When her eyelids grew heavy, Sapphire placed the journal under the mattress and lay on her back, slipping into a vivid dream.

Around her was a thick forest, the smallest bit of light allowing her to see a young girl. The child had long raven-coloured hair, braided back in pigtails. Her pale skin was jarring against the inky dress she wore. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes wide, as she stumbled through the woods, breathing heavily in fear, searching for something Sapphire couldn’t see.

Sapphire scanned the area, trying to spot what the girl was running from, but there was nothing except trees shrouded in shadows. The forest was familiar in a way she couldn’t pinpoint.

Ahead of her, the girl leaped over a downed tree before sidestepping a large boulder. Her feet were bare despite the chill in the air, and Sapphire struggled to keep up with her.

Time seemed to move too quickly as the child stopped, her delicate steps no longer echoing along the path, and she looked at Sapphire head-on.

‘Help me.’

An ear-splitting scream followed, and Sapphire shot up from her bed – the forest falling away as she took in her room. Sweat coated her skin as she struggled to catch her breath.

She rushed out into the corridor to find where the scream had come from, the sound of it too real to be a dream. Stumbling from door to door, she threw them open only to find the rooms behind them empty. Her panic did not subside even after she returned to her chamber, as she half expected to find the child lingering outside the windows, but there was nothing besides the darkness.

She collapsed back on to her bed, her breathing ragged. She hadn’t had a vision since she arrived in Eriobis, but the familiarity of it unnerved her. The connection to the forest and the small child was something she couldn’t place.

And the scream.

Mercy, she could not shake it.

Needing to get out of her room, she pulled on her training uniform and headed to the water in the hope of silencing it.

Slipping down the hall, she could not escape the feeling that someone was watching her; a ghost nearby, waiting for her next move. The thought pushed her to move quicker, doing what she could to keep her footsteps silent.

Without breaking her stride, she passed the training grounds, headed to Lake Volta, which surrounded the left side of the castle and dived underwater.

Clarity.

That’s what came as the water rushed over her. Clarity. Pride and happiness. She had found peace in what she once feared and it was an electric feeling. She could swim for miles without growing weary – she could bend the water to her will. What she felt most was power.