Page 62 of The Blood Rites

“Did you dream?” he repeats.

I swallow, remembering the voice from the dream, and the worsening cracks on the ceiling. “It’s mostly just voices saying things I don’t understand.”

He nods. “The Mother prefers dreams. We’re softer inside them.”

Marissa leans in, her voice just a whisper. “Is there a way to make them stop?” She visibly shudders. “Mine are scary.”

Vaelis’ lips part in a thin smile. “I wouldn't worry about your dreams. There are other things to be scared of here.”

“That’s not helpful,” Marissa groans.

“What things?” I ask, swallowing a breath.

“The Overseers,” he says. “I’ve spent a lifetime in the shadows, and those things are unnatural.”

I want to probe but Nyxen joins us, sprawling lazily on the floor. “Kael thinks we should keep an eye on you,” he says to me. “He says you are... valuable.”

“Wow,” I say, drawing out the sound. “What a compliment.”

Marissa interrupts before Nyxen can respond. “Are you two the Prince’s bodyguards or something?”

Vaelis’ eyes glimmer with something like pride. “Not exactly.”

Nyxen changes the subject. “The Shadow Dominion hasn’t seen a real sunrise in generations,” he says. “Most people there have forgotten the sky was ever anything but black.”

Marissa blinks. “That’s horrible. At least we have the Eternal Sun.”

“The world needs balance,” Vaelis says lightly. “Now every Dominion rots in its own way.”

We talk for a while after that, though mostly it’s Marissa asking questions while Nyxen and Vaelis indulge her curiosity.

Vaelis demonstrates how he can step from one shadow to another and it makes my skin crawl. I wonder if Kael can do it too.

“What happens if the Veins stop working?” Marissa asks. “That’s why the Rites exist, isn’t it?”

Vaelis’ voice is flat. “Who knows? It’s unfathomable. The Shadow Dominion worships the Umbral Vein.”

He sighs, deep and resigned. “I think the world is already ending. Slowly enough that people can pretend not to notice.”

I’m lost in thought, chasing a fractal of light around the floor with my eyes.

We separate as Nyxen and Vaelis get up to continue training together. Marissa and I stay seated on the bench, side by side in quiet contemplation, as the Dome starts to fill with more Offerings.

“Do you think what Vaelis said is true?” Marissa eventually asks, breaking the silence.

“I—I don’t know.”

“Well, it’s unlikely to concern us anyway,” she says, laughing it off.

I put my arm around her, and she doesn’t shake it off. “Don’t say that, Marissa. For one of us, it could.”

Watching the Dome fill around us, I realise that surviving the Blood Rites might only be the beginning.

The Dome is packed now.

Offerings from every Dominion are present, except the Fireborn.

Even the Overseers have made an appearance, more than I’ve ever seen, their blank, faceless forms floating through the crowds, humming with a kind of feverish energy that makes my skin itch. The tension in the air reminds me of the moments before a storm breaks in the Light Dominion, when the pressure grows so heavy it feels impossible for the sky to hold it any longer.