Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

  *

  Barsch awoke, feeling worse than he had ever felt before. His body ached, as if he just run a hundred miles in a single night. Sweat coated every bit of exposed flesh, while goose bumps covered the rest. He could still remember the dream, in perfect detail. Always, the dream faded immediately after he woke, and only bits and pieces would be left behind, but this was different. He could remember floating in the void, watching the sphere's materialize... and the glade.

  Barsch tried to stand, but the image of the man with crimson eyes weighed him down. He could still feel remnants of the hatred he had felt, and it made him want to scream. Finally, the dream started to fade, slowly at first, but becoming quicker by the second. The void, the spheres, the man, everything became a vague, indistinct memory, but there was one thing that remained. Barsch glanced down at his trembling hands, expecting to see them turn into paws before his eyes. He ran his fingers through his midnight-black hair, praying that it had not become a long, shaggy mane. He had been the Beast, and it had been him, united in their shared hatred of the man with crimson eyes.

  Trying to dispel the memory of becoming the Beast, Barsch turned to his side. Although there was no way to tell exactly how long he had been asleep for, he estimated that it had been at least two hours. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he managed to crawl out of his sweat-soaked bedding. Standing up, he surveyed the room, looking for anything that might suggest danger. Finding no abnormalities, he tip-toed over to where Alza slept. He was mindful of waking her or Kingston, who had taken up a space at the opposite end of the room. Leaning down, he studied her sleeping face. It was an errant feeling which had led him to her, a feeling that he had to make sure she was still there. From the dredges of his memory, he recalled something.

  “One bond of blood, one of desperation, together they bind us for eternity...” Barsch could not recall who had said it, but it sounded as if it was about something important. Leaving Alza's side, Barsch crept over to Maloch.

  “Maloch? I think it's time,” he said, softly.

  The re-mech's answer was immediate. “It has been one hour and fifty-six minutes since you fell asleep, but I believe that I should overlook that in this case. Thank you Barsch, this will be a good opportunity to charge my battery core.” Quieter than would have been thought possible, the re-mech stood up, and silently moved to the other side of the room. Barsch dropped down, taking Maloch's place by the door. From there, he was able to quietly observe both Kingston and Alza, noting that the old man seemed to be in the middle of a nightmare. Straining his ears, Barsch could barely make out, “I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry.... please, don't make him suffer because of me...” It sounded personal, so Barsch leant back and did his best to block out the old man's voice.

  Meanwhile, a few feet away, Alza was having a most unusual dream...