Sai had to shield his eyes against the dazzling light of the rising sun when he emerged from the tunnel. The sun had just breached the scattered clouds beneath them. The morning air so high in the void mountains was thin and cold. Through the clouds, Sai could see the timeless gardens of the Eldritch One's temple over a thousand feet below. "I did it," Sai said. "I'm out. I'm free."

  He began to laugh, and Cuatete began dancing again. "Chirp!" she sang.

  The claustrophobic confines of Slaughter Canyon, the oppressive not-light of the Shadowed Vale, the overwhelming fear of the fight against Syn itself, all melted away in the light of the sun. But as blinding as the appearance of the sun had been, so too was its sudden disappearance. The clouds vanished, revealing the twilight of the stars that filled the dark sky above. Sai's heart sank. "No," he whispered.

  Dark laughter rolled across the mountains. "Did you really think you could escape me, orc?" a deep voice asked. "Do you still honestly believe that you can someday be free?"

  "No!" Sai cried. "I made it out! I'm free of you!"

  A black dragon landed with a crash on a ledge not far above them. "You will never be free of me," Syn said. "I am the Eternal Nightmare. Do you think that any of what you did was real? You yet slumber deep within my embrace, and you will do so for the rest of my immortal days."

  "Grrr…" said Cuatete. She stood close at Sai's side, baring her fangs and clawing the ground.

  Sai's eyes narrowed. "No," he said. "We have been bound too tightly for too long, beast. I can tell what is real and what is your creation. And this?" He gestured at the mountains around them and stomped the stone beneath his feet. "This is real."

  Syn laughed again, the mirthless sound echoing through the thin air. "I did not say this place was not real," said the Eternal Nightmare.

  Sai took a step back. "But…" he said. "If this is real, then I did make it out." He stepped back again. "And you followed me. You let me escape so I would lead you out."

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  The dragon flapped its wings. Its mouth did not move when the shadows spoke. "The Eldritch One's twisted mandates prevent me from acting directly to free myself," Syn said. "But if a mortal can be convinced to act in my stead, well…" The dragon smiled. "All bets are off."

  Sai brandished his spear and set his feet. "You are cut off from your shadows here," he said. "You can be stopped."

  "Oh you poor, poor orc," Syn said. From the void stepped an Avatar of Shadow, its black form nearly invisible against the midnight sky where it hovered. "Do you think this is the first time you've freed a shard of me?" Another Avatar stepped out of the darkness. "Do you think it will be the last?" And another. "You are correct that this place is real, but you have missed the point." The dragon craned its neck down towards him. "You are not real."

  Sai gasped and dropped his tepoztopilli. In the air amongst the inky Avatars appeared a vision of himself, fast asleep on the low cot in his cell within the Shadowed Citadel. The dragon spread its wings. "I'll say it again, and maybe this time you'll listen," Syn said. "You yet slumber, and I am the Eternal Nightmare. Dream is as reality to me, and a single dream from you is enough to free a single shard of me."

  "But you're a god," Sai said, his voice shaking. "That would take…"

  "Centuries," Syn finished. Another black dragon swooped down and slammed onto the ledge beside the first. "It has been centuries already and it will be centuries more." Sai fell to his knees. "But don't worry," Syn went on. "Your body won't age while you're in my tender care. And I will harvest your sanity one nightmare at a time for as long as it takes, until I am able to spread my influence across the entire face of the Eldritch One's pitiful little project and consume it and its creator at last."

  "No," Sai breathed. He shook his head. "No, you're lying."

  "Skree?" said Cuatete. She nudged him with her snout.

  "I have never lied to you, little orc," Syn said. "And I never will. Now say goodbye to your companion. She has neglected her duty as your jailkeeper long enough."

  Sai's gaze darted to Cuatete. "Cuatete?" he said. He hadn't felt the shackles shatter, but the raptor looking back at him was not his pet.

  "Grrr…" said the raptor.

  Tears stung Sai's eyes. "Cuatete," he whispered. "No."

  "She cannot hear you," Syn said. "And she will be guarding your cell still when you again awaken and forget." The Avatars began to converge around the orc. "For now it is time once again that you free yet another nightmare."

  Sai glared up at the dragons. The night seemed to be closing in, and it was getting hard to see. "You won't get away with this," he said. "Somebody will stop you."

  "Perhaps," said Syn through the engulfing darkness. "But it won't be you. And I wonder how much of you will still be left if that ever happens." A quiet chuckle danced through air. "Not that it matters. Like you always say."

  Only shadow remained.