Eido crept on all sixes through the massive halls of the Dreaming City. She was following an indistinct murmur, both terrifying and compelling. A thousand voices, all muttering to themselves. How did she get here?

She peered around the corner of a massive archway. Beyond, she found a circular chamber with an elaborate sigil carved into the stone floor. Three Awoken figures stood at precise intervals along the carved seal.

The chamber was without a ceiling—the void of space yawned overhead. Spiraling galaxies seemed to fill the room. Eido realized that she wasn't breathing. Was she dead?

Suddenly, Eido stood in the center of the sigil. She turned in a circle, trying to identify the looming figures, but their faces were vast and unknowable, like the void above. She felt the weight of their focus, as if she were falling in all directions at once.

She looked down and discovered with horror that the ground was receding. She was floating upwards, into the vacuum of space. The figures paid her no attention as she drifted away.

As the chamber fell away beneath her, the murmur condensed and merged until it unified into a single panicked wail.

Eido awoke to find the scream coming from her own mouth. Misraaks crouched next to her pallet, wringing his lower hands in concern. "Be calm, young one. Be calm. You are Eido. You are in the one true now. You are safe."

He gave her a sip of Ether from his own meager reserve and waited patiently until she quieted. "Tell me of your journey," he prompted, intently.

She explained her experience, as best a hatchling could.

Misraaks nodded gravely. "The Techeuns. Advisors to our hosts. They are… like Scribes for the Awoken." He sat, thinking quietly.

"I know you are frightened. But I am confident this is a blessing," he decided. "All great things appear first as monsters."

"There may be a day," he continued, "when you are seen as a monster. And your blessing is frightening to those who cannot understand it. When that time comes, remember this moment." Eido nodded, though she didn't fully understand. How could a hatchling be a monster?

"I, too, am sometimes frightened by the Techeuns," Misraaks confided. "But we must look beyond our fear to find the Light. This is courage. Can you show courage?"

Eido nodded again.

"You can. I'm sure of it," Misraaks said proudly. "The Light provides."

"The Light provides," Eido murmured as she lay back down to a peaceful slumber.