Dreamcatcher

by Christian Rosnell

  Lyght shrugged, “Fine I guess, although my head hurts like hell.”

  Lyaness jumped in, “No concussion, Lyn, though I have to say he was lucky to avoid it. Being slammed in the front and the back of the head like that…” The hulking former-Legend nodded, and strolled over to Lyght and Lyaness, “Let’s head down to the deck, shall we?” So Lyght and Lyaness followed Lyn down to the light-brown deck of the ship, bouncing slightly in the relatively calm waters between Apathy and the channel. They came to a stop midway along the gunwale on the starboard side, facing south.

  Lyght preempted his teacher and mentor, “Hey, Lyn… thanks a lot. You saved my life back there, and I guess the others’ as well. I don’t know how I can ever –” Lyn waved a hand, cutting him off, “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be able to pay be back if you help me in the next phase here. And I have to think you’ll be excited to help.” Lyght was startled to hear this from a man he now looked to as their leader.

  The next phase? What is that?

  Lyn leaned back against the gunwale and crossed his arms as a pleasant wind blew across the deck, “But first, let me fill you in on what happened back there. As you might have realized – and understand I don’t blame you for this in the slightest – your friend Mikael betrayed us and brought most of the Legends in Glory down on our heads. That much was clear when he attacked you and even directed some of the Legends around. He probably shouldn’t have carried out the attack, especially after hearing who I really am. I guess he just didn’t know what I – and Decimader as well – are truly capable of as Godra. Well, his mistake. Although it seems to me like Decimader was likely the one to plan the ambush, of course not knowing who I was either. Had he known, he would have surely come himself.”

  Lyght nodded, “Yeah, Mikael said something to me about him and the King making some secret deal behind our backs that promised Mikael an automatic spot in the Legion if he captured some of us. Once he realized we were all in the same place at the same time, he must’ve somehow tipped off the Legion without us noticing.” Lyght took a deep breath, shaking his head and looking out at the ocean.

  “I guess Decimader knew that Mikael was really the one who would do anything to make the Legion… I just never guessed that would involve turning on his friend. I knew him for ten years… ten years Lyn. We grew up together, the only two orphans – and Dreamcasters – in the village of Kona. Our situations were scarily alike, you know. Growing up with only our fathers for years, only to have them taken away from us. The village became our family, our lives, and our motivation. It’s why we originally wanted to destroy the Dark. At some point though, in Glory, Mikael must’ve become too enamored with the prospect of making the Legion.” Lyght slammed a fist into the wooden gunwale, “I just wish I knew where he went wrong. I could’ve talked to him, I should’ve –”

  Lyn put a massive hand on his shoulder, cutting him off, “It’s not your fault, Lyght. One thing you’ll learn in life is that you can’t control what others do; you can only control yourself. It seems depressing, but I promise you it’s not. If you build a strong circle around you of people you trust, that’s the best way of supporting both yourself and them – through understanding that is. When someone betrays that trust, it’s never your fault, it’s theirs. If there’s one thing I know to be true, is that it’s better to trust and be let down than to never trust and be alone. Because whenever one person lets you down, the others in your circle will be there to pick you back up.”

  Lyn pushed himself off the gunwale, looking at his student, “That’s us, Lyght. Myself, Lyaness, Seth, and Iri – you can count on us going forward. And we’re not going to let you down, I promise.” Lyght nodded appreciatively, feeling an understanding pass between them.

  Although he was also wondering – intensely – about something else that hadn’t been mentioned…

  “Lyn? What happened to Sky and… my dad? Are they with us too, or…?”

  Lyn paused for a second, then shook his head and looked off at the ocean, “No, they’re not with us on this voyage, but I can promise you they’re both safe and sound. Your father needs to stay in the Dreamscape for now, where he will continue… working to bring Decimader down. We’ve been colleagues for a while now, and you should know that I have the highest trust in him to complete his mission.” Lyn smiled at Lyght; a bit sadly it seemed, for some reason.

  “Sky will return with her friends to Kona, so that she can protect the people in your village through the tumultuous times to come in the Dreamscape. That was her choice to make – and hard as it was for her to give up being with her brother – she knew that she has a duty to use what she knows now to keep her family and friends safe in Kona. I’m sure you understand.”

  Lyght nodded, feeling a lump in his throat. He had to admit, he was proud of his dad and Sky for remaining behind to do what needed to be done while the rest of them went out to… wherever it was they were going. Regardless, Lyght couldn’t wait for the day when he was reunited with his family – both his blood family like his dad, and his other family in Sky and the other villagers. For now though, he wanted to keep helping Lyn, Lyaness and the Dream Syndicate in their mission. If there was still anything to be done to bring Decimader down, Lyght wanted to do his part. If nothing else, once Lyght had found out that the King had sent the attackers to capture his father and kill Lyght that night ten years ago, he became the enemy that Lyght needed to defeat. He couldn’t tolerate his family and friends living under a man who would do that to his own people.

