The dream of the dream of a dream of the dream of a God.

Apotheosis

Leila released her will, and the tear that had begun to form vanished, at her side Zarune sighed, his eye blazing. The object of their attention was currently leaning against the wall with his eyes fixed, if he had only turned his head ninety degrees to the left he would have found himself facing two pairs of eyes obviously in a very bad mood.

The tension easing, Zarune whispered in a carefully controlled tone:

- Your friend is either very brave or completely mad.

- He's not my friend, and I'd go with crazy," Leila replied in the same tone.

Leila already knew that Mat was going to cause them problems, but unfortunately, she knew there was nothing she could do about it, so she chose to ignore him completely.

- When will we enter the throne room? Leila continued.

- It shouldn't be long now, I think.

They had been waiting in the vestibule of the throne room of Irvanon's palace for some time. Waiting was not one of Leila's virtues, and in this case, the reason for the wait not helping to put her in a good mood.

After about ten minutes of gloomy silence, the large double door was opened by two soldiers in silver armour and dark red cloaks. Lenaël then came out to invite them to enter.

All the young people present in the antechamber moved, uncertain steps for some, attentive for others, or circumspect like Leila.

The first thing that struck Leila as she entered the throne room was its sheer size, which must have been half the size of the palace from the outside if you didn't know that it sank even deeper into the giant tree that supported it. The first time she had been here, her mind had been too confused by what had just happened to her to take in the architectural feat that it was.

The throne room was in a cavity that must have been natural and formed a wooden dome that emitted a soft light that filled the huge room. The wood had grown in such a way that natural carvings, like veins, ran in a line from the back of the room to a huge crystal throne that acted as a living heart. This throne was both the heart of the room and the heart of the tree, or at least part of it. The sheer size of the hall was enough to make Leila's head spin; it was big enough to hold two or three archery tournaments and still leave plenty of room for the audience.

The second thing that struck her was the welcome that was reserved for them, if the hall itself was almost empty, both of ornamentation and people, unlike last time, most of them being near the throne at the back of the hall, the path that led to this same throne was closed on both sides by a row of soldiers that was so similar to the two sentinels that had opened the hall that one would have thought they were out of the same mould. To this already impressive welcome, as if straight out of a historical film, one had to add the coldness of their welcome. Their gaze, if fixed in front of them, gave off a hardness, contained violence sufficient to make the blood rise to his temples.

As Zarune stepped forward with her head held high among this hedge of honour and Leila with her companions followed her, she felt like a rabbit trapped in the jaws of a wolf. It was the longest and most tiring walk Leila had ever made.

Draya, Queen of the Emerald Kingdom, Empress of the Broken Empire, Silver Lady of the Free Eldar and mother of Zarune, gave the young Earthlings an emotionless look. The aura she exuded was that of a ruler of a powerful state, a state at war.

At her side was Prince Consort Daelmar, dressed as a silver guard with only touches of gold along with his armour and helmet that he wore under his arm. He managed the feat of beating his fellow soldiers in coldness. The only touch of warmth in him was that fire-coloured hair he wore long and loose on his shoulders. He was the husband of Draya, commander of the imperators, the imperial guard and the warrior elite of the Kingdom, the greatest Eldar warriors who went into battle riding the great silver tigers and whose charge filled their enemies with terror, but above all, he was a son of the great Trishera family of the House of Living Fires known for its traditionalism and from which came great Eldar heroes. In short, he had in him both the arrogance of the greatest Eldar and the intolerance that only those who have tasted the decline of their past power and glory can know, the worst interlocutor that young humans could wish to have.

- Thank you for coming to us," began the Queen.

It's not like we have a choice, Leila thought wryly.

- You are gathered here at the request of Imperator Commander Daelmar Trishera," she said, pointing to the flame-haired Eldar.

Beside him was the lavender-haired woman they had met earlier, Lysende, who was glowering at him. One step behind him, seven other Eldar were present, one with his face hidden by a hood and another obese. This was the first overweight Eldar Leila had met.

On the other side of the Queen was the one called Veridian and the one called Cassiope, next to them were two other Eldar, one of whom had a terrible scar on her face, three long lines of torn flesh that ran from the top of her forehead to her chin, passing through the middle of her face and distorting her lips. Lenaël joined them.

At the front of the throne stood Veridice with a dozen important-looking Eldar, a little behind the debates that shook the throne. But their sharp eyes made it clear that they were not missing anything that was being said.

Commander Daelmar Trishera, for some reason, glared at his daughter Zarune, who was stiff as a board but with her eyes on fire, looking away from him.

Noticing this, Draya resumed in a slightly colder voice.

- Lenaël told us that you were not yet ready to do what we asked of you, so don't worry, there is no question of taking you to the Jengai pass.

- If you allow it, my Queen, I will judge that myself," cut in a cold voice Prince Consort Daelmar, who ignored his wife's icy gaze. We all know of Lenael's skills with prism and weaving, but he is too quick to be lax with his fellow humans.

