Dreamer's Melody

by J E Mueller

  I gripped Benz’s arm tightly forcing him to both acknowledge my fear and look my way. Leaning several paces behind us was that bat creature acting as if it hadn’t moved an inch.

  Benz sighed. I could feel him let the illusion around us drop. “A Nightwing.” He whispered. “It’s really just an oversized bat and tends to leave bigger groups alone.”

  We weren’t a big group though. “What can it do? Is it the thing you mentioned already?”

  Benz nodded. “It is. It’ll just likely follow us and be a pest.”

  “Is there any more bad news with it?” It didn’t seem right that this thing was so useless.

  “Well, it lives off of blood so that’s pretty bad. Oh and it can probably drain us dry in about three minutes.” Benz shrugged. He didn’t seem bothered.

  “Then why aren’t you even pretending to be scared?” I did not like the thought of losing all my blood.

  “Because I have a sword, you have a bow, and we’ve got this,” he replied calmly.

  “You think we can take it on?” He sounded far too confident.

  “I have before. It doesn’t like swords. This thing cannot get within my personal space to do enough damage. If it wants to attack us, it will try to deafen us first. We don’t need to hear to fight, though it is very disorienting.”

  “Is there anything you haven’t done?” I sighed.

  “Stayed on for a shift with the Watch. Now those people are a legion of their own.” He chuckled. “Let’s go. It will probably keep following us.” Benz waved his sword. “If it does anything weird, I’ll just kill it.”

  “Why don’t we just kill it now?” I asked, glancing back at it before turning to move forward again.

  “Because it’s annoying to kill, so why bother when it’s being harmless?” Benz shrugged as he continued on.

  I glanced back but didn’t see it anywhere. “It’s gone…” The surprise and confusion evident in my voice.

  Benz glanced back and cursed. “Let’s hurry.”

  It was almost too late when I turned and saw a clawed hand stretching out for me. With a small shout, I dove out of the way, tripping ungracefully over myself before landing hard on the ground.

  Benz was on it, cursing as the creature dodged his attacks. I could see it move, but still I couldn’t hear it. It didn’t need an ear-splattering scream to throw us off, and its front claws were much more fierce than Benz described. This one was different. Of course, it was. That would really better sum up our luck. Unless of course Benz didn’t do a great job remembering how to describe it.

  Quickly, I tried to get up and aim my bow. The Nightwing, or whatever it actually was, kept moving too fast for me to pin down. Any time I was ready to let loose, Benz would suddenly be in the way.

  This creature knew exactly what it was doing.

  That was when a screech came from the direction we were heading. Something so loud and piercing I was forced to drop to the ground and cover my ears. There we go. That was the one Benz was thinking of. I turned just in time to see a creature more my size try and fly at me. I whacked at it with my bow and tried to take on a stance and aim at one of these things. Everything felt shaky for a moment before I could steady myself and get a good lock on the new one. I missed my hearing already.

  Just as I fired my bow, I felt something pull my hair, causing me to crash to the ground and grab my shoulder. The claws of the first creature dug in deep as it tried to lift me and failed before Benz slashed its arm.

  That was something I could have avoided seeing. I tried to block the image of spraying blood from my mind and glanced back over to Benz as he tore into the wing with his sword. It looked like the creature screamed with its mouth agape, fangs freely showing. I was grateful not to hear any more of it as Benz drove a killing blow into its gut.

  Turning, I saw the smaller one struggling to get back up, an arrow in its upper chest. I aimed for its skull and let loose an arrow. The creature fell backward, twitching for a few seconds before laying motionless on the ground.

  Hoping the worst was over, I stayed on the ground, letting myself breathe for a moment.

  Benz sat down next to me. After a moment, he nudged at me and pointed to my shoulder. It stung. I couldn’t just shrug it off, but what was there to do? I gave a half-hearted smile instead. It looked like he sighed before he shrugged and pointed at his ears.

  I wasn’t sure when either of us would have hearing again, but I was more than willing to rest a moment and recover.

  I just nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder. This adventure was already too fun. At least there were, so far, no spiders for this part of the tunnel. We could do this.

  It seemed to take ages for some semblance of hearing to return. Once it did though we were on the move again. The tunnel stretched on and on, but seemed very empty. Even my extra vision showed nothing.

  “How much longer do you think?” I finally asked.

  “Maybe ten minutes? I don’t know. How long have we been walking? Six years? Seven?” Benz made a tired sound caught somewhere between a sigh and yawn. “I’m honestly surprised we didn’t have much trouble. I hope the others are doing fine.”

  “They’ve got things to do. I’m sure they can handle it. We really have no choice but to believe in them for now.” I tried to shrug, but my shoulder stung too much. I bit my lip to hold in a hiss of pain.

  “Is that a fancy way of saying we’re fairly doomed if they can’t?” He laughed without humor.

  “Maybe.” I had no idea what the end result would actually be, but if I found my sister it would be worth it.

