<strong>Mary's Dream</strong><br/><br/>The dream itself seemed to flicker.  It was hard to tell how long it would last, though it didn't seem to have very long.  Perhaps simply Mary's realizing its falsehood was enough to start breaking down the barriers which had been erected.  It was impossible to say.<br/><br/>"They were supposed to just sleep," Joan explained, her voice a bit hollow.  "Coming to Earth was agonizing for them when they lost the perpetual connection to the light.  They had never known darkness before, and at first it frightened them, then intrigued, then exalted them.  We knew that coming to Earth would only do the same to us, so we found those among you who would be willing to fight, willing to stop them before the Earth was lost."<br/><br/>She said more, but it didn't make any sound, which was frustrating her.  Only the inn existed in the dream now, but even the cold was fading.  "The human mind cannot handle untempered shadow, nor the space between the void where we exist."  More words without sound.  "Balariel was awoken to the rampant chaos, fusing himself into the beast you saw, and now sleeps forever in the void.  Yet others remain."