I hadn’t been haunted by this dream since I had left home. I was standing again in the forest of branchless trees, shadowed by a sky that remained lifeless and dark. The girl was seated in the throne as always, smiling up at me.
“So now you know. . .” she whispered.
“Why have you been haunting me?” I demanded. “And who was that man in the dream earlier?”
She let out a soft laugh.
“Let me show you.” The girl stood as she always did and came to stand uncomfortably close to me. She lifted her cupped palms and held out the golden orb.
“No!” I grabbed her arm and thrust it downward, not wanting to hear the scream and see the shadow cloaked figure that the orb always brought. The glowing light bounced from her palm and across the forest floor, coming to a stop and pulsing feebly.
“Why can’t you just tell me? All that thing shows me is blackness with unseen creatures screaming.”
The girl turned her face upward to gaze at me. She looked as if she was in a deep and saddening pain. Those blue eyes...so innocent, so close... “But you asked. I was just trying to show you.” A diamond-like tear fell from her moist eyes and slid down her cheek. I felt slightly embarrassed for making her cry, and brushed the tear from her face, an act that surprised even myself.
Trying to be brave, I let out a soft sigh. “Then show me.”
She smiled and reached down to retrieve her orb. It pulsed brightly at her touch. I expected her to blow the orb to me as she always did, but instead she took me by the wrist and pulled me along, bringing me over to the throne, which looked so out of place in the dark forest.
She led me behind the golden throne and into the brilliant light emanating there. It enveloped us and I was blind, save for the eternally bright light filling my gaze. It felt as if we were descending, but I could not be sure.
It seemed like an hour passed but I was sure it had only been a few minutes when the light finally succumbed to the darkness around it and I was engulfed in blackness, alone save for the long fingered hand on my wrist.
“Don’t worry, I am here with you.” Her voice was calm and quiet as it drifted to me. And then I saw it, the figure that had always been there in the dream, indiscernible and huge. It neared me and I felt my heart pounding in my chest, attempting to break free.
A dim light flickered far away and I saw the cloaked figure approaching someone who lay on the ground shivering, propped up against the wall. The light grew slightly brighter and I saw that she was holding a large misshapen bundle in her arms. The creature I realized was nothing more than a man. He leaned towards her and his gaze grew dark with hatred.
A high cry rose from his throat, the one that had haunted my dreams for so long and I stumbled backwards from the fierce hatred in the voice. I would have fallen save for the bony hand that clenched my wrist tightly. The scream was the sound a wounded or dying animal would make, not a man.
“No! Kar, please don’t hurt them,” the woman pleaded desperately. The light grew and revealed a small room that surrounded the two beings.
“Don’t. Ever. Call. Me. That !” The man shrieked. The woman rose wearily to her feet shivering from exertion.
“What do you mean!?”
“You fool, Kat. I’m surprised you didn’t know by now.” He let out a wicked laugh and pulled his hood over his gentle young face, now contorted in rage. He yanked the cloak off and my gasp of horror echoed the woman’s. A tall man now stood there, completely different than the one who had moments before occupied the cloak. I stared; it was the man from my dreams, the man who had been holding the unconscious body of the pale girl.
“Pretty good transformation, eh, Kat?”
The woman called Kat looked more scared than I had ever seen a person before in my entire life. The light was intense now and it shone off the glistening sweat that covered the woman’s brow.
“How?”
I was standing back in the clearing of spear-like trees. The pale girl was sitting in her throne sobbing.
“Now do you see?” The horror in her voice filled me and I nodded weakly.
“That was your mother and father, wasn’t it?” It was the only explanation there was. The man who had revealed himself from under the cloak looked like a male version of the pale girl. Tall, anemic, big blue eyes, the only difference was that he had jet black hair.
“Yes. Those were my parents. That was the man in your last dream, the one who took me away-”
“Did he really take you away, did he hurt you?” I interrupted, an odd concern for her safety filling me.
She shook her pale head. “No. It’s just a reoccurring nightmare I have. I accidently showed it to you the last time I tried to reach you. . .” I felt an urge to comfort the girl but knew not how to.