  Lyght looked at Lyn and asked the simple question, “So, what’s next?”

  Lyn laughed, “Right to the point, then? Alright, well, we’re not going to Apathy, we’re going around it. We’re leaving the Dreamscape, you see. What will happen over the next few months – although I’m not sure exactly how long – is that the Dark will slowly dissipate until it no longer shrouds the land every other night, and even disappears entirely. The Dreamcatcher your father keeps in place over the crystal source he carries will suck in the dark matter, as we said.”

  The wind kicked up, a strong breeze coming off the ocean. Lyn took a deep breath of the salty sea air, looking east towards the sunrise, “During this time, we will start by sailing through the Dark layer that comes down to the ocean a few dozen miles east of Apathy. This marks the border of the Dreamscape – and the only reason we can get through it is because, simply, I’m not a human, and I have powers that are far beyond what any human can accomplish. I can temporarily keep the Dark enough at bay for us to see our way out of the Dreamscape.”

  “From there, I will have returned to the main world of Gaien for the first time in over a thousand years. I’ll explain more once we get there, but we will likely speak to the leaders of the different races to try and form an alliance against Decimader. For one thing I think I can say with assurance is that once the Dreamscape collapses, Decimader is going to want to fight back. That… and he still likely wants revenge on anything and everything that is the descendant of any Godra, whether they were involved in the decision to pass him up as King or not. That’s the kind of person Decimader is – he never could just let things go. Rest assured; Decimader is going to put up an otherworldly fight. And unfortunately, he’ll probably have much of the human race behind him. That’s one of the main reasons why the Dream Syndicate will remain in the Dreamscape working to erode his support, and build some for our cause in these coming months.”

  Lyght nodded. He didn’t have to say anything in reply – he and Lyn seemed to have an intuitive understanding by now. The type he’d only ever felt with Mikael and Sky. Lyght couldn’t help but remember Lyn’s words from just a few minutes ago.

  If there’s one thing I know to be true, is that it’s better to trust and be let down than to never trust and be alone. Because whenever one person lets you down, the others in your circle will be there to pick you back up.

  Lyght knew that Lyn knew, and Lyaness knew, that they were all in the same fight together. And a
lthough Lyght hadn’t known Lyaness, Seth, or Iri for that long yet, he already couldn’t wait to work with them on the next step, with Lyn leading them. He felt, more than knew, that it could turn out to be something special.

  The trio stood in silence for a few minutes, looking out at the rising sun. Bright pink shot up into the cirrus clouds hanging above as the shimmering orange sun vaulted higher over the seabound horizon. A flash of white suddenly cut Lyght’s vision, and a small bird appeared fifty feet away, out over the warmly-tinted water. Silhouetted by the morning sun, the creature looked dark and oddly impressive. Wings beating tentatively, the bird coasted around, body tense. After several small circles to gain confidence, it winged in and landed on Lyght’s shoulder. Glancing sideways at the baby bird, Lyght took in the pinkish-orange tint on its immaculate feathers – still untainted by frequent flight. It was still very young – Lyght was impressed to see it this far out to sea on what looked like its first flight. It remained perched comfortably on his shoulder as the ship cut east through the azure water. He let it rest as the ship cut through the azure waters, bounding eastward toward the sunrise.

  Exhaling quietly, Lyght raised a hand to his flying hair. The wind was picking up, carrying the ship swiftly away from the Dreamscape behind them. Lyght looked behind him to his right, and on a whim turned back away from the starboard gunwale and walked across the gently heaving deck to the aft, looking back at the fading Pride domain and the land where he grew up. Turning his eyes southward along the coast, Lyght looked longingly towards where he knew his home lay. His family and friends in Kona would probably have no idea where he was going, or why. They might even forget about him…

  No… he couldn’t let that happen. He was going away with Lyn, Lyaness, Seth, and Iri, but once they finally destroyed the thousand reign of Decimader Vuruman over the human race, he could go back to living in peace. Until then, he couldn’t rest, he couldn’t falter – he wouldn’t back down until the human race was freed from the tyrannical clutches of a being who could never truly understand them. Maybe it was because Decimader Vuruman was not human; but he could never truly understand humanity.

