by Ramy Vance
Alex reached out to the dragon, focusing her thoughts and directing them toward him. The gist of the sentiment was, “Help!” As she sent her telepathic SOS, she flipped back onto her feet, pulled the psychic scythe out again, and slashed at Vardis, forcing the alien back.
He stumbled away from Alex. It was an opening and Alex took it, rushing forward and slicing at Vardis again, forcing him to retreat as he tossed up a psychic shield. Alex didn’t relent. She threw attack after attack at him until the alien raised his hands and screamed, sending Alex flying as the structure of the dream started to shift again.
This time Alex concentrated on where she wanted to go. She imagined the lab where she’d first seen Vardis hunched over a scroll, but this time, Alex made sure he wasn’t there.
The open sky transformed into the walls of the lab, and Alex was now standing in front of the table on which the scroll lay open. Vardis was nowhere to be seen.
Alex started reading. She had no idea what the scribbles on the page said, but she knew the meaning behind them. They were notes on the shard, on how it operated and how to destroy it. Alex was certain she’d remember all this once she got out of the dream. She’d be able to piece it together in the real world.
“What are you doing?”
Alex spun to see Vardis standing on the threshold of the lab. He raised his hands and powered up another psychic blast.
Before he could fire, the walls of the lab burst open, sending debris everywhere as Chine forced his way in, ether fire spouting of out his mouth as the rider ran to him.
Vardis projected a shield, blocking the fire.
Alex climbed onto her dragon’s back. “We need to get out of here! How do we do that?”
Chine’s eyes narrowed on Vardis. “It is his dream. We must wake him up.” With that, Chine barreled toward Vardis and snatched the alien and his shield in his mouth.
Alex leaped off Chine’s back and landed on his snout. She pulled out her scythe and started to hack at the shield the alien was trembling behind.
The shield burst like a balloon, and Vardis was suspended in the air for a second before he was consumed by the ether flames Chine fired.
Vardis screamed in rage and pain as he launched one more attack at Alex, a sort of psychic buzz saw. The blast hit her in the shoulder, and she toppled off the dragon’s back as she gripped her wound.
Alex hit the floor hard. She tried to get up, but she was tangled in something. She wiped her hair out of her face and saw that she was in her bedroom, on the floor, wrapped in her blankets. That was interesting.
When Alex finally made it out of her blankets, she winced in pain. She took off her shirt and saw she was bleeding from cuts on her chest and her shoulder. They weren’t as deep as they had been in the dream, but they were substantial.
Alex wondered if Vardis was going to be taking home any scars.
Chapter Four
Alex’s alarm went off, blaring loudly. She grabbed her dragon anchor and slipped it over her wrist as she stood. The pain in her chest and shoulder immediately got worse. Even though they were only surface wounds, they hurt as badly as they had when she was in Vardis’ dream.
She looked down at the wound across her sternum before gingerly touching it. There was a lot of blood. It was going to need to be taken care of before she left for her pickup to return to Middang3ard. There was no way her parents were going to let her out of the house if she was bleeding through her clothes.
Alex grabbed a robe from her closet and peeked out of her bedroom. No one was in the hall. She made a run for the bathroom across from her room and locked the door.
The medicine cabinet was always overstocked. Her father was something of a germaphobe and her mother was a worrier, always thinking of the worst-case scenario. That meant they not only had tons of antiseptic but also a robust first aid kit that would put most military medical units to shame.
Alex found the kit under the sink. The antiseptics were in the medicine cabinet.
Luckily, Alex had paid close attention to her classes that dealt with wounds in the field. The armor she wore while riding protected her from most weapon and plasma attacks, but there was only so far armor could go. Alex had found that out firsthand when her arm had been taken off.
The class had offered detailed explanations of how to deal with a variety of combat wounds, accompanied by a demo on a lifelike prosthetic. Alex had practiced more than anyone else after losing her arm.
Cuts and gashes had been the first level of injury they’d studied. Needless to say, Alex had practiced enough that disinfecting her wounds and dressing them herself wasn’t going to be a problem. That didn’t mean it wasn’t going to hurt.
She took a deep breath as she prepared herself for the sting of the alcohol, then tossed it on her chest and her shoulder, wincing and inhaling sharply as the wounds exploded in red pain. Then she dabbed them with one of the towels hanging from the sink before rinsing them again.
Once Alex was satisfied the wounds were clean, she opened the first aid kit and located a pair of latex gloves, a needle, and some thread. She put on the gloves and started with her shoulder, trying to ignore the pain and focus on the needle going in and out of her skin. She drew the thread tight and tied off the sutures. That was the easier one.
Next, she got started on her chest, following the same process, albeit slower than before, stopping from time to time to catch her breath before dousing the gash with more disinfectant and starting to sew again. It took her about thirty minutes; her instructors would have been impressed. The wounds had been closed very nicely. She could get the stitches removed on the base in a few days.
Then Alex bandaged herself, making sure to use enough gauze that if the wounds started bleeding again, the blood wouldn’t make it through the fabric of her shirt. Once she was done, she brushed her teeth and wiped herself down.
