I was dreaming.

At least, I really hoped I was dreaming.

White, dense fog surrounded the trees of the forest that I was currently running in. I ran fast enough to be considered a sprint—my haste fueled by the motivation to escape from the dark shadows that corrupted the blurry space behind me.

I wasn't sure how long I had been running like this. There didn't seem to be an end in sight. My body showed no signs of exhaustion, though. My heart pounded from fear—not the cardio workout. That didn't make the situation any better.

Since I knew I was dreaming, shouldn't I be able to wake myself up? My surroundings didn't change no matter how much mental energy I poured into dissolving the mystifying fog or blasting away the persistent shadows. I bit my tongue on accident after tripping over a pile of rocks, but the pain from that didn't snap me out of this nightmare.

Yes. Nightmare. Not a dream.

Was this a typical nightmare, or did Enjou have a hand in it?

I didn't allow the shadows to get close enough for me to find out. An infinite marathon sounded far more appealing than a lifetime of imprisonment. The shadows pursuing me showed no signs of slowing down. We both had plenty of stamina to spare.

Leaves rustled and twigs snapped under my feet as I propelled forward. This was definitely a forest. I could make out tall shadows of the trees that faintly peeked through the mist, and shrubbery materialized once I got close enough to trample over them. If this was real terrain, then there must be a way for me to get a high ground.

Could the shadows climb? Probably.

With all of this wood, I might be able to set a fire and scare them away.

Sweat trickled down my face as I leaped over a tree stump. It was mossy and slick with the heavy fog. No dry wood. No fire.

There was a small chance that letting the shadows wrap around me was the key to waking up, but just as anything was possible in a dream, real life had its own share of surprises. What if the Abyss Order found a crack in my mental shield, and this was a direct invasion into my mind? What if I woke up in an Abyssal dungeon as a result of giving up?

My foot slipped where the soil had gone soft and muddy. A twinge of pain registered when my ankle rolled, but I refused to fall over. The ground squished under my feet, and I focused on what was ahead of me to avoid the shadows behind.

With each mucky step, the fog began to lift. Unfortunately, the case was not the same for the pursuing shadows. I focused on the good fortune of being able to see more—that is—until I was able to see what I was approaching.

A river.

That explained why the ground had become soggier.

I had no choice but to slow to a stop, and my gut sank along with my feet in the mud. From what I could tell, the river extended a great length to my left and right with no end in sight.

Crossing was my only option. There was no telling how deep the water went, but I had no other choice. The shadows were going to get to me at this rate. Hesitation was a luxury, one that I couldn't afford for much longer. Squaring my shoulders, I inhaled deeply and held my breath—diving straight into the frigid water.

The river was dark. So dark, that I almost thought the shadows had gotten to me after all.

Even though swimming wasn't something I practiced often, my body remembered the movements. This being a nightmare was no excuse to let the water flood my lungs. I couldn't tell which way was which—up or down, left or right—but I kicked my legs as hard as possible. The water felt heavy like honey as my arms dragged forward.

I pushed harder and thanked the current for not being strong. Strangely, my lungs didn't burn, and my body had no pressing need for oxygen. Eventually, my head broke the surface, and I welcomed a gulp of air and cut through to the river's other side. It had seemed far, but I was already scraping my feet at the bottom of the rocky riverbed as I neared the shallow shore.

With a heavy breath, I pulled myself up onto land, dripping wet, and glanced back at the river.

Relief washed over me at the sight of just water and fog. The shadows hadn't been able to cross. Whether they had an inability to swim or an aversion to the river completely, I let my guard fall and fully collapsed onto the mossy ground.

"When will this end?" I rasped.

The milky white sky held no answer.

Instead, there was a gurgling that interrupted the steady trickle of the river's current. A faint sense of déjà vu shivered over me, and I hauled myself away from the immediate river. Eyes trained on the water, I cautiously watched for anything weird.

Blub.

Oh no.

Blub. Blub.

I've seen this before—in a dream of a memory. The last time, an innocent Hydro slime had emerged and attacked. Aether was with me, and we boldly fought back with sturdy sticks. This case was a lot different from that time. I'd be lucky if only a Hydro slime tried to pick a fight with my fully-grown self.

Dread weighed on my chest. I needed a weapon.

The rocks around here were too large to hold properly.

"Here."

