Chapter 42

Trinity

I dreamed that I was flying over an endless red desert. I was afraid, and my heart was hammering, but I was also struck by the beauty of the landscape. The air was warm. The sky was filled with blood-red light, and dark wings carried me across it towards a towering dark castle that looked something out of a fantasy movie.

Then, I was falling into darkness. I saw the swirl of a skirt trimmed in red-gold. I tasted something coppery in my mouth. My stomach lurched. Then, I fell hard onto a cold stone floor, and pain shot through me. I heard someone screaming for help and mercy. Someone’s eyes stared at me as tears rolled down their face, and the expression went vacant.

I realized, with horror, that the person was dead.

Then, the person vanished. Beautifully decorated walls and a shadow-covered portrait rose up around me. I smelled perfume. Something, some animal, growled at me, and I was shoved back. I felt my clothes being ripped from my body. I heard myself screaming. Pain s