She went back to her bedroom, got dressed, and checked through the regular messages on her anchor. Apparently, there was a problem at the base, and the chauffeur who was to have picked Alex up wasn’t going to make it. She was going to have to walk to the meeting point designated by the base. Alex groaned in irritation. Napping in the back of a car sounded great. Putting strain on her body sounded terrible.
But she was also looking to see if there had been any updates about anything happening at the base. She still wasn’t certain if Vardis had been aware that she’d been in his dream. She only vaguely remembered what had happened.
Until it all hit, rushing back at her with the force of a tidal wave. Alex remembered everything: the fights, the shifting memories, all of it. Most importantly, Alex remembered what she’d read on Vardis’ notes.
The weapon had never been used.
All the destruction Alex had seen in Vardis’ memories had been done by the Dark One’s forces. That was only the beginning of what the Dark One was capable of.
Alex had heard of the situation on the gnomish planet. It didn’t seem to be nearly as bad as what Vardis’ people had experienced. With Middang3ard, the Dark One seemed more interested in absorbing and reprogramming the different races of the nine realms. This was the first time Alex had seen the flat-out destruction the Dark One was capable of.
Further, Alex had not expected the Dark One to be so ruthless. She had assumed there was meaning or desire behind the havoc he wreaked, but having seen streets full of dead people, she wondered if the Dark One was a psychopath with dimensional powers. No rational creature would delight in dealing out that much destruction.
Another thing Alex remembered was that the notes had included a way to stop the weapon.
Yet that was an odd memory.
She couldn’t think of how to turn off the weapon, but much like in the dream, she was certain she would know what to do when the time came.
That left Alex feeling unprepared and uncomfortable. She didn’t want to trust a vague notion, but there was nothing else she could do. Most of what she’d read she remembered verbatim, even though she
didn’t understand the alien language. Why was that part hidden from her?
Just because no one in Boundless had messaged Alex about anything happening at the base didn’t mean Vardis wasn’t suspicious. She messaged each team member individually, asking if they had seen or spoken with the alien.
Jollies was the first to reply. She let Alex know she and Vardis had eaten breakfast together, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. He was excited to get back to Middang3ard, implement the weapon, and finally get rid of the Dark One.
Alex carefully phrased her response, making sure not to give the pixie anything to worry about. Then she got dressed and went downstairs.
Both of Alex’s parents were in the kitchen, working on breakfast together. They looked up when they saw her, their faces grim for a moment before they each forced a smile. “You sleep okay?” Claire asked as Alex took a seat at the kitchen nook.
Alex shuffled the newspapers that were on the counter. “Yeah, why?”
“We heard you screaming last night. A lot.”
George came over and took a seat next to Alex. He hugged her tightly. “You know you can talk to us, right? We know everything you’re going through is kind of a lot. We’re always here for you.”
Alex caught her father looking at her robotic hand. She covered it with her sweater and took a sip of the orange juice in front of her. “Yeah, I know. There’s not much to talk about. We’re getting closer to destroying the Dark One, and once that’s done, life goes back to normal.”
“Is it dangerous? What you have to do?”
Alex thought about telling her parents the truth. Maybe this was the time, or maybe there would never be a time. Just because her parents were somewhat familiar with the workings of Middang3ard due to VR, it didn’t mean they were ready to deal with the rest of her life.
It hurt that she was hiding something from them, but she knew it was best. The worries that her parents could dream up in their heads were nothing compared to what Alex had to face daily. Best to leave them to their own devices.
Alex put on her best convincing smile. “Nope. This is the easiest thing I’ll ever do. And before you know it, the war will be over.”
George sighed with relief as Claire motioned for him to come back to the stove to give her a hand.
The rest of the morning was the most normal Alex had had for quite some time. She ate and joked with her parents as if there were no war. It felt like she’d never left, and she was starting to wish she didn’t have to.
When Alex had first gone to Middang3ard, it was to ride a dragon. Sure, she knew there was a war going on and had seen a bit of what it had consisted of, but it wasn’t the draw.
She couldn’t believe how naïve she’d been only a couple of months ago. She felt like a completely different person now. She had a whole new set of priorities, worrying about her team and the rest of the nine realms. Riding was incidental to fighting.
When they finished the meal, Alex helped clean up and do the dishes. No one talked much. It was as if the illusion of normalcy was over. Once the dishes were done, Alex was going off to continue fighting a war.
Afterward, Alex drifted into the living room, trying to memorize each detail. She’d grown up in this house and had only seen it once or twice. She didn’t want to forget how it looked.
Claire came up behind Alex and wrapped her arms around her daughter. “We love you, and we’re very proud of you.”
Alex squeezed her mom’s hand and said, “I know. I love you too.”
George came over and joined the hug. They stood holding each other for some time in silence, each of them no doubt trying to dream up scenarios where Alex came back home to them, unharmed and happy.
But the rider knew those were only hopes. She would have to make sure they came true. Otherwise, she was going to leave behind two broken parents in the chaos the realms would be in. She felt like she’d be more responsible for that pain than anyone else.