A stick, much like the one from my memory, was flung in front of my face.

I jerked back in surprise and turned to see Aether holding two sticks. Unlike me, he was still a kid. His golden eyes were fully concentrated on the gurgling water in front of us, an aura of maturity surrounding his child frame. Aether's eyes broke from the river and softened when they landed on me.

"Don't worry, Lumine. We can get through this together."

Accepting the stick, I stood on wobbly knees. "It's so weird for you to say something like that when you're so small."

Though it shouldn't be hard to imagine what Aether looked like today, my mind still reproduced this image of him. His reliability from when we were together was also replicated. In any other circumstance, I wouldn't accept help from someone a decade younger than me, but I had to make do with what my subconscious generated.

"You're not making any sense." He smiled softly. "Nothing has changed."

I scoffed and held the stick tightly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm way taller than you, just like I said would happen. Though, it's not very accurate to make such a comparison as we are now," Aether sighed. "You're still just a kid."

This Aether wasn't real. His taunts were based on what my mind expected them to be. Dreams were illogical by nature. These thoughts are what held me back from retorting with something immature. I wouldn't want to confirm Dream Aether's claim that I was childish.

He held an open hand out to me. "Let me dry you."

My lips parted, ready to question what he meant by that when an orange glow spread from his hand and wrapped around my body. Rather than stiffening from shock, my body relaxed with the blast of heat that lifted my hair and dried my clothes. It felt like I was standing next to a bonfire.

"Better?"

"How did you—" I shook my head, disregarding the question. I'd lose brain cells trying to figure out how anything worked in a dream. "Thanks."

Blub. Blub. Blub.

Right—the threatening monster about to attack us was still making its debut. We nodded to each other once, dropping the pleasantries, and refocused back on the river. Like last time, the surface began to bulge upwards as a gloomy shape emerged. Echoes of eerie laughter reached my ears, and I tensed.

I'd heard that laugh before. It belonged to Enjou.

Suddenly, the sticks we had didn't seem nearly as helpful as before.

I took a protective step in front of Aether. A figment of my imagination he may be, it was impossible for me to entertain the thought of letting him get hurt.

"It's him," Aether said.

Of course, Aether would know about Enjou. Everything here was connected to my mind.

"I know you're not real. I know Lumine is somewhere far away and safe, but I won't let him harm even the idea of you." Aether stepped up, holding his sword in front of me. "This is all my fault, to begin with."

Since when did he have a sword? I looked down at the weapon in my hand—still a stick. That wasn't very fair.

"Dreams aren't supposed to make sense," I reminded myself out loud.

Aether chuckled in response.

It was foolish to hold on to the hope that anything less than an Abyssal monster would emerge from the river. An inhuman screech boomed from the monster—the Abyss Herald—that rose above the water and stepped in front of us.

"It's not Enjou." I craned my neck to look up at the figure and held my ground. "Is this better or worse?"

Aether pointed his sword at the monster. "I'd rather it be Enjou—the real Enjou. That way, I can eliminate him and any notion of the Abyss Order succeeding in their plans once and for all."

"Good point."

Since a mere stick wouldn't do anything against an Abyss Herald surrounded by its element, I added a bit of my own power. Sturdy rock formed at the bottom of the stick to make a legitimate hilt, and I funneled Anemo along the length of the wooden frame. A sharp blade of wind took shape immediately, and I smiled at how easy it was for my power to materialize in a dream.

"Anemo and Geo?" Aether watched from the side. "That's…interesting."

"It's more helpful than a stick or even a regular sword."

He smirked—it looked funny on his kid face. "You're right about dreams not making any sense, but we'll have to make do with what my imagination conjures up for now. Distract the Herald while I freeze."

"Sure." Whatever that meant.

Together, we advanced on the Abyss Herald before it got the chance to attack first. Aether skirted behind the monster while I waved my elemental sword in the air to get its attention. I nearly forgot about the plan entirely when I saw Aether dashing on the river's surface—the water freezing on contact with his feet.

The Abyss Herald summoned Hydro blades onto its forearms and launched at me. Using my sword as a guide, I directed a Geo boulder straight for its head. Crystallization gems appeared as Geo made contact with Hydro, and the Herald stumbled back into the river where Aether waited.

I couldn't make out what attack my brother activated in his child form, but enough Cryo energy was used to completely freeze the Abyss Herald. It regained mobility a mere second later, but Aether froze it again.

