Serene’s POV

I got up screaming again. My nightmares were becoming more frequent now. Ayrden jolted from her sleep as well hearing me scream. She rushed over and patted my back. "You need to tell someone about these nightmares, Serene. You are getting worse with each passing day." Her face contorted with worry.

She was right, this was all somehow connected with The Dark Realm and I needed to confide in someone. Although I wanted to keep my friends away from all this mess, I knew whom I could talk to. "I will after today’s exam," I reassured her.

Today’s exam was in the " Elixir Lab ", everyone gathered outside it. There was a lot of commotion and guesses about what the exam will be about. "Good morning," Zeph and Ralph joined us. "Morning guys," we chimed in.

"I am so excited for today’s exam," Ralph rubbed his hands together.

"Of course, you are, Elixir master," I tried to tease him.

"Oh! come on, don’t put me on a pedestal," he shrugged although I knew he loved it whenever I gave him that title.

"You people can enter," Mariela Sensei’s voice echoed. We entered the lab and saw that 25 separate tables were set up with different equipment. One table for each of us as our names were placed as tags on our respective tables. The tables were very strategically placed, mine was between Paul and Tanzil. Mariela Sensei had put in a lot of effort to separate all the teams and groups of friends. Ayrden, Arlo, Zeph, Mikasim, and Ralph were also placed at a distance from each other and me.

There was a single blank parchment next to our equipment. "Place your hand on the parchment and instructions will appear on what you need to do. Don’t even try to cheat, anyone caught doing that will instantly get a zero. All of you have one hour to complete the task, and it begins now."

She placed an hourglass on the table in front of us. She sat down and began watching us like a hawk.

I placed my hand on the parchment and the words began to form. My task was to distil a special liquid from a light blue flower called "Hycaria" which was used in tons of healing potions. The task in itself was tedious and required an excessive amount of steps. I remembered I had struggled with it in class, Mariela Sensei kept notes and I believe she gave us all those tasks which we found arduous in class.

I stole a glance at Tanzil and figured from her facial expressions that she wasn’t pleased with her task either. I returned my attention to the task at hand and opened the opaque container and there were three Hycarias inside. I removed them from the container and got to work. There was a deafening silence in the lab, no one dared even look at anyone else.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye. "Last five minutes left, try to wind up your work." Mariela Sensei announced. I peeked at my vial, the liquid I had extracted was supposed to be icy blue but it was sky blue for now. I had five more minutes to twirl it to get the required colour. I sped up my pace, my arms were aching from all that twirling but this was not the time to give up. I tried to steal a glimpse at Zeph while twirling. He was in the next row from me but all I could see was his back.

As the time ran out Mariela Sensei asked us to pour our liquids into the given test tubes and place them in the test tube container she was passing along. Mine was still not as icy as I wanted it to be but it was close to the required colour.

I made my way out of the lab and waited for others. Ayrden looked a bit down but Zeph and Ralph looked pleased with themselves. Ralph had gotten the perfect emerald colour on the strengthening concoction he was supposed to make. Ayrden’s elixir had turned pink instead of maroon colour so she was a bit disappointed while Zeph had gotten the perfect orange colour on the healing powder he obtained from ’Seeds of Camlus’ (a rare plant).

Overall we did pretty well. Everyone wanted to grab a bite before hitting the training ground in preparation for tomorrow’s Combat Exam. "Guys, go ahead I will catch you in a short while," I told them.

"Where are you going? You need me to come with you?" Zeph asked. I hadn’t told him about my nightmares so I didn’t want him to worry.

"No, no I just have to ask a few things from Artins Sensei. I will be back soon. You go ahead." I waved them goodbye and headed in the opposite direction.

I reached Artins Sensei’s office and knocked. "Come in," his authoritative voice boomed. I turned the handle and entered, he was sitting on his seat buried in some paperwork. "Sensei, I wanted to discuss something with you." He placed down his pen and pointed to the chair opposite me.

Once I settled down he spoke: "Yes, Serene you have my ears."

"Sensei, I have been having nightmares which I believe might be related to Dark Realm and whatever force lies there."

"Hmm, how long have you been having these nightmares? Tell me in detail what they are about."

He suddenly looked concerned and tensed.

"I have been having them for the last six months, they started after I came here."

"And, why exactly I am hearing about them now?" His piercing eyes bore into mine with a hint of anger playing in them.

"I wanted to tell you before but I didn’t want to worry you or anyone else," I replied meekly looking down.

"Serene, you do realize how serious this is. Don’t take this lightly, no matter how small something is if it’s concerning or related to Dark Realm then inform me immediately."

"Yes, Sensei I understand and I will be more cautious in future. Now, about my nightmares, I mostly hear this menacing voice calling me to it from within what I presume is the Dark Realm. It scares me so much that I feel chilled to the bones.

It keeps saying: ’ Bring her to me ’ and I believe that it’s calling me. Lately, I have been seeing a girl with blue-black hair and a white dress. I think she is a fairy but I haven’t seen her wings. She just stares at me without saying anything as if she wants to say something but can’t. I feel connected to her but I don’t know who she is." I told him everything in detail.

"Serene, I don’t have much knowledge about dreams but I know someone who does. These dreams and nightmares you are having seem to have deep roots in Dark Realm and maybe with Fae kind as well. Give me a few days and I will try to find as much information as possible related to these dreams and the people in them. Your exams are going on so I don’t want you to get distracted by these dreams, focus on your studies and leave the rest to me." His orders were clear on what I needed to do.

"Thank you, Sensei I will do that." As I got up to take my leave.

"Our fathers may not see eye to eye but I consider you as my little sister. You can trust me and confide in me." There was a hint of a smile playing on the corner of his lips. I smiled back as I took my leave.

Once outside the office, I took a deep breath and felt like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders. I started walking towards the dining hall as I turned a corner a pair of hands grabbed me and pinned me against the wall.