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you to thank for having to live with this in the back of my mind? Thank you!"

Saffron didn't see any point in engaging positively with this newest illusion. It was exhausting mentally and emotionally, first and foremost. But, also, if it was the case that this was the person that cursed their lineage, why should she be even remotely happy to see him in the Grey? No, she wasn't going to play the role of the excitable girl, eagerly awaiting information as to how to further herself within this curse. Under no set of circumstances would she do that.

"Yes, it was I, at an age that you would get if you subtracted your current age my current state," The man known as Dilip started to explain to her. "And I am here, as it has turned out that you're ready to proceed in your next stage in the Grey, to venture further into it, to consequently, carry the Grey outside with you,"

"What does that even mean?" Saffron groaned, rolling her eyes in frustration. If they wanted to her to engage in this Grey nonsense, they might as well have explained to her very clearly, in a step-by-step manner, what all of it meant. But it seemed as though the Grey and the versions of people within it were incapable of doing so.

Dilip sighed and took a step forwards, as Prina started to fade into the background of the Grey, slowly but surely fading away. He began to provide Saffron with an explanation, of sort.

"When I was alive, I lived my life normally, no Grey, nothing abnormal barring the fact that I was magic. The only issue started when my then wife Jiya and I eloped, she was of a higher caste you see. Hence, she was disowned by her family but their punishment didn't stop there. Her father unleashed a truly ancient form of magic on me and my bloodline that followed. The aim was to force us into an eternal purgatory. But it didn't work, not exactly,"

"You see, his curse would have been successful if not for protection placed upon my family and me upon being born. It was similarly ancient, though not unusual at India at the time. It combatted the curse better than the man who put it on me could have ever expected. It made the Grey a curse, yes, but a manageable. It meant that I wouldn't be put here for eternity, but that my ancestors would have to live with it whilst they were alive,"

"But what he didn't expect was for the Grey to have external value. It adapted through the subsequent centuries, shifting and changing with every active Grey and their death. Now, we have three active Greys, with one on the brink of it, after your mother passed away. But you are the first one to get here,"

"You are the first one to remember that something supposedly lay within you. Neither of your sisters ever woke up from their encountering the Grey with such detail. But once they do, as you have, they will meet me. They will garner what their Grey has made for them. Or, rather, they can attempt to garner what their Grey has in store for them, just as you will,"

"And what's that?" questioned Saffron plainly, her eyebrow was furrowed in curiosity. Even though she sounded bored, it did not correlate to how she actually felt.

"I'll get there," Dilip lifted up his hand to halt her from questioning any further. "Effectively, the Grey gives each person who passes through it something when they get to a point at which they are able to maintain it. The hitch, however, is that they do not get it in the Grey, but rather in the outside world. This is in order to ensure that you can handle it, and not buckle under the pressure that it may put on them internally,"

"Is it some object?" asked Saffron.

The man shook his head. "No, nothing physical. Like everything with the Grey, it lies within you. The strength of what you will acquire is dependant on how quickly you were ready to attain it,"

"So mine will be stronger than Mayas?" Saffron essentially quizzed him, with a sudden desire for information seeing as she was finally getting a concrete story on what the Grey was and what it was going to mean for her.

"Most likely, yes," Dilip informed her. "But that is irrelevant, each person will get what was destined for them. It will be a perfect match,"

"But how am I supposed to know where to find it?" Saffron asked again. "Is there some sign? Should I look for it? Or is it like the Grey with something terrible happening to me?"

Dilip shrugged his shoulders. "If I told you, you could look for as much as you desired, but you would never find it. It must happen on your own accord, and to be certain that it does, you're not going to remember this part of your experience in the Grey,"

"What?" retorted Saffron loudly, in agitation. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your memory is going to be wiped," answered Dilip matter-of-factly, sparing Saffron no sign of sympathy. "To ensure that you find it, and when you do, you'll remember again and will a physical aspect of the Grey to carry with you where ever you may go," He paused and rubbed his forehead, looking like he was feeling a twinge of pain. He gave Saffron a curious look. "It seems to me that someone is hoping for you to work up,"

Then Saffron heard it. A very familiar voice, quivering and cold, full of worry and pure anger:

"Saffron,"

She gasped.

"Rowan?"