Dreamcatcher

by Christian Rosnell

  All of a sudden, a bright flash of light and barrage of sound erupted on the now empty stage, so intense and brilliant that it blinded Sky as she doubled over in shock. It took her almost half a minute, head ringing, before she took her hands off her ears and opened her eyes, looking down in disbelief at the square below. Who, or what, could set off such as blast?

  She saw who instantly. Enormous in his heavy armor, he cast a gigantic shadow in the dim light over the shell-shocked villagers. The smoky, dark blue of his intricate plate armor, the gigantic dark steel sword slung across his broad back, and his straight-backed posture made him quite the intimidating and awe-inspiring sight amongst all the sun-tanned villagers in their light cloth garments. The slanted white “L” emblazoned on his breastplate screamed the message loud and clear; one that the villagers were nothing short of awestruck to receive. Something none of them had ever seen, nor anyone else in the long history of the Hope domain. A tale come true.

  A real, live Legend.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lyght froze in shock as he turned, looking upon a real Legend for the first time in his life. A member of the King’s Legion, that elite and secretive organization his father had lived – and unfortunately died – seeking out. Of course, as there was very little information to go around on Legends, Lyght’s own mental picture of what a real one would look like was not very accurate to the real version. The only thing he’d anticipated was the flowing deep blue cloaks Legends were famed for wearing.

  The rest of the outfit was equally, if not more, impressive. From his deep, intricate, impenetrable wall of armor to the massive dark steel behemoth slung across his back, this man (or could he even be called a man anymore?) looked equal parts awe-inspiring and terrifying. However, come to think about it, Lyght didn’t think Dreamcasters were supposed to be larger or stronger than the average human. The fact that this one stood a good three or four inches taller than Mikael, with a frame to match, suggested he was physically an anomaly in addition to being gifted with Dreamcasting power.

  In short, he had to be just as lethal as he looked.

  Lyght had been shaking hands with some villagers in the third row when the explosion of light and sound had erupted. By the time he had stood up, he’d seen the looks on his neighbors faces, and knew before he turned to look that he was about to see something incredible. He wasn’t wrong.

  However, the Legend himself, whoever he was, didn’t seem to have nearly the same amount of interest in the villagers. After a cursory glance to check that he had indeed gotten their attention (how could he not have?), he turned on his heel and began to walk with a surprisingly quiet step towards one of the alleys surrounding the square. The villagers just watched him go, speechless. As the Legend reached the mouth of the alley, he paused, half-shrouded in darkness in the dimming light, and spoke for the first time.

  “Would you two – you know who you are – follow me at this time? Come alone.”

  He had a quiet, almost bored voice that they had to strain to hear. It didn’t seem to match up very well with his imposing stature. Regardless, he stepped into the darkness and retreated a moment later, heading south through the village. A moment of the loudest silence lingered, and then broke. People everywhere broke out into urgent whispers, though the Legend was surely too far away to hear them by now.

  “Did you see that?”

  “Do you think he was even real? Could’ve been an illusion.”

  “Come on, how would you fake something like that?”

  “The size of him though...”

  Amidst the noise, Lyght looked around for Mikael. He spotted him back in the sixth row to the left, and met his eyes with the same question that he was sure Mikael was thinking too.

  Should we go?

  Lyght saw no other options. Either this was the real deal, or alternatively, some trap to draw them out. As far as Lyght knew however, Mikael and himself didn’t have any enemies. If it turned out they did, it might be good to go find out who those enemies were. If he was the real thing, Lyght just burned to find out why he wanted to talk to them. As it was, there was no doubt in Lyght’s mind who the Legend had been referring to when he said “you two”.

  Mikael nodded, and Lyght did the same back. Turning around, he picked his way past the milling crowd and towards the alleyway where the Legend had disappeared. A few noticed him going, and tried to say something, but he just waved them away saying “It’s fine… no really, it’s no problem.”

