Sajida sighed and yawned as she rose from her slumber. That had actually been a decent (or at least, sufficient for a mortal) level of sleep that she'd gotten. She was going to miss that well-rested feeling when the curse fully took hold in...how long would it be? A year? A decade? A century? Even still, she knew some tiny part of her that didn't realize she didn't have this need anymore would demand- was demanding- that she close her eyes, but she would not be able to. And she couldn't use that level of alertness that came with her vampire curse to hunt anything bigger or more sentient than deer. Bummer.
The oddest part, however, as she explained to Sita when she shook Sita to full activity, was that she had
dreamed. That hadn't happened since the night she was turned seven years ago. Or at least, it seemed like a dream. There was no other way of explaining what happened when she dozed.
She'd been sitting on Nefaris itself, on the gaping maw of the crater left behind by the demons, that 12,000 year old scar, and looking upon the entire planet of Emada.
The world was so much smaller from up here, yet so much more imposing. A
true marvel as the twin suns danced around it. Perhaps even fascinating to her was the way that cities, those strange things made by so many ants from miles below,
illuminated the dark side of the planet. Behind her as she leaned (carefully) around the moon,
multitudes of asteroids, planets and stars, some discovered by science and some still cloaked in darkness. And to her left was...Shandara, the goddess who had supposedly saved her life as an infant.
"My Champion," Shandara said and kissed Sajida on the left cheek.
"What? I'm nobody's Champion. I'm just some dumbass fisherman's daughter from Bamba who had to be turned by a vampire."
"Then you do not know of the Grand Bargain? Shame. I don't have time to explain to you now. It took me a long time to break through the 'vampire,' as you call it, side of your mind."
"Yeah, that's the thing. I don't know who the fuck you are."
"You don't, nor could I give you a name from deep within your mind. But listen to me. This is important. Sleep
every night from now on."
"But I can't. I'm a vampire."
"You are so much more than that, my dear. You can control that side of you if you will it. And your destiny demands that you do!"
"What destiny?"
"I know you have so many questions, Sajida Dhawan of Bamba. If you sleep more regularly, then I can show you better than I can tell you. Look upon this beautiful little world you call your home."
Sajida did as the strange dream lady from the moon told her to, and gazed upon
angry clusters of fire that spread smoke across the world. "That is the war," Shandara (?) explained.
"The Final War? As in, the big bad Empire versus the equally suck-ass Confederation? We're seeing it in real time?" Sajida wondered. Such a conflict, and all the people dying to it, looked so small from here.
"Yes. But this small flame on dry grass that you call war is not truly final, not compared to what may happen if you do not leave this mountain and one day restore the Ballad."
"What Ballad? Can you stop talking in riddles?" Sajida demanded. She then felt an urge to bite Shandara, but her mouth phased through the ethereal neck.
"Remember who you
really are: Sajida Dhawan, fisherman's daughter, snatched from Death itself. And my Champion. And you alone have the power to choose which world we become." Then the planet itself split apart with a wave of Shandara's hand and formed into three separate Worlds.
The First World appeared on her left.
The Second World on her right.
Then, finally, the Third World in the middle. Sajida liked the look of this one the best, as it most resembled the home she'd grown up in. Maybe even a little greener, more verdant.
And then, suddenly,
a commotion appeared from behind her and had woken her up.