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Blue light fractured all around as Taly was dragged down, down , down into the icy depths.

Water shoved into her lungs, but since this was a dream, she could breathe around it. A grotesque, bulbous mass slid through the currents ahead of her, its bloated form undulating with sickening grace as it swam downward.

Taly kicked. Her boot slammed into the grimble’s arm, then its head.

She swung the blade in a wide arc, feeling resistance as it connected with something solid.

A guttural sound rippled through the water as black blood billowed out around her.

She twisted the blade, yanked it free, and struck again.

Too many hands clawed at her—grabbing her legs, pulling at her hair, tearing at her skin. Scratches bloomed across her arms, her face, but she didn’t care. It was a dream. Pain didn’t matter here. Only the fight.

For a split second, the grip loosened. She jerked free, only to feel the water around her suddenly shift.

Then, with a sudden, terrifying pull, the water peeled away.

Not receding, not draining— peeling . Like some invisible force had taken hold and was dragging it back.

Without warning, Taly was tumbling downward. Falling through space, through air, maybe through time itself—

She slammed into hard stone and immediately vomited water onto the stone floor.

The grimble skittered off, trailing black blood on the damp stone as it disappeared into the shadows.

The water was gone. So was the black. In its place was… a temple.

All around, towering columns etched with symbols and text blurred as if she were still looking through water.

Pale gold beams of light streamed through high windows, and the ceiling was decorated with ancient murals and carvings.

The air was thick with the scent of old stone and the whisper of forgotten prayers, mingling with the faint aroma of incense long burned out.

Taly pushed herself up, scanning the darkness between the columns, dagger in hand.

The Queen’s words once more came back to her. “ The grimble’s power grows with time spent inside the dream. The longer you linger, the stronger it becomes. You must act quickly—each moment wasted is a moment given to the monster.”

“Come out, you ugly bastard.” Taly’s voice was low, fierce. It echoed in the strange space.

An awful screech was her only warning. The grimble slammed into her from the side, knocking her off her feet.

They hit the ground hard. Its bloated, bone-white form pressed down, wrinkled skin sagging around a twisted grin.

“Caught you now, didn’t I?” the grimble cackled gleefully. “Oh, squirm! Squirm all you like! I like it better when the meal fights! Tastes of fire and strength, not the nasty sour fear!”

Too many hands gripped her in too many places, their touch cold and clammy. Her fingers twitched around her dagger, but it caught the movement. One of those many hands shot down, wrapping around her wrist like a vice.

“Not so fast, little rabbit,” it sneered. Then, with a sickening crack, it slammed her arm into the stone. Once. Twice. Her grip faltered, the dagger clattering free. The grimble’s hideous grin widened. “No more tricks. Now we feast. FEAST!”

It threw its head back in victory. Taly took the opening.

Twisting, she drove her knee into the grimble’s side. It shrieked, momentarily loosening its grip—enough for her to rip one arm free.

She swung her broken fist into its face, her knuckles connecting with a satisfying crack.

The grimble howled, rearing back.

And remember , the journal had said, the final key to killing the grimble, scrawled in Tessarin Castaro’s messy scrawl, the dream bends to your will, not the other way around. Always remember the dream. Remember that you control it, not the beast.

A thought summoned her dagger back to her hand. Taly wasted no time sinking the blade deep into its side.

Black blood spurted. The grimble jerked back, its screeches echoing in the chamber.

Taly clawed out from underneath it, scrambling to her feet, breathing hard. Her eyes locked on the grimble as it shook itself, sending off a spray of black ichor.

Its body pulsed with each growling breath as its many hands flexed and twitched, fingers curling into fists. Its milky eyes seethed. A low, guttural snarl escaped its twisted mouth.

It was angry. Good.

“Who’s the rabbit now?” Taly growled, spinning the dagger in her hand.

The grimble straightened, hatred rolling off it in waves. Its arms twitched. Muscles bunched. Massive jaws split open with a wet crack.

It lunged—and made it halfway across the room before it jerked mid-air, yanked sideways by an unseen force.

The next moment, it slammed into the ground. The floor cracked, and a thunderous boom echoed through the cavernous space.

Its scream was blood-curdling as its broken body was lifted once again—and came down with just as little mercy.

The grimble died with a crunch and a whimper. But Taly didn’t relax, didn’t release her dagger.

Because in its place was something else.

For every predator, something bigger always lurked higher in the food chain. It held true both in the waking world and in dreams.

Where the grimble was ugliness incarnate, this new creature stood as its breathtaking counterpart.

A supple-bodied female, wholly naked, with lines of molten gold painted over moon-white skin.

They flowed up impossibly long legs and across the flat, angular panes of her belly.

They shimmered across her torso, sweeping over her shoulders, neck, and arms in intricate whorls and patterns.

Between firm, high breasts plastered with a sodden sheet of golden hair, the phases of the moon were artfully etched.

Taly’s eyes continued upward. Twisted, ivory horns framed a face of otherworldly beauty, with eyes like hammered sunlight that seemed to pierce through to her very soul. Her ears were large and pointed like a fennec’s, tipped with black.

And atop her head rested a crown that gleamed with the warmth of the sun itself.

Intricate patterns of delicate leaves and vines wove around the base, each tendril appearing as if kissed by the first light of morning.

At the front, elegant spikes rose like the rays of the sun breaking through the horizon.

The creature unfurled, rising with an eerie, deliberate grace. Taly’s eyes widened, following it up and up. The air trembled, bowing beneath the weight of its immense presence.

“Kairó vuun’manii?”

Taly jolted at those words.

The creature stepped forward.

Taly scrambled back, boots scraping on the stone. “Whoa—uh, can you just… stay over there, maybe? I’d... I’d feel a lot more comfortable if you could just... you know, not get any closer.”

But the creature kept coming, every inch of its presence radiating power.

“Okay, okay, I get it. You’re not big on personal space.” Taly tripped on a loose stone. Her words spilled out in a frantic rush. “We can talk this out, right? No need to, uh... eat me. We can have a conversation, a discourse—very civilized.”

Her feet stuck, as if rooted to the ground. “Shit.” She kicked, but her boots wouldn’t move. Reaching down, she tore at the laces. “Look, I—I don’t know what you want from me. Well, that’s not true. It’s been 251 years since you had a meal. But I’m stringy. Tough. Barely worth the effort.”

The creature’s beauty was a thing of legends—too perfect, too sharp.

Taly slipped out of her boots and managed to gain a few steps, only for her bare feet to stick next.

A wave of paralysis crept up her legs. She jerked, twisted, but it was pointless.

It was time to wake up now. Taly pinched her arm, bit her tongue, but there was no pain here.

She drove a fist toward her chest—but instead of paper, she hit bone.

She summoned her dagger, flipping it the moment it came into her hand, ready to cut out her heart if that’s what it took to exit this nightmare.

But the blade went spinning out of her hands the next moment. It flew into the darkness, swallowed by the dream as if it had never existed.

“No,” Taly whispered, her hand still outstretched, trembling. She tried to summon it back, but—nothing. The space where the weapon had been felt empty, hollow, like the dream had stolen more than just steel. It had taken her salvation.

The creature was in front of her now. Her mind scrambled for comparisons—an angel carved from marble, a queen sculpted from dread terror, a goddess stepped out of the pages of Azura’s old warnings. Nothing fit. She had no name for this creature. No idea how to fight it.

Its shadow swallowed her whole. Just like she would soon be swallowed.

Taly braced herself, eyes squeezed shut, and waited for death to claim her.