Dreamcatcher

by Christian Rosnell

  Lyght didn’t have the breath to respond, however. He was painfully aware of his cracked rib cage, in addition to his multitude of other injuries. Troy shook his head and placed the tip of his sword, point down, over Lyght’s heart. Lyght’s eyes grew wide as he realized the trouble he was in. There was no time to react, however, as the Dream Syndicate leader only had one more thing to say.

  “See you in the next life, I guess.”

  Troy raised his sword with an awful finality, and plunged it back towards Lyght’s heart. Lyght closed his eyes and recoiled, waiting for the end…

  But it never came.

  He thought he heard a yell, and Lyght opened his eyes, still dangerously close to blacking out. He saw Troy backing away, clutching a wound in his side, stumbling before a sudden onslaught from a massive figure in blue. The Dream Syndicate leader was taking hits left and right from a great white blade in the hands of the attacker, who stood on the bridge in the sudden, blowing rain in full armor but with no helm. As the fight spun towards Lyght, barely conscious now, he caught full sight of his savior. He felt like he knew the man, but he didn’t, it was all very…

  A massive roar rocked the bridge, and Lyght’s whole world turned over. Blackness rushed up to meet him, and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him down… down… down.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  The first thing Lyght felt was cold, salty water being splashed across his face. He was immediately aware of the Dark swirling above. Omnipresent. Watching. As another splash of water hit his face, Lyght came to his senses suddenly and sat up, coughing. Lyght felt a searing pain in his ribs as he did so, and immediately brought a hand to the break in his right side. He hissed in pain and closed his eyes as he suddenly remembered the circumstances of his injury. He remembered the duel, uneven as it was, with Troy. He remembered being knocked down, ribs cracked by a sword blow to his abdomen. Troy had been about to kill him, it seemed. And then…

  What had happened after that? Someone had saved him… but who? It was all so blurry. Lyght felt like he could almost remember, but he just… couldn’t…

  “Hey… Hey, Lyght? Can you hear me?” Lyght looked around, neck protesting in pain – he remembered his wound there too – and looked over to match the voice with the face. Mikael was kneeling next to him, a look of concern on his battered face, streaked blood and dirt coating his skin. He was sporting a nasty black eye and a vicious cut along his temple, but other than that he appeared largely unharmed. As far as Lyght could tell, anyway. Lyght looked his friend in the eyes and tried to answer, but his voice seemed weak to him as he responded, “Yeah. Yeah, I can hear you. What happened? How’d we get away? What –”, he paused coughing, and tried to catch his breath. It was difficult with his cracked ribs.

  Lyght took a moment to glance around at their surroundings. They were on land now, in a stand of trees on the channel bank, not fifty feet away from the left side of the Central Bridge. Mikael stood up and reached a hand down to pull Lyght to his feet, which Lyght had to refuse. It pained him to say it, but he had to admit it, “Sorry, Mikael. I don’t think I can walk right now. Cracked ribs.” He pointed at the spot with his right hand before realizing his mistake, bringing a fresh wave of pain that threatened to knock him out again. He’d forgotten that his right hand had probably been broken too, in addition to his ribs and the wound on his neck. He couldn’t turn and look around too much, couldn’t walk, and couldn’t even use Dreamcasting. He’d never felt so helpless before. Lyght gritted his teeth, frustrated, and punched the ground with his left fist.

  Mikael crouched down to be on eye-level, “Oh, sorry.” Lyght’s longtime friend exhaled, shaking his head, “They really got us, huh? So much for that ambush, we’re the ones who got ambushed.” Lyght nodded painfully as Mikael spat bitterly on the ground. Mikael looked at Lyght, concern in his eyes. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come over and help you, but I was getting attacked too. It was, as you might have guessed, Kiara from the Dream Syndicate who attacked me. I know it was Troy from the Dream Syndicate who attacked you.”

