Makaela found herself standing in Thorian Tedorof's chambers in Castle Braexus—the headquarters for House Tenebris and the Order.

However, his room wasn't in its usual state. His large bed was unmade; the sheets were lazily thrown about and there were more pillows on the ground than on the actual mattress. Elsewhere, his desk was cluttered with spellbooks, scrolls, and vials of a dark, blood-like substance.

She frowned as she slowly walked around.

Thorian always kept his room clean. For it to be in such disarray...

She shook her head. Criticizing the cleanliness of the dark magician's abode wasn't the reason her dream had brought her there. She was here for something else. For what, exactly, she didn't have the slightest clue.

So, she continued to snoop around.

A fire crackled in the fireplace on the other end of the room. Even in her dream state, she could smell the charred, crackling embers as the burning wood wilted down into splinters. Shadows danced on the portrait-covered walls, performing an eerie jig that made Makaela keep her head on a swivel.

She felt like everything in the room—from the door knocker to the gargoyle statues perched atop pillars in the corners—were staring at her. Nothing in the room could see her, though. Not while she was dreamwatching.

At least, that's what she thought.

"I was wondering when you would come."

She froze. Her veins turned into rivers of ice water colder than the glaciers of the Arctic. Slowly, she turned around.

Thorian stood on the other side of the room, robeless and his silver hair spilling down her shoulders like moonlight streaming down from the clouds. He donned a sleeveless black tunic decorated with purple runes that revealed his thin—almost sickly—frame. The blackened veins originating from his mauvue charm had spread from his left eye down to the base of his chin. Soon, they would have covered the entirety of that side of his face.

The skin of his face sagged off his cheekbones. Dark bags hung beneath his eyes and he looked paler than usual. As Thorian took a step forward, he winced. Makaela squinted at him.

"Forgive me, Makaela," he rasped. "Even in a dream, I can't escape the pains this body holds."

"How did you know I'd come here?" She stayed near the fireplace, making sure to keep a big enough gap between the two of them.

He smiled, revealing his teeth. "I've been waiting for you here every night for several weeks. He told me you would visit. And, alas, here you are."

"He... You mean Mauvorin."

He nodded.

His secret had long been out. However, she and Madame Alizeh were the only ones who knew he was serving the dark god.

"What else has he told you?"

"He told me you will die by my hand."

"And you believed him?"

Thorian huffed. "Of course."

Makaela tilted her head. "Why are you working for him? Don't you know Mauvorin can't be trusted? He's the god of treachery and tricks and chaos—"

The man sliced a hand through the air, cutting her words down. She shut her mouth and straightened her back, eyes widened slightly.

"Mauvorin believed in me when no one else would," he spat. His words were coated in scorching venom. "He chose me to be the savior of our people. No one else treated the prophecy as the threat it was. Your father was willing to let us fall victim to our future without even putting up a fight."

"My father was wise not to go chasing after prophecies like you," Makaela countered. "You can't change the future."

"Oh, I'm well aware now," Thorian replied. "But now I understand what the prophecy was trying to tell me."

"Really? Enlighten me."

He chuckled before raking his skeleton-like fingers through his platinum locks. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"I don't think you want me to answer that."

He snarled.

She shrugged nonchalantly at him while trying to hide her grin.

Surely this was the purpose of the door leading her to Castle Braexus. Something inside of her told her that Thorian knew the reasoning behind whatever was happening to Lumi. It was up to her to figure out what he knew.

But she couldn't directly ask him—especially if her theory turned out to be wrong. No. She would have to be strategic about it. Luckily for her, she knew how much Thorian loved to monologue. If she could get him talking, eventually he would slip up and tell her something she wasn't meant to know.

She just had to get him talking.

"You know you're the villain of the prophecy right?" she told him. "I'm sure you've read enough children's stories as a kid. The good guys always win in the end."

"This isn't a 'children's story', foolish girl." His lip curled. "You see yourself as the hero. The Light—the one destined to end this conflict. But, you see, you're not the hero. I am. Me. Thorian Obscurindus Benedict Thauvin." He clasped his hands across his midsection as he smiled, seemingly pleased with himself. "You're the villain. In fact, you're just as much of a monster as I am."

