Drea Nightmares again. It had been so long since I'd had any like this -- this vivid, this real -- that I clearly had fallen into a sort of naive sense of comfort? Relief? that by saying "no" they'd be gone for good. Sure, the vague, blurry memories of Lu and Solstice and countless others happen every now and then, but not like this. Nightmares with this sort of clarity and detail are on level with Alandras and I thought I was (mercifully undeservedly) done with that shite.
Then again: Barovia. If they were going to come back, it would be here, wouldn't it? Fitting, to say the least.
It isn't worth questioning how or why I'm here -- I'm sure I did something to deserve it -- but the others? Bodaway undoubtedly has a story, Ayduin probably has a lot more to him than he lets on, Sylvain possibly something to prove, and Ri-An. Fuck, Ri-An shouldn't be here. I'm grateful they are, but, of any of us, they deserve better, I think.
I knew, before this most recent nightmare, that I'd already gotten in too deep -- I'm not leaving until something has been done in this shitehole. I'm continuously swearing at myself for it, but I also know myself well enough to recognize the resolve that set in as soon as we met Ireena. I've never been great at standing idly by when someone needs help.
Thanks for that lesson, Alandras.
This new entity, though, -- Sykane -- is different. No getting around that. But that doesn't make them any more trustworthy, does it? Especially considering the timing. Again: Barovia. Regardless, they want me to protect people? Fine. I was already committed to that before the nightmare, so if going along with it coincides with what I was already doing (and they might help me to better do so), so be it.