HE WAS CHOSEN.

The phrase repeats throughout the rest of Acasia's memory.

The words bounce around the walls of my mind; it becomes hard to focus.

Different voices flood in, mixing with hers.

Different inflections.

All different Psions.

He had been chosen…

I watch a group of large, ornately dressed Psions enter Acasia's home in the dead of night. They exchange loud, indiscernible words and restrain her. Anguished sounds leave her as she watches them take her partner away.

HE IS POWERFUL.

HE WILL SATE NEZAREC FOR A LONG TIME.

BE THANKFUL HE WAS CHOSEN.

The different phrases blend haphazardly.

The memory slowly fades and the images bleed into one another until I see a group of Psions at the center of the chaos. Seated among them is Acasia's partner. I feel the weight of her pain on my chest… but darkness creeps in. Hundreds of claws rip and shred the edges of the memory.

Acasia's pained wails join Nezarec's symphony.

Her partner jolts in different directions, as if his body is ripping apart. A purple hue envelops him. He rises from his seat, levitating off the ground, and dark tendrils attach themselves to his shadow to siphon his power.

He lets out a pained shout.

Suddenly, my reality warps again, and I'm thrust back into the real world. The dizziness hits me like a crashing wave. I lean over the log and throw up.