The dream always began in red.
A small girl knelt in a widening pool of blood, frantically slapping the motionless boy's cheeks. Her mouth stretched wide in a silent scream as the world bled at the edges, colors melting like ink until reality twisted into something grotesque and wrong.
Then the nightmare snapped like a broken neck.
The boy woke with a violent gasp, bolting upright in the narrow cot. His heart slammed against his ribs. Cold sweat drenched his skin, lungs burning as if he'd been drowning in that same crimson.
"You're awake!"
A deep, rough voice cut through the haze. A broad-shouldered man with a scarred face loomed over him, eyes bright with relief.
"Mage! He's awake—now!"
The door slammed open. A woman in dark robes like a nun's habit swept in, followed by a girl his age. They leaned over him, checking his eyes, pulse, and temperature. The boy pressed back against the cold stone wall, terrified, the room still spinning.
A black cat launched from the shadows and landed squarely on his head.
"Meow!"
"Lord Rick!" The girl lunged. "Get off him, you menace—"
"Liora, focus," the older woman snapped.
"Sorry, Mage Martha…" Liora muttered, cheeks flushing as she pried the cat free.
A soft breeze lifted strands of Liora's silver-streaked hair. For one fleeting moment she looked ethereal in the torchlight—like someone from a half-forgotten dream. The boy couldn't look away.
After what felt like forever, Martha and Liora left. The scarred man dragged a chair across the stone with a screech and sat.
"Remember anything yet?"
The boy shook his head.
"Name?"
Another shake.
The man grinned crookedly. "Can't have you nameless. I'll call you Boy for now."
The boy blinked. "What's yours?"
"Ha! At least you can talk. Name's Dren."
"Do you know who I am?" the boy whispered.
Dren's face darkened. "Don't burden that empty head. What's lost doesn't return easily." His voice softened. "Just heal. In one month, I'll come for you."
"Wait—"
Dren paused at the door. "You're in Hidenhiem, kid. The hidden realm of mages."
The boy stared. "…Uhh."
Three weeks later, laughter echoed through the ancient halls.
Boy raced like a wild spirit, leaping benches and trailing his fingers along dusty tapestries. For the first time since waking, he felt truly alive.
Until he crashed into a mage carrying a teetering tower of porcelain plates.
The crash was deafening.
"Watch where you're going, you filth!" the woman snarled, scrambling up.
Boy reached out to help her, then froze as her hand cracked across his face. The slap echoed down the corridor.
Shock flashed across his features, but he forced a weak smile and picked up a broken shard, holding it out steadily. "I'm Sorry."
His free hand clenched at his side. He didn't flinch.
Before she could swing again, Liora burst in like a storm. She slapped the woman's hand aside and dragged him down the hall.
"Hey! You didn't have to slap him like that!"
Later, in his small stone chamber, Boy sat cross-legged with an open book. Liora sat beside him.
"Gyl… fa… gin… ning," he struggled.
"Gylfaginning," she corrected gently. "You're getting better."
Boy looked up. "Are you mad at me?"
"Yeah, a little," she said sharply, then sighed. "When are you going to stop letting them walk all over you? If you keep taking it, they'll just keep hurting you." She hid behind the book, then peeked over it. "Sorry… I didn't mean to snap."
Boy smiled faintly. "I like when you show how you really feel."
Liora's lips curved. "You read that same book every day. Why?"
Her eyes sparkled. "Because I'm going to become a great mage. Not just any mage—one respected across every realm."
Boy clapped. "That's amazing!"
She gave a dramatic bow from where she sat. "First, I have to awaken my mark. Until then… my magic is useless."
"You'll do it," Boy said softly. "I know you will."
Liora tilted her head. "What about you? What do you want?"
Boy stared at his hands. "I can barely remember my name. What's the point? All I have are nightmares… and what you've told me. That I came back from the dead."
Liora closed the book. "Then I'm giving you a better name. From now on, you're Dot the Risen."
"Dot?"
"Settled." She grinned. "Now start thinking about what you'll do with this second chance."
"Second chance…" Dot whispered.
Her expression grew serious. She touched his arm gently. "Second chances don't come for no reason, Dot. There has to be something you're meant to do with it. So live—like it matters."
The evening prayer bell rang.
"I have to go," Liora said, standing.
Later that night, Dot found Lord Rick crouched in a corner, fur puffed, eyes wide with terror.
"What's wrong, little lord?" he whispered.
In the grand prayer hall, Liora pushed the door too hard—it boomed. Heads snapped toward her.
"Where were you?" Jeze hissed.
Liora dropped to her knees, then stood abruptly, shoving the hand away. "You've changed," Jeze snarled.
Mage Martha's voice cracked like a whip. "Enough!"
Liora walked out.
Outside beneath cold stars, Liora carried a heavy bucket beside Martha.
"He didn't ask to be what he is," Liora said tightly. "Why treat him like a monster?"
Martha sighed. "Our duty is to protect the realm. We broke custom bringing him here… for everyone's good."
"Then why does it feel like you're just using the realm as an excuse to be cruel?"
Martha's gaze softened. "Some sisters vent their fear. We've seen too much darkness. But he deserves better." She smiled faintly. "You have a good heart, Liora. The kind most mages lose. That's why you'll make a great Völva someday."
The night shattered.
**BONG—BONG—BONG—**
Alarm bells rang frantic and piercing.