  Lyght glanced over at his friend, a questioning look it his eyes. He didn’t even have to ask, Mikael answered, “I know I said I couldn’t come over to help you, but I saw who you’d been battling after the fight. It was, well…”

  Mikael took a deep breath, shaking his head, “I don’t know. Someone, a Legion member I didn’t recognize, came to save us. Whoever it was, he came over to me first, began fighting off Kiara, and then somehow – and I don’t understand this, because it was so Dark at the time I couldn’t even see you – knew you were in danger, and took off to go save you. I heard fighting, and knew he must’ve fought off Troy as well. He came back and finished off Kiara for me – which was good, because I was almost out of spirit and was starting to take some bad blows. He took me over to see you, and that’s when I saw Troy’s body on the ground.”

  Lyght looked up, “So this Legend… Troy and Kiara, did he…?” Mikael nodded, confirming Lyght’s suspicion. That was odd, why would a Legend who served the King interfere with their mission, and prevent them from ever capturing Troy and Kiara? If the King wanted the Dream Syndicate leaders so badly, why would one of his own Legends get in the way of that? And weren’t Lyght and Mikael supposed to accomplish this mission alone? The only thing Lyght could think of was that maybe the King had meant this all as a test, and sent a Legend trailing them just in case things went badly. That seemed a bit far-fetched, though, and Lyght couldn’t help but feel like he was missing something here.

  Mikael continued on, finishing his account, “Like I said, I didn’t recognize this guy who saved us. He did look oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place it…” He was silent for a few moments, then shrugged, “Anyway, he saved us from the attackers quicker than I would’ve thought possible, and carried you all the way off the bridge unconscious. I told him that he didn’t have to do that, that I could help, but he didn’t seem to be listening to me. He just focused on getting you off the bridge as fast as possible. When we got off, he led me over here, set you down, and told me to find you help. And well… that was about half an hour ago, and to be honest I haven’t thought of how I could move you without hurting you. So I decided to see if I could wake you up, to see what injuries you have. Sorry I couldn’t do more.”

  Lyght shook his head, “No, you did the right thing. I definitely can’t walk, that’s for sure. Maybe we can flag someone down when the Dark goes away, to run into the city and get a medic out here. I hate to say it, but it probably wouldn’t be the smartest thing in the world for you to leave me here by myself, unarmed and unable to use spirit.”

  Despite Lyght’s words, however, Mikael stood up. He drew his sword and handed it to Lyght, “Here, take this. You’ll be fine – we’re near Glory, and pretty well hidden in this stand of trees. Someone would only be able to see you from the channel, and it’s Dark out, so no one is awake to see you anyway. I’ll be right back with a medic – it’ll have to be someone from the Legion, they’ll be the only ones Awake at this time. I’ll be right back. Just wait here, okay?”

  Lyght opened his mouth to protest, but clamped it shut and made the decision to trust Mikael’s judgment on this one. He was probably being too cautious – after all, the enemies had just been eliminated, right? Nothing to worry about…

  He gave Mikael the thumbs-up with his functioning hand, laying the sword on his lap and leaning back against a tree, “Alright, you’re good. Go now.” Mikael nodded and ducked out of the clearing and away into the trees, “You got it, I’ll be back with help as soon as I can. Just hang out here.”

  Lyght heard his friends footsteps move away and then fade out rapidly. The Dark always did seem to have this odd way of muffling sound. Lyght exhaled and leaned back against the tree, relaxing his muscles for the first time in hours. He looked up at the swirling dark mass in the sky, thinking of what had happened back on the bridge.

  Lyght supposed he shouldn’t be that surprised by that guy Troy completely outcla
ssing him. Troy was the main leader of the Dream Syndicate, after all – a group of highly dangerous, criminal Dreamcasters who, according to Decimader, were set out to destroy the whole Dreamscape. Lyght couldn’t see how they planned on doing that, but figured that maybe their upbringing in the bitter North had somehow soured them to life under the King’s rule, and made the rebel.

  Whatever the case, Lyght had been initially surprised that the King had so insisted that, with the element of surprise, taking out these two highly dangerous Dreamcasters would be easy enough for Lyght and Mikael. Sure, they were talented for their age group. They always had been. But they were still amateurs, and not even in the Legion yet. If the whole Legion was set out to destroy the Dream Syndicate, and hadn’t done so in all these years, why had the King sent two unproven kids to take out two of its leaders without any help? Sure, the King had said only they were supposed to able to take these leaders out – even if Lyght questioned how credible that information was – but it still seemed odd to Lyght that the King was so confident in this premise. It just didn’t seem like the man to believe that two kids could defeat what were surely two of the most powerful Dreamcasters alive.

