"Come back to bed." The hushed voice beckoned.
I sucked in a controlled breath, trying to cover up the fear. "Okay," Murmuring, I set my journal on the nightstand and filled my spot amongst the covers. My arm found her waist, pulling her close.
It wasn't often that my restlessness disturbed her slumber, though tonight became an exception. Her bare skin seemed silken compared to mine, the perfect shade of peach. Her body remained a soft reminder that life could be different.
I tried to shut off my thoughts, however the flashes of what I'd seen didn't stop. My perfect memory captured every scene, the moments frozen as if trapped within a glacier of my own creation. The dream realm offered glimpses of other planes, or pieces of the past, present, and future. Tonight showed me flashes of a tower, Nightcaller Temple and a daedric artifact that I recognized from my past. The Skull of Corruption.
Vaermina made it clear why I received such awful terrors. I'd defied a prince. My dream quickly changed, the scenery turning into a cabin, blood in the air. A woman I'd looked up to in foolish naivety sat atop a bookcase, leg dangling freely. Her black and red armor resembled a venomous spider, a fitting example for Astrid, former leader of The Dark Brotherhood.
"Kill her so you may live."
I turned, drawing my dagger. A woman was on her knees with a pitch bag over her head, hands tied behind her back. Her clothing was ravished. It hung off her body in tatters. My jaw clenched as I removed the hood. It was a beautiful, young imperial girl. Her eyes could only be compared to lapis lazuli, their brilliance evident, yet they stared emptily.
She looked about fifteen. Her hair hung past her shoulders in braided tendrils, it was the same color as mine. My heart pounded in my ears as I realized that this was my mother. I remembered her face, but that was all I knew other than the fact that she was raped as a girl.
Once I knew, something seized control of me. Rather than refusing, I drew my weapon and plunged it into her stomach, gore pouring over my hands and the wooden floorboards. All I could do was watch in horror, tears transforming cheeks into waterfalls. She screamed in pain, but somehow had the strength to beg to be cut deeper.
"You killed me! You may as well been the rope around my neck!"
When she finally fell limp, the setting became my home. Sapphire slept by my side. I examined the state of my affairs, expecting something to be different or out of place. My unawareness to my lover became apparent when a cloth covered my mouth and nose. It was damp with liquid that burned my airways as the toxic fumes strangled me. I lost consciousness.
My eyes opened to stone on all four sides of me. An emphatic whisper filled the stagnant sarcophagus. "Find my crypt. It's time to wake up."