The Third Red Thread

Sophia ran forward immediately without hesitation. She knew that the red threads would be there. She was right, but this time, there were three. Sophia did not stop to think about it. She just picked them up and followed along through the shining portal.

The first thing that Sophia saw was a blanket and pillows. Something stirred them. Blonde curly hair appeared from them, slowly getting closer. A face followed after the hair, or rather what should be a face. Instead, most of it was distorted beyond recognition. Only the deep blue eyes and the lips were visible. Sophia recognized her immediately from the previous dreams. The woman with the blonde lock and the deep blue eyes. Just as before, her warm gaze sent a cold shiver down Sophia's spine. Her lips began to form a smile.

“Good morning, Kieran,” she said softly and with a non-distorted voice.

Her voice sounded somewhat familiar to Sophia, but she could not remember why.

“Good morning, Nora,” Kieran replied and leaned forward.

They kissed briefly.

“Did you sleep well?” Nora asked.

“Like a log,” Kieran responded. “Must be because a certain someone tired me out last night so relentlessly…”

“Oh, Stop!”

Nora pushed him playfully back down on the pillows. Kieran pulled her after him. Squeaking she landed on top of his chest. Nora began to trace over his inscriptions and the mark on his chest.

“Say Kieran… last night… you told me that you love me…” Nora whispered softly. “Is that really true?”

The shiver down Sophia’s spine intensified.

“Nooo!” she screamed in her mind, but nobody heard her.

“Of course it is. I love you. You gave me hope, where there was none left. You got me out of the cell and gave me my life back. You are my everything, no something more… I would give anything for you, that’s how much I love you and always will, Nora.”

“That makes me so happy to hear, Kieran,” Nora replied, smiling.

The back of Nora’s hand suddenly lit up. Sophia felt pain coursing through her body.

“What’s happening to you?” Kieran asked slightly alarmed and grabbed Nora’s hand.

On the back of it a symbol appeared. It was the same as was on Kieran’s chest.

“What is that? It’s the same as mine…” he wondered.

“It’s a symbol of our bond,” Nora explained.

Kieran leaned forward and kissed her again. Then they dove under the blanket. Sophia was glad that her vision faded to black.

In the next scene, Sophia was sitting across from Nora. They were eating stew. Kieran was picking with the spoon in his bowl.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like my stew?” Nora asked.

“No, I love it! It’s just… I don’t like mushrooms,” Kieran replied hesitantly.

“Oh, okay. I’ll try to remember not to put any in next time.”

The scene changed again and Sophia found herself inside the entrance hall from last time, where Kieran had slain all the hooded figures. There was no trace of them left on the big marble stairs.

“Kieran! Terrible news!” Nora yelled and came running from a door.

“What is it? What’s happened?” Kieran asked alarmed.

“There is someone after us! You have to stop him!”

“What? Who?”

“A Mage!”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Kill him. Do it for us!”

Sophia’s vision went to black and the next thing she saw was the face of a panicked man under her. He opened and closed his mouth trying to say something, but he could not. His larynx was slashed and with it the whole throat. Sophia watched the man bleed out before her vision faded.

She was back in bed with Nora.

“You did as I asked. That makes me very happy. Now it’s time for your reward,” she whispered softly and leaned forward.

They started to kiss and pretty soon something more. Sophia had to witness them until they fell exhausted on the pillows. Then her vision turned black.

The next scene was stew again. Sophia noticed that there were still mushrooms in it.

“There is another one you have to kill, Kieran,” Nora said from across the table. “For us!”

Another dying person under Sophia. This time it was a woman. Then it went straight back to bed with Nora. This cycle of repetitive scenes happened a few times. There was always someone else dying under Sophia and there always were mushrooms in the stew. She also noticed that the mark on Nora’s hand glowed steadily more often.

Then after countless iterations of similar scenes a new one appeared. Kieran was walking up the marble stairs. Then through some corridor and a big oaken door. The room behind it was some sort of study. There were a big desk and countless pieces of paper lay on top of it. Kieran went closer to have a look. They were descriptions and portraits of people. Sophia recognized some of them. She had seen them in the legends and stories about the Mage Murderer. Kieran looked up and saw Nora standing at the door.

“Who are they?” he asked.

“Bad people,” Nora answered. “You have to kill them.”

“Why?”

“Do it for me.”

The mark on her hand began to glow. Sophia’s vision faded to black.

She then began seeing the faces of the people in the portraits under her. One by one. One after another. All of them dying of slashes from Kieran’s bloody sword. The last one was a woman, probably in her thirties of forties. Her body spasmed as she bled out from multiple wounds to her chest and throat. Kieran suddenly looked up and saw the door to the room he was in open. In came Nora, followed by six people in robes that Sophia did not recognize.