by J E Mueller
“I think I also need a nap.” Ze yawned and stretched and I noted how he slid the spoon over to Mare who took it.
“I don’t blame you. It might just be that time of day,” she agreed and glanced at me. “What do you think?”
“I am beyond exhausted,” I agreed, feeling more mentally done than physically.
The three of us got up and wandered to the rooms. Ze headed off into one just past mine, but Mare stopped at mine and as soon as we were in closed the door behind us.
“I know that look. You want to know what’s going on,” she stated bluntly.
“You could say that.” I took a seat on the edge of my bed. “Spill.”
“Cane’s gift only works when active and then only in a certain range. For weeks now we’ve been hiding artifacts,” Mare replied with such straightforward honesty I was surprised.
“What? Why?”
Mare sighed walking slowly around the room. “Because, you’re not the first to make the connection about the artifacts and the Creators. I just needed to question you so I could be sure we were on the same track. Then when you didn’t give up everything to Clove, I knew for sure.”
That was something to make my head spin. “Okay, when did this all start? How even? Or is it who?”
Mare chuckled. “Just Dreamers hearing things and passing along messages. They seem to always quickly ‘die’ once they pass along their messages though.”
Not odd or suspicious at all. “What have the messages been?” It’s not like I’ve been asked to deliver a message.
Because I saw it wasn’t working.
Thanks for popping up now of all times, voice.
“The Creators are here, just trapped in artifacts. Or similar variations. Straight to the point.”
I nodded as I took in the information. “Are Dreamers just from this side or both sides vanishing?”
Mare shrugged. “Both as far as I know. Of course Canton seems to be set on killing them all, regardless if they’d help his side or not. I’m not sure how many are aware of the situation or messages. Most here seem oblivious. I don’t know who is causing the grief here and killing them, but I’m certain someone from our alliance is doing the same.”
“But you’re positive it’s on this side as well?”
“Positive.” Mare yawned and turned for the door. “It’s a lot to take in, but for now, just nap on things. Today has been enough as it is.”
“Wait!” I called as Mare’s hand rested on the knob. “Am I even safe here then?”
“As long as you don’t say anything, I can’t imagine why not.” Mare shrugged. “The person causing trouble on this side clearly doesn’t want to be noticed so they won’t do anything in the open.”
I nodded but didn’t feel as sure. I looked around my empty room. Yep. Totally safe.
Seeing my glances and expression Mare gave a tired sigh. “Fine.” She walked to an empty bed and collapsed into it. “Wake me if murders are going on.”
I gave a tired laugh. “Sure, can do.” With that I decided it was best to at least attempt sleep.
My dreams returned me to the fog. Tendrils of the drab, olive green cloud spilled around the shadows. The random floating candles were doing no more now than they did the first time to make things more comforting. For several moments, maybe even minutes, we just faced off and stared at one another, if a thick fog could stare.
“Why won’t you aid us? We can save her…” The voice changed three times as the fog seemingly spoke for many.
I continued to stare at it, too tired to react to it’s demands and many voices. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted but from its level of slowly guilting me, I sensed I still didn’t want to help.
Moments passed.
I stared, and stared, and stared.
As the world around me shifted to black I felt a throbbing in my head and woke up to darkness around me. Mare was still sleeping on a nearby bed and I wasn’t sure if any time had really passed at all. I felt hardly rested, so I decided to sleep more.
Try as I might though, sleep refused me. I finally decided I should just get up. Maybe I needed to wander. It was late enough it was likely okay. At least if I didn’t wander too far or do anything stupid. Easing around corners would help.
Nodding at my own plan, I walked past the empty common area and through the painting, hardly feeling the odd jelly around me anymore.
The house felt cold and empty as I wandered around. Part of me wondered where all the creatures could be, the other part remembered just how many people were out and about today. They would reset eventually, and I needed to be equally on my guard. Thankfully, things on this floor were easy enough for me.
As I wandered, I opened rooms and looked around a bit here and there. Like the second floor, the first floor had its own set of repeated items and furniture quickly making it rather boring. Nothing stood out as worthwhile as I wondered, until I opened a door and saw a vast room, much bigger than made sense from the outside. The only problem was all the various sized spots of water, some puddles, some large enough to be considered ponds.
This was the room Mare told me to avoid. There was no dark sense of foreboding though. Something felt oddly right. I sensed that I once knew this place well. While feelings of joy, and a sense of fun came to me, no actual memories filled my mind. I wasn’t sure if that meant I should turn and run or if that meant I needed to dig deeper.
Hesitantly, I took a step into the room. Then another. Before I knew it, I was staring down into one of the better sized puddles. It was wide enough to fit an entire person and seemed to go down endlessly.
“You know, I’d drown you if I could,” a voice said, startling me back.
A few puddles in front of me stood a human form made entirely out of water.
I slowly started to back out of the room, not trusting this new appearance. “Sorry for intruding,” I whispered.
“You still don’t remember.” It was a statement more than a question. Her voice didn’t sound surprised or sad.
