[ Garden of Time / September 20, 0078 17:00 ]

Fate woke up with a start. She must have dozed off on the throne. Her body ached badly, but she had long learned to ignore pain.

A small tray stood beside the throne, a bowl of soup, a pot of coffee, and a cup on it. Shari must have brought it while she was asleep.

Fate began to eat slowly, still thinking about the nightmare that woke her up.

She dreamed of having to fight Signum again. They were evenly matched but as the battle dragged on, her armor and clothes tore off, exposing the translucent skin and flesh underneath, brittle-looking bones covered in a mess of arteries and nerves. The worst was the face: the beautiful fierce blue eyes beaming brightly from the grinning noseless skull.

She spilled some soup, put the spoon down, and leaned back.

That was a nightmare, she told herself. It does not have to end this way. I will save her, somehow. And what about Vivio, an inner voice asked. I will save her, too. You will have to choose, the inner voice said. I don't want to choose. How do you know Signum wants to be saved? What will she do with the life you give to her?

Fate clutched her head with both hands to silence the voice. The depths of despair that the Knights gazed into every waking moment terrified her.