Upon opening his eyes, terror engulfed Frederich in a tumultuous wave. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, for as far as he could see. No pavilion, no murky forest. Yet everything oppressed him like sludge—panic choked his breath. As if summoned by his fear, a figure formed. It was darker than the nothingness around him, and it towered endlessly toward the sky. Golden eyes stared down at him, empty and overbearing. A crown of stars graced its brow, each star hovering as if it were a sun. 

The creature, the entity, the thing, unwound itself into what Frederich presumed were arms and a torso. Without legs though, it dragged itself across the floor toward Frederich. Stumbling back, he tried to run, but found himself trapped between some sort of wall and the monstrosity.

He opened his mouth only to find himself voiceless. 

The golden eyes widened, as if amused, and reached out a gangly, deformed hand. 

If you fall asleep and find yourself in Ku’s realm, immediately call me. I will find you there.

No, that’s absolutely impossible, Frederich thought.

But the beast before him clearly meant otherwise.

Frederich curled his fists and crouched into a more defensive stance. Again the monster’s eyes narrowed. He swallowed dryly. Radhildur, I swear to every god that may or may not exist—

Just like that, the world erupted with a flare of lightning. Silver and static flooded the air, slashing the world that existed between Frederich and the monster. There stood a swordsman, he was tall and broad, wild hair pulled back in an unkempt ponytail down his back. A ruby veil covered his face at the bridge of his nose, and a familiar black cloak with translucent and velvet trousers were visible. Deftly a silver sword with peony guard flitted from hand to hand as the oncomer stood relaxed and poised.

Frederich staggered back. Radhildur?

The swordsman looked over their shoulder to him, gold eyes bright with amusement. “Did I not ask you to refer to me as Rathi when it is just us, little Scholar?”

Radhildur’s voice was velvety and low-tenor, their chin tilted up with a proud little smirk. 

Wait…but… Frederich was certain they’d stood nearly at the same height earlier, yet now Radhildur stood at least a head taller. 

“Haven’t you heard the folktales? Ku’s gift is strength and might. Within its land, Ku’s blessing takes a physical manifestation. This form,” Radhildur said. “This is a personal favorite of mine.”

Both forms… Again Frederich was at a loss for words before strangling out, are fine forms.

“He’s flattering you,” came a vocal intrusion, deep and baritone. “That’s quite unexpected.”

Radhildur returned their attention to the monster at hand. “You know, I’ll take it. I hadn’t expected Frederich to resort to compliments!”

Frederich spluttered.

The peony rapier was sheathed and Radhildur stepped aside.

Wait!

“Don’t worry, little Scholar,” Radhildur said. “The worst of this shadow’s crimes is its sense of humor. Frederich, allow me to introduce you to Ku. Ku, this is your new nightly intruder.”

Despite that the entity had no other facial features than its eyes, Frederich had the distinct sensation that it was smiling at him. As if this whole ordeal was particularly funny. Even Radhildur stood back on their heels with that agitating smug glance of theirs.

“Nightly? I thought you supposed he visits me whenever he falls asleep? Napping, sleeping, or daydreaming, so on and so forth.” The creature’s attention swiveled with a long creak.

Radhildur shrugged. “I was trying for a narrative drama but you spoiled it with logic.”

What part of this is logical? Frederich demanded. Ku is real, you are in the body of a man, and I cannot talk! None of this makes sense!

“He seems excitable,” Ku said. 

“He does look that way, huh?” Radhildur nodded thoughtfully. “Are you alright Frederich? You didn’t seem so uppity earlier today. You were so certain you were correct too. Aw.”

You’re insufferable! 

“More flattery!” Ku’s smirk was blatant even in its voice. “I think he’s quite smitten with you, Rathi. I had my doubts before but consider me sold.”

This must be a conjuring of my own subconscious, Frederich told himself. You were talking about meeting Ku and you coming to save me, and I remembered that. That’s all this is, one wild dream from my own imagination.

“Regardless, you’re still dreaming of me,” Radhildur said. 

Frederich wanted to kick them. Are you always like this? It’s impossible to imagine you so brazen in front of the court or even your family. 

The mood darkened, and even Ku took a gentle step back. Radhildur said nothing for a moment, before crossing their arms and glaring down darkly over the rim of their veil. Suddenly Frederich realized he couldn’t tell if they were frustrated, full of anger, or indignant. When he inhaled, it staggered in his chest. 

“No, Scholar Frederich,” Radhildur voiced lowly. “I’m not at such liberties trapped in my own home. Ku’s realm is one of the few areas where I can truly allow myself to be a normal human, let alone myself.”