I paused, unsure what to make of the situation. “Something of this place feels right.”
She nodded. “It should.”
“Who are you?” Maybe that would be the clue to remembering something.
“You called me water lady for a long time. Others called me demon of the waters. My name though, is simply Marella.”
I nodded, the name sounded familiar, but like the word on the tip of my tongue, I couldn’t place why or how.
“And you are Remilla though you much prefer to go by Remi. And at one time, I do believe you even prefered Sunshine, since you were a ray of sunshine.”
I snickered, remembering my mother calling me that all the time when I was little. Melody was her unsung song since she was ridiculously shy.
Something clicked thinking about the nicknames, and a small sense of dread did come over me. I turned to look at the door, and took the two remaining steps to shut it firmly as I turned back to the water lady.
“I don’t remember much, but if I remember right, you’re important here.” I stared at her for a long second. “You’re one of the Creators?”
Marella nodded. “More or less. Sadly, for the moment, less. I’m not fully here.”
“You’re trapped in an artifact?” I wondered aloud. “If so, how are you here?”
“It is very difficult for magic of my own kind to trap me here. I am a little different than the other Creators.” She smirked. “So, while I can’t entirely break myself free, I can still be out and active enough to keep at least a small semblance of balance.”
Ah, so the remaining balance was purely thanks to a plan gone wrong. “What happened?”
She shook her head. “Being bound by them prevents me from giving too many details, but when I get free… or really any of us, someone can provide details.”
Everyone wanted freedom, while I understood the urge, I wasn’t sure where to go from here. At least she wasn’t demanding like the fog. “This may sound weird, but can you tel
l me if it was some sort of fog that did this to you?”
She shook her head. “It was not a fog, now that I can say.”
“Well, how would one free you?”
She looked thoughtful. “I can’t quite get the words out, but, you could do it.”
“But you can’t say how exactly.” I just wanted to scream. There was a piece of the puzzle here, within grasp, and something magical preventing it. “Okay, cool… So you said you’re only partly here… Where are you trapped exactly?”
Marella stared off into the distance for a long moment. “It was a cruel trick. For the most part artifacts are just hidden or scattered. What these fools did was give them to Dreamers and then killed them, effectively hiding them. Not mine however, since I was too much of a problem for them.” She smirked at me. “It’s attached to a large winged creature, something bat-like I think. It occasionally flies about so it’s location is always changing. I can feel it moving.”
“Oooh, that’s really clever and evil.” I was surprised with how brilliant the planning there was.
“Agreed.” Marella gave a tired sigh. “It was a well thought out idea for sure, and there’s no easy way to get locations to someone. I can sense the others if my artifact gets close enough to them.”
I nodded. “I found one of you.” I waved my wrist, the bracelet lightly shining in the dim light of the room.
“I cannot sense them, who are they?” Marella asked curiously.
I cannot sense them either and do not know if I trust them.
Of course nothing would be that simple. “Since your artifact is away they cannot sense you either and do not trust you.”
Marella narrowed her eyes on the bracelet. “If I had my guess, that would be entirely Lydia, however, I suppose we can work something out, something only I would know.”
It was just a lucky guess.
I wasn’t sure how to react to that statement. “Well, what do you know that only they would know? Or whatever works.”
“I never spoke to her outside of graveyards until after she was eighteen.” Marella said confidently, a coy smile playing across her face.
Well, that’s true. She didn’t speak to her outside of there until after then. Hmmm. Tell her I still don’t trust her.
I wondered who this ‘her’ was but played messenger instead. “She still doesn’t trust you.”
“We don’t have time for this, Lydia,” Marella said sharply. “We need a plan to find the others and I’ve got one if you don’t.”
How rude! Of course I have a plan. A bard is always prepared.
“She has a plan, I guess.” I shrugged. “Will someone tell me the plan?” I was not enjoying this go between game.
We need to awaken the gift.
“What does that even mean?” I grumbled, wishing I could glare at this Lydia person.
Marella gave a small laugh. “She wants to awaken the gift doesn’t she?” When I nodded, she continued. “That is a good idea, except you’re tainted.”
“What?” I scoffed. “What does that even mean?”
Marella shook her head. “They, the angels and demons, have gotten their talons in you. Not very firmly, but since you are so receptive, they have gotten into your head.” Marella tilted her head to the side for a moment. “Maybe this fog you mentioned is them.”
“I can believe that.” I had no problems agreeing there.
“We’ll have to close off that receptiveness first. It will hurt.” Marella walked over, her steps slightly above both water and land. “Lydia, since you’re so attached, will you do the honors?”
She just doesn’t want to look like the bad guy here, Lydia grumbled at me.
“Just someone do this so we can move on,” I complained tiredly. “I haven’t had any decent sleep with them invading my dreams.”
As you wish.
A tingling sensation rippled from my finger tips and toes quickly upwards through my body and into my head until a blinding pain pierced my skull. The pain was intense, too much so to cry out. I felt myself drop to my knees, and even though I had closed my eyes, lights danced in front of them.
