The shadows were relentless, as always. Their whispered chorus badgered Teddy as a dense cloud amidst a darkened night sky, the bright azure of Lequian hour quickly fading into a deep, unforgiving black. 

She strained to listen for any stand out messages, but she only caught stray words, thrust at her as if they were spittle spewing from the lips of a scorned lover. 

“…question…”

“….obsidian…”

“…dimension…”

Useless fragments of a message that felt urgent. Teddy tried not to panic, fighting against invisible bonds. She opened her mouth to respond, to perhaps even ask the shadows a question — direct their focus — but nothing came out. 

She was dreaming again, she realized. She should’ve known. The energy in the air shifted suddenly, as though sensing her recognition, and a preternatural whine reverberated around her, her sensitive ears giving a twitch of protest.

Shadows writhed around the edges of her vision, their voices slowly synchronizing into a singular, disembodied hiss, speaking to her now as one.

Dark Heart, Obsidian Engine;
Tongue tightens on a question.

Skeleton key attention
Whispering smoky vision. 

Siren call, stormy suggestion,
Serpentine patience, landscape barren.

Ceaseless quiet obsidian:
Veil to Eternity, ripped and rent

Ascendants a many, striking venom
Releases pernicious brethren.

Gates open, heir apparent:
Crepuscule holds ancestral dimension.

As soon as the recitation ended, she was baptized in an impenetrable darkness. No trace of an echo to be heard, no glimmer or glow to be seen. She sighed, though it made no sound. She didn’t know why these prophecies came to her this way, only that this was her least favorite part. The — waiting. In a dark void. Alone. The sensory deprivation was unsettling at best — suffocating at worst. 

But still, a familiar fate was better than one unknown. She supposed. She took comfort where she could — right now all the gods offered her was the knowledge that, at some point in the near or distant future, the suns would break over the horizon. Then, and only then, would she be released. Only then would she return home to the light.