Since the Express landed in Penacony, Dan Heng has had the same nightmare over and over.

It starts the same. A dark hallway with flickering lights. The air is damp, tense, and suffocating. His feet move along the black and white tiles as if he'd been there countless times.

At the end of the hall is a dark room. A single spotlight pointed in the centre. And in it, sits a halovian on a stool. She's humming a song. Something slow and eery. Like a lullaby devoid of emotion. Her back is turned to him, let he still feels as there are eyes, countless eyes staring straight through him.

His foot are cemented in place. An unsettling pit forming in his belly. Colours begin to blur the edges of his vision. She has him in the palm of her hand. An almost clinical sense of precision in her movements as she moves her hand through the air. Twisting knobs with pearlescent silk attached to them, the silk stands all appearing from different directions like a spider web. Yet her movements are reminiscent of someone tuning an instrument.

Then she stops, slowly leaning her head back. A lace blindfold shielding her gaze. "Hm?" Her voice sounds... wrong. Almost childish, almost as she isn't aware of the words leaving her lips.

"You... how did you get here?" She smiles, the scenery glitches, and eyelids open on her wings. Countless eyes, pupiless, staring him down.

Over and over. He has this same dream. A strange sense of familiarity. He didn't expect it to be real. Didn't expect you to be real. The tuner of Penacony's dream. The hidden Oak sibling.

Dan Heng finds you by chance. Entering the dream for the first time, only to find himself in that dark hallway. The Reverie nowhere to be seen. He's immediately on guard, Cloudpiercer in his hand.

Pale blue dream bubbles float past him. Each holding the treasured memories of strangers. First steps, weddings, the laughter of children, school shoes on a floor. As he gets closer to the room, they start to fade. Turning from bright blue to pale purple, the memories becoming sadder. Until they're blood red, vague screaming and sobbing echoing in his head.

And then, like every other day, it's you. Pale purple flowers blooming at your feet. Your fingers strumming the silk threads in tune with your song. Tuning them with the dove shaped knobs that float in front of you.

His feet are frozen once again.

"You..." You tilt your head back at an unnatural angle. Eyes blindfolded. But he can feel your gaze. An almost primal fear igniting in his chest.

"You're not supposed to be here." Your voice wavers, an unsettling smile pulling on your lips.

"Who... are you?" Dan Heng breathes, quickly trying to compose himself and regain control of his limbs.