Makaela frowned. "I am not."

"Which one of us is half-demon?"

She fell silent, her face burning with rage.

"This war will end with you dead at my feet," he continued. He stared off into the distance, his eyes glossed over like marbles. "I will have collected all seven artifacts and the world will be at my mercy. Mauvorin will finally defeat Lumi and a new age will be brought upon us. Under my rule, magicians will assume their rightful place in this world."

"Hold on." She inched forward. "What do you mean by Mauvorin will finally defeat Lumi? Is that what's happening to her?"

Thorian blinked at her. "What's happening to her?"

"You know what's happening. Don't play dumb."

"I truly have no idea what you're talking about." He upturned his palms while masking a smirk. "But trust me when I say that the light will fall. When I find that tower and topple it, the darkness will finally consume the light—once and for all."

"Tower? What tower?"

Thorian didn't respond.

Makaela took a brave step forward. Her bottom lip jutted out slightly in an act of defiance.

"We won't let you win," she told him. "I won't let you win. I will defeat you."

"How? How will you possibly defeat me? You couldn't even fight me in Vashara."

"I've been training."

"On your own? I'm afraid that won't prepare you for our eventual rematch."

"Actually, I haven't," she said. Puffing out her chest, she smiled proudly. "I've been training with Madame Alizeh."

Thorian's eyes widened. "Ah. So that's where you went.  I had my suspicions, but I couldn't be too sure. The Obscurio couldn't find its sister's energy signature, likely due to the enchantments around Alizeh's village, but it seems I no longer need it."

She froze. Huh?

"Tenzin is a hard place to find," he added. Then he tapped his black eye. "But I have a penchant for finding hidden things."

Makaela's lip trembled as she watched him.

"Your teacher is a formidable caster and an excellent instructor," he conceded. "But no amount of training will prepare you for what's coming."

"What is coming?"

He opened his mouth to answer. Makaela's eyes lit up. Then he closed it. Her face fell.

So close.

A wry smile stretched across his ghoulish face. He wagged a skinny finger at her. "Clever girl. But not clever enough."

He held his hands out and began performing a complicated sequence for a spell. Within seconds, the scene around them melted away, quickly being reduced to thick, black smoke. As Makaela whipped her head around, desperately trying to remain in the dream, she thought about what she just did.

He was kicking her out of the dream. While she had learned a little about what was happening to Lumi, it wasn't nearly enough to begin a course of action to save her. In the end, it was Thorian who had gleaned an important piece of information out of her.

Thorian didn't know she was in Tenzin. At least, he didn't a few seconds ago.

But now he did.

Who knew what he would do with that information?

However, she did know that she had messed up. Horribly.

As Thorian's quarters faded into obscurity, she heard his voice echoing around her.

"See you soon, Makaela," he whispered, his words reverberating around her like the vibrations from a gong.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry.

How could I be so stupid?!

He was coming after her.

And, this time, she knew she wouldn't be able to run.

#

With her chest heaving and sweat trickling down her face, Makaela shot up from the cold ground.

She whipped her head around as she tried to get a bearing on her surroundings. Her stomach twisted and turned as a wall of nausea slammed into her. Her head spun and silver spots dotted her vision.

"Makaela? Makaela?"

She felt a pair of hands gripping her shoulders.

Panic spiked within her chest. It crept up her neck and settled at the base of her throat, preventing air from getting to her lungs. Her eyes bulged as she stared at the grey-eyed girl doing her best to steady her.

"Makaela?! Are you alright? What did you see? Where did you go?"

"I-I..."

She swallowed hard. Her tongue was heavier than an anvil inside her mouth. Her gums were drier than sandpaper.

"Makaela, calm down. Breathe. Talk to me."

Squeezing her eyes shut, she nodded and tried to calm herself. After a few seconds of deep, penetrating breaths, her anxiety subsided into a low tide. Her heart continued to jackhammer away beneath her ribcage, as the details of her ominous meeting with Thorian were still fresh in her mind.