Lenael frowned at her words and pursed her lips in anger but remained silent.

- We cannot afford to wait too long, every day that passes means the loss of many of us. Fortunately, we have managed to reach one of them all and perform an artefact evaluation...

- How?

- You reached one of the towers?

- You didn't tell me about that, Daelmar," the Queen intervened in a threatening voice, her eyes demanding answers.

- You didn't give me time to tell you, my Queen.

- I'll leave it to you now.

- I don't think it's wise to talk about it in front of them," the imperator commander. pointed with his chin at Leila and her companions.

It was the first time he gave the impression that he had noticed their presence. Since the beginning of the conversation, Leila had felt like an innocent bystander in an old argument, even though her future and that of her comrades was the subject of this struggle of wills.

- Mael had assessed the power required to operate the power artefacts, he would be able to deduce whether or not the humans were ready.

Even as he spoke, the obese, grey-eyed Eldar with the disdainful lip bowed to the prince and then to the queen. Speaking in a haughty voice and with a contemptuous glance towards Lenaël, he declared:

- If my queen allows it I can evaluate them immediately.

Queen Draya frowned and glanced at Lenaël who, with pursed lips, was holding back from intervening. She looked discreetly at Cassiope, who spoke up in a snarling tone.

- Who are you Mael to do such a thing, your powers are so poor that it's a joke that you dare to call yourself a weaver, and a great shame for the house of Mirrors of the Void that you're one of them. Ah, perhaps it is time we assessed your blood, we would surely find out then that your whore of a mother has perjured her vows.

Under the insult, Mael lost all colour and stepped back. Before he could react, Lysende the lavender-haired Eldar stepped forward, rage distorting her beautiful face.

- How dare you to insult my sister, go backs to your humans, night snake, sells them your body again as you know so well how to do.

- Silence! interrupted the Queen. Remember where you are. You are a disgrace to the Eldar.

After this outburst there was silence, the shocked murmurs stopped and the amused pout of the Imperator Commander faded. The Queen resumed in a cold and distant tone.

- I have every confidence in Lenaël, if he says that the humans are not ready, then that is the case. Nevertheless, I grant this request. Evaluate them right here, right now.

At these words, the Prince Consort pouted as if he had just bitten into an unripe fruit.

Leila glanced around at her companions until she met Jonah's, who questioned her with his eyes. Leila shrugged and Jonah frowned before turning away.

After a few uncomfortable seconds Jonah stepped forward and said:

- I'll do it, Your Majesty.

Aurora grabbed his arm and Jonah unconsciously patted his hand before moving towards the Eldar Mael.

Mael took one last look at the prince and stepped forward, a disgusted pout on his face as he brusquely grabbed Jonah's head with both hands.

Leila ignored what he did, but her friend Aurora's shining eye told her that something was up.

With a hiccup, Jonah withdrew from the Eldar's grip. At the same time, Lenaël approached, visibly furious.

- That's enough, Mael, there was no need to be so brusque, he said, his stick pointing at the Eldar, his voice burning with anger.

Mael withdrew with his hands raised, a fleeting fear flashing through his eyes.

- I am only assessing him as my Queen asked me to.

He continued before anyone could intervene.

- And it seems you are being lax Lenael, the human prism is barely extended. With this power, it would take three like him to activate an artefact and we have three to activate simultaneously.

Before things could get even more heated, the queen intervened:

- That's enough, you see Daelmar they are not ready yet, that we had to make this charade to convince you is highly unpleasant, she said coldly. Now you'd better explain the reason for your pilgrimage to Tyrlaon, which I forbade you to do, and explain the artefact you managed to reach.

The Prince, as unruffled as a block of ice, bowed before declaring in the same cold tone that seems to be his trademark.

- As my queen demands, I obey. Nevertheless, this is a very sensitive matter, the presence of humans is not necessary.

- They are also part of this war, you can reveal what you have to say before them.

Faced with the obstinate silence of her husband, the queen resumed with a sigh.

- Caem!

The child was startled and looked around in panic.

"When did he get here?" thought Leila.

- Take the humans back to their flat and bring them their food.

Caem rushed towards Leila and her companions, pushing them in a panic towards the door.

Leila, amused, gave one last disgusted look at the royal gathering. So much for that, she thought in disgust.

As the young humans turned towards the great door the Prince added in his usual cold tone:

- Zarune stays here.

The latter, who was going in the same direction as her human companions, froze like a statue.

Leila glanced at her, but she was staring ahead with her back to her royal parents. After a moment's hesitation, Leila headed for the exit of the throne room, where Caem was already present and waving his arms wildly to make them speed up.

At the door, Leila took one last look at this sinister assembly, Zarune with her head bowed waited in silence while Lenaël gave them a benevolent look from the top of the podium where the throne was sitting. Mael's gaze was fixed on Lenaël. The guards were still like statues along the aisle. Lysende and Cassiope were staring at each other. The other Eldar present had a restless look in their eyes, flying rapidly from the Queen to the Prince, who, Leila realised, was looking at them with his icy gaze for the first time since their meeting. The Queen, on the other hand, was staring up at the archway, her gaze lost.

