I move to the window as waves crash against the castle walls. Raindrops gather in puddles along the shore, running into the sea to flee the poisoned soil.

A lone sea bird fights salty gusts of wind, flapping its wings in quiet desperation. I sigh and watch the bird drift closer. Raindrops pelt the castle turrets as it perches on the cracked mortar outside the window.

“Take me in your hands,” the bird says. “I have traveled from beyond the light of the living.”

The voice is powerful, comforting. “Father?”

“It is I,” he responds.

I cup the bird in my hands. “Your voice deceives me! I don’t believe!”

“Then let the truth surround you.”

A fire ignites on the castle floor and the bird vanishes from my hands. The Sihde King appears as a fiery apparition, raising his arms into the air as flames as bright as the sun light up the castle chamber. I lift my hands to cover my eyes from a light so intense it scorches stone walls.

“I thought I was forgotten,” I say, dropping to my knees in tears.