Knowledge

“Valiant”, a friendly voice greeted the sylvari as he left the Cycle of Dust’s dining hall. He looked around and spotted another sylvari, clothed in noble, blue robes, who waved his hand at him.
“Firstborn Kahedins”, he stuttered and attempted to bow down, but the firstborn stopped him.
— “Please, Valiant, there’s no need for the formalities.” The sylvari pointed at the road they stood at. “Would you like to accompany me?”

“How was breakfast?”, the firstborn broke the silence. Surprised by the question, Corraidhín looked at Kahedins. He never expected the firstborn to ask him such a banal question. While he looked at the firstborn, he once again began to wonder. The twelve firstborn were the first sylvari to blossom from the pale tree twenty-one years ago, but Kahedins actually looked younger than himself.
“The breakfast”, Kahedins reminded him.
— “Oh, yes”, Corriadhín pushed his thoughts aside. “It was delicious. Didn’t you try it?”
“No. Someone will bring me breakfast during the next hour or so.”
— “You eat alone?”
“Unfortunately, yes. It’s the rules society has enforced on us.” The firstborn really seemed saddened about the fact. “But let’s ignore that for the moment. I heard you were looking for me?”
— “Indeed. I wanted to get your advice on certain matter that’s been troubling me.”
“I see. If you’re directly looking for me, I suppose it’s not something you want to discuss in public. Follow me.”

---

Corraidhín followed the firstborn to his residence inside the Dusk quarters. Inside, Kahedins asked him to sit down and tell him about what happened.
“Are these actual plant chairs? I’ve heard they were incredibly difficult to craft!”
— “They are. Young Og Derryth made them for me; that guy is a genius craftsman. I think he’ll one day become a very important person in plant-shaping. Don’t worry, it won’t break when you sit on it.”
After Corraidhín sat down, he explained to Kahedins what he had seen. He talked of the courtyard, of his allies and the beasts that were attacking them. While listening to the story, the firstborn’s face grew darker and darker. After Corraidhín was finished, the firstborn got up and began wandering around the room.

“You were right to come to me.”
— “So, you know what it means?”
“I cannot be sure. This is quite a dark dream, and some of the information doesn’t seem to make sense.”
— “You mean like how I couldn’t move at the end?”
“No, that’s simple. You cannot run from nightmare. Nobody can. There’s something else that’s bothering me, something odd about that dream, but I’m not quite sure what it is. Let me tell you what I think.”

“You were born from the Pale Tree only three weeks ago. This means that your connection to the Dream of Dreams is still very strong.”
— “That’s why I thought I’d come to you.”
“Indeed. Sometimes, the Dream shows us visions. It shows us the echoes of events that happened to other sylvari, and it shows us the future.”
— “The future? But how’s that possible?”
“It is, I don’t know how. But these are merely predictions – possible futures, that may or may not come true. Some of us take these predictions as a challenge. They believe the dreams show them their Wyld Hunt, their purpose in this world. Others run from the challenge, and others try to shut themselves off from the Dream. But I don’t think the dream is trying to show you a certain event in your future. Everything is way too blurry, too vague. I believe your dream is showing you symbols.”
— “Symbols?”
“Yes. Let’s analyse your dream. You said you were on a courtyard, together with many allies. How did they look?”
— “They all had different sizes. Many were about the same height as me, but some were twice my height and furred from head to toe, and some only half.”
“They represent the different races of Tyria. The ones of your height were humans or other sylvari. The smaller ones asura, perhaps even skritt. The bigger ones were either charr or norn. Something in your future is linking all of these races together. Now, your enemies.”
— “I couldn’t see them clearly.”
“Yes, but perhaps you can tell me their shape. Were they big and furry, like your allies?”
— “No.”
“Hm”, the firstborn pondered. “Perhaps they had long teeth, were about your height, and walked crouched?”
— “No, I don’t think they had particularly long teeth.”
“I see, so they were neither Dredge nor Flame Legion. With these ruled out, I think only minions of an Elder Dragon could appear in such numbers. This also supports the dragon.” Suddenly Kahedins stopped as if some big revelation just hit him.
“Of course!”, he proclaimed, now ecstatic. “Corraidhín, you have a sister, don’t you?”
— “Yes, I have. But how is Caoimhe related to this?”
“We sylvari call each other siblings because we were all born from Mother Tree, but really we’re not that related to each other. You, however, are different. You’re a twin, the two of you were born from the same pod. You might have been told this before, but this is an extremely rare occurrence! Because you were born from the same pod, you two share a special bond, much stronger than the bonds between any two other sylvari. Maybe, just maybe, you saw similar things in the Dream. Go and find your sister, right now. Perhaps her version of the dream showed something yours didn’t.”

Corraidhín immediately got up. “Alright, I’ll search for her. Please excuse me!” He turned around and wanted to leave, but Kahedins stopped him.
“One more thing, Corraidhín”, he said, and suddenly his voice was serious again. “Stay away from the Nightmare Court.”
— “What do you mean?”
“It might be better if you don’t know. Now go. And make sure to maintain your distance from the Nightmare”, the firstborn said as he sent the sylvari away and closed the door behind him.
“Or else they’ll rip you apart.”