Leila shuddered but refused to follow her instincts to speed up her exit, instead, she glared at him before turning proudly away from the throne room, or so she thought.

She barely noticed that in a process similar to her Mat had stopped to stare at the prince before Jonah casually grabbed her by the right shoulder and led her out.

*

Jonah was lost, for the first time since he had immersed himself in the mystical study of weaving reality was catching up with him. The nostalgia for his home, though still present, grew stronger. Here in this dark room with the last of his childhood friends still in this world and the other, he struggled not to be overwhelmed by all these feelings he was holding back with great difficulty.

- I don't understand, I don't understand anymore. Help me, Lucas...

As always his call was ignored, his friend still immersed in his coma remained inexorably inert.

- Why did this happen to us, to you? At first, we accepted our fate willy-nilly... Some of us even felt a certain sense of adventure when we discovered this strange world and the possibilities it seemed to offer. I do not hide my enthusiasm for learning to weave. You know me, I've always been insatiably curious, all this time I've been immersed in these mysteries and I know, I'm even sure, I've barely scratched the surface. But yet... Yet I no longer understand... For what reasons are we here? First of all, it was explained to us that our role was to stop a war, unbelievable isn't it? But seriously, how could six young adults who barely know who they are, stopping a war? But now, I'm beginning to realise that the situation is much more complex than it seemed. I was stupid... I was so absorbed in discovering the new powers that I couldn't see what was obvious to me, what everyone else had already more or less perceived... They hate us! Oh sure, not us personally but humanity in general. Not all of them though, some of them accept us. Lenael for example. I consider that meeting Lenael was a turning point in my life. Even if there is something that bothers me about him. If you knew all the knowledge he has, even you, who are hardly impressionable, would be surprised. He's been travelling around this world for most of his life, and he's approaching 300! And then there is Zarune, who was willingly converted to our cause by Leila, which seems to have created some tension with her friends. Most Eldar despises us or looks at us with indifference if we're lucky, but the more extreme ones are just waiting to stone us to death in a dark corner as soon as the opportunity arises. But what does it matter... Do you probably wonder why we create such disgust in them? And I don't understand it either, because to understand the reason for this hatred you have to go back more than 3000 years, yes you heard me right, 3000 years. Who can hate for all that time? You have to know that more than 3000 years ago this world was different, everything from the ridges of Ride to the White Desert of the North belonged to these people. I'll spare you the details; simply because I don't know them; but the main thing is that explorers from the Weast arrived in these lands then called the Divine Empire. You can guess. Yes, they were men, and very similar to us, for the same thing happened as it has happened so many times in our history... In the end, the only thing we could learn was that there was a Great War, a war so terrible that the world would still bear the scars today. And that an entire Empire was reduced to this Forest Kingdom, although still substantial according to Lenaël's maps. You should also know that the Eldar are a very proud people; I would say arrogant personally... Although many among them can't get rid of this former glory, of the loss of their culture and their Gods, yes there is also a history of Gods ... In the end, what you need to know is that they have macerated in their hatred and the memory of their past glory, that despite all this time, the memory of what has been lost, stolen is still present...

Jonah sank into these thoughts for a few minutes before abruptly resuming:

- Why am I telling you all this? That's not even why I came! Since the Prince Consort's visit two months ago, the time has passed so quickly... You remember what I told you then, the cold reception of the Prince Consort and the uncertainties of our participation in their war. It seems obvious that several factions are fighting within the palace, I say several but in reality, there are only two that are of real importance to us, we named them the Queen faction and the Prince faction. With all that I have told you, you must have understood which of the two is the most favourable to us, right? A favour we would have done without if it didn't guarantee our survival... Because yes, the Prince's faction simply wants to execute us as the Emerald Kingdom does to any human who would normally wander in their beautiful forest. But the attention of the Queen's faction is not happy because as I already told you, they want to use us as batteries to activate their mysterious artefacts and stop the Rhogar invasion in the south... What will happen to us afterwards remains a big mystery, and how to get to the artefacts knowing that they are in the middle of the Rhogar territory... Anyway, you get the idea. If I tell you all this, it's because after 2 months of training it has been decided that we are close and it's true that I feel a change in me. It is now so easy for me to circulate the energy of my Prism that I now wonder how I could not have perceived its presence before. It is a strange feeling and it is a pity you could not experience it, it would have been more meaningful to you. Although our departure coincides with the end of the training of the next class of Eldar officers, we are leaving with them to the front and more particularly to the Jengai pass which is the only pass that allows us to cross the Ride ridges and arrive in the wild territories of the South. According to Zarune, the journey would last almost 2 weeks if all goes well... I realise that everything I said didn't necessarily make sense but it made me feel good.

After a moment of silence, he added.

- Thank you Lucas, and goodbye my friend.