Noah was dreaming again.

In his dream, it was early morning. He watched the eastern horizon as the sun began to emerge. It made his breath catch.

Part of him knew that his brain was making this up. It wasn’t a real sunrise. He would never see a real one.

For the first time, Noah hated the fact that he was blind. In the past he had felt disappointed or left out, but he had accepted his blindness as a part of his life. But now the idea of never seeing the sun rise filled him with anger. He felt cheated, like the sun had been stolen from him.

Then, as quickly as he had been angered, calmness washed over him. He was seeing this dream sunrise, and he should enjoy it. He would never see a real one, but why assume it didn’t look exactly like this?

Noah took a deep breath and tasted the morning air. It was fresh and tasted like nature. It had rained recently.

He couldn’t think of anything better. He felt safe.

When the sun was half-risen, Noah realized that he was moving. He wasn’t walking, but he was slowly floating across the grass. He was going east, moving to meet the sun.

Time must have been moving quickly, because it felt like only seconds before the sun had fully emerged and sat above the horizon.

A new sound reached Noah. A rhythmic clanging of metal. Not like a hammer on sheet metal, it was more solid than that. It reminded Noah of the mock battle from his dream the night before.

“Head!” Clang. “Shoulder!” Clang. “Leg!” Clang. Someone was calling their strikes. Were they training?

Noah was still alone, but now he was surrounded by voices.

“What’s the point of this?”

“Do you want to be monster chow?”

“But monsters can’t get us here. Isn’t that the whole point of this place?”

“And what will you do when the gods call on you for a quest?”

There was no answer, but Noah’s heart was racing. A place safe from monsters. Was this a real place? Was he hearing real people? Other demigods?

How could he get there?

“Noah!”

Noah opened his eyes but saw nothing. He was awake again.

“Oh, thank god!” Avery’s familiar arms wrapped around him. “You’re okay!”

“Don’t you mean gods?” Noah patted her shoulder. He wasn’t sure why she had been worried, but he was fine.

Avery laughed, but it sounded like it was forced through a sob. “Shut up.”

“You sure you’re okay?” The vaguely familiar voice of Shane asked.

“Yeah, I’m--”

Fingers prodded at his forehead and a jolt of pain shot through his skull. He winced and moved away from the fingers.

“You’re probably going to have a lump for a few days.” Shane informed him.

“What happened?”

“You ran into a tree branch.” Avery held him close again. “I’m so sorry Noah.” She was crying. “I should have called it out quicker.”

“It’s fine.” He tried to reassure her. “No serious harm done.” He grinned. “It might actually have been for the best.”

Avery released him and sniffled. “What?”

Noah told her and Shane about his dream. He admitted that it might be a long shot, but they didn’t have anywhere else to start.

They all agreed to head east.