At Death’s Door

“Because your lord modified the nightmare toxin before she gave it to you,” Iris said, resting both of her hands on her staff, “there were some side effects none of us expected. One of them was that you got her Level One curse on top of your other two.”

I thought about tossing the cursed red card over the cliff as if that would make its effects go away. There was something about knowing that these curses would affect me that made the piece of paper all the more infuriating. I had already seen what one curse could do to a dreamer. Three, I imagined, would be unbearable.

“That explains why my barrier failed,” I said miserably. “Iris, I’m useless without my magic. Is there any way you get rid of the Level One curse for me?”

She shook her head.

“Curses are one of the few things I have no control over,” she said.

"But your Divine Favor-"

“-can’t change it,” she said.

I waved the curse card in front of her face.

“But you’re the Host!” I said.

She motioned for me to stop. I slowly lowered the card, too angry to look at it, too afraid to let it go.

“A Host with very limited power,” she said. "As you can tell, I’m not the only Host in this dream, nor am I the strongest.”

I looked at the dark door that Morpheus had vanished through moments before.

“Don’t tell me he is-”

“-stronger than me, stronger than all of us,” she said, catching my gaze. “But, we can worry about him later. You need to get back to your lord.”

I nodded curtly. I had almost forgotten that Priscilla was still fighting for her life with the man that had killed me not too long ago.

“As soon as you tell me what the last two curses are,” I said.

Iris pointed to the second curse: Marked.

“Marked simply means that any Host in the dream will know certain things about you once you form a magical covenant with them," she said. "That's how I knew about the names Eleanor wanted to give her children."

“About that,” I said, clenching my jaw, “how did you make a magical covenant with me without my permission? Both parties need to be fully aware that such a covenant is being made before it can be finalized.”

“Your lord-”

"-I need to know."

Iris sighed. She raised her right hand toward the ocean beyond the cliffs. A moment later, dark clouds began to gather over the ocean from the east and the west.

As they raced toward each other like two opposing armies, lightning began to form beneath them, striking the ocean incessantly. Powerful winds stirred the peaceful ocean into ten-foot waves collapsing one on top of another, like a pack of ravenous wolves turning against each other. The thunder, loud and merciless, exploded the air around me, one after the other.

All this happened in the span of a few seconds.

"Hosts have powers that dreamers do not," she said, her voice cutting clearly through the thunder.

I didn't realize it at first, but I noticed that the pillars of lightning were quickly making their way towards me. By the time I confirmed that the lightning strikes were indeed making a beeline for me, they were already upon me. I raised my hand to create a shield, but before the final lightning bolt struck, Iris lowered her hand and returned it to her staff.

All at once, the thunder and the lightning stopped. The bolt that was sure to hit me never connected, leaving me with my hands raised above my head, staring nervously into the dark sky. The dark clouds that had gathered so quickly now drifted away from each other, fading into nothingness. The ocean was as calm a mirror's surface as if there had never been a storm to begin with.

I looked at Iris. She looked back, nonchalant as ever. That grand display of magic hadn't fazed her in the slightest though the manaburn ought to have been tremendous.

"Things that are difficult for you are easy for me," she said. "If you really want to know how I made the covenant, fulfill your part of the bargain. Then we'll talk."

She must really want that prisoner freed, I thought.

"Fine," I said. "Just tell me what my last curse is and I'll be on my way.”

Iris pointed to the dark door.

“Death’s Door will return you to the dream where you left it,” she said. “It is usually full of light, especially the first time a dreamer dies. But the light grows dimmer with every death."

I blinked quickly.

“The door is dark,” I said.

“Yes.”

“But I’ve only died once.”

“You are Mortal. You only get to die once.”

I frowned.

"So what happens if I cross over now?"

She walked over to the dark door and answered without turning around.

"When a dreamer crosses over through a door void of light," she said. "they will revive as a monster."

I stood there, stunned by her response.

“Well, I’m not crossing over as a monster,” I said.

Iris stopped walking and turned around.

“And you won’t," she said. "You won’t even become a monster.”

“What are you talking about? You just said-”

The letters of the third curse on my red index card started to glow with a red light: Mortal. The intensity of the light grew stronger until the only word I could see on the card was the third curse: Mortal. Then the light dimmed until the word was only glowing with a smoldering intensity: Mortal.

A thought struck me. My heart began to pound faster at the mere possibility of it being true.

No, I thought. No, that wouldn't be fair at all.

“The moment you walk through that door," she said, "you will die for real."