  If so, it had already cost him. They’d just broken the Dark. When it faded, humanity would become acquainted with the wider world they’d be missing out on for over a thousand years. It would take a lot of rebuilding, a lot of healing – and of course Decimader Vuruman wouldn’t go down without a fight – but Lyght was sure that the people of the former Dreamscape could make good lives for themselves on Gaien.

  And be free at last.

  Lyght looked at his homeland as it faded out into the distant horizon and closed his eyes, bringing his right hand over his heart in a fist. He bowed his head, hair blowing in the wind as a new day rose behind him. I’ll come home. I may be leaving now, but not forever.

  I promise.

  Epilogue

  This land was the true place of dreams.

  The verdant, shallow valley below glowed softly in the morning sun, beams of light reflecting dimly off the swirling white mists on the valley floor. A rainbow shimmered in the warm air where a rushing white spray erupted out over a smoky black clifftop to the northeast, plummeting hundreds of feet in free fall to the swirling deep blue pools below, rippling in the breeze rolling in off the ocean to their backs. A sea of wildflowers in every hue; from lavender, to deepest crimson and vermilion, to goldenrod and russet swept across the grassy valley floor, racing up hillsides to the banks of drifting streams.

  Even at this northern latitude, in the onset of winter, no trace of cold or snow was to be found. Life abounded, in fact. Bright yellow and orange lizards with ornate frills poked their heads out of cracks in lichen-encrusted rocks, crawling out to warm themselves in the morning sun. A flock of weirdly elongated, stick-like birds flew in a V-formation overhead, alternately shrieking and trilling in peculiar mechanical voices. And below, a whole host of bizarre, yet fascinating bird calls that Lyght had never heard before rang out in a discordant chorus from their elevated position on the ridge, and out across the valley he stood over.

  The sky was blue enamel above, and though the sun had just risen ahead of them, the air was already pleasantly warm. Exhausted from the difficult climb up here in the early morning, Lyght sat down in the dewy grass and rubbed his eyes. Shrugging his pack off for a second, Lyght yawned and laid back in the grass, arms behind his head. He watched the cumulus clouds roll slowly by and judged their shapes, as he had been fond of doing when he was a kid. He thought he saw the vague shape of a palm tree in one of the smaller clouds, with a smattering of circular clouds below that could easily have been fallen coconuts.

  Lyght smiled, albeit a bit painfully – it made him think of home. And home was somewhere he wasn’t returning to for quite a while, at least. After all, they had just made it to Gaien – shouldn’t his mind be more focused on the task at hand? Lyght exhaled and tried to go back to paying attention to the clouds, but it was difficult. They shifted oddly, rolling away like ocean waves from a point in the center of the formation. Lyght frowned, trying to find a reason for the clouds’ sudden shift in direction. One of the taller ones had a dark kind of… blur to it actually, and…

  An earsplitting roar rocked Lyght’s hearing as he jumped up with a start. A hand flew to his back for his sword before he checked himself, realizing that he was probably overreacting. Lyght had been the first one to reach the top of the cliff they’d just ascended, and so he looked back now for the others. Indeed, he saw Lyn and Lyaness crest the ridge at about the same time and come rolling into the grass – similarly out of breath – as Seth and Iri followed them not more than twenty seconds later. Lyn motioned up at the sky behind Lyght and he turned…

  An enormous… thing, silhouetted in the bright morning sunlight, plummeted out of the clouds above at an alarming speed. Lyght put a hand over his eyes, trying to see it, but had to jump backwards as the colossal thing came crashing into the ground. Arising slowly from a crouch, Lyght was suddenly blinded by a bright shimmering of color, like a scintillating mirror rising dozens of feet in front of him. He shielded his eyes, trying to see.

  A tall, elegant figure suddenly fell past the scintillating mass and landed on his feet, drawing himself up. Lyght looked the odd… person in his eyes, shimmering a smoky purplish-gray. He looked too… perfect to be real. He smiled a welcoming, encouraging smile and spread his arms out wide.

  “Welcome to Gaien! I understand you came from…” He trailed off, motioning behind Lyght and the others, towards the wall of Dark that churned and swirled, barely visible at this distance out across the ocean. Lyght turned his back on it immediately and faced the new world, smiling despite himself.

  ”Yeah, I know where we came from… but where are we going?”

  Lyn, stepped forward, shaking hands with the tall, elegant man like they were old friends. The former Legend turned back to Lyght and answered his question.

  “I wish I could describe it all… but some things you really have to see for yourself.”

  The eastern horizon called out to Lyght, the warm orange sun bounding over its borders. He took a deep breath, turned to look at Seth, Iri, and Lyaness behind him, then looked back at Lyn and the unknown man. Lyght shrugged, but was more excited than he let on.

  “Let’s see it, then.”