Page 90 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

Despite every warning—despite my own common sense—I find myself drawn closer. The book seems to pulse with an inner light, and when he opens it, I gasp. Tiny figures move over the intricately drawn landscapes, and I can almost hear the whisper of wind through painted trees.

“It’s the original text,” he says reverentially, “inscribed when the realms were one.”

He turns to a page that steals my breath. It shows what can only be described as paradise—all five realms connected, with no barriers between them. Humans walk alongside creatures of impossible beauty, magic flowing like visible light between realms.

“This is what we were,” Adric says, his voice heavy with reverence. “This is our first reality.”

I lean closer, drawn by the beauty of what I’m seeing. “It’s incredible.”

“The Hunter would call it dangerous. I call it home.” The pain in his voice when he says home catches me off guard. And I have to resist the urge to move closer and comfort him.

When he turns the page, I wince at the new image—that incredible paradise being torn apart, realms violently separating, that perfect harmony dissolving into chaos and fear.

“What happened?”

“The Sundering.”

I tilt my head to look at him, totally clueless.

“All we know is that some ancient catastrophe forced the realms apart and made the barriers necessary.”

“Why?”

He shakes his head. “If it was ever known, that knowledge has been lost to time. But whatever it was, it forced the Emperor—your ancestor—to tear the realms apart for their own protection. Then to create barriers and set the Guardian to maintain them.”

“You,” I whisper. “And your brother.”

“The Hunter,” he says, a chill in his voice.

He opens a second book, this one showing a more recent scene—the same golden figure with his crown, but older now, standing with a being that seems to have no solid form, but is somehow stunningly beautiful.

Then I see its two eyes—one silver, one gold—and know that this is the unified Adric and Chase.

“For millennia, the Emperor maintained the separation, waiting for the realms to heal from whatever had threatened them. Until they found him.” The image shifts to show the golden figure surrounded by snake-like creatures formed from shadows, as if the illustration itself refuses to render them clearly.

As I watch, the Emperor fights valiantly, but he’s overwhelmed, and his crown shatters when he falls.

“What are they?”

Adric shakes his head. “Unknown entities. Beings powerful enough to kill an immortal,” he adds, his voice dropping to a whisper. “They struck without warning, without explanation. To this day, no one knows who they were or where they came from.”

I shiver, thinking of the serpent slithering through Eden.

The page turns, now showing scenes of chaos as the Imperial family flees in terror, the bloodline scattering like leaves in a hurricane.

“His bloodline—your bloodline—didn’t try to claim the throne. Instead, they ran. Went into the deepest possible hiding to preserve what remained of the Emperor’s legacy. Because they knew that if entities that powerful were hunting the Emperor, they might come for his heirs next.”

His fingers trace the illustration with something like reverence. “But the Emperor’s death created opportunity as well as tragedy,” he continues, turning another page to reveal another image of the Guardian. I see a flash of silver, and then the Guardian is no more. Only Adric, kneeling by the remnants of the Imperial crown. As I watch, the figure on the page reaches for the largest piece of the shattered crown, and it reshapes the gems and metal into a new crown, simpler but still radiant with power.

“Worthy of a king,” he explains. “When the Emperor fell, someone had to step forward. Someone had to bring order from chaos.”

“You.”

He tilts his head in acknowledgement. “When I split the Guardian, I became my own being. And I knew what needed to be done. I understood power, ambition, the necessity of strong leadership.” His eyes meet mine. “I took responsibility for what others abandoned.”

He flips through several pages as he speaks, and I see the realms joining his growing kingdom.

“I ruled first only over the Nightmare Realm. It was lawless after the Breaking—the splitting of the Guardian. So many creatures were starving and desperate. I gave them structure. Purpose.”