Dreamcatcher

by Christian Rosnell

  “So”, yelled out the sergeant, “Recognize and honor your class leaders of the Legion Academy; Iridia, Seth, Mikael, and Lyght.”

  Lyght’s head snapped up in disbelief as applause went off all around him. He looked around in shock for a second before he saw Mikael pumping his fist. He looked at Lyght, ecstatic, “Hell yeah! We made it! I told you, didn’t I?” He put his fist out, and Lyght met it smiling, still in disbelief as the sergeant up on stage called out.

  “Alright, group leaders on stage please.”

  The four triumphant leaders headed up the aisle, receiving genuine congratulations as they went, and circled around to go up the stairs onto the stage. Lyn was standing there as the sergeant motioned to a few men standing over by the wall, who brought over four bundles and handed one to the towering Legend. Lyn unfurled it – a real, dark blue Legion cape, complete with a uniform. A girl’s one.

  “Iridia!”, the sergeant called out, and she stepped forward to receive her uniform and bow her head as Lyn tied the cape around her shoulders. Lyght could see that she was trying to look dignified, but couldn’t help smiling a bit. Seth was up next, and for once Lyn didn’t look quite like the giant he was. He was still bigger than Seth, but not by a huge amount. Next Mikael was called up, and Lyght turned to looked at Seth as he walked over to stand next to Lyght, looking largely indifferent. Lyght frowned; shouldn’t he look happier?

  “Lyght!”

  Lyght snapped his head around as his name was called and walked over – a bit too fast – to receive his cape and uniform. As Lyn tied the Legion cape around his shoulders, Lyght couldn’t suppress a smile. Adrenaline rushing powerfully, he spun in the flowing cape and walked over to stand in a row with the other leaders. He closed his eyes, head down for a moment. Overcome with emotion, Lyght took a moment to compose himself. It didn’t completely work.

  The sergeant spoke up, “Congratulations, the four of you. We expect great things from you in the future. Know that you will be judged by the success of the group you lead. You now have a great responsibility; fulfill it honorably. I expect that you will.”

  The sergeant turned and walked off stage, the other sergeants following him. Lyn descended the steps, and the sergeants followed him towards the door. As they filed out, the sergeant who had been speaking turned and looked up at the assembled eighteen-year-olds and their leaders, suddenly alone on stage.

  “Oh, and now you’ll have to work your way out of here, back to your quarters. This is the base where we will meet, and you will be training in and around Zone Zero. I expect you here at 8 AM every morning. No excuses. You’ll get used to the difficulties of moving through Zone Zero, but for now… Well, you’ll have to rely on your leaders to get you out timely… and safely.”

  With that he turned and left, door banging shut behind him. The students were left alone. There was silence for a few moments, and then Lyght glanced at Mikael, who nodded. Feeling very surreal, Lyght jumped off the front of the stage, cape flying, and landed in amongst his fellow students. His people, now. This was what he had been waiting for, right? Now that he had it, he still felt in sense of disbelief.

  Mikael, Iri, and Seth all jumped down beside him. The four of them formed a circle for a moment, a bit uncertain what to do. Lyght extended his fist towards the center, eyebrows raised. Mikael met it immediately; then Iri followed a second later, and finally, after some hesitation, Seth. Lyght smiled as he looked into their eyes, and instantly felt a connection. His heart beat faster.

  “Let’s do this, guys.”

  End of Part II

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sky had never seen anything like it.

  She stood atop the swaying crow’s nest of the Joy, high wind flying through her hair. Reaching up, she tightened her signature sky blue bandana so it wouldn’t fly off. A storm was coming from the west, and it looked like a nasty one. It was midday, yet the western horizon was black and ominous – Sky could see flashes of lightning already. But she wasn’t looking at that, not at the moment. They were about to make landfall anyway.

