Chapter 154. Nightmare of the Past

Xerina’s POV

The dream was a nightmare of heat, smoke, and chaos.

I was standing in a field, the sky above me a sheet of black and red, angry and churning. Flames licked the edges of the world, spreading faster than I could comprehend. Buildings crumbled into ash, people screamed—voices I didn’t recognize but felt like I should. The ground shook beneath my feet, splitting open to swallow everything around me.

I ran, but there was nowhere to go.

Faces flashed before me—blurry, indistinct, but familiar. A woman’s cry echoed in the distance, sharp and piercing, and then I saw him. The man with pale blue eyes. His face twisted in anguish as he reached for me, but I couldn’t move. My legs felt like lead, and my lungs burned with every breath.

“Xerina!” he shouted, but his voice was swallowed by the roar of the flames.

And then everything exploded into a wall of fire, so hot and bright that it blinded me. I screamed, the world collapsing around m