  As he broke free of the crowd, he and Mikael converged and walked over to and down the alleyway the Legend had taken, crowd still buzzing behind them. They couldn’t see where he had gone, so they just took the cobblestone main road. By the time they reached the sandy beach path, he was still nowhere to be seen. However, enormous, deep footprints were embedded in the path, heading down towards the beach. In the growing darkness, it was somewhat hard to see, but the evidence was there. They followed the path, glancing down every little while to make sure the tracks were still there. After about five minutes or so, they emerged onto the Dark sandy beachfront outside the village.

  He was there, standing tall and proud with his navy blue cape – emblazoned with the slanted Legion L – flying behind him in the wind. It was much windier out here on the beach – the weather conditions often became more extreme when The Dark was on its way. Putting a hand in his eyes to protect them from the sand kicking up in the wind, Lyght walked carefully and quietly up to the Legend. The giant of a man stood like a statue, not saying a word, apparently just watching the sea. Lyght couldn’t tell what his was thinking under than massive helm. Lyght came up on his right, Mikael on his left. Lyght took a step forward, looking up at the armored behemoth.

  “You asked for us?”

  Mikael snorted, and came around to plant himself right in the Legend’s vision. “What my too-passive friend here is trying to say is, it seems crazy that a near-mythological figure nothing short of, well, legendary would not only crash our party, but steal us away from it. Talking to us seems like kind of a mundane task for one so… vaunted. So, armored hero that you undoubtedly want us to think you are – what could possibly be so important as to talk to us now? I was enjoying my five minutes of fame, you know.” Mikael said this last part with an air of sarcasm, pretending to look upset. Lyght knew that five minutes of fame to Mikael was about the same as five minutes of his regular life. It made Lyght kind of uncomfortable that he could say the same about himself.

  Still, the Legend just stood there and said nothing. Lyght knew they needed to get this guy to talk. They needed to find out whether he was friend or foe. It seemed clear that Mikael thought he was a foe. Lyght was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, but the whole thing just seemed so extraordinary. How could he roam the land for his whole young life with his father and never find these people, and yet one suddenly appeared? It did seem very odd.

  Finally, the Legend spoke in that same quiet voice “I’m no hero. I’m just here doing my job. However, I can assure you two that the timing of this visit is no accident.”

  He reached up with both hands, grasping the heavy, intricate helm with both hands, and pulled it off. He was revealed to be a fairly young man – maybe late twenties – with deep green eyes and a flowing mane of dirty blond hair that streamed out from where he had been keeping it under his helmet.

  Tucking his helm under his right arm, he spoke again, in a solemn voice that seemed at odds with his apparently young age, “I come, obviously, on behalf of the King’s Legion to make you two an offer. The King keeps tabs on every Dreamcaster in the realm, few that there are, until they come of age at eighteen. The more promising ones, and that includes you two, get a visit from me and this offer. I hereby invite you to enroll in the Legion Academy in the capital city of Glory in the Pride domain, to train under me, the instructor, and my staff.”

  Lyght was surprised by the sudden announcement, but he supposed he shouldn’t have been. The appearance of a Legend wasn’t some
thing that tended to coincide with anything less than the extraordinary. The hulking Legend in blue continued, “This is a great honor. Not every Dreamcaster gets selected for this opportunity. This means the King envisions the possibility that you two may one day serve in the Legion in pursuit of its vital mission, and be ordained Legends in your own right. To do so, however, you have to be one of the even fewer number who complete the strenuous program and pass the final test.”

  “Wait”, Mikael put in, shaking his head. Mikael looked the Legend in the eyes, and at his height, he didn’t have to look that far, “You speak of your ‘mission’. Is that what I think it is? Because if it is, it’s something we considering doing ourselves anyway. If we can do it as official Legends, that’s the perfect situation. The Legion is charged with protecting the people against The Dark, and ultimately defeating it, right?”