She opened her eyes. Karin was staring back at her with concern etched deep into her soft features.

"What happened?"

"Thorian..." Her voice trembled as she lifted herself into a sitting position. She wrapped her arms around her knees after bringing them just below her chin. "He knows I'm here."

Karin knit her brows together, her nose scrunching up as she recoiled. "What do you mean?"

"I messed up." Makaela's hands tangled themselves within her black curls. Shorts breaths ravaged her lungs. She feared she would soon start hyperventilating. "I messed up, alright? I accidentally told him I was being trained here by Madame Alizeh."

"You..." Karin shot up to her feet, bewildered. Her nostrils flared. "You have no idea what you've just done."

"He can't get us here, can he? I mean, surely he would've done so by now."

"Tenzin is cloaked with the world's strongest set of charms and enchantments. Never-ending snow and lightning storms protect us from outside forces," the girl explained. "But we both know that if Thorian wants to find something, he'll find it." She stiffened. "And now you've made his job that much easier."

"We can fight him off. I know we can."

Karin snorted. "Oh yeah? Good luck with that." She slid a hand down her face. "How did you even end up talking to him?"

"I did what you said," Makaela said. "I realized I wasn't tethered to wherever the dream wanted me to go, so I went somewhere else."

"And that somewhere just had to be Castle Braexus, didn't it?"

She didn't reply. What could she say?

She just gave their greatest enemy a roadmap to her.

"Did you at least find out anything useful against him?" Karin asked as she turned her back on Makaela.

"Sort of." Makaela got up to her feet and dusted off her garments. "I, er, well." Wringing her hands, she tried to recall what Thorian had said about Mauvorin and Lumi. He had vowed to "find that tower and topple it". Then she thought back to her history lesson earlier that day with Madame Alizeh.

The woman hadn't mentioned a tower when they spoke.

"Spit it out," Karin urged, pulling Makaela out of her thoughts.

"Right." She swallowed hard before speaking again. "Thorian mentioned something about a tower that he needed to destroy."

"A tower...?"

"That's what he said."

The other girl fell quiet. Then her stormy eyes lit up. Makaela frowned.

"What?"

"He's talking about the tower."

"What tower?!"

Karin shook her head. "Lumi is your house's patron spirit and you don't even know about the tower?"

"Sorry, I didn't exactly get the chance to learn the entire history of my house considering almost everyone in it is dead."

Her face tightened. "Still. You should know about Lumi's tower."

"Are you going to continue chastising me or are you going to tell me what it is?"

Karin nodded. "It's very much thought to be a legend. A myth, if you will. Those who have gone searching for it...well, let's just say they didn't even get close. Decades ago, the Eldenarian Council banned all expeditions for it. We were losing too many magicians to the storm that the tower is said to be hidden in."

"Well, where is it?"

"What makes you think I know where it is?"

Makaela rolled her eyes. "You seem to know everything else."

"Watch it," Karin shot back. "The tower is said to be somewhere in the Himalayas. According to the history books, it's the literal highest point on earth. Higher than any of the mountains in the area."

"Why is it so important?"

"If what the legends say is true, people used to use the tower to communicate with Lumi. It's where prophecies are born. The Prophecy of Eight supposedly came from the tower years ago."

Why would Thorian want to destroy it?

Makaela couldn't come up with an answer. There didn't seem to be any upside to destroying the tower. Not one she could see, anyway. Clearly, Thorian knew something about the tower that she didn't.

Perhaps Madame Alizeh held the answers she sought out.

She nodded to herself and made her way toward the exit of the meditation circle. Behind her, Karin cleared her throat. She glanced at the girl over her shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To see Madame Alizeh. I need to figure out why Thorian is trying to destroy the tower."

Karin walked up to her. "I'll join you."

"That's alright. I think I can manage—"

"Wasn't asking."

Before Makaela could protest, Karin surged past her and began the short journey to the monastery at the bottom of the valley. Huffing, she shook her head and jogged behind her.