  Lyght still felt like he was somehow missing a crucial piece of the puzzle, like he wasn’t getting the big picture. He couldn’t put it all together – not just this highly questionable plan of the King’s, but also this mysterious Legend who had come to bail them out at just the right time, surely saving Lyght and Mikael’s lives. Was the King involved in all of that? Lyght supposed it was possible, but he couldn’t see what the King stood to gain from making up such a detailed story, and throwing Lyght and Mikael into a situation they clearly couldn’t handle, only to be bailed out. And the two they’d fought had clearly been two of the leaders of the Dream Syndicate, not fakes planted by the King or otherwise. The two leaders of the criminal organization, for those who actually believed in their existence, were always rumored to be elegant-looking twins with a unique shade of burning violet eyes. Troy had certainly had that look – so Lyght had no reservations that they were the real deal.

  Lyght’s train of thought, as he sat there looking up at the swirling mass of Dark above him – dissipating slightly now as the night wore on – kept coming back to this Legend who’d saved he and Mikael’s lives. Who was he? Whoever he was, Lyght owed him his life, and he wasn’t the type to let that kind of a debt ride without trying to make up for it. He wanted to meet with this Legend, to talk to him. And it wasn’t only just that the man had saved him, Lyght felt… connected to the man somehow. He couldn’t explain it, as he was sure he hadn’t met the man before. He remembered his face from the bridge, he…

  Or wait… Lyght racked his memory. He couldn’t remember the man’s face. He focused hard, trying to bring it into focus, but amidst the searing pain and confusion he’d been going through at the time, he couldn’t specifically remember what he’d looked like. Lyght had the impression that he’d had some form of important thought about it at the time, but he could remember that either. He sighed, frustrated at himself.

  I can’t believe I let Troy beat me that badly… damn it.

  Lyght clinched his left hand into a fist, but looked up sharply as he heard his name called, “Hey, Lyght! Guess who I found?” Mikael again.

  How’d he get back so quickly?

  Lyght looked over as Mikael entered the clearing with three people – all people he knew. Two of them he was surprised to see at this moment, the other one he was nothing less than downright shocked to see here, in Glory.

  Seth, Iri, and Sky.

  Lyght’s gaze went to his sister immediately. “Sky! You… how –” Sky darted forward, cutting him off, “No time now, we’ll talk later. We need to move, now.” She knelt beside him and tried to assess his injuries, “Mikael said your ribs are cracked; that you can’t walk. Right or left?”

  Lyght sat for a second, puzzled at the sudden turn of events, before nodding to his right side. With some difficulty, Sky unclasped his armor and pulled his shirt up, holding her hand palm out about two inches away from his gashed skin, an ugly shade of purple and yellow where Troy’s sword had slammed home. A strange white light emanated from Sky’s palm as she held it there, and Lyght felt a bizarre burning sensation as he realized, somehow, that his ribs were sealing themselves. Filling in the cracks. The nasty bruises on his skin gradually faded as Sky continued somehow healing Lyght for a couple minutes. When she was done, she moved to Lyght’s broken right hand and did the same thing. Lyght looked on in shock, not wanting to break her concentration at such a pivotal moment, but also wanting to say the thought that was screaming at the forefront of his mind.

  Unable to keep himself from smiling at the revelation, Lyght let it out the instant Sky finished healing his hand, “Sky, you never told me!” She looked at him questioningly, “Hmm? Told you what?” Lyght looked up at his sister, not entirely able to mask his enthusiasm, “You’re a Dreamcaster, too! And you never told me!” Sky shook her head, “No, I don’t think I am.” Lyght jumped in, “But –”, but Sky cut him off immediately, “No, I don’t think I am, but I’m not sure. It’s kind of complicated, but I’ll try to explain it to you later. We don’t have much time right now. I’ve done this before though – on the first night me, mom and dad found you. It was a lot harder then, though.”