This was my chance to shower it with one slash after another.

After running through one of the crystallized gems, a blue shield formed around me. Spotting the loose links in the Herald's armor, I jabbed my sword in those weak spots.

The monster shuddered, still frozen, with my blows from the front. Chunks of its legs were hacked away, and I saw brief flashes of Aether zig-zagging back and forth at the Herald's calves. Brute force wouldn't be enough, so I held my right hand out to swirl Aether's Cryo.

What used to be a predator triple my size soon shrunk down into the height of Aether—who had a cold hardness in his eyes that unnerved me. He relentlessly raised his sword above his head, the blade glowing bright red as he struck down. It split the Herald's helmet in two, melting all the way down the shrieking monster's frame.

Ashes fell into the river, carried away by the lazy current. The Abyss Herald was no more.

I dispelled the elements surrounding my stick and stared at the remaining empty space. "That was…"

"Nothing new," Aether said. "It's always the same. My meditations have been keeping these illusions at bay until now, but the Abyss Order is growing restless."

My eyes squinted, confused. "Meditations?"

Don't question the dream.

"It's been a while since I've dreamt of you like this." Aether ignored my question. "For so long, I haven't been able to live peacefully. You being here—even as a memory—makes me feel like I'm at home."

I smiled. "I feel the same."

"It's too bad this is a dream," Aether sighed, looking up at the white sky.

I wished he didn't look so sad about it. As a child, everyone should be able to smile freely and not worry if they'd survive to see the sun tomorrow. The best I could do for him now was a distraction—something to wipe off that serious look.

Knowing he'd actually hate it, I lifted a hand to ruffle the hair on his tiny head.

"What are you—hey!" Aether protested and smacked my hand. "My dream, my rules. A kid like you shouldn't mess with people bigger than them."

I snickered. "You mean my dream, my rules. We took down that Abyss Herald who was way bigger than us, Aether. Get your rules straight or deal with mine. You're the real kid here, anyway."

"No, you are."

"No, you."

He rolled his eyes with a teasing grin. "I'm not arguing with someone who I can't even see without looking down."

I laid my palm flat on top of my head and pulled it forward, clearly showing our height difference. Dream logic be damned—the evidence was clear as day.

"See?" Aether smirked at me as though he wasn't just proven wrong. "Give it up, Lumine. You've got another ten years to grow."

"I could say the same for you, but it's pointless to argue."

"It is," he agreed, brows pulling together in a thoughtful expression.

I knew my brother, at least, I knew him as he was when we were children. This Aether seemed different. He wasn't quite a kid anymore even though he looked the part. He also acted strangely from how I would have naturally expected. Even as an extension of my mind, Aether had said and done things that went beyond my imagination.

Maybe it was because we were twins, but he felt like a true mirror of me—worrying about the Abyss Order, missing each other, and even elemental powers. I couldn't ignore his young appearance, though. Oddly enough, the chubby hands and full cheeks were the only things about him that came off as normal.

"Where are you?" he suddenly asked.

My first instinct was to look around and situate myself in the dream's location.

"In real life," Aether clarified and stepped forward.

As he got closer, he got bigger—taller. Right before my eyes, Aether was growing up. His face slimmed, and his hair lengthened into a long braid. The kid clothes he wore changed into an outfit I'd never seen before. Dark gloves and boots matched with brown pants and a top exposing his midriff. A white scarf was tossed over his shoulder, connecting to a flowing cape.

I watched his familiar eyes widen at the same time as mine did.

"Lumine…" his voice stuttered, the sound fading away along with his image.

The fog was rolling back in.

"Are you real?" I breathed. "Aether, is that…is that really you?"

The river became louder. Though I could see his lips move, the rushing water tuned out what my brother had to say.

He'd asked where I was.

I cupped my hands around my mouth, hoping to be loud enough. "I'm at Celestia. Celestia Academy!"

The fog was too thick. I could barely see his silhouette now. Conjuring Anemo to blow it all away did nothing. Walking forward didn't bring me any closer to him.

"Aether?" I called into the void. "Please, come back!"

Only the echo of my voice responded. My plea repeated over and over, growing louder each time until I had to clasp my hands over my ears to block out the sound. All around, there was only white. The river was gone. The forest was gone. Only I existed in the dream.

Alone.