"He's ready for you," Anastasia's soft whisper was carried by the wind.

Maya's eyes focused, and she became aware of her surroundings. Fear seeped in, twisting her stomach into a knot. She was outside, likely far away from Amellan's walls.

Taking in deep breaths, Maya tried to calm herself down. She had encountered this dream many times before. Although it always felt new, she already knew how it would play out.

However, this time, she found herself barefoot in a vast foggy meadow encircled with barely discernible conifer canopies. The air was thin, yet the fog was thick, whiting out her vision. What concerned her the most was the sensation of the cold and mud on her feet. Her outfit was her pyjamas and, thankfully, a thrown-on jacket. It seemed she traversed a long and difficult path here.

She recognized the shapes of the rocks nearby, having seen them many times before in her dreams. Although she had no clue where she was, it gave her the illusion that she did.

Further away, obscured by the eerie mist, stood Anastasia, chanting softly. Maya carefully approached her, concerned, but still dazed, making the foreign chants sound pleasant to her ear, like her mother's lullaby.

Unprompted, Maya began to repeat after her. As if under hypnosis, words and sounds Maya had never produced before passed her lips as if she were speaking her mother tongue. And then she began to wonder what it was that she was saying.

Suddenly, Maya snapped out of her daze, aware of what she was doing. This situation was weird.

Frightened, Maya asked, "What's happening?" while trying to shake Anastasia.

Whoosh.

High above her, something big flapped. Startled and petrified, Maya almost fell to the ground. Her vision desperately tried to cut through the mist to discern what terror loomed there.

However, it was quiet again, only broken by Anastasia's soft, continuous chants. Whatever made that sound was far away.

Then, the sky screamed.

Every nerve in Maya's body fired an alarm, and every hair tried to shoot itself out of her skin. The painful physical reaction overwhelmed her at the same time as the realization—this was real.

The screaming sky of her dreams could never compare to the intensity of real life.

She felt the vibration of powerful movements with the deep sound of flapping. Then a gust of strong wind hit her, clearing out the mist around her in an instant, almost throwing her to the ground.

A magnificent beast landed in front of her. Its prodigious size, invoking awe, caused the ground to shake. Impenetrable, sharp, deep volcanic-grey scales, that glistered colourfully like oil in a puddle, armoured its enormous body. One huge amber eye with vertical pupils glared at her, while the other stayed shut tight under scars and damaged tissue.

As she craned her head to encompass its impossible size, she noticed moss growing on it, webbing its beard. Its nostrils were like caverns that could fit a person, and every breath that it took could blow her away if she were any closer. Maya was so small in comparison that it could flick her away like a fly with a single whisk of its tail, or crush her without feeling a thing.

Nothing about this beast was designed to be inviting. Yet, even with the experience of encountering the terror of a corrupted beast before, Maya's initial fear was alleviated.

The old beast bore evidence of many battles, carrying scars that were horrifying to see. Maya couldn't fathom the magnitude of the force that could harm such a giant. As it stood there, each breath akin to a hurricane's power, she wondered if it caused any pain.

The beast stared back at her, just as she was observing it. Nothing about her could ever be a threat to this beast, but it still remained cautious.

It bowed deeply as a voice resonated directly in her mind, 'I've been waiting for you, Prima Maga.'

The beast had no physical ability to form words, yet she heard it.

'Dad's voice… No, not quite.'

Instead of speaking verbally, the being communicated through telepathic understanding, which manifested in her mind as a deep, familiar voice—one she recognized as her father's. Yet something felt wrong. This ancient creature was utterly alien to her, its tone glacial and devoid of her father's warmth.

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Her familiarity with the spirit realm had deepened to the point where its supernatural manifestations no longer startled her. It made no sense that she could touch ghosts or see souls, so why would a creature speaking naturally inside of her mind be strange when there is an artefact that can do a similar thing?

The voice carried authority yet, strangely, conformed to her. It seemed to mould itself to her consciousness like water filling a vessel. What had begun as terror transformed into an almost primal certainty that she held the reins of power. Still, the sheer otherworldliness of the scene before her eyes left her mind reeling.