Then it was gone.
Not a shred of pain remained but something felt different. Something felt… Solid. I glanced around the room remembering various games I played here as a kid. The information was too much to sort through, but I knew for a fact I made the right choice.
Whatever was with the fog, it seemed as if it were repressing my memories. Things were easily flowing back. Finally, things were making sense without all the extra effort. I looked back at Marella and knew if we had Lydia, that meant we were on the right track. We needed to find the main Creators, and if I remembered correctly that was Tella and Dani. There were others with that title, but they didn’t have the same abilities. We still would need to find them all in the end. I was ready for this.
I looked Marella in the eyes. “So, we’re missing Dani and Tella then,” I pulled myself back to my feet.
“There’s my girl.” Marella smirked.
Oh good. That helped with the memories.
“They must have been interfering with what you remembered for a while now. I’m ashamed we never noticed sooner.” Marella’s smile faltered for a moment before she shook her head. “No matter. It’s resolved now. Though I would be careful with these new found memories. I am unsure what damage those angel and demon creatures have done.”
And I fully agree with those statements. Heavens, how did they slip all this past us?
I had a feeling I knew. “Maybe they weren’t clever, maybe just desperate enough to slowly leak themselves into dreams of those they could. If they have powers enough to somehow trap you, I’m sure they could have powers enough to make someone broken or damaged to forget.” Not that I wanted to admit to being damaged, but that accident that killed mother and nearly took us as well did hurt me for some time. These creatures didn’t have power in my world, just in this realm. Hopefully it would stay that way.
That was an angel trick, messages in dreams for the least amount of interference, Lydia sighed tiredly to me.
“What an annoying thought. Sounds like angel nonsense. Those darn creatures.” Marella gave a few more choice curses before continuing. “We need to make sure this lockdown on their ability to contact you worked, and you’ll have some memories to process before we can continue.”
“What? That’s it?” I asked, surprised she wasn’t more desperate to be free.
“As much as things need to be done quickly, we cannot rush this. Rest. Bring me back word of any problems. If you sense those who should not be in your head or your dreams, we need to know right away.”
Sadly she is right.
“Do try to keep her safe, Lydia.” Marella stared at the bracelet for a moment.
Like I haven’t been trying all along.
Some advice on how to kill things would help.
Envision them in your mind as clearly as possible. I am not your eyes, but I can see things if you let me in your mind.
Not weird at all. Nope. I would just have to accept this. “Until tomorrow then.” I nodded at Marella and turned to the door.
“They will quickly know we’ve blocked them if this works,” Marella stated, her tone stern. “They may send someone to hurt you if they think we’re making any progress.”
I nodded and turned to face her once more. “They’ve killed others if I’ve heard correctly.”
“I have no doubt of that. The demons and angels will do anything to get free. Even if it means being forced to work together.” Marella warned.
“Why can’t they be free? I’m sure there’s a good reason, but I don’t know it.”
“Lydia can give you the full story. Now go and rest.” Marella waved me off as she took several steps backwards and vanished into a puddle.
Taking that as my cue to go, I left and started to slowly make my way back to the common room, carefully navigating and checking corners to make sure I didn’t run into anything or an
yone. I wondered what the story with these other creatures was.
I certainly can tell you, and it is a long one to tell. The basics of it are that the angels and demons destroyed their home worlds and were fighting over our realm. They used humans as pawns and as things to feed off of. One side fed off of hope and fear and the other feasted on determination and failure. As their war raged on, they realized the realm was becoming unstable, and started to use humans as bigger pawns in their games, allowing the strongest on each side to back off and let the realm rebalance.
I had a feeling things didn’t get rebalanced.
No, not at all. The demons found a terrible way to claim most, if not all the realm. We stopped them. Well, me and several others. Tella figured out a way to remove them from the realm, fixing that issue and trapping them here.
That was great, but sounded like a lot of work. Why not just eliminate them? They were truly that evil from the sound of it, and not caring about what realms they eventually destroyed.
Tella isn’t one for killing any if it at all can be avoided.
Ah. I couldn’t blame her at all. Still, they were able to do things like this then… What would be their gain here?
Taking over this realm, which is small and meant for spirits. It would give them access to the realm we ripped them away from, effectively allowing them back into that world to resume as they pleased.
How could they be stopped in the first place?
Magic of course, though removing them removed the magic from that realm as well. Their existence and the powers they could gift brought magic into the realm in the first place.
While I didn’t want my home being ripped apart, I was disappointed I didn’t have magic my entire life.
Oh but you did. You just don’t remember. Try as we might, some souls always came back as guides, wanting to help the spirits cross. Of course you’d end up stuck here for some time, but you and many others never failed to guide many peacefully to the otherside.
What? How could I do that?
You befriend and encourage the troubled souls around you. You’ve already started and you’re hardly fully trapped here.
Will I make it back alive?
It is hard to say. The demons and angels will do their worst and try to stop you. I don’t know what tricks they have, and sadly, in this form, I cannot make sure you’re fine in your home realm.