Dreamscapes

by D. H. Quinn

  “Find my brother please.” Aleksander nods and begins to pull away but this time I don’t let him go so easily.

  “Do you remember when you asked if I wanted to stay close to you forever. I know it was a joke but the answer is yes always in any capacity.” I tell him. I pull him close, feeling insane passion and need in this moment. I kiss him hard and quickly and he returns the kiss just as desperately. We release each other knowing we have an audience and I watch him leave through the door. He doesn’t contain his smile as he leaves.

  “No wonder Jacqueline does not like you either,” Jada says as she walks over to me, a playful smile is present on her lips.

  I shrug, “do you think Jack really cares for him?”

  “She is capable of love, and he really is her type,” Jada replies. My face drops, the high from the moment dissipating.

  “We should go,” Kade announces, “Jada you know the location of the warehouse I told you about?”

  “Yes, I will bring everyone over shortly,” she nods.

  We find ourselves back in front of the boys’ house in no time and I regret having their house so close to our new headquarters. I want to bring this up to Kade but I already see droves of dream walkers entering the building. We leave the boys alone and head straight for the entrance of the warehouse. One of my warriors stands guard, his eyes vigilantly watching each passerby. He bows when he sees me and opens the door for us.

  “How is everything going?” I ask the warrior. Maybe if I engaged with my soldiers more I could further understand Arden’s feelings.

  “Good miss, the troops have eliminated over a hundred Mahrts in the city,” he stands taller, his chest puffing out.

  “Any Mares in sight?”

  “No miss.”

  “Good,” I say but it means nothing in the long term. Jack would use Mares when she needed to. “And on our side?”

  “Minor injuries, but we heal quickly,” he says with a dazzling smile that once again beams pride.

  “Good,” I return the smile and enter the building. A small crowd starts to form behind us and they follow me in.

  Inside, the place is pretty packed. The dream walkers here look rather normal and I am sure that is because they want to blend into the city. A quick glance around indicates that Jada is not here yet. Voices fill the room, some loud and boisterous, others timid and in hushed whispers. Some act like this is a party and others are clearly filled with doubt. Kade says something to me and I shake my head, unable to hear him.

  I see one of the boys from the group house, Brian wandering around as if he is patrolling. He wears a small sword attached to his hip. Kade pulls me through the crowd, leading to the back room that used to be the simulation room in the big red building.

  We enter and find a well-lit room of the same shape but it does not project anything you want. Ed and John stand inside the room, chatting quietly to one another. “How goes it?” Kade asks the two men.

  “We have a lot more volunteers than expected, we’d like to get them all weapons quickly and then we will go for Jack once we are ready, probably tomorrow. And Jada?” He asks.

  “She should be joining us shortly and her followers too,” Kade answers,

  “You mean these people aren’t hers?” I gesture to the door, indicating the rather intense crowd.

  “No, but her support drove them out,” Ed says.

  “Words out then, we don’t have much time. Kamari, we need you to make weapons and we will organize these people.” I nod and head out immediately with their consent, Ed follows me. The building is too full with the crowd now to hold the weapons so I decide to create an add-on building outside, an armory.

  Ed excitedly tells me about different design aspects and I create them one after another. Then he tells me about weapons to create, many unique ones with unique features and the pace of his mind whirling is almost too much for me to keep up with. Ed is very much an inventor but also a bit unrealistic. I don’t know who could wield a five-foot, double sided chainsaw blade effectively but this is the dream world after all. Wasn’t that what I wanted when Jack created her office.

  Once finished with his demands, dream walkers pour in and pick up weapons. A special requests line forms for me. Some are reasonable, wanting strength, courage and speed which I happily grant. One requests that he become insanely tall, I cannot control my curiosity and ask why. “Have you seen some of the Mares, they are incredibly tall and besides I could make a good look out.” I grant his request outside. Another one says his baldness impedes with his confidence and that if he only had hair he could fight. I grant this one with an eye roll.

  I am almost close to the end of the line but also close to waking up. The last thing I do at Kade’s request is to create 20 trainers who will teach the dream walkers how to fight. I make them extremely attentive and strong so that they may watch for those who aren’t ready for tomorrow. I am about to wake up when the phone in my pocket rings.

  The number comes up blank. I answer it anyway. “Kamari,” Jack’s voice comes through my speaker. My heart hammers in my chest. I walk away from the group of dream walkers and stand at the opposite side of the boy’s house to avoid anyone overhearing me.

  “Jack,” I say in a steady tone, hopefully disguising my fear.

  “I think it’s time you stop this,” she uses a tone someone would use to scold a child.

  “I think you need to rethink the choices you have made in life.”

  She laughs lightly. “And what would a human know about life anyway, you are all so ignorant of what you have.”

  “Is that what you think about Aleksander?” I snap.

  She laughs again. “And yet you act like you understand everything in this world. You’ve only been here for what, a month?” she asks mockingly.

  “Long enough to know that what you are doing to these dream walkers isn't right.”

  “Protecting them isn’t right huh?” she asks and I hear the irritation in her tone.