  No, she was looking upon the mysterious island that had danced at the fringes of legend and fact for centuries now. Sky had never met anyone, including all the traders and professional sailors who came to Kona, who had been here. As far as she knew, the place wasn’t off-limits. No, it just seemed like no one had been here, but for no particular reason. That was odd, for as she looked on it now, it didn’t seem that special; though it was huge. It looked as large as the mainland, though of course she knew it wasn’t.

  The ninth domain, of neither Northern nor Southern affiliation; the island of Apathy.

  To tell the truth, Sky didn’t really know what she wanted to find here. She was, of course, on her recently self-ordained mission of finding the source of the Dark and destroying it. Her friends who sailed the “pirate” ship – for lack of a better word – Joy were more than content to sail around in pursuit of adventure and excitement. Sky believed she could promise them that. Or she hoped.

  She heard her friend Max call out below, “Anchors! Quickly, now, there’s supposed to be reefs in this area!” And so the crew of a couple dozen or so misfits from all around the Hope domain sprang into action, anchoring the ship a few hundred yards out from the rocky beach shoreline of Apathy. Just inland of the pebble beaches was a veritable wall of jungle vegetation. Sky couldn’t see what was on the other side. Whatever it was, she hoped it would help them.

  Because truth be told, this visit wasn’t completely pointless. Sky was following up on a lead she had, slight as it was, from Jon, the captain of the Joy. Jon had said that he a friend (although Sky couldn’t see what “friend” would know about this) who had heard of a location on the island with an “interesting” view of The Dark, apparently. Sky was definitely intrigued, but she couldn’t understand what Jon meant by a “view” of The Dark. Different angles or perspectives just made The Dark look the same; a shifting, mysterious, impenetrable mass of black and nothingness. This was one of the things that frustrated Sky so much about it. Wasn’t there some explanation for it?

  Regardless, the location Jon had shown her on the map was a few miles inland on the island of Apathy. Sky and Jon assumed that the spot had to be one of the former “pirate reserves” from before the King had “brought to justice” nearly all the pirates; a location where the criminal underground of the Dreamscape hid stolen goods or other contraband. It was lucky Jon’s friend had given him that map, because otherwise, Sky thought the spot might be pretty hard to find.

  As it was, most successful pirate groups anymore were so secretive and careful that the King had no idea they existed. They had to be, after the King’s brutal extermination of all criminal organizations about a hundred years ago. Only the most subtle and cautious of pirate groups could survive. But of course, Sky had heard of an organization called the “Dream Syndicate” that had recently been created within the past few years and was apparently were influential in the north. Most people didn’t know about them in the South, apparently, but her friends had connections.

  Here in the south and central Dreamscape, however, pirates had to discreetly hide their contraband on Apathy. Some pirates even docked their ships on the east coast of Apathy. The odd thing was, the King never sent personnel to check Apathy. There were certainly no legal populations on the islands. And so it had come to be known as the “Domain of Thieves”.

  As the crew docked the vessel, a few mates went below to release the rowboats. Even though they were all friends here, Sky was technically in charge (although she let Jon, the captain, organize and officially run the crew). The mission had been her idea in the first place; she’d originally intended to simply pay a couple friends to take her here, but once she’d spoken to Max that night in Kona, they’d been in consistent contact to the point that when Sky had decided on her course, they wanted to come with her. Sky had originally chalked this up as just their want for adventure, but now she wasn’t so sure. Maybe they truly did want to
destroy the Dark. Of course, they hadn’t known what it was, but when she’d explained it to them, they all (rightly, in her opinion) became very concerned. They just perfect in that regard – they were skeptical enough of authority figures that they could actually believe there was a supernatural force loose in the land that had a profound impact on their lives without any of them knowing it. And now, naturally, they wanted to find out more about it.

  Sky herself was more concerned with what they were doing here. Yes, it had been her plan to follow up on Jon’s lead and come to Apathy, but she was beginning to second-guess herself. That was frustrating, because she felt she’d always been a self-assured person. However, she just couldn’t stop herself from thinking, and worrying.

