Promise
Lost in a Dream

In the hours before Brannam's awakening...

Abyssia and Tristal were forging their way through the Dreamscape. It had felt as if they had been travelling between dreams for days now, the endless imagination of the mind projected onto a layer of the Underworld.

The two were stood in the ruins of civilizations that never existed, they saw the end of time and start of the universe. But they never saw beyond the veil, where the Senior Partners dwelled.

Weeks in the dream turned into months, and the months slowly turned into years, as the two walked endlessly in the ocean of dreams, looking for either Brannam or Araneia. For Immortals like Tristal and Abyssia, the passage of decades didn't feel too long, but when the decades turned into centuries, the flow of time was too much.

Abyssia fell to her knees.

"We're too late..." Abyssia sighed. Tristal took her hand and helped her to her feet.

"This is the world of dreams, in her, time means naught. We could be here for a billion years and only a second may have passed" Tristal smiled. He had intended to comfort Abyssia, but her fears had changed to being trapped in this purgatory for millenia.

"What if we are here for that long?" Abyssia asked.

"Hmm, you would let fate flow on it's predestined course, just so that you could wake up prematurely?" Tristal asked. Abyssia frowned.

"Of course not, I will change Araneia's fate, at any cost" Abyssia nodded.

"Good" Tristal nodded.

The two had begun to block out the environments that surrounded them, but Araneia turned to look at the dream playing out before her. It was the day Celestia descended to Crystalla.

"So full of rage" Tristal spoke, as he gazed upon the dream of Celestia, her face angry and vengeful. "Why did you want to purge the humans?" He asked.

Abyssia grunted and looked away. Ashamed of her deeds.

"Araneia knows now that it wasn't upon the orders of the Gods" Tristal added.

"You told her?" Abyssia asked, as she turned to look at Tristal.

"Of course, time keeps no secrets" Tristal smiled.

"It wasn't your place to do so" Abyssia frowned.

"Why did you never tell her?" Tristal asked.

"Because she never asked" Abyssia shrugged.

"I think it's because you know she would never forgive you" He sighed. "The Celestial Harbinger, bowing down to the Infernal Powers, convinced to cleanse both the star and skies, to prepare for the arrival of the Benevolent Masters" Tristal stated.

"I was deceived" Abyssia growled. "They told me, us, that we would become Gods in our own right if we slew the Gods themselves. The people... we couldn't bring ourselves to kill them in the end, but the Gods... we slaughtered them all" Abyssia confessed.

"Why not spare the Gods too?" Tristal asked.

"Celestia, we were created as a protector, to restore real order to the star. We were created just to serve, unlike everything else in the universe, that gets to live and choose, we were made to carry out just one objective... we wanted more" Abyssia continued.

The surrounding dream both began to dissolve, and Brannam appeared behind Abyssia.

"Where am I now?" Brannam asked, as she brushed the pink hair away from her face. She nearly fell over as she saw real, living, breathing people before her.

"Huh!?" Brannam gasped. "TRISTAL!?" She shouted.

"Oh, hello, Brannam" Tristal laughed.

"I've been asleep for so long... I need to wake up" Brannam sighed.

"That's why I'm here" Tristal smiled gently. "To save you, and wake up the realm" He nodded.

"The dream has spread to the realm?" Brannam asked.

"Yes, unfortunately" Tristal nodded.

"Brannam" Abyssia spoke. "When you awaken, can you please save Araneia for me?" She asked.

"Hmm, Araneia? I think I remember her from your dreams, the grey skinned lady?" Brannam asked, as Abyssia nodded back.

"I shall rescue her for you" Brannam smiled, before turning to Tristal.

"Well, time to wake up" Tristal smiled.

Brannam began casting a spell on Tristal to wake him up, Abyssia was slightly confused, as any spell cast on another Crystalla would not work, but as the spell was cast, she witnessed the genius of the pair, as the wake-up spell was reflected from Tristal, unto herself.

Brannam disappeared in an instant, within moments, the dream began to fade away, as Abyssia and Tristal faded away.

Abyssia awake outside Brannam, she sat up and looked around to see someone fleeing the city. They ran past her and she almost recognized their face.

"He looked familiar" She thought as she watched Keegan flee to the shore.