  It wasn’t much longer before we could see light up ahead. Once we were out of the tunnel the forest stretched out around us. A gravel path wound its way into the woods and out of sight.

  “Have you been to the Watch?” I asked as we carefully followed the path. I switched my vision in and out but nothing was too close.

  “Eh, not since I lost my Dreamer status. It’s really been forever. I’m not sure how much has changed or whatnot, but yeah….”

  “Sweet. This is either going to be great or terrible. Probably terrible.” I switched my vision and checked around us again. “People aren’t much further away, thankfully. Maybe. They look like people.”

  “Guess we’ll approach with caution and hope things don’t suck.” Benz’s eyes followed to where I was looking.

  I sighed. “Maybe one of us should approach them first? Or will they be fine with two people coming out of nowhere?”

  Benz considered it for a moment as we paused in our tracks. “I think it’ll be fine, though we should probably not go straight up to them. You know, give them some distance, a moment to acknowledge us first.”

  That seemed fair. We didn’t want to surprise them.

  Chapter 26

  The trees made the snaking path seem to take longer. We probably could have cut through the forest, but neither of us wanted to run into potential traps. If I were living out here, I knew I would certainly set dozens of traps and alarms to help keep me safe.

  Finally, we exited the woods into a rather good size clearing. In the center was a small shelter built up high into a large tree. A deck wrapped around it and there was a single staircase down, though it looked as if there were some hand holes in the tree for climbing up and down that way.

  We took a few steps into plain sight and stopped to watch the few people walking around. A few were gathering things like wood and plants while others seemed to be patrolling the area. We could see five total.

  A whistle from the shelter was echoed by those walking around. A moment later, a few responses differed and then someone could be heard coming through the forest toward us.

  Benz gave a wave as a man came into sight.

  The man’s hair looked like he had cut it recently himself. Brown pieces stuck out at random angles. He waved back and frowned. “Now there’s someone I haven’t seen in years. What’s a house dweller doing outside?”

  Benz gave a
small laugh. “Asher, this is Remi. We’ve got an odd situation and we know her sister ended up out here. She wanted to find her.”

  Asher’s frown deepened, getting straight into the matter at hand. “How could you know such a thing?”

  Benz glanced around as he sighed. “It’s a bit of a story, can we move out of the woods first?”

  Asher shrugged. “I suppose. It’s safe enough here, though.” He motioned for us to follow and lead us to the base of the giant tree in the clearing.

  Benz leaned against the tree as he began his story. “To put it simply, we fucked up, and badly.”

  “Ah, this is going to be a good story isn’t it?” Asher gave a lazy smile as he crossed his arms.

  “Depends on your definition of good.” Benz shook his head before quickly diving into the tale, starting with his own beginning and what happened to the Creators, who he believed was involved with the imprisoning of them, and leading into what was happening now. “So, Marella knows that Remi’s sister is here.”

  “Well, it’s entirely possible. We’ve had three new people join us. What’s her name?” Asher looked over at me, accepting the story without question.

  “Melody,” I readily supplied, eager to find out for sure if she was here.

  Asher nodded. “We do have a Melody, so it is likely this is the same person. She is out on patrol with a group. A very standard patrol, so no worries. She will return soon. Now, we have a bigger concern though. These demon and angel creatures are trying to spread their influence. Melody has mentioned dreams, which is always their way of luring in victims.”

  Asher started to pace as he thought aloud. “They corrupt things in their own way. Pushing souls this way and that to feed off their energies. If they had their way, they’d feed off the world until it was dead, and then leave for another. They’ve been securely trapped here so as to cause far less harm. Of course, we’ve discovered where these creatures are locked away ages ago and do our best to keep others away from them, but we haven’t the people to watch over that area all day long.”

  “That would explain how I got in that mess in the first place. They must have led me around your patrol,” Benz considered.

  “Likely. It sounds we need to shift focus. If we can bring the Creators back, we can stabilize everything.” Asher seemed to have no issues changing focus from what they had been doing to a new mission. We might succeed after all.

  “We need to get rid of those creatures,” I stated, waiting to see how Asher would react.

  He nodded. “It’s naturally not that simple. Their magic is a good portion of what is keeping this realm alive.”

  “How do you know that?” Benz seemed surprised by the possibility.

  “The demon creature Marella is hard to get information out of, but it can be done. There’s a lot that would need to be done to be truly done with that, not to mention the Creator Tella doesn’t feel its right to destroy something just because it’s life purpose is to destroy.” Asher smirked, happy to show off the knowledge he had gathered over the years. “It is truly a messy situation.”

  “How can it be done?” I had to know.

  Asher’s smirk fell. “There would need to be another sacrifice. I’m not sure what would work in its place. Magical creatures aren’t something that can just be traded in for hopes and dreams.”

  “Maybe they can.” I considered it for a moment as I paced. “Dreamers have a lot of magic here.”

  “Thanks to the magic already here,” Asher pointed out, but not discouragingly. He seemed curious.

