"Ugh... these hospital seats are so uncomfortable." Tristan groaned as she rubbed her neck.

"They're the worst." I shifted in my seat. My ass was burning.

Cracking her neck, she said, "Any word?"

"No." She'd managed to slip into a light sleep for a few hours, but I couldn't. I was too anxious.

"I hope she's okay..."

"I'm sure she is. She's tough as nails."

"Yeah, she is."

V went into labor the night before. We'd rushed her to the hospital and got her admitted, but after she got set up in her room, she promptly kicked us out. We both said we wanted to be there with her, but she snapped back that she'd rather kill herself before letting us watch her "shit a baby out." So, we were in the lobby and sitting in the least comfortable chairs I'd ever sat in.

"God, my neck."

"Let me." I reached over and did my best to massage her neck.

"Thank you."

"I've got you." I dug into her neck muscles. They were tight as hell.

"A little higher."

I got my index finger and thumb right up against the base of her skull and squeezed.

As one of her vertebrae cracked beneath my fingers, she groaned. "Oh, that's so good. Thank you, babe."

I leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Anytime."

For a while, we sat in near-silence, the only sounds being her little moans and groans and the various beeps and boops that filled every hospital. After a time, she pulled my hands away from her neck and into her lap and whispered, "I had a weird dream last night."

The hairs on my neck stood on end. I still hadn't shaken that dream I'd had on Thanksgiving. It was so vivid. So real. But by the time I woke up that morning, everything was normal. Arden was normal. The hallway was normal. We had a normal breakfast, and we all went to our normal jobs or school or doomscrolling in V's case.

Still, it was hard to shake.

"What was it about?"

"Well," She grinned. "It started normal enough. The three of us were in bed doing, uh, all the things we do when we're in bed together."

"Feel free to describe that part in more detail."

She swatted my arm. "Maybe once V's feeling better, we can reenact it."

"Deal." I laughed. "So, we were in bed?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't our bed. We were... somewhere. I don't know where. It was pretty, though. It kind of reminded me of a church or something."

"Were the walls made of gray stone? And was there a window in the right-hand wall?" For a brief moment in my own dream, I saw something similar. Stone walls. Green fields outside an open window. Kids playing out in the fields. And there was a tower. An impossibly tall tower.

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"I'll tell you in a minute, but finish your story first."

Her brows scrunched together over her sapphire eyes. "Well, after we finished, we got up, dressed in clothes that could have been straight out of a fantasy novel, and went to this big hall, where a bunch of people were praying in front of a statue of some pretty lady. When we got there, we ran into a girl who easily could have been my sister and this handsome blonde guy."

I pretended to be wounded. "I can't believe you were dreaming about another man!"

She rolled her eyes. "Until a few years ago, I never dreamt of any man. I thought I was a girl's girl through and through."

Grinning, I said, "I'm happy I could help you unlock your inner bi."

"Shut up." She blushed. "Anyway, the girl said they'd been looking for us everywhere, and that we were in danger."

Okay, that sobered me up. "In danger of what?"

"I couldn't understand everything. And now that I'm awake, it's all a bit fuzzy."

"Can you remember any of it?" I could hear Arden's growl in my mind. And the hallway... those hands reaching toward me...

"She... she said something... about a king, I think." She rubbed her forehead. "She said he's hunting us."

That gave me the chills. "How?"

"I have no idea. That's all I can remember."

Rubbing my arms, I whispered, "Weird."

"So, what did you dream about?"

Taking a deep breath, I arranged my thoughts, doing my best to pull the strands together. Before I could speak, though, a nurse walked toward us. She was smiling.

"Your wife did very well." The nurse stepped up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "You should be proud, Dad." She looked at Tristan next. "And... if I understood her right, you're... Mom?"

"That's right," I laughed.

"Yeah, I know it's weird." Tristan sighed.

The nurse shook her head. "Don't worry, I've seen weirder." She smiled again. "Are you two ready to come see your partner?"

Tristan shot out of her seat. "We can see her?!"

"Of course. She wanted me to get you both."

Tristan rushed toward V's room and entered the door before I even got up.

Following, I entered to find Tristan holding the ugliest, most beautiful baby I'd ever seen. Our eyes met. She smiled, looked back down, and whispered, "Look! That's your daddy!"

Beside her, V was slumped into the extra pillows we'd brought for her and looking somehow simultaneously exhausted and self-satisfied. Sitting up and crossing her arms, she grinned at me and murmured, "Look what I made. Isn't she fucking cute?"