  What if this “lead” really turns out to be nothing? In fact, it probably will. Why I am leading a group of reckless kids, like me, into a real criminal area; one that we really know nothing about? I know you’re reckless, Sky, but really, what are you getting out of this? Why? What are you thinking? Just stop. Back out now.

  Sky was still battling with herself when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Max. She frowned; she hadn’t heard him come up. Was she zoning out that much? She had to focus now. This was her mission; she was leading. She closed her eyes, clinching her fists. That scared her a little. How did she end up in charge?

  Max smiled, “Ready? Are you as excited to see this as I am?”

  Sky looked down for a second, trying to explain how she felt. She had to explain it, right…?

  No.

  Sky looked up, smiling, “Are you ready for this? This is your guys’ moment to become a real pirate crew. Apathy is the heart of the underground. I hope you’re prepared.”

  Max laughed, and turned towards the rope ladder to descend back down to the deck and continue organizing the landing, “It’s not just ‘our moment’, it’s yours too. You’re one of us. And look”, he turned over his shoulder, looking his longtime friend in the eyes, “Don’t stress yourself out. I can tell when you’re worrying about something. You lose a little of that self-confidence that is so you the rest of the time. Relax. We’ll find something worthwhile here, I just know it. And if not, well, I’ve always wanted to come here anyways. So has the rest of the crew. So don’t worry about it.” He winked in his characteristic laid-back fashion and jumped over the side of the crow’s nest, grabbing the rope ladder and rapidly descending with practiced skill.

  Sky just stood there for a moment. She let her breath out, and made a conscious decision to relax. She had to laugh at herself a little bit. No, she couldn’t start to question herself now. Her position wouldn’t allow it. It didn’t matter what was waiting on that island; dangerous criminals, the King’s enforcers, traps, danger, whatever.

  Sky knew she couldn’t back down in the face of uncertainty. Her brother had taught her that. She sighed, kind of wishing she could talk to him now, but jumped and descended the rope ladder all the same. Boarding a rowboat with some of her other crewmates – half of them were staying aboard the ship to ensure it didn’t get taken or found – Sky made a conscious effort to stay focused and engaged. As they rowed over through the deep blue waters south of Apathy, Sky consulted the map again with Jon, setting their course. As they neared the shore, Sky set her eyes on the path ahead, focused now.

  Let’s do this.

  Sky hopped out of the rowboat behind Max and Jon as they crunched up onto the pebbly beach, pulling their boats well up onto the stones. The shoreline was treacherous and slippery under their feet as the crew made their way toward the treeline. Sky paused and turned with her back to the jungle to address her crewmates and friends before they went in.

  “So, I know that there’s honestly not much of a lead we’re going on here. And really, I don’t even know what these rumors Jon’s friend has heard even mean. But we won’t know until we go to find out. However, I know the danger we’re taking on here. Let’s be honest, you guys aren’t a real pirate crew. Not yet. In fact, I hope you never will be. Adventure is so much more important to you guys than plunder. But if we do run into some real pirates or thieves at this spot, it could turn very bad, very quick. I’m willing to take that risk because I have something I’ve set out to do. You guys though… you don’t. You’re just with me for the adventure and the money. So I just thought I’d tell you, you really don’t have to…

  Max cut her off, of course, “Enough of that. We’re here because we’re your friends, not for the money. We all want to do great things too, just like you do. We’re in this together, like it or not.”

  Despite herself, Sky felt herself smiling slightly as she turned to face the jungle. “All right then, full speed ahead, I guess. Jon, the map”, she put her hand out behind her, and Jon handed her the faded old criminal map of Apathy. Map in her left hand, she drew the machete sheathed at her waist with her right, and without further ado began to head through the thick, hot jungle, painstakingly hacking away at the suffocating vines and vegetation that blocked their path as the crew continued along behind her, doing the same.