“I still don’t understand why you’ve wanted to show me that all these years though…” I mumbled, relief flooding me as I realized the nightmare was over. Now that I knew its significance it could no longer plague me.
She lifted her tear covered face toward me. “I wanted you to see who my father was . . . you do know who that man is, don’t you?”
I nodded. “It was Gazenlag, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. That man is known as Gazenlag. He is an awful and horrible beast of a man. I am sickened to have him as my father.” She rose to her feet once more and walked over to me.
“I want to show you something else. I think you would like to see your family . . . Yes?” Excitement filled her voice and I nodded.
“Yes. I would like to know how they’re doing, but that’s impossible-”
A small odd smile crossed the girls face.
“Isn’t it?”
She shook her head. “Never.”
She grabbed my wrist again and pulled me along behind her through the forest. She was fast and I had to run my hardest to keep up. The night wore on as we ran through the musty woods, they seemed endless.
At last we reached a clearing where a small pool of water lay.
“Look.” She pointed to the pool. I approached it slowly and looked into it. My heart clenched from pain. The pool showed the dining room off of the kitchen. Father was standing over Dal who lay on the floor trembling, a bruise starting to appear on her lower left cheek.
“How dare you speak to me like that, Daldiana! You have no right!” He kicked her and my jaw clenched with anger. For the first time since my departure, I had thoughts of turning around to go home and help my family escape my father’s wrath.
The scene shifted in a blur of ripples on the pools surface. My sisters were in their room, gathered around Daldiana on the bed, tears pouring from their red puffy eyes.
“Dal,” Zora moaned, her words shaking with each sob, “what are we going to do? Pa is so horrible.” She clung to Dal tightly.
“We must do our best to help Mother get better and we must also obey Pa so as not to anger him further.” Dal spoke gently and the two younger girls nodded at Dal’s words. They were all three pale and gaunt faced, tear streaks riddled down their dirty cheeks.
“This is all Zavier’s fault!” Farah let out a small shout. It made me cringe inside. “If he had never left us Pa wouldn’t be so mad all the time.”
Dal looked down sorrowfully at the young and frightened girl. “No, Farah. It is never his fault. We must pray for his well being and hope he never returns. We will get by but I fear that if Zavier were to return the consequences would be devastating. Father is a mad man full of hatred and greed-”
The image faded and I could see the black rotten leaves lying at the bottom of the pool.
“That’s terrible,” the girl spoke from behind me and I shivered.
“I know it is. But you heard Dal. I can’t go back. . .” Even though I spoke the truth, part of me strongly denied it and I longed to return to protect my family.
The girl nodded solemnly. “Would you like to wake up now? I think you’re getting a bit wet.” She smiled.
I was confused. “Wet?”
She nodded. “It’s raining.”
My face must have shown my confusion for she laughed and grabbed my hand. “I’ll show you.”
The next instant, within the time it took me to blink, I was in a different forest, rain pouring down upon me. The forest looked familiar.
“Come.” She pulled me towards a clearing and as I looked through the trees I gasped. Victor and I lay on the ground, sleeping soundly as water gathered in puddles around us.
“Don’t ask. It’s complicated. Just go over by your body and you’ll wake up. Trust me,” she spoke gently.
I was too freaked out to say anything.
“Goodbye, Zavier.”
I ran toward my body and tripped in the water, landing on my knees. I looked back and saw the ghost-like figure vanishing in to the trees.
I woke up soaked and wet. Of course! It had to have rained! My mind raced from what had just happened to me. I sighed and looked over at Victor. He was shivering like a little baby but still asleep. I didn’t know whether to envy or disapprove of this deep slumber. I decided to go against wishing for it as I smacked him on the stomach and he groaned but still didn’t wake.
“Wake up, Victor!” I grabbed him by the shoulders and rolled him back and forth. “Wake up, man!” I was becoming desperate now. Was something wrong?! He let out a snort as he rolled a few feet away from me and a smug sleepy smile of slumber crossed his face.