I walked to the bedside and planted a wet kiss on her soaked scalp. "The cutest."

"You're god damn right she is." As if the last of her strength escaped her, she thumped back into the pillows. "Take her in, bitches... She's gonna be... somebody... one day..." Her voice grew weaker as she fell into a light sleep.

Kissing her slowly, I walked around the bed and stepped up to my child. My girl...

"Want to hold her?" Tristan's cheeks were wet.

"Yeah!" I reached forward and scooped our baby up in one fluid movement.

"You're good at that. Most guys don't like to hold babies."

"I held Stella all the time after she was born." I looked down at my baby girl and felt my heart melt. "I've had some practice."

Tristan slid up next to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. "Despite what V's going to say—probably on repeat—you were part of this, too." She rested her head on my shoulder.

"He had... nothing to do... with it..." V mumbled. "It was... all me..."

"You're right, babe. You did good." Turning, I saw V had already fallen back asleep.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Stella rushed into the room. "I just got your messages after class ended!" She set her backpack down. Locking eyes with the baby, she walked to. "Is this my little... niece? Nephew?"

"Niece."

Her face split into a wide smile. "Good. If she'd been a boy, the estrogen-to-testosterone ratio in our house would have evened out. It would have made it harder to bully you all the time." She leaned forward so that her face was just in front of the baby's and whispered, "But now, you'll be on our team, won't you, baby Naya?"

The instant Stella said the name we'd chosen, the lights flickered above us.

Tristan and I both shuddered.

***

I never understood Christmas presents for babies. It wasn't like they'd remember them, right? Even today, I still didn't, not exactly. The looks on the girls' faces when we dressed up the baby in her little reindeer outfit...

Now that made baby Christmas worth it.

"Soooo cuuuuuute!" Stella was practically squirming in front of the crib.

"Oh my God, I just can't," Tristan breathed.

"Yeah, yeah. Soak her in. I get it. She's amazing." V was grinning ear to ear. "She takes after her mom after all."

"She has Alex's nose!" Stella booped Naya's little nose.

"And my ears!" Tristan ran her fingers along the baby's perfect little ears.

"I don't think that's possib—"

"She said they're hers, so they're hers!" V glared at me, then went back to cooing over the baby.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Oop, baby made a stinky!" Tristan said in that cutesy tone people used for babies. "Honey, would you go get the diaper bag?"

"Wait, wait!" Stella pulled out her phone. "Let's take a picture first!"

"That's a great idea!" Tristan picked the baby up and placed her in the crook of her elbow. "I get baby."

"Take her," V laughed. "If I pick her up, she'll want to latch, and mama's nips are sore."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Come on, daddy. Get between your women." Tristan pushed me between them.

I hooked my arms around their waists and smiled as Stella held up the camera.

"Three... two... one... Cheese!" She held her thumb down, forcing the phone to take a hundred pictures. As soon as she was done, she started swiping through the pictures. "So cute! Look at her little feeties!"

"Let me see!" V walked around the crib.

"Hey, grab that diaper bag while they're distracted," Tristan whispered.

"Sure." Having no place in the love affair the girls were having with our baby, I laughed as I made my way to the hallway, turned the corner, and walked to our room. Opening the door, I saw that there, on the bed, was our diaper bag. Hooking it onto my shoulder, I turned to find Arden looking at me from the doorway.

"Hey, boy. Come here." I sat on the bed and patted my knee.

The large dog plodded into the room, leaned his entire body weight onto my legs, and slumped onto his butt. With a loud yawn, he smacked his lips and looked up at me expectantly.

"Things are different these days, huh, boy?" I pet his head and rubbed behind his ears. "We're totally outnumbered now."

The big dog sighed. He sounded as if he were agreeing with me.

Finding that good spot behind his ears, he thumped his foot against the ground as I loved on him good.

I'd been feeling guilty about Arden. Ever since I'd had that dream, I definitely hadn't been as loving with him. He could tell, too, because he'd gotten progressively more desperate for attention. Seeing his behavior change, I did my best to love on him every day, but I still couldn't shake the sight of him that night out of my head. That, or his growl. It was so deep. So menacing.

"Alex, we need the diapees!" Stella shouted.

"Hurry your sexy ass up!" V added, which was followed by Tristan's giggles.

