“And everyone who signed this accord knew that?” I asked Nabu.
Nabu shook his head. “Sorcery was rare when we were considered deities. Nergal proclaimed that nightmares were the harbingers of all things evil, and considering I’m not a sorcerer, I had no way of countering that argument. My ability to know things, to understand things, doesn’t work on nightmares. I tried once and felt like I’d been set alight. I decided that Nergal and the others must have been right in their thinking.”
“If that’s true,” I said, “then you were smart to fear nightmares. Those sorcerers who became corrupted by power, or twisted in some way, needed to be hunted down. But instead of declaring nightmares a risk in totality, why not educate and help?”
“Those who were hunted down and killed for being out of control, they needed to die,” Grayson said. “But even if the nightmare gave control back to the sorcerer, the person would be twisted, corrupt. There are a lot of things I haven’t told anyone. Things I’ve kept to myself for thousands of years. Talk to your nightmare, Nate. It’s safe—I promise you. When you’re back, and Irkalla is safe, we’ll talk more.”
“What if I can’t separate her from the trap?” I asked.
“Then she’ll die.”
My anger vanished in an instant, and I allowed myself to immediately connect with the nightmare inside me. I closed my eyes, and the world around me faded away.
CHAPTER 7
Nate Garrett
I found myself sat on the wet lawn of an old thatched cottage. The door had been painted white at some point, although it was now peeling, as if the elements had been battering it for so long it had given up the pretense of perfection.
I appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. Apart from a small stream that ran beside the house, and snowcapped mountains in the distance, everything as far as I could see was empty heathland.
A man who looked just like me opened the cottage door and stepped outside. “It’s been a while,” Erebus said. “I thought that maybe you’d forgotten I was here.”
“I’m stronger,” I told him. “It takes more for me to come to see you now.”
“I know, I was just making conversation. Only one mark to go. Well, two marks, yes, but only one I can see. Who knows what’s behind that door?”
“I need your help.”
“I know. I’m you, remember.”
“Still weird. Even after all these years, it’s still weird.”
“I imagine it is, yes.”
“I need you to take control of me and use my necromancy to separate Irkalla from this other spirit. There’s a . . . darkness that has snared Irkalla’s spirit.”
“And you can’t do this by yourself?”
“I’m stronger, but not strong enough.”
“Even with the fifth blood-curse mark’s disappearance? That boosted your power by a considerable amount.”
“Yes, my sorcery, but my necromancy isn’t as powerful. I assume if I accept you and you take control of my body, that knowledge will be unlocked, but as I can’t do that until all of the marks have vanished, I need your help.”
“You’ve finally accepted that I am not the enemy?”
I sighed and nodded. Since time was different here, there was no need to hurry. However long the conversation with Erebus lasted, only a few seconds would have passed in the real world. Yet another thing that takes some getting used to.
“Yes. I don’t know how nightmares genuinely work. I don’t understand why you’re here, or if you’re unusual. Are all nightmares like you? Do all of them take the form of the host and have chats with them? There’s literally an entire ocean of knowledge I don’t have, but Grayson says you’re safe, and Mordred has been telling me that his nightmare saved his life, so I’m having a little faith. Over the last decade I’ve realized nightmares are not the monsters we were warned against. I don’t think you’re the creature we should fear. I think you’re something sorcerers are meant to accept to move onto another level of power.”
“Took you long enough,” Erebus said with a sly smile.
“Yes, well, when someone tells the world for thousands of years that something is bad, I tend to trust that information.”
“And you think I can take control of your body and use your necromancy to help Irkalla?”
“I hope so. Because if you can’t, and I can’t figure out a way to do it, she’ll die. She can’t stay trapped like that indefinitely, and I have no knowledge about what it is that’s trapped her.”
“Yes, you do. You know exactly what it is. You know how it’s created. You forget that there’s knowledge in your head you don’t have access to.”
“I don’t understand. I thought the only knowledge trapped in my head was about the first eight years of my life. Why would an eight-year-old know about complex necromancy?”
“Not like that. You honestly want to know what I am? It’s the only way you’re going to save Irkalla.”
I didn’t hesitate: “Yes.”
He walked over to me and pushed his hand against my chest. I gasped and dropped to my knees, fighting for breath. I looked up at Erebus and noticed the arm he’d used to touch me was faded, almost transparent.
“What the hell?” I managed.
“The nightmare is knowledge and power. We give the knowledge and power to the sorcerer when they’re ready. Your blood-curse marks stop me from passing on the knowledge and power, but every time you lose a part, you get a little more of them both inside of you. And I gain access to a little bit more of the information placed inside your head, information I can give you. And when you’re finally ready for all of what I am, I’ll vanish and you’ll be whole.”
“Your arm.”
Erebus glanced where his arm used to be and shrugged. “You now have part of the knowledge contained inside of me. Eventually I will fade away. All nightmares operate in this way, but I am unlike almost any other nightmare in existence. There are others who have nightmares like me, but not many.”
“Mordred?”
“I can’t say for certain—I’m not in his head—but based on the knowledge in your mind, I’d say it’s likely.”
I got back to my feet. “So how long before I know whatever you just unlocked in my head?”
“A few moments. I don’t think it’s going to work like you believe it does.”
“Just be straight with me. For once. You’ve unlocked stuff in my head, but you clearly must already know that information, so just tell me what it is.”
Erebus smiled. “This is like when you learned how to mix your elemental magic. You’re the one who has to learn it, and once you do, we can talk about it.”
“And what do I have to learn?”
Erebus began to fade, and I reached out for him, but he’d already turned to mist.