  The Legend continued to look out to sea, but Lyght thought he looked somehow… startled. But pleased.

  After a few moments, the Legend spoke in his solemn voice. “That’s just the story that goes around about why we exist, and what we do.” See, the truth is, if everybody was allowed to know everything about us and what we do, then we wouldn’t be such a secret, ‘elite’ organization after all, would we? Suffice it to say that what we do is of the highest importance to the protection of the Dreamscape and its people. If you accept the offer, which I anticipate you should, and complete the program to join the Legion, then we will fill you in on the specifics of our mission.”

  All of a sudden, before they could say more, the Legend began to… fade from the space he occupied. Very quickly. As he was going out, he turned back to them to look them in the eyes for the first time, hair flying in the wind.

  “You could be the first Legends from the Hope Domain in the history of the Dreamscape. Just think about that. Think, and I’ll be back for your answer in exactly one week’s time.”

  “Choose wisely.”

  End of Part I

  Chapter Twelve

  Five days.

  How could someone mull over a problem non-stop for five straight days, and come up with absolutely nothing? It was frustrating. Exhaling in annoyance, Lyght dropped back from his sitting position and laid down in the grass. Legs dangling over the precipice of a white rock outcrop overlooking the yellow sand beaches and rushing ocean, Lyght just tried to slow down and think. It seemed like that was all he was doing recently. Thinking. It didn’t seem to be working.

  Looking up at the deep blue sky and listening to the rushing tide, Lyght simply tried to clear his mind and relax. He couldn’t remember the last time he had relaxed. Before their excursion to the new mountain range? He couldn’t tell for sure. What he could tell, however, was that the visit from the Legend five days ago had his mind burning itself to cinders. Lyght was trying to decide the critical question: Should he and Mikael follow their previous plan to track down and destroy the source of the Dark, or accept this unexpected (to say the least) invitation to join this Legion Academy?

  What if they chose to join the Legion Academy, and they failed to make the cut into the actual Legion? But, they could fail at trying to destroy the Dark too, right? Lyght hadn’t thought of the possibility of failure in this mission before, but recent events had seemed to bring out self-doubt he didn’t even know he had. He just seemed confused lately.

  What did you do when a dead dream from your past came back in full force, to set itself solidly against the dreams of your present?

  On one hand, Lyght was very tempted to take whatever small chance he had to join the Legion. It had been his father’s dream before his death; the entire point of their travels had been to find the elusive group of elite warriors. Even after the night his father had died, a little piece of that dream had always lived on in Lyght himself. Sometimes ignored, forgotten, or looked over – but never gone. Lyght had become well-practiced at telling that part of himself to stay silent. That was getting much harder now.

  He could become a real, live Legend. Just the sound of that thrilled him, yet made him feel burning guilt at the same time. Wasn’t he supposed to be focused on using his abilities for the benefit of the villagers? The Legend, if in fact he was a real one, had said that the common wisdom that the Legends fought against the Dark was untrue.

  What was their mission then? Lyght just couldn’t see what it could possibly be. Whatever it was, it had to be really important. But how did he make a decision to join them based on such a shaky premise? Lyght felt like he just needed more before he could commit to that path. That’s what logic told him, anyway. He was annoyed to realize that his consideration of joining the Legion Academy was based very little on logic.

  Sighing and sitting up, Lyght pushed himself lightly off the edge of the white cliff, plummeting the fifty or so feet towards the beach below. Subconsciously using just a touch on gravity, he slowed enough to land comfortably on the warming sand, glowing a soft gold in the morning sun. Lyght began to walk down the beach absentmindedly, thinking. Again. He guessed he had come here because the ocean view always seemed to help him reflect. It connected with him on a deep level; calmed him and helped him deal with problems and come up with solutions.

  But so far, the solutions were nowhere to be found. Lyght strolled down the sands, high tide coming up to submerse his bare feet and ankles, his hair and shirt whipping in the sea breeze. It felt good. To think that he would be leaving here one way or another the day after next shocked him still. But… where was he going? He had to know.