Ku slid between them quickly, and this time Frederich did not mind its presence in the slightest. 

“Moving on from that,” Ku’s voiced airly, tone still plenty mirthful, “We should discuss how someone who isn’t a champion of Celestials ended up in this place. It’s already difficult enough for the ones we’ve picked to cross over into our territory—but for someone completely unrelated, it’s simply unheard of.”

Radhildur acquiesced. “I’ll ask Hil to beseech Av’s wisdom, perhaps between the five of us we can figure out a cause. And if it is widespread.”

It poses an interesting question, Frederich admitted, albeit quiet at first. Am I the only one visiting during a dream, or are there others scattered throughout the Celestial territories? Can we also provide something quantifiable to prove we’re all here and it’s not just a bad dream?

Ku nodded. “There is proof you can use to your advantage. While you may be here during your sleep, Frederich, our champions physically visit us. For those chosen by the Celestials, it’s as simple as walking to a next door kingdom or perhaps a neighbor’s house. Anything done to Rathi here will have tangible effects on them once you wake.”

Radhildur shot him a particularly disgusted glare.

I have a lot of questions on that… Frederich petered off, moving on lest the highness want to actually throttle him. However, now is not the time nor the place. Rathi, how do I appear to you?

“Stuffy and big headed,” they said caustically. 

He supposed he deserved that. I—I meant physically. If this is a reflection of reality, then I should be wearing my Scholar’s clothes, and not something bizarre like, for example just socks?

That clicked with them. “Yes, you’re correct. The indigo cape and checked trousers, sash and belts. All what I saw you wearing earlier.”

Ku shot Radhildur an amused glance, “Imagine if it was just the socks…”

Frederich shot an unamused glower to the Celestial. Moving on… He searched the pockets of his pants first and then his belts before finally finding a charcoal stick. He reached out his hand. 

Understanding dawned upon Radhildur and they offered him their own hand. He stared at their hand and then tried to think about what wasn’t common knowledge about himself. Finally he landed on a phrase and wrote it carefully and visibly. Something that could not be replicated given his calligraphy skills. 

“13th Battalion?” Radhildur asked in confusion. 

If it is there tomorrow, and you find me, I will explain it to you, he replied. 

They nodded. 

“Now that you have set up your proof, I do have one theory on your crossing, Frederich.” Ku slunk closer, its body once again disengaging into a pile of wavering limbs. “To simply say, I believe it is The Warping.”

Frederich took a cautious step closer to Radhildur, who in turn stood in front of him again. 

“Explain what you mean.”

“In the beginning, the Celestials were created from a simple question that Nothingness posed to itself. What if? From there, my kind was born—young and ancient all at once, and from our birth came the birth of universal life. Creatures, animals, people. As sentience grew among planetary life, so did the understanding of our existence.” Ku said slowly. “The natural cause and effect of Celestials and universal life was no coincidence, and as people began to discover us and believe in us—the cause and effect began. This became The Warping.”

Frederich tapped his chin. So the more people form conceptions about Celestials, the more the Celestials thus reflect those ideals…? If this was real, he was on the biggest breakthrough of the academic timeline. No more myths or fairy tales of how the Celestials came to be. This was their history.

“You’ve both seen a direct effect of it,” Ku continued, “I’m no Celestial who harbors hexes or ill-will like curses. But as humanity began to believe that I’m an entity who brings forth misfortune, my realm reshaped itself against my will. This place used to be a ballroom of starlight, glittering and dazzling like diamond. And now…well. As humans’ beliefs solidify more and more, the lines between the Celestial’s actuality and humanity’s reality blur. Simply put, as humans believe, we thrive–as they forget us, we die. And as their knowledge of us changes? So do we too. Thus The Warping in its purest form.”

Being here in a dream state might be the easiest moment to cross through that blur, Frederich guessed. Human cognition is at a zenith when its host is asleep—the mind is open and the body is at rest. There’s nothing holding back a subconscious from randomly floating into this place.

“It’s just a guess,” Ku said. “But the best theory for now.”

“But then why hasn’t this happened before? Or why is there no record of it?” Radhildur muttered, before adding quickly, “It’s worth looking into, I will investigate it further. Frederich, you should wake up now. It’s nearly morning. You don’t want to be trapped in Ku’s realm for too long, its horrible small talk will rub off on you otherwise.”

“Rude,” Ku huffed playfully. 

Radhildur turned and gently ran their hand atop Frederich’s hair. “Out you get. Wake up now, little Scholar.”

Frederich thought his heart stopped then and there in his chest.