And prayed against endurance.

Slowly her body became calm again in response to the panicked beating that was thrumming against her forehead. Her eyes opened to the sound of muffled weeping but all was a blur. From the corner was a weak ray of light behind the tan shadow that rocked her and continued to cry. Nothing was at sense for the moment. She closed her eyes again, warm tears dropping into her hair trying to remember what had happened. But still nothing came. Another tear flew and landed on her cheek. She responded, moving her head up to the light like a child who had just been borne into the world.

“Shhhh,” she hushed, her eyes still shut from the world. “Shhhh.” She brought up her hand weakly and rested it on his wet cheek, reassuring that things were fine not knowing what had happened. She knew it was Tic from his octaves and the warmth was radiating from his aura. She continued to hush him calmly when all his trembles had subdued and he became silent.

It was with this she opened her eyes, his now closed and a pang of worry still clear on his features. She wiped away the remaining tears spilling from the corners of his lidded globes, still issuing a hush as quietly as she could. She stared up at him when he finally accepted reality as well, both sharing an emotional connection in doing so.

Finally she sat up, taking the covers and wrapping them around her cold body. She turned away from him, staring out the window, morning now preparing to begin. Slowly the focus returned and with that a flurry of scenes came rushing into her conscious. She was on a cliff. She was being touched. She frowned to herself. That was a dream. That was a horrible nightmare and a vision of things to cone. From what she had learned, dreams that take place into a specific form full of symbols meant only the gods were called. She saw herself falling mangled into the blood sea as she retraced the mind images when-

“What happened?” Tic asked, whispering in an unsure tone. “You were… you were shaking,” he said, his voice cracking as though another cry was to be let out.

Miraye moved her head very slightly, her face still not seen but signaling she was listening. Her shoulders hunched at the thought. Was that why he was crying earlier? Was that the reason he was frantic and holding her? Her words came out slow and deep. “I don’t know.”

There was a moment of silence where neither spoke or breathed. But a sudden revelation occurred behind her, taking air and moving slowly. “Was it a dream?” he inquired, stress filling his throat.

She did not answer but only leant forward from his view as a huddled mass of covers. She shrugged in response. Away from him she was deep in thought, questioning and linking the clues together. But still, there were things unanswered and her mind clicked in rapid pace trying to answer each riddle. She closed her eyes again, tightly, watching the images play out like a fairytale storybook with narratives of each move. The wound over her heart burned when the scene came. She hissed, placing her right hand over it applying pressure trying to make the sore stop. She could feel her heart beat. Her skin was a paper wall and each thrum was stronger than the last.

“I had a dream too,” he mumbled. His voice was frightened and hoarse.

“I don’t know,” she repeated, clutching the sheets around her even tighter. She curled her legs into the covers, burying her head into her arms. An awkward sense of failure swept through them, disconnecting anything they had shared earlier. An eternity seemed to pass, each filled with thoughts unwilling to share. The moons continued to rise from their caves while the silence lingered. Each minute that ticked somewhere in the town clock meant another thought stirred in her mind. A dull sting found its way underneath her skin in the form of an invisible stigma. Yes, something was going on not too far from where they sat. Even more so, there were three individual identities that connected with her foreboding as she continued to meditate.

Finally after many moments, she stood.

“There was a summoning last night. Someone called to the gods, particularly Stryphus.” Miraye crossed over to the bathroom. “We have been cursed.”

The door closed and she left Tic alone in the unwelcoming prophecy.