  “They are terrified of you and what you are capable of and don’t pretend you weren’t responsible for the Mares entering the city and those missing dream walkers.”

  “That was a horrible misfortune.”

  “And controlling the Mahrts and Mares to terrorize dream walkers and humans alike?”

  “Every bit of dream has a bit of nightmare,” she responds casually.

  “Not to mention the prisoners you keep.”

  “Prisoners?” She asks.

  “My brother, for one.”

  “Ah, you got the message, I have to protect myself. I haven’t hurt him yet and he is most definitely not putting up a fight against me,” she says somewhat huskily.

  “And Aleksander.”

  “Is that what he told you? That I was some monster taking advantage of him just so he could take advantage of you on the wall, poor him, in my bed every night,” she says mockingly. She’s trying to get under my skin and it’s working.

  “His sister, you used his sister against him like you are attempting to use my brother against me,” I say, feeling exhaustion hit me.

  “I just wanted to meet her,” she says innocently.

  “That’s not the truth.”

  “Does the truth really matter?”

  “Of course, it does!”

  “It doesn’t, because at the end of all of this I will be at the top, there will be less dream walkers in this city but that’s not a problem because more are always being created, and Aleksander will still be mine because he belongs here and because he truly has nowhere else he would rather be,” she says with clear hatred in her tone.

  “You’re wrong,” I say just as hatefully. The movement of waking up stirs within me but I hold onto this world tightly.

  “What? You will be on top?” She laughs. “It’s clear to me that you are letting power get to you. What you are so weak and pathetic in your waking world that you want to come here and take charge of everything. Just who do you think you are? There are millions of humans i
n this world, you’re not special.”

  “You’re telling me your story. Jada told me the power corrupted you a long time ago,” I jab back.

  “She’s with you then.” Her voice lowers.

  “Yes, she is.”

  “You think a jealous friend would only betray you so much, after how much she says she cares for you,.”

  “She didn’t trust you after you destroyed the council. She saw what you did was wrong,” I say.

  “The council was corrupted, my god you are stupid. And clearly blind to manipulation. It looks like you need to go,” she says and hangs up on me. Immediately I am rushed to the waking world.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I need all of this to be over. I need to be free from my constant fears. I need to return my mind back to the waking world, back to the real world. Jack was certainly right about one thing. I didn’t understand their world and once I fixed this, I would no longer want to be present there, I want to be free.

  Humans weren’t meant to exist there permanently. They wouldn’t survive emotionally. This thought makes me worry about Aleksander and if he could truly return after being present in the dream world so long. However, the dream world has no limits. In my mind, Jack is the only one who would know such an answer but she would never give that up.

  Something of significance hits me then, I cannot kill Jack, not yet, not at the hopeful end of this fight. I had a feeling many would not approve of this decision but if I tried to make her compliant, even though others believed it would not work on her, then maybe I could make her work for me. Another thought hits me, maybe she was right about something else, maybe having power is getting to me as well.

  I get through my day quickly and am grateful my work can sometimes be rather mindless. I take my dog for a long walk after work, letting him pull me along. I randomly bump into Liam. This shouldn’t be a surprise to me considering how close we live by each other and yet I am caught off guard. Honestly, he had been pushed so far back into my mind and I feel guilty about it. We did have a great connection.

  “Hey,” his head dips down slightly as he looks at me.

  “Hi, I am so sorry I didn’t get back to you, I have been busy with things and it slipped my mind,” the other thing that slipped my mind was calling the dream psychologist and setting up an appointment. It was too late now but I don’t believe I need to talk to her anymore. I wasn’t crazy, everything is real, Aleksander is real.

  “It’s alright. Is everything okay with you now?” His dog excitedly greets my dog but Liam makes his dog heel and sit.

  “Yeah,” I say with a small embarrassed smile.

  “Good, can I walk with you for a bit?”

  “Sure, but I am heading home soon, we have been out for a while and it’s getting cold,” I shiver for added emphasis.

  He walks me home at a rather quick pace. We talk causally and no matter how hard I try to have it come back, the connection that was once there is lost between us. This saddens me. He leaves me at my porch, with no kiss or even a small hug. It is for the best though.

  I head inside and prepare some hot cocoa with a tiny bit of marshmallows. It helps me feel relaxed and calm, focused and ready for tonight. However, too many side factors could interfere tonight. I don't know what Jack is fully capable of. I don’t know what Aleksander is going to do. I don’t know if I can truly trust Kade or Jada for that matter.

  I do know however that Jack must be stopped. I need to save my brother. I know that the dream walkers of the city deserve better. These thoughts rapidly propel me to a deep sleep. I can do this and I will do this.

  I awake outside of the boys’ house facing towards the warehouse. One of my warriors and a few dream walkers mill about. The warrior approaches me and he is the same one from yesterday however without the dazzling smile this time. “Miss,” he bows slightly.

  “Is everything alright?” I sense that it is not.

  The soldier swallows hard and struggles to meet my eyes, pain is present in them “there has been some causalities in our ranks. An invasion of Mares has begun and they overwhelmed some of us. His words are hurried, anxious to get back to the fight. I worry about the other dream walkers who are wanting to fight, who think going into battle against these monsters is a good and wise idea. But maybe they didn’t think that, maybe they just thought it was better than the alternative of living with Jack as their ruler.

