When the group ‘woke up’, they thought that they were outside the cavern and in the waking world. It did not take long for mother to recognize however that something was wrong. Normally, she has a psychic connection to my father that allows them to speak to each other always, even across realms. I am not sure exactly what this bond entails, but mother described its severing as though part of her soul had been ripped away. She cried out in her mind to father, but he could not answer her. Never in her life had she felt so vulnerable, so helpless, as she did in that moment.

Unfortunately, then was not a good time for weakness, as Mirren showed her ugly face in short order. Perhaps ‘garish’ is a better descriptor however, seeing as everything turned to a cacophony of clashing colors, if you will excuse my alliteration.

Sadly, I know little of the details of the battle that ensued but have a distinct memory that Mirren’s goal was to put the world in an endless slumber so she could rule over everything. Cliché and uninspired if you ask me but a problem nonetheless. I also recall clearly my father appearing before Mirren, more furious than anything I have ever known.

And so, he fought the dream goddess to the death. As a divine being myself, I know the divine law: a god may not kill another god. It was impossible, unthinkable, and yet my father succeeded, piercing her through the throat with one of his tentacles.

It was rather ingenious how he did it, actually. You see, he wears a shard crystal around his neck: a crystalline lock of hair from his wife. The killing blow was dealt with that crystal, a piece of mother, so very technically, it was not him who killed the goddess, but mother, a mortal. When he told her this, she was utterly dumbfounded, but had little time to think about it as something strange happened.

Light began to pour out of father and his robe changed color to bright green. No one had expected it to happen, but by killing the goddess of dreams, my father took over her domain. He had become god of dreams and nightmares. Mother was unsure what to think about this at first as his high priestess, but it didn’t take her long to decide that she would stand by him no matter what happened.

Now having power over the realm, father sent everyone back to the mortal plane, or rather, woke them up. Lying in the dirt beside them was another puzzle box, this one brimming with the power of Magnor. Like the other, this one too contained a pixie, though this one spoke no prophecy. Instead, it relayed a snippet of a conversation between Magnor and Azulia, the contents of which are lost on me. Regardless, it too had a fragmented mind just like the first so the group could learn very little from it.

Some amount of time passed, and they encountered Silenus again as well as a man named Casper who was known amongst some circles for dying repeatedly and never staying dead. All that Silenus had to share was more riddles, which mother found utterly infuriating. I don’t think she had ever hated another more.

She felt marginally better about Casper only in that she did not trust him as opposed to loathed him. He had apparently been alive at the time when father first came to the mortal plane, when he was still an evil entity, so mother assumed that Casper had been his enemy. Casper travelled with the group for a period of time. How long, I do not know.

It matters not however, as more important events occurred. Coming from the top of the mountain where the monastery of the Star Gliders was, there was a flash of rainbow light and a vaguely dragon-shaped shadow in the sky. It did not take a genius to figure out what had happened. Their worst fears had been realized: the dragon’s egg had hatched.