Following Alex’s mysterious dream, he could no longer fall asleep, try as he might. After taking another ten minutes to calm himself down, he stood up from the bed, and once again activated the cleansing enchantment on the nightstand near his side of the bed, thoroughly removing any trace of the sticky sweat previously rolling down his body.

“Well, I’m not falling asleep anytime soon, might as well spend this time with purpose,” Alex thought to himself.

Immediately as the thought took root inside him, he sat on the cool floor of his room and started cycling the Divine Breath throughout himself.

Morning came. Though there was no celestial marker like the sun or moon inside the outpost, only a pitch-black imitation of a sky, Alex could feel it in his bones; morning arrived. During the quiet of his night-time cultivation, he had already formulated a small plan regarding what he would do today. First on that list of plans was finding the twins, Cian and Moira, and asking them about Jane’s application.

“I’ve absolutely no idea where Elder Bellum could be, but last time Cian mentioned losing a bet to Moira and having to water the Ghostcrane Lilies, whatever those are. I should be able to find him in the inner gardens then.” Alex thought.

Just as Alex finished his thought, he could feel Jane squirming on his bed, stretching under the silk sheets, clearly awake. Opening his eyes, he locked gazes with Jane, who was looking straight at him in quiet silence.

“Mornin’,” Jane said, wiping her eyes.

“Good morning,” Alex replied cordially.

“You’ve been awake for long?” Jane asked.

“Not at all,” Alex lied, not even knowing why.

“Hmm.” Jane hummed in reply, “So, what do we do today?”

“We try and see if you’re eligible.” Alex replied, “Elder Bellum isn’t the only Legionnaire stationed here, there are two others. So, get up, and let’s go. Time is wasting.”

Recalling the intricate pathways of the Legion’s Keep, Alex led Jane as the two made their way to the giant wood-carved gates of the Legion’s garden. Seeing the detailed images carved into the surface of the gates reminded Alex of the mural from his dream. Shaking his head to rid himself of the image for now, he grabbed the iron rings acting as handles for the gates and pulled.

Seeing as using anything less than his full strength was futile in this endeavour, Alex started revolving his Unity and suffused every fibre of his muscles with the golden-coloured energy to the brim before trying again.

Pouring every little drop of strength he could muster into the action, veins started bulging across his neck, arms, and legs as the immense weight of the door finally shuddered before moving.

Opening a small gap in the wooden gates, Alex motioned for Jane to enter with a series of gasps and sluggish head movements, unable to form any words under the strain of the gate’s weight.

Not needing a second invitation, Jane nimbly made her way inside, quickly followed by Alex as the giant wood gates shut themselves behind the duo.

Once inside, both Alex and Jane were shocked at the sight before them. Trees, bushes, thickets, and flowers of all colours, shapes, and sizes littered haphazardly around a small, but cosy garden.

“Don’t touch anything.” Alex said, “It’s the first time I’m here, and something tells me the vegetation here is probably the most dangerous thing on this planet, at least for now.”

Alex’s warning elicited a simple but serious nod from Jane, clearly aware of the dangers of some of the more exotic variety of plants, considering her background as a zoo worker.

Taking a look around, Alex noticed there was nothing reminiscent of a trope or path in this garden. The ground was completely lush with greenery. Thinking for a second, he turned towards Jane again.

“Cover your ears,” Alex warned before inhaling as much Divine Breath as he could into his lungs.

Seeing Jane once again following his little command, he turned his head back to the garden and screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Cian, Moira!” Alex screamed. “ It’s Alex, I need some help!”

As the sound of Alex’s scream rang out throughout the little garden, followed by a small period of silence, he could hear dozens of birdlike sounds a small distance away, along with Cian’s uncanny deep voice considering his age.

“Leave me alone you stupid things, I fed you already!” Cian yelled as he ran towards Alex and Jane.

Around him flew a flock of ethereal, orange-coloured lilies, flapping their petals and pestering the poor Cian to no end. In one of Cian’s hands, he held a small cloth bag dripping with blood. Once the Ghostcrane Lilies’ pestering became too much for Cian, he started swinging the blood-soaked bag around himself, trying to scare the scavengers off, to no evident avail.

“Fine! See if I care if you get too fat to fly!” Cian yelled with desperation as he threw the bag he was holding into the air.

Like hunger-crazed predators, the Lilies immediately left Cian alone as they extended a plethora of spiked vines, grabbed the bag midair, and flew off into the distance, no doubt dragging the unfortunate contents of the bag into their lair, finally letting Cian take a breath of respite as he approached Alex and Jane.

“Good morning, Cian.” Alex was about to speak when the young boy lifted his hand in a stopping motion.