  As he continued his walk, Lyght picked up a smooth, curved white shell and looked at it ponderingly. Lyght remembered days walking around down on the beach on weekends (or even skipping class on weekdays) building sand castles, swimming in the ocean… and even holding shell-skipping contests. This would’ve been a perfect shell for one of those days. Testing its weight for a moment, Lyght winged it across the waves with a hand tempered by years of practice. He counted… 6 skips.

  Weak. I thought I was better than that…

  After staring out at the waves for a few moments in disgust, Lyght shook his head and turned to continue his walk along the beach, as a voice rang out behind him “Hey, Lyght? How’s it going?” Turning, he saw his mom and dad (he called them that; they were really Sky’s parents, the ones who raised him), walking towards him along the beach. They must have been out for their regular morning walk. Lyght himself had come out here well before dawn. Had he really been out here that long?

  “Fine”, Lyght said noncommittally, walking up to the pair who had housed him, cared for him and raised him the last ten years here in Kona – Henre and Janna. Sky’s mother Janna, who had spotted Lyght moments earlier, walked up with a look of slight concern in her eye. “Are you OK, Lyght? You look like you haven’t slept very well. You could come home for a while, you know.”

  “I really don’t…”, Lyght began, but he paused, sighing. “I just… sorry. I have some tough decisions to make. I was going to tell you what I decided, and about what, once I had this all figured out. It’s proving really difficult though. I just need some more time to think.”

  “Now, Lyght, come on”, Henre said, walking up and putting a hand on Lyght’s shoulder, “we both know you have a tendency to over-think things. Don’t stress about it, things like this are what we’re here to help with. What’s the issue here?”

  Lyght still paused, unsure. “You can tell us, Lyght”, Henre said, “You know that.” Lyght finally just sighed, resigned, and turned to look out to sea.

  “You’re right. Like I said, I was going to tell you after I make my decision. But look, I know better than anyone what you guys sacrificed to raise me when I had no one else. You guys and Sky are a big part of the reason I can call this village home.” Henre and Janna looked somewhat startled to hear this open sincerity from Lyght, but nodded appreciatively all the same.

  Lyght took a deep breath and continued, “I’ve already told Sky this, but Mikael and I were planning, anyway, to leave the village for an
extended period of time immediately following our coming-of-age ceremony. We were going to take on a very important mission; one that only we can work on. I can’t tell you exactly what this mission is – because it wouldn’t really make sense to you – but believe me when I tell you that it was for the good of the village, and everyone here.” Lyght paused, relieved to see they still looked mostly understanding, if a bit confused.

  Lyght went on, “However, the appearance of that Legend at the ceremony… changed things. You see, he came to invite us to return with him to the capital, where we would enroll in the Legion Academy and undergo a training program there, in hopes of being one of the small amount of Dreamcasters to successfully make it through and join the Legion.”

  Silence for a few moments.

  After exchanging a glance with Janna, Henre laughed out loud, “Wow, that’s incredible! Even I know that’s a big deal, Lyght.”

  “Yeah, I know”, Lyght replied, looking down. “Look, you both know how important the idea of joining the Legion used to be to me. You also both know how I’ve sort of… let it go in recent years. I believed I had to. I moved on to other goals; things just as, if not more, important. I was supposed to be past this.”

  Lyght kicked at the sand with his foot. “I guess I’m just disappointed in myself for even considering the offer. I shouldn’t be putting my own goals before those of the village. This wasn’t the plan. I just…”

  “Hold it, Lyght”, Henre broke in. He looked at his wife Janna, “I think I speak for us both when I say you should do what you truly want to do, regardless of what you think you should be doing. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that you truly want to join this Legion Academy, but you also feel obligated to do… whatever it was you’ve been planning.” Lyght hesitated, then nodded.