppy maroon-reddish hair... streaked with striking, vivid white highlights.
"My hair...?" Aeryn gasped in absolute terror, her hands flying up to touch the strands. "White...?! Why is it white?!"
Her mother let out a soft, exasperated sigh, shaking her head. "Yes, white! Don't you remember? You got those highlights done just yesterday after throwing a complete tantrum at the salon! You kept insisting you wanted to look just like your dad..." She chuckled warmly.
"Dad...? Father...?" Aeryn's breath hitched. A cold knot formed in her chest. Is he... alive?
She wanted to ask, but a sudden wave of nausea washed over her. The last memory she had of her father was a monstrous, rotten creature with a void-black eye, strangling her in a four-dimensional void, screaming about sacrificing her blood. She was terrified of facing the man she had grown to despise.
"Your father?" her mother asked smoothly, picking up a stray pillow. "He just went out to the kitchen to get a glass of water for you."
At that exact moment, the bedroom door clicked open. A handsome, middle-aged man stepped inside carrying a glass of cool water. He had the exact same thick maroon hair as Aeryn, speckled with distinguished streaks of grey and white at his temples. He wore a simple flannel shirt and jeans, looking comfortable and remarkably kind. Right now, Aeryn looked like his exact carbon copy.
He walked over with a gentle smile and sat on the edge of her mattress, offering her the glass.
Aeryn made fleeting eye contact with him, but the terrifying phantom of Maeron's corrupted face flashed in her mind. Instinctively, she flinched and looked back at her mother for protection.
"What?" her mother chuckled softly, looking at her husband. "It seems she's still half-asleep, honey."
Honey...? Eating honey...? What does that even mean? Aeryn's mind frantically pieced together the foreign terms.
"Are you feeling alright, Aeryn?" her father asked, his voice deep, warm, and entirely human. He reached out and gently rested his large, warm palm on top of her head, ruffling her maroon-and-white hair.
Aeryn hesitated, her body stiffening. But as his hand gently smoothed her hair, a profound sense of natural warmth and safety washed over her. Her heart and body naturally surrendered to the sensation. Deep down, her instincts affirmed a surreal truth: he really is my father. And he loves me.
Yet, even as she drank the water, her soul wept in quiet agony.
Rissa...? Sakina...? Vienna...? Kaelen, who was riding on her way to save us...? What about them? What about the dark magic? The Captain? What about that transcendent, divine light in the expanse...?
There were no answers. She had left them all behind, trapped in what felt like a tragic, distant world or perhaps this modern reality was the true dream, and she was simply dwelling in its surreal peace.
The next morning, coming back to life from such a realistic, violent lifetime was nearly impossible to digest. Aeryn moved through her morning routine like a ghost, completely bewildered by toothbrushing, modern clothes, and motor vehicles.
Her parents dropped her off at a large building surrounded by manicured lawns and iron fences: Silver Spire High School.
As Aeryn walked toward the front gates, her boots dragging on the smooth concrete, she spotted the school security guard standing near the turnstiles. He wore a crisp navy-blue uniform with a shiny brass badge.
Aeryn halted dead in her tracks, her jaw dropping.
LORD VAEL?!
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