“Let’s get out of here first,” Cian said exasperated. “Those stupid plants are going to devour that meat in a heartbeat, and when they come looking for more, I don’t want to be here.”

With that having been said, Alex and Cian forced the gates open and exited the inner gardens of the Keep. Once in the hallways, Cian made an audible sigh before turning to Alex. Squinting his eyes, Cian finally took notice of the mortal hiding behind Alex’s back.

“Hey, Alex, I…uh…don’t think we’re allowed guests inside the Keep,” Cian said, unsure of himself, upon seeing Jane.

“It’s…a long story,” Alex said.

As the three were walking through the winding corridors of the Legion’s Keep, Alex took it upon himself to re-tell all the events that led to Jane’s arrival at the Keep, including her desire to join the Legion itself. A curious thing Alex seemed to notice was Cian perking up when he mentioned the storm of colours he saw when he first met Jane, ranging from the brightest of reds to the darkest of black with other colours mixed in. Once Cian finally listened to the whole story, a thoughtful expression took hold of his face.

“You might be on to something. Your conjecture is correct, though. Grand Uncle can see the deepest emotions hidden inside someone, as do most Legionnaires at that stage. It’s how he determines if a candidate is worthy of the Trial. But that’s not the only way to check.” Cian said, “We’re going to need Moira for this though, she’s got the keys to the storage.”

“Storage?” Alex asked, “What for?”

“Remember what happened right before the Trial?” Cian asked a question in the most leading manner he could, “What did we bring out of storage?”

It took Alex the least part of a second to recall the scene in great clarity as he answered.

“The chest with Nova’s egg inside,” Alex replied.

“Exactly. And what exactly happened when you got closer to the chest?” Cian continued to speak as they were walking.

“It…thrashed uncontrollably until Elder Bellum unlocked the chest,” Alex answered again.

“The Nightmare Eggs are somewhere in-between life and unlife. Due to their nature, they can feel when a suitable host enters their vicinity.” Cian explained.

“So then, what?” Alex asked. “We take Jane to where you keep the Nightmare Egg chests and see if there’s a reaction?”

“Bingo. If there is, she’s prime recruit material. I’m sure we could make an exception for a potential recruit staying inside the Keep until Grand Uncle returns. If not, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find her someplace else to live.” Cian said.

“Sounds good to me,” Jane said, dropping her head to look at Cian, walking alongside her.

As the three exhausted their conversation topic, they finally arrived in front of an exquisitely carved marble door when Cian spoke again.

“Ugh, you might want to stay outside while I wake Moira up. She can be a bit… prickly in the morning.” Cian said and walked inside.

A short moment later, a boom could be heard inside the room as the walls lining the entrance quaked for a short while. The shocked Jane looked towards Alex for an explanation, only to find the same bewildered look on his face. Mentally noting never to wake up Moira, Alex composed himself as white marble dust fell at the doorstep when a ragged Cian opened the door from the inside.

“She’s *cough*, going to come out in a moment, *cough*, give her a moment,” Cian said, holding the right side of his ribcage in a fit of bearable pain.

Alex, Jane, Cian, and Moira were standing in front of the arguably most guarded door of the Legion’s Keep. The storage unit for Nightmare Eggs. Contrary to all the other doors or gates inside the Keep, this door was made of a light-devouring dark metal, lined with chains made of the same material. This door held no carving or images upon itself, only rows and rows of seemingly arcane signs littered with purpose across its surface. Taking a deep breath, Alex turned to Moira who was still looking for the keys. As he looked towards the small girl, he almost didn’t believe his eyes; almost.

Moira was holding a small, black bag in one hand, and had her whole other hand inside it, rummaging for something. Just as he was about to say something, he could hear a small giggle on his right, where Jane was standing.

“Oh. My. God. Is that a bag of holding?” Jane almost squealed at the sight of it.

“It has many names, but yes, bag of holding is one of them,” Cian answered her in place of Moira, who was still searching. “How much longer, sister?”

“If somebody didn’t wake me up so early, maybe I wouldn’t have so much trouble remembering where exactly I stashed the keys,” Moira answered.

“For the life of me, I cannot understand what Grand Uncle was thinking when he entrusted the keys to you,” Cian remarked.

“I’m the older sibling, I get the responsibility,” Moira replied in a smug tone. “Ah! Found it!”

As Moira took out a bone-white skeletal key, raising it above her head in triumph, Alex could have sworn he heard Cian mumble under his breath ‘It’s only three seconds!’. Turning his attention to the key in Moira’s hands, he could see Moira looking expectantly at him.

“What are you looking at me like that?” Moira asked, “You have a pair of good eyes, can’t you see I can’t reach the lock? Pick me up.”

