by J E Mueller
Sighing, I finally took a seat across from the duo. “Okay… Ummm, I guess you said I’m some form of Dreamer? How do you know that?” I didn’t like the answers so far, but I had no way to argue with them so I’d give myself a bit of time to process things, at least.
Mare smiled widely. “Well, that is where the next big set of fun answers come in. Everyone here has a different sort of magical powers.” When I raised an eyebrow she just laughed. “Yes, everyone. Even you. Anyway, I am considered a Tracker. As a Tracker, I can follow three different types of trails. I can follow the souls here, creatures, and Dreamers. Everyone has a different sort of feel to them, like a magical scent. It’s pretty neat. Souls are kind of like candies, sweet and alluring. Creatures have more of a musty feel to them. Dreamers, are…” She looked at me thoughtfully, “Really the only words that come to mind are sparkles. It’s weird, it’s different, but it totally works.”
“Right.” I had no choice but to take her word for it since I obviously did not have this gift. “So how does one determine what ‘magic’ they have?” I crossed my arms tightly, wishing it did more to make me feel better.
“There is someone who literally has a gift to tell you what your gift is,” Clove replied.
“That seems like a waste of talent.” If that was all I could do, I’d be bored.
“It’s not all they can do.” Clove laughed. “Magic comes two-fold. There’s a basic gift, like Mare is a Tracker and then another gift that is more offensive or combative like swords or magical fire.”
I nodded slowly, well that was less boring. “So, I need to find someone to tell me what I can do, then?”
Mare nodded excitedly. “Exactly! It’s really that easy, so let’s see who’s here to help…” She and Clove turned to take in the room and its current inhabitants.
Clove seemed to find who they were looking for first. “Kaden! Come here a moment, will you?” She called loudly.
I was surprised by her loudness, and her rather rude, demanding tone, but no one else looked bothered or even surprised. Kaden turned out to be a rather lanky ginger, who might have been a couple of years older than myself. He seemed rather annoyed by being called over.
“I heard from Lems we’ve got a Dreamer, so why do you need me?” His tone said it all. This was pointless because I’d wake up and forget.
I wanted to just wake up and be back home, but something in my gut told me that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Mare went from rather happy to angry in a moment flat. “Dreamers can be here seconds, days, weeks, or years. You do not know if she’ll come out of what happened to her or not. Judging isn’t fair.”
Clove nodded. “Anyway, it takes you what? Thirty seconds? What does it hurt you?”
It was that easy? Why was he annoyed, then? Maybe it was just Clove being bossy.
Kaden shrugged. “Could ask you the same.” He didn’t give her a chance to say anything back before turning to me. “Well Dreamer girl, I’m Kaden.” He offered his hand to shake.
Not wanting to be rude to him, I accepted his hand. When his hand touched mine it was like a harsh zap. I yelped as the jolt quickly surged through me. “What was that?”
Kaden shrugged. “How it works. One zap, one answer. Well, usually.” He shrugged again and looked at Clove. “I’ve no idea.”
Usually? This place was going to give me another headache and the first one was hardly gone.
Clove squinted at him as if she could squeeze more information out of him. “Pardon?”
“Exactly as I said. I have no idea,” Kaden responded with a shrug and headed back to where he was originally sitting.
“So, what just happened?” That might as well be my new catchphrase.
Clove glared at Kaden a moment longer before turning to me. “Either he doesn’t know, or he doesn’t want to say. One would be an odd first, even for a Dreamer. Kaden isn’t that incompetent. The other means he could be a sleeper agent and working with the other team. The longer you’re out of the loop, the less help we have.”
I didn’t want to say that I hadn’t really joined her team. I hadn’t really thought about it, honestly. I mostly didn’t want to find out what creature was lurking about and the other alliance seemed scary. I shrugged the alliance thoughts off. At least it was unlikely I was some sort of anomaly.
“Whatever is going on, I bet Sans would know,” Mare commented simply.
I really didn’t want to get my hand zapped again, but I was curious to see how things would turn out. There were several layers of drama here, and if I was stuck here, I should at least have some idea of what was going on.
Clove nodded. “I have no idea where Sans is. Maybe looking for relics?”
Mare cleared her throat. “So, what’s the plan, commander?” I could see her wink at me while Clove wasn’t looking. Apparently, the bossy thing was, in fact, common.
“Track Sans.” Clove nodded.
Mare stood up and started to head toward the hallway. Since Clove got up and followed, so did I. This would be interesting to follow.
The hall lead to a series of rooms. Most of the doors were open and I could see several bunks crammed into each room. There wasn’t space for clothes or belongings, but considering how we possibly ended up here, I guess that wasn’t actually necessary. It made my chest hurt to think of, though. Would I ever see home? More importantly, how was Melly?
Mare entered a room, walked over to a bed, and picked up the pillow. Holding it, she closed her eyes and seemed to be concentrating.
“Tracker stuff?” I asked Clove softly.
Clove nodded, not taking her eyes off Mare. “Yeah, Tracking works best when you have something you can pull their magical energy off of. So, a recently used object is great, or as close as you can get. Though Mare can track just about anyone as long as she has met them.”