“Oh that’s just cute, Victor, real cute.” Something gleamed in the moonlight and I saw a small vial lying in the leaves beside my knee. My heart raced as I picked up the small bottle, my odd dream dashed from my memory as fear for Victor consumed me. The label explained it all as I cleared the dirt that was stuck to it away. Sleeping potion .
I read the back and hit Victor. Eight hours!
“You’re so stupid!” I clutched my head in exasperation, not knowing what to do. There was no way I was going to wait out in the rain catching my death for eight hours but I wasn’t going to leave Victor either. Even though he’d brought this on himself and he deserved every ounce of rain that pelted him, I had to feel slightly sorry for the drenched bloke.
I grabbed his traveling bag and rummaged through it, pulling out a small leather wallet. Curiosity overcame me and as I opened it a picture dropped out. I quickly picked it up and realized it showed a smiling old man. He reminded me of Master Gordon and I realized it was probably Jahfar. The wallet was otherwise empty so I put it back in his overstuffed bag.
I pulled out a wooden case next. It was occupying most of the bag and I pried it open slowly. Inside was an assortment of small colored bottles. I searched through it, reading all the labels but obviously this had been intended for his own use and he probably figured that while he was asleep he couldn’t wake himself so had neglected to buy any antidote. I was on the second to last bottle when I saw it; a small drawer. I pulled it open and lifted the large bottle out. Cure All . Or so it said. Oh well, I’d find out soon enough. I read the back before pouring two drops of the green liquid on his upper lip. The rain joined the potion and carried into his mouth.
I closed the wood case carefully and placed it back inside his bag pulling the drawstrings closed. I poked him but nothing happened. I furiously wrapped myself up in the sodden oil cloak and threw myself back on the ground in a tantrum. When he woke up I’d be sure to kill him and give the idiot a piece of my mind!
“Zavier?”
“What!” I snapped harshly and flipped over glaring at the disturbed Wizard.
He yawned and looked at me dismally. “It’s raining.”
I just about exploded in rage right then and there. I stormed around the clearing, my teeth clenched as I kicked at the fallen leaves angrily. When I ended up kicking a stone I fell back on my back and whimpered. “Oh, Victor. Why do you take sleeping potions?” I looked over at him and my skin crawled.
“I don’t.”
I froze, both afraid and ashamed.
“Victor. . . I know you probably think I’m crazy. I understand completely if you do, but let me explain-” I quickly told him of the empty vial, the problem of him not awakening, and how I’d used the Cure All to wake him up. He nodded slowly as he packed his things then helped me to my feet.
“I don’t know how that vial got there, honestly.” He paused before holding out a hand. “Let me see it.”
I scooped the vial from my pocket and passed it to him. “Ah, see this dirt on it?” He shoved the blue bottle in front of my face. “It’s been there a while, it’s old.”
We trudged away from the clearing as my anger sizzled in the cooling rain. “Then why didn’t you wake up!?” I glared at him as he shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m just a deep sleeper, that’s all. A few more minutes and you would have woken me up.”
“Then what about the Cure All ?” I asked hesitantly. He grimaced.
“That wasn’t Cure All; I just used the bottle to house my . . . concoction . . . .” He glanced at me and I gave in.
“What concoction?” I dreaded the answer.
“Oh, just fermenting bat urine, that’s all.”
She wants us to move again. I know something is wrong. Does she not feel the influence of Him any more? He is so close. I scream a protest to Her but she is deaf to them and pulls me along anyway. It has been six years and four moons since the Beginning and I fear it is too late for Her. Why must They linger, can’t They feel my pain? Every day I care a little less about Him and my only concern is to follow willingly behind Her, yet I know this is wrong. Help me; I am slipping in further to a place beyond death. One of no return.
. While reading it I start to get this great picture of the uniqueness of everything you are describing, and I just want to see more. This is the only thing I would fix about this chapter and as details/imagery is something I am working on myself, I do not think I should give much advice on it.