  The jungle was hot and the air was heavy with humidity as the oncoming storm approached. In the dim twilight beneath the dense trees, it would have been very hard to see without the dusty lanterns that the crew had brought. Night was approaching – a Dark night, as Sky had intended. Luckily for them, they were not far from the spot at all, and Dark was rapidly approaching as they panted and cut their way through the jungle for over an hour. Sky figured these hiding spots had to be relatively close to the coastline so that criminals could come in, offload their contraband in a secret location only they knew, and then head out. Sky was glad they didn’t have to go very far on Apathy or spend the night there, for there would increase the probability of running into the roving bands of thieves and criminals that roamed the island searching for other groups’ hiding spots and bases.

  After about an hour and a half of fighting their way through the hot jungle, Sky began to dimly register that something was wrong, but for a minute she couldn’t figure out why. Asking for a lantern to look at the map, it suddenly hit her. They were nigh upon the location, as she thought they would be. However, as a contraband hideout, she guessed she had assumed it would be hidden underground somewhere, in caves or something. However, they were gradually heading up an incline, and had been for a while.

  A hill? How could the spot be on a hill?

  Sure enough, a minute later Sky’s machete flashed through a gnarled vine, revealing open night air. A clearing. Stepping out into the spot with her crew, she could see that they were indeed on a sizeable hill, with a good view of the landscape below. Despite the thickness of vegetation, she could hear a massive river roaring somewhere in the jungle beneath them. All around. She turned this way and that, frowning. It seemed to be everywhere, all around the hill. Had they really come up here through the only possible way? Maybe now she could see why this was a hideout. You had to know where the bridge was. You had to have the map.

  It was now fully Dark outside. As usual, the area of visibility was very small this early in the night. Sky walked to the center of the clearing, not sure whether her companions were following or not. She could barely see. Everything was blackness. How was she supposed to…?

  Her foot hit something, hard, and she tripped; barely managing to keep herself upright. Reaching down, Sky fingers closed around something. She brought it up to eye level, trying to see it in the low visibility. Sky frowned as she identified it – a small, dark steel box.

  Now that was interesting. From what she knew, dark steel was used almost exclusively in the heart of the Dreamscape. How had criminals attained any? And how had she not seen it on the ground as she’d been walking? She had been scanning the fallen leaves with her lantern light for any sign of contraband or hidden material, buried or otherwise. She was certain what her foot had just hit had not been there a second before when she had looked at the ground.

  She knelt down, opening the small box and peering inside; head tilted and la
ntern up to see in the pressing blackness. There was… something inside. She could see it, but she didn’t know what it was. It was small, about the size of her outstretched hand. A circular rim with a pentagonal crisscrossing pattern woven onto it, with a smaller identical circle and a slew of feathers of some sort tied onto it, the thing had a loop of string at the top. A kind of… necklace, maybe? Without stopping to think about what it was, Sky slipped the thing out of its box and around her neck, standing…

  Immediately, the odd woven necklace erupted with an electric blue light, splaying radiance all around her. The crew gasped in shock, turning as one to look at the electric blue object hung around her neck. Sky looked down in disbelief at the object hung around her neck, lighting up the clearing with a burning-blue radiance, at a loss for words. Suddenly, there was some sort of vibration; a rumble above them, followed by a resounding explosion. Gasping and falling to the ground with her ears covered, Sky squinted up at the Dark…

  Except it was not there. A deep indigo filled a legitimate hole in the sky, where the Dark had been moments before. Had it somehow… fled? Bright white dots twinkled serenely in the sky above. What were those, anyway? Sky blinked in awe, exhaling and falling back to a sitting position, palms on the cool grass behind her, looking up at the wonder above.

  She knew it. She had known the Dark was unnatural. This just proved that it could go away. But… what were those things above? She had to know. She had to find out. Sky closed her eyes, smiling to herself. She was on the right track, after all.