<i>“Oh yes. These creatures enjoy the act as much as the end result. Through sex, they’d be able to drain your magic, and receive their own carnal pleasure from it.”</i>Vergil’s words caused dark images to spring into her mind with disturbing clarity.<br/><br/><i>The girl writhed helplessly on the ritual table, torchlight dancing over her slippery skin. “A sacrifice, betrayed.” A tendril of solid shadow, thick and pulsing, slowly twisted between her splayed legs, sheathing itself deep inside of her in one smooth thrust and forcing a sharp cry from her lips. She could only moan helplessly as the tentacle began to ravage her in earnest, parting her slick folds again and again, faster each time. She gripped the sides of the table desperately, its thrusts growing fierce enough to lift her hips off the cold stone and into the air. If this kept up...</i><br/><br/>Luna shuddered abruptly, hugging her hands to her chest.<i>What the hell was that?</i>she thought, fighting back a rising tide of panic.<i>Why did it seem so... real?</i>Maybe Vergil was right, and knowledge of her “past” ran through her blood after all. Did that mean that had been her...? Or had it been something she had seen? She felt like she knew the girl from somewhere... but where?<br/><br/>She shook her head fiercely. Better to try to think of something less... dark. What was it Vergil had suggested again? Battles? Nightmares? “Okay,” she said, her voice a bit shaky. She decided not to mention what she’d just seen. “Let me... let me think.” Warily, she closed her eyes, but no there was no trace of the horrific scene in the darkness.<br/><br/>Now that she thought about it, Vergil wasn’t wrong. She often dreamt of strange battles and shadows lingering just out of her reach, but she’d always attributed it to the kind of stories she liked to read. Magic, kings, and armies, dragons and devils. Was it really because she was one of these ‘Guardians’ reborn? It all seemed too surreal to even... be. Had she been able to shrug off her memories until now because she had cast them aside as fantasies?<br/><br/>For a second, she seemed to slip into a kind of trance. She did have at least one recurring dream, where she stood alone, a sole beacon of light against a vast shadow in the distance. She tried to recall how she felt in those dreams - powerful, resolute, but with a touch of fear. How did that lone girl in robes find the strength to fight?<br/><br/>To Vergil, a faint aura of light would be visible around Luna’s form as she thought.<br/><br/>Finally, she opened her eyes, although the aura did not disappear. “Maybe you’re right,” she admitted. “I do have dreams like that sometimes. Standing alone, sometimes with others, always against the same distant shadow. I don’t really know what it means, though. I’d always thought it was because I read too much before bed.” She didn’t seem to notice the soft glow around her.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>