Chapter 8: Moon of Nightmares

A few years before...

Ixia tossed and turned in bed, making the bedroom sway slightly. It was late at night on the day of the Hydra Ceremony, and after being crowned the Queen of the Summoners' Guild, Ixia was deep in a nightmare.

Four different Pillars under the sky
Four different methods and ways to fight
Four barriers keeping the evil at bay
Four trials to take on the end of days

First the Vortex, to attack from afar
Second the summons from the dust of the Stars
Third the Sun, for combat close by
Fourth the Nebula, to attack with the mind

Take down the Pillars to awaken the Moon
But fighter beware of your impending doom...

A clearing.

The sky darkens in the distance.

Screams. Pain.

A fissure opens before me. Fingers, a palm. A huge gray hand, big bloodshot eye in the palm. Straining, stretching.

The arm. The shoulder.

The head, grotesque and monstrous. Glowing white discs where eyes should be, huge eye in the middle of the forehead.

Tentacles. Reaching, consuming. Dust rains down.

It is still lifting itself out of the pit. A collarbone and ribs. Emaciated. Gray skin clings to bones the size of warships. A second arm.

Vertebrae, reaching down to where there is usually a pelvis but where there is nothing. The beast's head lifts upon the sky, but its body ends just below its ribs.

Its core, where a heart would be. Glowing green walls of muscle, grotesque and pulsating faintly.

A mouth. Lined with needlelike teeth. It opens in an earth-shaking roar.

The eyes begin absorbing light. Beams begin converging, on me.

Power. So much pure power. I can feel it, racing through my veins into my very soul.

And with it comes pain. Unbelievable amounts of pain, searing agony that penetrates my entire being and tears scream after scream from my lips.

I look at my arms. Though my vision is blurred with the pain and the light of the beams, I can see light beneath my skin.

Or is it bone, exposed?

Small, ragged objects fly around me in a whirling tornado.

Are they pieces of my skin?

Pain. Screams.

And silence.

A pair of hands on Ixia's shoulders jolted her awake. "Hush, Queen Ixia! Calm yourself!"

Ixia slowly came awake to see Eytan's anxious face above her. "Oh, Eytan. I was having the most terrifying nightmare..."

"You were screaming in your sleep. Over and over and over again. Loudly. Half the Summoners' Guild is awake."

"So what can I do?

Eytan sat down on Ixia's bed. "There's a cult, the Cult of the Blue Moon. They may be able to help you with your nightmares."

"I sincerely hope so, but I refuse to associate with cults," said Ixia firmly. "Cults are the reason my kingdom fell. Cults like the mages."

"Mages are no longer a cult, Your Majesty," said Eytan. "Besides, do you want to have unrelenting nightmares?"

"Good point... I've been having this nightmare every single night since leaving the palace. Besides, I have a few questions for any cultists who worship the moon," Ixia mused, and then she took on an inward look and sat, lost in thought, for a long time.