"Coming!" Giving Arden one last scratch, I stood up and said, "Come on, boy. Let's go get bullied together."

The dog looked back, his eyes saying that he hated that idea, but when I stood, he stood with me. Together, we marched to the doorway and out of the room.

The instant I walked back into the hallway, my skin crawled.

Beneath me, his body pressed to my side, Arden growled that deep, rumbling growl of his, then snarled at something up the hallway.

I looked up to find a black void where the end of the hallway should be. "What the fuck?" Had my dream... had it been real?

Arden took three predatory steps toward the end of the hallway, snarling and growling the whole way. For an instant, his form shifted, becoming almost translucent. Inside his chest, right where his heart should be, there was a little pendant and charm. One that seemed familiar. But where had I seen it before? Before I could figure it out, the dog's body became opaque again.

"Despair..." A void echoed from the void. "Fall into despair, that I may feed on it."

"Alex! Something's wrong!" Stella shouted from the living room. "I need you!"

Shit! I didn't know what to do! My instincts were screaming at me, telling me to ready myself, or run, or do literally anything, but I was paralyzed. How the fuck could someone fight something like this?

"A chosen ought to taste better than most. Especially after it's lived well." Black tendrils snaked out of the darkness and crawled along the walls. The tip of each opened into a clawed hand. "I'll devour you first. Then, when their despair is ripe for the picking, I'll devour them, too." The many tendrils pulled away from the walls and undulated as they soared through the air.

My dog let out the most primal snarl I'd ever heard, reared back, and leapt at the shadowy hands.

As one, they wrapped around him, grabbing at every one of his limbs, but the instant they touched his fur, they burned away, crumbling to ash all the way back to the void in the hallway. The blackness shimmered, and I could halfway see the end of the hallway again, if only partially.

That was it.

"Come on, boy!" I shouted as I sprinted down the hallway, kicked off the wall, and shot past the void just as more shadowy hands appeared and reached for me. Behind me, I heard Arden roar and attack again.

Not willing to turn around for a second, I sprinted into the living room to find Stella frantically shaking V and Tristan. When she saw me, she screamed, "They're frozen! I don't know why, but they're frozen!"

Rushing to them, I pulled on Tristan's shoulder, but it was like she was frozen in place. I couldn't even budge her.

"See?! Something's wrong!"

Arden yelped in the background.

I shot a look over my shoulder. The shadows were just at the edge of the hallway. They were snaking their way toward us.

"Damn it!" I pulled on V, but she was frozen too.

The only things that were moving were Stella and baby Naya, who was babbling beneath us.

Looking down, I saw that her little eyes were open. They were red.

"Alex!" Stella pointed toward the hallway.

"I know!" Why were the baby's eyes red?

My head swam. For a second, the house flickered around me, became pitch black walls, then snapped back to normal.

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah..." Stella grabbed my hand. "Alex, I'm scared."

I looked up to find my kid sister's hazel eyes locked on me. She was crying.

Beside her, V was still frozen mid laugh... But it wasn't V. She looked similar, if shorter, but her skin was green. Her eyes were red. Her canines were longer. Her ears were long and thin.

I turned toward Tristan next. She was smiling brightly, and her eyes were filled with love. Unlike V, Tristan looked more like herself, but her ears were slightly pointed, and her eyes were even more blue than they normally were. More blue than anyone's could be.

My heart thudded in my ears. My chest clenched. My ears rang. The world narrowed to a point.

"Alex?" Stella walked up beside me. Reaching out and grabbing my forearms, she asked, "What's happening?"

I swallowed. Memories flooded into my head. Memories of places I'd never seen. Of a life I didn't remember. Of the losses I'd forgotten...

I looked at my sister then. Studied her face.

She looked exactly how I thought she would look at this age... but had I ever seen her reach it?

I...

I...

No.

I hadn't.

I swallowed hard and etched every line of her beautiful face into my memory.

"Stella." My voice shook as I said her name. "I'm sorry I never came."

"What... what are you talking about?" She pulled on my arm. "We can talk later. We have to go. We have to go now!"

"I..." I looked down. I wasn't wearing the same clothes anymore. I was wearing a tunic and wool pants. Instead of sandals, I was wearing leather boots. "Back when you were depressed, I never came to get you. I lived with that guilt and regret for my entire life. Up until I met..." My eyes shifted to Tristan. "Until I met her."

"But you did come! We've been together ever since!"

