Chapter 74: Help (1)

Gabriel's eyes snapped open, his heart pounding in his chest as the suffocating silence of his bedroom pressed down on him. Sweat clung to his skin, and his breathing became shallow and frantic. He hadn't realized he'd been holding it until the tremor of relief coursed through him as the nightmare faded, but the remnants of it lingered, clinging to his mind like cold fingers that refused to let go.

It had been the same dream, but this time... this time, it had been worse. The shadows clung to him like a second skin, oppressive and suffocating. He was back in the old palace, the scene bathed in an unnatural darkness that twisted the very air around him. The crackle of magic hung in the air, thick with the scent of burnt flesh and scorched earth.

He could feel it then and even now; somehow the pain was back. The magic. The magic that had changed everything.