"I thought dragons were extinct," she blurted out, surprised by her own words. No, she wasn't even certain dragons existed outside myths.

'I am the last of my kind. A shell of a creature; kept only to serve Prima Maga,' there was a hint of bitterness in the voice of the beast that spoke in her mind.

"I am sorry for that. I never asked for this."

The beast blew air out of its nostrils in a manner that Maya interpreted as a scoff. 'Your kind calls me Kholasol. What are your commands, Prima?' It showed impatience.

"My commands?" Maya was taken aback. "I… I don't know."

The ancient dragon didn't threaten her, but it wasn't friendly either.

Anastasia left a dragon for her to command, but Maya was unsure of what even to ask. Having waited for centuries, the dragon was now in the hands of a lost little girl who didn't know how to use it. She searched for Anastasia, but there was no sign of her anywhere.

'You don't have much time left. I suggest you figure it out,' the beast spoke. It turned away and was just about to depart.

"Wait!"

'What is it?' It halted.

"Can you tell me more? Is the world really ending?" Maya was desperate for any trace of information, as Anastasia was so unreliable.

'The balance is already lost. It cannot be enforced again.'

"Then what am I supposed to do?" she implored.

'Flee… Before it swallows you.'

The beast pushed itself off the ground, flapping its wings. It knocked her to the ground as trees bent under the wind's force. The few remaining leaves were torn off, spiralling in the air, while the ground tremored under its heavy steps.

'You can find me at the Diverging Peeks when you're ready,' she heard the voice in her mind as it ripped through the sky and disappeared in the mist again.

Diverging Peaks was the name of the mountaintop southwest of the borders of Amellan. It was the highest point in the near vicinity. The name originated from its two distinct peaks of roughly the same height, situated right beside each other. It gave the impression that a single peak had been cleaved in half by some tremendous force.

As far as she knew, it could be the highest point in the entire world, having seen nothing beyond the horizon observable from the tallest tower of Amellan Academy.

"Flee? But we're trapped here…" she said quietly to herself.

Still in a partial daze, Maya returned to her room, dirty and muddy. As she walked in, she left muddy footprints on the hardwood floor. The other girls were still asleep.

The open window she had left behind let the cold in, causing Linda and Elena to fight over the covers in their sleep, while Andrea wrapped herself like a burrito in Maya's empty bed. Maya attempted to close the window, but the broken latch caused a loud noise as the panes snapped shut.

Andrea woke up first. After groggily staring around, she suddenly jumped out of bed.

"Lords! Maya! What happened?!"

Maya glanced back at herself. It was a concerning sight, indeed. She could only sigh at failing to fix her appearance before they saw her.

"D—did… Did you go outside?" Andrea put her palm over her mouth, shocked.

Andrea, raising her voice, woke up the rest of them, and they were sleepily blinking at their surroundings.

"I… I was sleepwalking," Maya said with embarrassment.

She couldn't explain these surreal events to herself, let alone them. In her mind, she was automatically thinking of excuses to give and hide the fact that she had met a dragon.

"Out the window?! Did you go outside the walls?!"

Andrea's concern was justified. After all, was there a more frightening thing than sleepwalking straight into danger? Maya herself prayed that it was already morning by the time she slipped outside.

"I'm not sure. I just woke up outside," Maya confessed. "But don't worry, it is already quite late, so I'm sure it was at least daytime," she quickly reassured her.

"It's still dangerous," Linda also voiced her concern. "Do things like this happen often?" she directed her question at Elena—Maya's roommate.

Still too dazed and groggy, Elena simply shrugged.

"You don't need to worry. I don't tend to sleepwalk," Maya tried to settle them down. "This won't happen again."

"How can you know that? You can't control sleepwalking," Andrea was still panicking.

Their genuine concern touched Maya.

After another round of questions and reassurances, the girls finally settled back to sleep, agreeing drowsily to discuss the matter later. Having gone to bed so late, none of them had gotten much rest. Their morning routines unfolded in their usual whirlwind of activity, and the strange incident faded into the background amid the day's bustle.

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