  At this, a thousand questions exploded through Lyght’s mind, but he couldn’t decide which one to ask first. He had never fully understood how he’d survived his near-death the night he and his father were attacked; all he knew was that Sky, then age six, and her parents had happened upon the scene while traveling back home through the Pride domain that night, and taken Lyght into their own care. He’d known Sky had healed him somehow, but not with this… power, whatever it was. Lyght did realize he’d never heard of Dreamcasting being able to heal someone’s broken bones or other injuries, because that would be manipulating them out of the natural state they were in. Dreamcasting could only boost the efficiency of muscle use to increase speed and power, but not heal where something was already broken or destroyed. Lyght didn’t know what ability his sister had, but it was special. And for Sky to heal him, at the young age of six herself, when he was so near death, was absolutely incredible to him.

  Sky extended a hand to pull him up, and Lyght grasped it, coming to his feet gingerly, flexing his hand and stretching carefully. It felt good to have his movement and access to his spirit back. Sky glanced quickly at the Dark above, apparently estimating the time, then looked back down at Iri, “We have to go.” Iri nodded, and Sky turned to Lyght.

  “Follow us; we need to head into Glory, and fast. We have time for the half hour walk to our destination – and I’ll make use of that time to explain everything – but we have to go now. C’mon.” Sky motioned over her shoulder for Lyght and Mikael to follow, and Lyght exchanged a glance with his friend. They nodded to each other, so he motioned for Sky to lead the way. He jogged a few steps to fall in line with her, with Seth, Iri, and Mikael behind them.

  “Alright, sis, so what’s been going on?”

  Sky snorted and shook her head. Lyght realized by now that he did notice an overall change in her demeanor from the previous years he’d grown up with her. She seemed much calmer and in command, even.

  “Everything, Lyght. Everything.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Lyght couldn’t recall ever hearing a crazier story in his life.

  First, his sister had launched into this long soliloquy about the “real” history of the Dreamscape, a series of stories that were entirely new to Lyght, and contradictory to everything he’d ever been taught about the land he lived in. She spoke of a wider land named “Gaien” and a people named the “Godra” who been granted the creative power – Dreamcasting, apparently – to shape and form the land and develop it as more or less gods. Lyght wondered if that’s where the word had come from…

  Lyght listened in mounting disbelief and skepticism as his sister talked about how, suppo
sedly, this deity race used their power to create multiple intelligent races of their own, ruling over them in relative peace for thousands of years. However, wars and infighting eventually broke out between Godra families of the different races. This bitterly divided families, and the situation came to a head when the King of the Vuru family had passed over his son as the heir to the human race, for his son’s best friend – a member of the lower Kuru branch. The son, driven mad by the perceived injustice, killed his friend and both of his parents, taking power over the human race. This man had then used his power to create the Dreamscape in the fashion the rest of his peers created much of Gaien – although how he had the power to do that alone as a mystery.

  According to Sky, anyway, this was who Decimader Vuruman was.

  Lyght didn’t know if he believed it. In fact, his experience with the King definitely did not fit with the story. Even if it was mysterious that the King had lived for over a thousand years, Lyght didn’t think he was a homicidal mad ruler who created the whole world for himself. The man seemed sane enough; likeable, even. And what was this about “other intelligent races”? That made no sense – Lyght knew full and well that the human race was the only intelligent race in the world. To suggest otherwise went against everything he’d been taught. But then again, Sky had said it would.

  Lyght was at a loss to know where Sky came up with all this stuff, but she began filling him in on her recent adventures as they walked along. If anything, these were even crazier than her initial comments about the history of the Dreamscape.

  As he walked along with Sky, Iri, Seth, and Mikael towards the center of Glory, Lyght largely remained silent as he listened to his sister speak about the increasingly improbable and incredible situations she’d gone through since he’d left Kona. Lyght was initially surprised to hear his sister claim that after he and Mikael had left, she’d taken their mission to destroy the Dark upon herself, even joining up with her friends in the crew of the Joy to seek out what they could.