“Really?” That sounded impressive.
“I’m just that good.” Mare gave a lopsided grin as she tossed the pillow back on the bed. “Though honestly it is a lot harder and slower without a source to start with.” Mare moved to head out of the room and I let her pass.
“Did it take a lot of practice?” I was honestly curious if it was all magic based or if work and talent were involved.
“I wouldn’t say a lot.” Mare shrugged as she lead the way back to the painting, which was blank on this side. “But it did take practice. I’ve been here somewhere just over two years, so I’ve had time to get good.” With that, she stepped through, as did Clove.
Chapter 3
I hated how this thing worked, but I wasn’t too sure if they’d wait or leave me behind. Maybe being left behind would be better, safer. I wasn’t sure if I’d get any answers if I hesitated and didn’t go with. So, carefully at first, I pushed myself through the jam-like substance and came out the other side.
The two started walking right when I came through. “You’ve been here two years?” I said, continuing the conversation.
“Yes, and Clove has been here what three? Four?” Mare glanced toward her friend.
“Somewhere along those lines.” Clove shrugged, not looking interested in the line of conversation.
I considered not pestering her, but my want for answers was stronger. “So when does one cross over? Do restless souls just wait eons here for some reason?” Well, that would certainly suck, but it seemed doubtful.
“When they die. Again.” Clove laughed. “The whole restless soul thing gets taken care of by giving us this sort of final quest. We have another chance to live and do things on our terms, just in a bit crazier of a world. There’re creatures to fight, artifacts to find, and all sorts of weird mysteries in this place. I suppose that’s enough, and those Creators did make it a hard place to survive for long periods, so the few of us that have been here years have had to get very good at what we do.”
“Why doesn’t everyone just stay in that safe zone?” I’m sure there had to be a reason, aside from boredom. Who wanted to die, again?
>
Mare gave a sad laugh. “Simply because you can’t. You can spend up to forty-eight hours there before it will magically warp you to another part of the house. Some places are much tougher to survive in. The way around that, of course, is to leave for at least an hour and then come back. Most go and grab food. Not that it’s actually needed, but it feels good to do something that was once so normal.”
I nodded slowly. “I do remember that. The creatures being tougher depending on where they are.” Good thing I read that dream journal last night.
Clover and Mare paused to look at me.
“What?”
“I thought you were new,” Mare replied simply.
“Sort of. I don’t remember much, but I had been reading my dream journal last night and several things from there make me believe this was the place I had been visiting occasionally.”
Clove motioned for us to continue walking. “That’s not unheard of. Just a bit strange you’re so reluctant to believe if you remember even some of it.”
“Psh, a dream verse something I can actively feel? I’m not about to just jump into the center of the lake and hope not to drown.” Of course, I was hesitant. What a silly thing to say.
Mare laughed. “Now that, I believe. This place is odd, even for a dream.”
“You must have boring dreams then.” Clove gave a sly smirk as they launched into a conversation about the weirdest dreams they had had lately. Apparently dreams and sleeping were still a thing here.
I followed silently behind them. I was more than grateful for the answers, but too much of this seemed… forced. Mare seemed to choose her words quickly, but they still seemed careful. I wondered why, but would wait until I could catch her alone to actually ask her that.
We wove down hallways, pausing here and there as Mare seemed to be listening or trying to magic away around things. Several times I heard strange noises and we’d take a different route. Mare would abruptly turn around and duck down a hall we had just passed and Clove didn’t seem at all phased or bothered by it. I just made sure not to be left behind this time.
While they were doing this to help me, I wasn’t sure they were paying that much attention to me. If I did run into a creature, could it kill kill me? What happened to a Dreamer when they were killed here, but still trapped here? Would I just die here and come back or would I die here and back home?
My brain felt like fizzling out as it tried to puzzle through the thought. I was about to ask, just to get that out of the way, when Mare froze midway through a hall. I pressed my lips tightly together, the sentence stilled on my tongue as I waited to see what was going on.
After several moments passed Clove looked impatient. “What is it?” she whispered harshly.
Mare waved at her to be quiet before muttering one word, “Agmon.”
It meant absolutely nothing to me but seeing the way Clove tensed made me certain I should stay silent.
Moments seemed to tick by painfully. Finally Mare spoke again, “I think there are four of them on the way to Sans.” Mare’s voice was hardly above a whisper. “We’ve some distance between us and the first one, and we can probably avoid it, but with the others there isn’t much of a chance.”
Clove let out a slow breath. “Is Sans alone or with a group?”
Mare looked off once more. This time I saw a slight green mist shimmering just above her skin before she spoke. “A group. They’re together, but if I remember the layout correctly, I think they might be trapped.” She held up her hand and the mist around her thickened a moment before vanishing altogether. “Either they’re working with the other group because of the situation they’re in or both groups happen to be trapped.”
“Lovely, Steel Oath is here too? Guess we might have to save them,” Clove scoffed as she crossed her arms in disgust.
I wasn’t sure how to take that in, but chose to ask the more important question first. “What is trapping them and how would we save them?” And by we I meant them. I was about as useful as a candle underwater right now.
