What we dream shapes what we become. But some dreams are traps—alive, sentient, and waiting.
After their exodus from Akris, Kael and the Ashborne rest near the borderlands of Dremlis, a forest where dreams are said to wander freely. It's a cursed place—untouched by war, but feared by all.
That night, as Kael closes his eyes, his mind is pulled not into sleep, but into a layered dreamscape of shifting stars and melting memories.
He hears a voice—velvet and cruel:
"You owe me a crown, Flameborne. And a throne made of your regrets."
When Kael awakens, Lia is gone.
She has been pulled into the dream.
And the only way to reach her… is to sleep again.
Kael lies down.
And dreams.
Kael enters The Somnus Expanse, the dominion of Nerithea, Dreaming Queen, one of the forgotten gods. Her world is built from discarded timelines, half-truths, and unchosen fates.
Nothing is fixed.
Everything is felt.
Kael walks through:
A battlefield where he kills his own reflection.
An academy that burns eternally, where professors recite memories as curses.
A throne room where his mother is queen—but she never loved him.
Then he sees Lia, asleep on a bed of stardust, watched over by Nerithea herself—tall, masked, with a crown of rotating moons.
She speaks with three voices:
"You fear the man you could have been more than the man you are."
Kael challenges her.
She laughs.
And creates five versions of him.
Kael must fight five incarnations of himself, each born from a path he never took:
The Tyrant Kael – Who embraced godflame and scorched the world to unify it.
The Coward Kael – Who ran from the fire and lived an empty, safe life.
The Scholar Kael – Who delved into divine secrets and lost his soul in the process.
The Shadow Kael – Who served the gods and betrayed his own kind.
The Perfect Kael – Who saved everyone… but died inside.
Each duel is both sword and memory, steel and guilt.
He defeats them, barely—by accepting each fragment, not by denying them.
He says:
"I am not one Kael. I am every choice I've made—and every one I haven't."
Nerithea smiles.
And removes her mask.
Nerithea's face is Kael's own, with tears of stars running down her cheeks.
She was once a mortal seeress, gifted with the Dreamflame, elevated to godhood when she saw too many possible ends and lost her sanity.
She whispers:
"You were not meant to be the last Flameborne. You were meant to be the first of something new."
Kael asks what that means.
She shows him a glimpse:
A war across the stars, a council of gods, and Kael standing at the head… but alone.
He refuses.
"I'll forge my path with others. I will not become the last tyrant of this age."
Nerithea sighs.
And gives him a gift—a Dreambrand, etched on his heart.
"Then may your dreams burn bright enough to guide the lost."
She releases Lia.
And fades.
Kael awakens, soaked in starlight and silence.
Lia is beside him, whispering, "I saw… everything. You chose us."
Kael nods.
And sees that in the real world, he now casts two shadows.
One from flame.
One from dream.
He is now touched by both the waking and the woven.