"Yeah, in this life. But this life isn't real."

Her hand fell away from my arm. "What are you saying?"

Our eyes met. "I'm saying goodbye, my stupid, sweet, beautiful little sister." I reached out and pulled her into a hug.

"Now's not the time to... to..." She started crying, then hit my chest. "Why didn't you come?"

"Because I didn't know. Because I... I wasn't listening." I looked down at my little baby in the crib we'd bought just a month before.

My daughter, the one who'd just changed my whole world, had turned to stone.

Something in me broke.

My sister sobbed into my chest, beating it whenever she got too choked up to cry.

"Time to feast..." That voice, the one from the hallway, said behind me.

Letting my arms slip away from my sister, I turned, finding that half the living room had turned into inky darkness, but when I went to step toward it, she grabbed my arm.

"No... Don't go..."

"I have to." I tried to pull away, but she held me fast. "I think this dream's ending. At least for me, it is."

"Take me with you." Her voice shook. "I don't want to be here if you aren't here with me. I don't want to do it alone."

I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. That she wouldn't exist once we were gone. "I love you."

"No!" She pounded on my back. "NO!"

The living room began melting away, turning back into that black stone that I'd seen before. And in that stone, directly where the TV had been, was a door.

It was open.

Grabbing my sister's hand, I said, "Then come with me." I looked back to find her staring at me, dumbfounded. "Come with me. Through that door." I pointed across the room. "Walk through it with me."

"What door?" She looked where I pointed. "I don't see anything."

My heart nearly shattered, but I swallowed down the pain and, with as much faith as I'd ever felt, I said, "I'll be your eyes. I'll guide you."

"I don't understand."

"Do you trust me?'

"I do, but... what about them?" She nodded at Tristan and Vral. "And what happened to V?"

"I think they're still in the dream. But they'll come back to me when they're ready. I know they will." I looked back toward the shadows. They were close now. "And I know they'll be fine, because I'm going to murder the motherfucker who decided to wake me up." I stepped forward. "So, are you with me, or are you staying here?"

She sobbed. "I'm with you."

"Good." I took a step toward the door. Then another.

"Don't let go of me."

"I won't."

Another step. I quickened my pace."

"Alex."

"Yeah?"

"You've been the best brother a sister could ever have. Thank you. For everything."

Tears fell from my eyes as I pulled us into a sprint.

The black hands snapped through the air, reaching. Grasping. Pulling.

But nothing would stop me. Nothing would ever stop me. The door was so close... I just needed to reach it.

Three paces.

Something pierced my side.

Two.

Stella shrieked behind me.

One.

As we shot through the doorway, the world bent and went black.

***

When the world came back into focus, I found myself surrounded by sparkling gilded stonework. In front of me, a pale, grinning man was looking down at me from an oversized throne twenty paces ahead. Beneath him were countless corpses, some more devoured than others. Among them, I could make out a shock of long red hair, which was attached to the wide, stout frame of a dwarf. From the appearance of her skin, she'd only recently died.

From the description the dwarves of Tinker Town had given me, that was Dorit.

I'd failed.

You have failed the quest [Find the Dwarf at the Edge of the Depths]

"Stella," I said. "Stay back, and wait for..." I turned to find nothing behind me but empty air and an open door.

The air left my lungs.

For a moment, I was paralyzed. Then, dropping my hand, the one that had just been holding my sister's, I felt something nearly slip from my fingers. Turning my hand over, I saw something flickering with a dim light in my palm.

It was a small, round stone. Within it, a tiny, delicate blue light was dancing.

Grasping it to my chest, I did my best to breathe.

"Welcome to my lai—"

With more fury and hate and pain than I'd ever felt, I lifted my head to the ceiling and screamed.

As my voice bounced off the stone, the air rippled around me.

My bronze armor appeared, wrapped tightly around my skin.

The stone was gone, replaced with the hilt of my sword.

My shield, the wooden one Faye had given me, appeared on my arm.

As my roar faded, the pain and hate were replaced with a stillness. A focus. Cold, distant focus.

"So much delicious pain."

I heard the man... no, the thing... I heard it stand.

"I can't wait to feast on your—"

[Shield Throw]

The wooden shield slammed into the creature's jaw, shattering it, before returning to my arm.

The monster shrieked as black blood poured from its ruined lips, coating everything in its filth.

Lowering my head, I took the monster in as an overwhelming calm settled over me.

"You're dead."

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