Years after the last visions caused by the nightmare spirits of the Jade Icon had faded, the realm once again experienced strange stirrings from the Dream Realm. The city teachers, working long hours with restless sleep, were the first to show signs of suffering from the strange, fitful dreams. As days passed, many more noticed sudden unbearable fatigue and subsequent unusual and strongly vivid dreams. Hakhim and others even became irritable and ill-tempered, sometimes wandering despondently. And then quite suddenly, all dreams ceased save for those twisted by some unknown disturbance.

While Hashanites called on Sharbrena, the Cleric of Darkness to summon the cleric who assisted in containing the nightmare spirits when they first appeared, Epicurus in Ashtan expressed his wish to find a sleeping potion to assist him in getting a good night's rest. Aeilan went forth to find Thaa'lis, the tsol'aa druid, and was able to bring him the needed ingredients for the potion, which he mixed for Epicurus, adding a caution regarding its potency. When Aeilan returned to Epicurus with the potion, he drank the dose, and fell into deep, impenetrable slumber, where it seemed he was assaulted constantly by horrific nightmares. Citizens looked on with grave concern, as it seemed Epicurus might never awaken from his unnatural sleep.

Arriving from the mountains at last, Ximili brought the Obeah cleric Emese to see Epicurus. Entering a trance to glimpse his dreams, Emese was astonished to perceive the nightmare spirit Erinyes, thought to have been contained in the Jade Icon. As became clear, the other three spirits had created distractions during their final hours of freedom to allow Erinyes to quietly escape. The repair of the icon while she was outside severed her bond to it and allowed her freedom. And now the Jade Icon had disappeared from the safe keeping of the Obeah Eccstasia cult.

Then, to the shock of all assembled, Epicurus vanished, and was nowhere to be found. At last the final parts of Erinyes' plan were revealed. Feeding off of mortal dreams, Erinyes had first caused nightmare disturbances in the flow of dreams, and then gained enough power to consume them completely, thus causing the dreamless sleep many had experienced. But Erinyes' power was for naught without a tangible manifestation, for she herself was only an intangible spirit with extremely limited physical powers over the Icon. Through feeding off of mortal dreams, she was able to harbor the near-Godlike power necessary to destroy the creation of a God, the Jade Icon. But she needed a mortal to infuse with the power to physically break the Icon, and had succeeded in kidnapping Epicurus for her purposes.

Unfortunately, Epicurus, still under the effects of the potion, was of little use to Erinyes, and she approached Gelphend, convincing him to break the icon, using her accumulated power. She guided him to the desert, where, infused with Erinyes' power, he destroyed the Jade Icon, releasing the remaining three nightmare spirits onto the mortal plane.

Havoc ensued as the spirits invaded the dreams of the mortal realm, causing nightmares during sleep as well as waking, and driving many to be consumed with madness as the visions gripped them. And then, as suddenly as the nightmares had begun, they ceased, and an eerie calm settled over the realm, as Valnurana, ancient Goddess of Sleep and Dreams re-emerged from Her long slumber into the mortal plane, having been disturbed by the disruption in the flow of dreams caused by the nightmare spirits' mischief. Calling the spirits home to Her side, Valnurana heralded the new age of Dreams, and the end of turmoil Her children had caused.

Penned by my hand on the 5th of Sarapin, in the year 275 AF.