When I exited my home the next morning, the first place I went to was Mot's castle to check if he had returned overnight. Unfortunately, everything seemed to be the same. All of their horses and mules were still out of their stables, and the sign was still in the front. I ran my fingers furiously through my gray hair. Anything could happen to the two of them out there, and we would never know!

"Are they back?" Jeriah asked as I stomped to the priest's house for another meeting. "Judging from your expression, I'm guessing they're not."

I shook my head. "And we have no way of knowing if they're even alive!"

"Mot isn't stupid," Jeriah said. "He would put the safety of him and his daughter over everything else."

"That's not enough!" I was horrified at the fact that Jeriah cared so little about whether or not the two of them were alive. "You never know what could happen! They could have been attacked while sleeping! Who knows?"

"Well, I called this meeting for a different reason," Jeriah said, changing the topic.

I glared at him. "What's more important than this?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "I had a weird dream last night, and I have a feeling that you aren't going to like it."

My stomach twisted. "What do you mean? Was it..." I didn't want to say the name. I didn't need to, for the look on his face said enough.

"Dianite can talk to us using dreams," Jeriah announced. "The dream was very vivid, and I was worried it was real. Normally, you can't actually feel pain in dreams, but I definitely did in this one. I was surprised to find that the pain didn't carry over into real life."

"Well, he can't physically appear, so no injuries would be made in real life," Mianite reminded him. "But I agree with you that this is not good. Did anyone else have a weird dream?"

Nobody spoke. "What about Ianite?" I looked around and saw that she hadn't come to the meeting. "Where is she?"

"Don't panic, Spark," Mianite said. "She's doing something in the End, and I don't..."

"I'll be right back," I interrupted him, dashing in the direction of my ship.

I sailed to Aethoria, worry rushing through me. Jeriah didn't seem too bothered by his dream, but there's no telling how hurt Ianite could have been by it. When I went through the portal, I fully expected to see my lady having a panic attack on the other side.

What I saw was very different.

Ianite was tending one of her trees nearby, and greeted me with a smile. "Good morning, Spark. Is something wrong?"

"You... you're okay, my lady?" I stammered, shocked.

She looked at me with confusion. "I think I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

I sighed with relief. "Jeriah had a dream that was controlled by Dianite. I think he's trying to terrorize us."

"And your first thought was whether or not I was okay?" she laughed. "That's sweet of you, but gods can't control the dreams of other gods. I'm the most protected. Jeriah wasn't affected by the dream in real life, was he?"

"No, if you mean physical injuries," I said. "It was just a dream. I guess Dianite is just trying to get revenge in whatever form he can."

"What I would worry about, if I were you, is how Mot and Alyssa are doing. They haven't come back, have they?"

I shook my head. "You think that Dianite controlled their dreams as well?"

"Without a doubt. Alyssa's, at least. She's the weakest one, so obviously he would want to take advantage of that," she said, biting her lip with worry.

I leaned against a tree and furiously gazed at the sky. "This is why they should've stayed here! The fools thought they could just go, and that everything would be fine!"

It was late afternoon, and I was nervously pacing around the mainland. Jeriah and Mianite were getting along for once, discussing ways to overcome the Dianite-given nightmares. Ianite was tending to Aethoria like she had been all day, and I had gotten bored of trimming colorful trees for hours.

"Spark, are you okay?" Jeriah called out. "You look like you're about to have a panic attack yourself. Why don't you go home and calm down for a bit?"

"That's not going to help!" I protested.

"Well, pacing isn't going to help either. This isn't good for you, Spark," he begged.

I sighed. "Fine, I will. But you two better call me back right away if you've come to any new conclusions."

"We will," Mianite promised, looking amused. He could laugh all he wanted, I wasn't going to apologize for worrying about the others' safety.

I started to head back to the tree, but figured I could check the castle again, just in case. Mianite and Jeriah weren't watching, so I headed towards Mot's place.

As I expected, the house was exactly the same. No horses, and the sign remained. I was about to give up and go back, when I heard someone call my name.

"Hey, Spark!" Mot yelled, riding up to where I was on his horse. Alyssa was right behind him, leading a pack of mules.

"Mot!" I screamed, not knowing what to say or do. On one hand, they were alive. On the other, they were smiling like they had done nothing wrong.

"How's life been while we were gone?" Alyssa joined in. "Boring? Dull?"

"You could've died!" I finally managed to say.

"There's nothing out there to hurt us," Mot snorted. "We brought beds to protect us from mobs. Trust me, I'm not stupid enough to have not thought this through."

"Oh yeah?" I glared at him, refusing to give up. "How have your dreams been, then?"

Their smiles faded. "Did it happen to you, too?" Alyssa asked in a hushed voice, fear in her eyes.

"Not to me, but to Jeriah," I said. "He said that Dianite was trying to destroy him using the only method he has left: dreams."

"What happened in his?" Her eyes glazed over for a moment, probably reflecting back on her dream.

"Apparently Dianite attacked him," I told her. "He felt pain, even though it was a dream. Even Mianite isn't sure of how much Dianite can control using dreams." I paused for a second. "What happened in yours?"

"No physical damage, thankfully," she responded, looking at her father for comfort. "He just threatened me... and stuff. What do you think I should do?" She looked terrified.

"Take a deep breath, first of all," I didn't want her to panic. "This isn't incredibly urgent. Take a moment to unpack, and then come down and see Mianite, okay?"

Mot narrowed his eyes at me. "You were so angry at us a second ago. What's with this new attitude?"

I shrugged. "I was only mad because I didn't know what had happened to you. For all we knew, you were gone. But the last thing I need is for you two to freak out. What's important is that you're safe."

His gaze softened. "Well, thank you for caring."

I sighed. "It's the only thing I can do these days. Well, I take that back. There was never much else I could do."