That night the empress wasted no time getting a message ready to be sent to someone who knew more of dark beings. She was having a message delivered out to the Nucandu forest to Stergis and Ravenessa. 

Not that she felt any real sense of danger; but when it came to her home she needed to be sure. She summoned the gargoyle who hadn't taken long to appear at her office window. He nodded and took the message then swiftly flew off into the night skies. 

       Knowing it would take a day or two for a response, she put it to the back of her mind. It was fine. They were in no immediate danger, for now.

She hoped there was nothing to be worried over, but her friends in the other forest knew how to handle these things. They would be able to tell if there were something to truly worry over or if she had a paranoid apprentice on her hands. 

The empress took a deep breath and performed a dream meditation before giving her best attempt at a decent night of slumber.

After she'd fallen into a good nice sleep the dreams had resurfaced again. Evil gremlins were invading the castle, tearing it apart and burning everything she had, to the ground. 

             Jerking awake dreanched in a pool of cold swear she grabbed her Grimore of Nightmares and quickly wrote down everything that was still occupying her thoughts in the middle of the night. She knew it was not a vision or a bad omen of horrific things to come. It was a manifestation of her own fears and worries. She breathed deeply for a long moment. 

            After writing all of it out and replacing the huge brown leather bound book she fought it until an hour later she had found sleep again.