Mizar’s eyes snapped open and he cursed in irritation. It had been an hour or so and he still wasn’t able to sleep. He sat up in his dark room and fumbled for his wrist phone, which was on his bedside table for the time being.

hey. Mi 

There was no reply. Mizar, bored and still awake, paced his room for a short while, deep in thought. Why was he even trying to sleep? All he would get out of it was a rough night and more dreams of the monster, Antumbra. He had to know if there was a way to stop the dreams. He had to get a decent night’s sleep.

His wrist phone buzzed and he brought his arm up to his bleary eyes.

 Ra Hey z

 Ra Isn’t it, like, nighttime in Void right now?

when is it not nighttime in Void? Mi 

but yeah. i can’t sleep. Mi 

 Ra Bad dreams?

as usual. Mi 

 Ra It sucks, doesn’t it

 Ra I mean, do we have any idea what we’re up against yet?

Mizar sat on his bed, leaning against the wall as he continued to message Raziel. He had no answer to Raziel’s question: how were a tiny group of Zionids and Voidians supposed to deal with a universe-destroying threat that they had no idea how to counter?

not really. do you have any ideas? Mi 

 Ra Might speak to Vasa and see what he knows, he said he was doing some research on it

 Ra That’s the best course of action I can think of right now

it’s better than nothing. go for it. Mi 

 Ra Yeah, will do

 Ra Have the Officials told you anything of use yet?

well the King gave an address today basically saying that Antumbra is bullshit and we’re all going to be fine. Mi 

 Ra Damn

yeah. Mi 

Mizar gave a loud yawn. Glancing up at the light beneath his doorway, he could see that the others hadn’t yet retired. Probably still up catching up on all of their missed viewport stories.

 Ra Well we got notifications from the Officials saying that the problem was being ‘dealt with’

you know a few Officials, right? why not ask about how they’re dealing with it?   Mi 

 Ra Yeah to be fair I should probably do that

that might be a good idea. Mi 

 Ra anyway I’d better go, I have sparring this afternoon

 Ra hope you get some sleep

thanks, Raz. Mi 

see you. Mi 

The wrist phone’s screen shut off, leaving Mizar sat in the darkness once again. He sighed to himself and laid on the bed, idly waiting for sleep to come to him.

Eventually, Mizar drifted into a thankfully dreamless sleep.