Chapter Five
Alex headed for the military base. The coordinates had been loaded onto her dragon anchor, and it wasn’t too far away. She was surprised she’d never heard there was a military base so close to her house, but it made sense.
Neither of her parents would have cared, and a few months ago, she wouldn’t have either.
The walk was interesting. Alex had only seen her neighborhood from a car, speeding off to her first mission.
She’d never walked down the street in a leisurely fashion and looked around. Simple things like that never failed to impress her.
Much of her life now was insane. She rarely got to stop and appreciate the small miracle of being able to see. For much of her life, she had existed in darkness, but here was a world full of light and beauty. It was something she needed to stop and appreciate more.
Alex took her time, intentionally ignoring the GPS directions her anchor gave that would have had her walking along main streets. She favored the smaller, more pleasant streets.
A cottage covered in pink and blue wildflowers like something out of a fairytale was extremely out of place in the suburban landscape.
An old man was sitting on the porch, playing fetch with his dog. The man was too old to stand to retrieve the ball from his dog, and the dog was too young to care.
Two young lovers were sitting in a park, enjoying a picnic and speaking quietly to each other.
When Alex saw those last two, her heart clenched. It had only been a day or two ago that she and Jim had been out on a picnic together. That had ended quickly enough. Since then, she’d hardly had a moment to share a word with him. She knew he understood. He was just as caught up in everything as she was.
She wanted to be out on a date with Jim right now. To be anywhere with him, doing anything other than the mission on hand. Something about this felt much heavier than anything she’d faced to date. Sitting down in quiet peace next to Jim would have been vastly preferable.
There would be time for that once the Dark One was defeated. They could go on to their normal lives. But what if there wasn’t a life for Jim and Alex after this? What if they’d only been brought together by the sheer ludicrousness of the war and, when it was over, they had nothing left? There had hardly been time to get to know each other in the past month.
Or maybe they knew each other better than Alex would admit. They’d been fighting alongside each other for months, in VR and in real life. They’d seen parts of each other that Alex didn’t even know existed within her.
Alex realized she’d stopped walking and was staring at the couple, who only now noticed her. She looked down at her anchor and continued walking.
Now that the war could come to an end, Alex entertained what life might be like after the Dark One was taken care of.
Was she going to go back to being homeschooled?
She couldn’t think of anything more anticlimactic, but that was what happened to everyone after a war.
Once WWII was over, her grandfather had come back to the States and started working at a tire shop.
Part of Alex felt guilty for resenting this idea already. She didn’t want to go back to living a normal life after experiencing what it was like to be a hero. That felt selfish, but Alex couldn’t ignore it. She’d found out she was a warrior. What would she do after the fight was over?
Alex remembered the Dark One’s words and promises.
He had said that he could make her and all of Boundless rulers of this world. And other worlds, too.
Ruling didn’t appeal to Alex, but the idea of continuing to be somebody who mattered stuck in her mind. She didn’t want to go back to being nobody.
Yeah, trust the words of a madman, Alex thought.
She didn’t know why she was letting herself entertain the idea. A bargain with the Dark One would be selling her soul, and she couldn’t really think that was an option after the atrocities she’d seen him commit.
Yet there was the fear.
Alex knew she had to destroy the weapon.
She knew what it was capable of doing to the world, to the nine realms.
Yet, if she destroyed the weapon, she’d be doing what the Dark One wanted. There had to be a way to destroy him along with the weapon.
As Alex turned the corner, she realized she was not only thinking in circles but also walking in them. She’d seen Vardis’ notes and sorted through his memories. If the weapon was used, it would be catastrophic. Unfortunately, nothing was ever that easy.
Alex needed someone to talk this through with, but all of her options seemed terrible. She focused her thoughts toward Chine. Hey, buddy, you there?
A rush of Chine’s emotions hit Alex as he answered, Dustling, I have been worried about you since the dream. Are you all right?
She knew Chine cared enough about her to worry, but it still warmed Alex’s heart. It was the same with her parents. Yeah, I’m okay. Still a little shook up about everything that happened. It was a lot to take in.
Your telepathy has grown so strong. I wouldn’t have thought you were skilled enough to project yourself into Vardis’ dreams, let alone call me into them as well.
What do you mean, call you into them? I just sent a message.
An image of Chine smiling the way only dragons could flashed through Alex’s mind. No, you did more than call me. You drew me from my own dreams into a dream space you and Vardis shared. Even among dragons, only our oldest and most skilled are capable of supporting a space with that many dreamers. I still am a little impressed.
Alex found she was in a park. She must have lost track of where she was going. Instead of setting out again, she walked over to a bench and took a seat. Do you think he knew we were in there? In his dreams?
Chine took a moment to answer. That is a good question. Generally, no, he shouldn’t have. What you fought within those dreams was not Vardis. It was a projection of his unconscious mind. But that is how it works for dragons and the rest of the sentients in the nine realms. Vardis is from a different dimension, so his mind might work differently than ours.