“Agmon are odd nightmare creatures,” Mare whispered carefully as she relaxed her position and leaned against the wall. “They are rather tall creatures that normally don’t move very quickly. They feed off of magical energies, basically sucking the life force right out of you. After tearing you to shreds.”
“That doesn’t tell me much.” I repressed a shiver. I did not want to meet these things.
Mare gave an amused grin. “It’ll be easier to show you, and sadly you’ll have to see one to get answers. If we don’t help, Sans and crew will likely be killed.”
“And somehow you two are enough to save them?” I very purposefully excluded myself here.
“Yes,” Clove said, butting in without hesitation. “I am strong enough to hold my own against one of these things, and with Mare’s help, we can destroy one. Though, it will take time. Having to go up against several at once isn’t fun, but as long as it’s just two it’s possible.”
“Possible? Sure, I’ll pretend we’re badass enough for two.” Mare shook her head. “If we can just do one at a time we’ve certainly got this.” Mare pushed herself off the wall. “Shall we, then?”
“Of course,” Clove said, as if this was just another day to day activity for her. Maybe it was.
“What should I do?” I asked hoping that staying behind was the full answer.
“Don’t get in the way.” Clove shrugged.
Mare nodded. “That’s basically it. Stay back, and honestly I’d stay as much around a corner as possible. While they aren’t normally quick, I wouldn’t want to dodge away from a strike and have it accidentally hit you.”
“Sounds fair to me.” And perfect really. Stay back, observe. I had this on lockdown.
Clove motioned toward Mare. “Lead on, Almighty Tracker.”
“With glee,” Mare said, words dripping with so much sarcasm it was tangible.
Clove either didn’t notice or didn’t care. I couldn’t get a read on Clove at all, but it seemed like Mare did not want to be on this adventure at all. I could only guess they were continuing on with these plans since their own alliance was in trouble. Would they have tried and helped the other alliance if their own wasn’t at death’s door, or would they have been acceptable casualties? I didn’t know if I could truly align myself with a group that just left people to die. Or die again, as it were.
Mare’s hands suddenly glowed a deep purple and two short swords appeared, one in either hand. Clove’s did as well as and a jagged two-handed sword appeared in her hands. I just realized I didn’t know what Clove’s second gift was, and wasn’t sure if she meant to keep it hidden or not.
Ready, the two set off down the hall once more. I followed behind at a safe distance, letting them take the first turn around the corner, and then the next several moments before me so I could carefully peer around and scope for danger.
The creature was around the second corner, and I finally understood what Mare meant. I had no idea how to properly describe the thing that was slowly turning from a doorway at the end of the hall to face them. It was certainly tall and nightmare-ish as Mare described.
The creature’s bat-like ears just barely missed touching the ceiling. Its body was hunched and thin. Part of it was almost human like in stature, except where there should have been arms, giant blades took their place, going all the way to the floor. Its eyes were a glowing white, and I had no way of telling how it saw or what it was even looking at.
As I stared it shifted its body to fully stand facing the duo, bladed arms scraping along the ground as it moved. The Agmon tilted its head from side to side for a moment before it shifted sharply and seemed to be staring directly into my soul. I froze in place as the eyes turned an icy blue and then as black at the rest of its body.
The Agmon tilted its head back and gave a fearsome screech, forcing me to cover my ears. I was surprised to see the same reaction from Mare and Clove but they recovered quickly and moved to attack, only it didn’t s
eem to care.
Instead, the Agmon moved its bladed arms back and started to run down the hall toward me.
I didn’t hesitate to move and ran back down the hall and around the corner. I couldn’t remember the full route back and after two turns and a glance back I saw it was about to catch up to me. So, I did all I could think to do and tossed myself into a room and hoped there would be something to bar the door with.
There was a desk, and a few chairs I saw and instantly shoved in the way of the door. A moment later I heard the sound of scratching on the door. Those blades could easily make quick work of it, and I wondered if the light scratching was to just toy with me. It knew I was trapped. I knew I was trapped. Inwardly, I prayed to the gods and goddesses of old to give me a way out of this disaster.
Mirror.
Oh great. I was hearing voices again. Still, I looked around the room and saw a mirror hung on the wall. Next to it was a little bookshelf filled with books and nicknacks, but aside from that nothing else was in this room, not even a window. I took a slow turn and wondered how the room had light when not even a candle was lit.
Freaking magic world is how.
Sighing, I walked up to the mirror. Okay voice of insanity, why is the mirror important?
Because it is a door.
I took a step back from the mirror, surprised by the direct answer. Why was I startled from the mirror? The voice was in my head and there was nothing I could do about slowly going insane. Unless this voice was from someone telepathic. I suppose in a magic realm that was equally as likely as slowly coming more and more off my rocker.
I took a step toward the mirror and pulled on it, finding one side did come loose. Carefully, I swung it open and saw there was some space behind. It appeared to lead into a closet – a very small one at that. It was fairly dark and dusty and didn’t seem to have anything in it.
“What are you doing?”
I looked up, surprised to see Benz glancing down over a ledge.
“Um, I don’t know. Trying not to die?” I offered. The scratching on the door behind me was starting to get louder.