  “I am so sorry to hear that. How can I help?”

  “We need reinforcements immediately, tons of them.”

  “Of course, the dream walkers are preparing now and,” I point to the warehouse.

  “Not those, we need more like us, stronger even.” I hear a distant roar that confirms this. “And maybe some other types of weapons and gear,” he adds hesitantly.

  “Of course,” I close my eyes and quickly create an army ten times the size of my previous one. I consider their weapons this time, giving them all types of powerful guns and grenade launchers, I create some snipers who are guaranteed to get a head shot. I create indestructible tanks and drivers as well. All powerful enough to kill a Mare easily. I add unreachable limits on their strength and speed and feeling inspired, I create some giant warriors.

  The warrior thanks me with a bow when I am finished. “This will certainly be useful,” he says and runs off with his fellow comrades. Something dark in the sky, whizzes by quickly. Kade, Jada and Ed now stand in front of the warehouse, looking over at me. I approach them.

  “So, you have heard,” Jada smirks slightly. Her expression annoys me.

  “Clearly, the city is under attack.”

  Kade nods. “We are as ready as we can ever be. While your army handles the city, we will go directly for Jack.”

  A screech and then a loud boom comes from behind us and the ground rattles. “Good thing we know where she is,” Jada says, her arms crossed close to her chest, her gaze fixed sternly behind me.

  “Where?”

  “The carnival, really the only place she likes in the city. We created that place together,” Jada replies somewhat angrily. “With the help of your kind of course.”

  “I can’t believe she would just hide down there as she unleashes this on the city.”

  “I can,” I say as another boom occurs and the ground shakes even more.

  “I will pull everyone out,” Ed walks into the building. He comes back in a few seconds with an orderly line of dream walkers, geared up and ready to go. There are clearly less dream walkers than before and I am worried the Mares invasion may have stopped our attack on Jack before it has begun. My elite trainers stand at the front, heads held high, showing no fear but I can’t say the same for the dream walkers who stand behind them.

  “Are you sure they should be going with us, I mean she has to be the most protected. I could have some warriors out in a few and,” I whisper to Kade but he shakes his head.

  “They want to do this, they love this city and they want to fight for it, just give them a chance,” Kade says as he turns around to talk to Jada. The ax I had given him is firmly strapped to his back. I close my eyes and quickly create some warriors who blend in with the crowd.

  “Still doing that are you?” I open my eyes to Arden’s face. I also notice Gavin standing behind him. Gavin smiles at me and then disperses into the crowd.

  Arden’s arms hang limply at his side as I grip him into a hug. I release him quickly. “What are you doing here?” I ask him then add, “it’s dangerous, you shouldn’t be out.”

  Arden smiles, “I can handle danger thanks to you, but this isn’t about our friendship, Jack is officially harming the city and I can no longer stand by. I wish it did not come to this point but I have no other choice.” Kade calls for everyone to fall in line, to get ready to move.

  “Well, I am glad you are here.” Another boom occurs and it feels closer this time. “Hold on,” I tell him as all the others get in line. I run into the boys' house and check on them. I find them all bundled under the gaming table. I qu
ickly make the house sound proof so that the sounds no longer overwhelm the boys. I tell them to stay inside until I return. Then I exit and secure them with a wall around their house that will not let Mares pass through.

  The army marches off and we are some of the last stragglers. “Arden, since we are alone, I need to talk to you about something,” I say quietly. Arden nods for me to continue. “I need Jack alive and in my grasp at the end of this.”

  “Was that not the plan?”

  “Not for Jada at least, she is bent on eliminating Jack completely.”

  “I’ll help you, in whatever way.”

  A dream walker approaches us. “They are looking for you at the front,” she informs us.

  Arden and I pick up the pace and pass the others. Once at the front, we see the chaos at hand. We have landed directly at the location of the persistent booms, a warrior who looks a bit like Rambo fires off a grenade launcher. He aims at a black streak in the sky. Warriors stand still on the ground, readying their weapons.

  The black streak swoops down and obliterates half of the warriors, shredding them into messy bloody pieces. Snipers are placed along the roof aiming at it furiously and it should die but it isn’t because I gave them the ability to head shot anything and this clearly did not have a head. Besides that, it shape shifts constantly as each bullet comes at it, and easily dodges.

  “This way,” Jada tells us. We are heading towards a darkened alley. She sees the hesitation in my eyes. “This will end with Jack.” She reassures.

  “I didn’t prepare them,” I say sadly as another part of my army falls to pieces. Our group moves quickly following Jada and clearly wanting out of this mess. I don’t walk away from it, I walk forward.

  “Kamari,” Arden says as he stands just a few steps behind me. I create quickly, making anything and everything I can think of. I see the soldier with the once dazzling smile and the streak rapidly approaching him. I create faster than ever before, exerting all of my energy. The streak finally turns and descends towards me, attracted to my humanness, to my energy.