Picking up Moira, Alex lifted her towards the lock. Moira touched the skeletal key to the door and immediately sounds of gears, rattling chains, and heavy metal moving could be heard. A moment later, the doors lay wide open, welcoming the small party of four into a dark room, filled with numerous chests.

“Does every chest contain a Nightmare Egg?” Alex asked.

“Not really, only half of them are filled with the eggs, the other half are the chests with the recruiting package you received after the Trial,” Cian explained.

“So few?” Alex added, “I’d thought there’d be more of them.”

“Well, our chapterhouse is on a smaller scale when compared with the ones in other outposts. The obelisks are the same in this regard: not equal in their design. Higher grade obelisks, or outposts, which contain more factions, space, and facilities were sent to the biggest hubs of life detected on this planet; the capital cities of your kingdoms and empires. From what I understand, this is a smaller city, and so a smaller outpost was sent here. This is also the reason it was only the two of us and Grand Uncle at the Keep. Oh, well, I’m sure you’ll find out all about this in due time.” Cian educated Alex on the inner workings of the Legion and the outposts.

“I see, thank you,” Alex thanked Cian for his explanation.

“Quit your chatter, it’s causing me a headache so early in the morning,” Moira whined at the two. “You, step into the chamber.”

“Me?” Jane asked, unsure.

“Yes, you, and don’t dilly-dally. I’m not even supposed to open this chamber without Grand Uncle’s permission so get moving.” Moira answered.

Taking an audible gulp, Jane fought her nervousness as she took small and measured steps towards the chamber. As she did, Alex was walking alongside her when Moira once again spoke.

“No. The egg’s senses will be thwarted if there are more of us alongside her. She has to do it alone.” Moira explained.

Hearing Moira, Alex could already see the yellow of anxiety forming around Jane. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he spoke.

“Don’t worry, we’re here,” Alex said, trying to sound reassuring.

His encouragement elicited a small smile and a quick nod from Jane before she made her way inside the chamber full of Nightmare Eggs.

Moments turned to seconds, and seconds turned to minutes, and yet nothing was happening. The chamber was silent, causing a disappointed look to flash across Jane’s face. As she was ready to turn back in defeat, she heard Alex’s voice.

“Wait. Stay there. I know this is going to be unpleasant, but, try as hard as you can to recall the darkest moments of your life. Have you ever felt like nothing ever makes sense? Like the whole world is going against your very existence?” Alex said in a cold tone, “Try and focus on that.”

“But, why, I don’t-“ Jane stuttered.

“If you were serious about what you said before, do it. It’s the only way.” Alex added in the same chilly tone.

Hearing his harsh, but supportive tone, Jane acquiesced and closed her eyes. Whatever it was that she remembered, Alex saw a flood of black pouring out of Jane into her surroundings. The colour was so pronounced that it even caused the perpetually sleeping Nova, who was coiled around Alex’s neck, to open her eyes. As the flood of black permeated around Jane, the chest closest to her started shaking mildly. As a couple of seconds passed, a sob could be heard from Jane as tears fell down her cheeks. Accompanying those tears was another, bigger wave of pitch-black clouds.

As the ethereal coloured cloud roiled around Jane, it finally spilt into the room, covering much of the chests inside. Immediately as the chest’s surface came into contact with the black cloud, all the chests inside the room started thrashing uncontrollably in the same fashion they did when Alex first gazed on the one containing Nova. It seemed as though whatever Jane was going through right now, it drained her of her strength when Alex could see her legs buckling as she started falling.

Dashing in a feat of inhuman speed towards her, Alex entered the storage room just in time to catch her before she hit the ground when Moira screamed.

“Get her out of there! The chests are going crazy because of her!” Moira yelled.

Alex picked Jane up and sprinted outside as fast as he could given the circumstances, allowing Moira to once again bolt the doors shut behind him.

“Well, you have your answer now. Seems the eggs took a real liking to her Nightmare.” Cian said softly.

As Alex held Jane in his arms, she seemed to be having a panic attack. Not on the scale of the one when the two met, but it still left her in a state of stupor. Alex failed to think of anything that might help her in this situation. After combing his mind for anything that might soothe her suffering, he reached the unpleasant conclusion that after a life of suffering himself, he only knew what made him feel better and had absolutely no idea what soothed others.

Seeing the worried look on Alex’s face, Cian once again spoke.

“Don’t worry, she’s going to be fine. You, on the other hand, still have the task Grand Uncle burdened you with though.” Cian added, smiling, “You should go, we’ll take care of her in the meantime. When your mind is in turmoil, tire your body. I hear it helps.”