Martha's face hardened. "Go. Wake the boy and bring him to my chambers. Now!"
Liora dropped the bucket and ran.
Dot jolted awake as Liora shook him. "Dot! Wake up!"
Alarm bells wailed, joined by shouts and running feet.
"Follow me—grab Lord Rick!"
They sprinted and skidded to a stop. Mages lay slaughtered, crimson pooling across the stone like dark mirrors. Liora dropped beside the dying Martha.
With trembling fingers, Martha pressed a small iron key into Liora's palm. "Run…"
They turned the corner. A two-faced hound blocked the hall, blood dripping from both snarling maws, four red eyes locked on them with hunger.
"What the hell is that?!" Dot gasped.
"Run!"
More hounds appeared. Liora thrust her hands forward. "Knýta!"
Force slammed the beasts back. Dot grabbed a fallen staff and swung desperately, cracking one across the snout.
They dove into a side chamber. Liora slammed up an invisible barrier just as jaws snapped inches from their faces.
"We have to get out of this realm," she panted. "The barrier won't hold."
She searched frantically and found Martha's note in ancient Greek: *The Rise of the Infernal Monarch…*
Then two letters.
*The Allting has ordered the boy's death.*
*Deliver the boy and yourself to the Council, or face execution for treason.*
Liora's blood ran cold.
The barrier cracked with a bang. The door exploded inward. Thick black vines erupted, wrapping Dot and yanking him forward.
Liora slashed at them with a spear. "Dot!"
A grotesque figure materialized in the smoke—face twisted, eyes too far apart, mouth writhing.
A dying mage hurled a glowing spear into its chest. "RUN!!"
The creature ripped the spear free and tore the mage in half with a wet rip.
Liora grabbed Dot's hand. They bolted.
The demon sniffed, losing their scent momentarily. They sprinted toward the realm's edge barrier and the whispering forest beyond.
"Why are you stopping?!" Dot shouted, clutching terrified Lord Rick.
"This is the edge barrier. We need to break through—now!"
The ground erupted. The monstrous demon rose, four red eyes burning, twisted face splitting into a horrifying grin.
They turned, backs against the invisible wall.
Terror clawed across their faces.
The demon seized Dot in massive claws.
"Liora, run! Leave me—run!"
She steadied herself. "If I can't even save you… how can I ever become a great mage?" Her voice cracked. "You believed in me when no one else did."
Power surged through her like liquid fire. A glowing half-moon mark appeared on her forehead. She chanted.
In an instant, they switched places. Dot was safe on the ground. Liora stood in the demon's grasp.
Claws pierced her chest. Blood poured from her mouth. The mark faded.
She looked at Dot and mouthed, barely audible: "Thank you… Dot."
Her body crumpled.
Dot wailed.
From a distance, the mysterious man paused, eyes narrowing in fascination.
A woman's voice sounded beside him. "Master."
"Wait for me."
Rage ignited in Dot. His eyes flared crimson. Claws extended from his fingertips.
The demon lunged.
The hooded man vanished and reappeared between them. "Wait, you filth."
Dot looked up. The man pulled back his hood, revealing a sharp, unnervingly ordinary face marred by one jagged scar across the cheek.
"Who are you?!" Dot shouted.
"Lots of potential… yet she wasted it on cheap sentiment."
Flashes assaulted Dot—Liora smiling: "I want to become a great mage…" Then her lifeless body.
Dot roared. "Who the hell are you?!"
The demon lunged anyway. The man touched its hide. It exploded in black ichor.
"Filth."
He turned to Dot. "You're weak, allowing her to sacrifice herself when you have the means to end the demon."
Dot—now fully demonic, claws out—lunged.
The man vanished, reappeared behind him, and sliced clean through. Dot screamed.
"I'm going to kill you," Dot snarled, eyes blazing.
The man only smiled.
He vanished again, returning to the woman's side.
"Should I take him?"
"No. Leave him. Now he serves no use."
They disappeared.
The pocket realm containing the castle began to collapse from the attack.
The structure shuddered. Stones rained down.
Dot crawled through the collapsing halls toward Liora's body, ribs screaming with every breath.
*Flash* — A younger Liora arriving in Hidenhiem, eyes hollow after losing her mother and brother to demons. Martha fastening a necklace around her neck, gently taking away the knife…
He reached for her cold hand.
*Flash* — Young Liora practicing useless spells, frustrated, her only talent switching objects. Overhearing mages call the boy "demon spawn," knife in hand—then lowering it when his sleepy voice said "Do it," because it sounded like her dying brother's plea for mercy.
Rubble shifted. Pain flared.
*Flash* — Their first real meeting. Her initial coldness melting because his clumsy smile echoed her little brother. The way he never laughed at her dream.
*He believed in me when no one else did.*
The memories faded.
In the human realm of Valdheim, outside a quiet town, a farmer looked up as the sky tore open.
The mage castle plummeted through the rift—towers, walls, everything—crashing into the earth in a thunderous avalanche of stone and dust.
Dot fell with Liora's body. Rubble buried them both.
Minutes later, hoofbeats approached.
A man leaped from his horse, knelt in the wreckage, and gently lifted Dot's broken, slowly regenerating form. Flesh was already knitting itself back together.
He wrapped the boy in a cloak, mounted, and rode into the distance.
As the stranger carried him away, Dot's half-lidded eyes burned with faint crimson light.
*Liora… I won't waste this. I'll burn them all.*
End of Chapter