  “What if the magic from the Creators is enough for that? What if the magic that naturally builds from Dreamers could be harnessed and put back into the world here? I’m sure at this point many would like to change several things here, like adding a way to cross peacefully, so why not start changing things at every level?”

  “Fantastic. That might be the perfect start if it’s possible.” Benz nodded approvingly.

  “Now to find the Creators and ask,” Asher agreed, “How many have been found?”

  “Emmyth, Dani, Lydia, and we know Marella’s artifact is flying around out here,” I summed up, guessing we’d have to start with the one out here.

  “I know exactly what one that is too. We’ve seen a creature carrying something.” Asher let out an exasperated sigh. He scanned the clouds for a moment, causing me to look up and see nothing.

  “Well, what is it?” Benz beat me to asking, bringing the conversation back down to the ground.

  “Once the Creators were trapped, there was a noticeable shift. We may not have known at the time what happened, but we have seen the aftermath. Creatures can still be taken down the same way, but resurrection times are off, they can grow to bigger sizes, and they do hit back harder. We’ve adjusted accordingly, keeping track of every new thing. The biggest problem is the Nightwings growing enough to actually fly.”

  “So, it’s stuck on a Nightwing then?” I asked the obvious question.

  “Indeed,” Asher admitted, “and to make it worse, it’s big enough to actually pick up someone. We’ve injured it several times, but have not been able to take it down.”

  “Of course.” Benz gave a knowing nod. “At least we know it comes over here. We need to bring it down now.”

  “We’ll start planning when everyone returns,” Asher agreed. “Let me show you our little safe zone so you can rest.”

  “Is it really safe? We are technically outside,” I couldn’t help but ask.

  “Yes and no. Nothing is really safe out here, but we’ve built fake walls so Creatures can’t find the individuals who are sleeping,” Asher explained.

  Now that was a good idea. Benz was right, they knew what they were doing out here.

  Asher led us up the stairs and into the small hut. From the doorway, it looked more like a shack. There was a small table, so low to the ground you had to sit on the floor, and a few random chairs here and there that had been fixed with vines. Some were more vines than wood chair. Adaptability was not lacking here.

  Asher moved to the far wall and reached up to move a small frame away, revealing a switch. He moved further down the wall and repeated the process. After the second switch was flipped, the wall jutted out slightly and he slid it to the left, revealing the standard room of nothing but beds. Most of them were bunk beds.

  The room was dark, the only light coming in from Asher opening the door. The four people I could see didn’t so much as stir in their sleep.

  “You’ll be safe here, get some rest,” Asher assured us.

  Benz didn’t even hesitate to grab a bed and sleep. I felt less sure. “Let my sister know I’m here, please?”

  Asher nodded. “I will. I’ll get everyone up to date.”

  Accepting that was the best I would get, I headed to sleep.

  The room was dark but it wasn’t quiet. I could hear every movement around me. I did manage to fall asleep for a short time, but too soon a group did come up the steps. All their voices swirled into a loud babble and I couldn’t tell one apart from the next. Not that it mattered much. I wasn’t even sure how to get the door open again from this side.

  The loud hum of conversation from the group quieted down a bit as someone hushed them, and I noticed the people who were sleeping in here started to stir and get up. Thankfully, one slid the door open. I wasn’t sure if my sister was back yet, and thought it would be better to wait and see what was said despite the anxiety that gripped me.

  I hoped she made it back and I hopped she was okay.

  “Good, that’s about everyone.” Asher smiled, I could barely see him through the crack in the doorway.

  “What about the two sleeping?” someone asked.

  “Those two are from the main house, and that’s where we’re going to start this meeting off.” Asher instantly dove into Benz’s story. When it came to mentioning me, he skipped over my name and I wondered why. The best guess I could come up with was to keep everyone’s attention, including Melly. Witho
ut her knowing I was here, she had no reason to react to anything yet. “So, that brings us here,” Asher concluded.

  “So, that’s someone’s sister?” someone asked.

  “Indeed, and I know whose, but first things first.” Asher shifted their attention. “We will need a solid plan to bring down that creature. The flying Nightwing has been eluding us for far too long now.”

  “For that to work, it’ll help to know the gifts those main house people have,” someone stated. “They didn’t come for us to do the work, let’s include them.”

  “Very well,” Asher agreed as he slid to the doorway. I could hear Benz shift in his bed and get up while I just sat up. “Benz, can you come here?” Asher turned back to the others. “Melody, come here.”

  “What?” she screeched. “My sister?” I could hear her running as I stood up.

  I was barely on my feet when she tackled me with a hug, causing me to nearly lose my balance. “How did you even get here?” She sobbed into me as she held me tightly.

  I petted her head, unsure exactly how to start. “I’ve been here since the boat accident.”

  “I never thought I’d see you awake again.” Her voice was heavily muffled in my shoulder.

  My heart ached at her words. “I wouldn’t call this awake, but I’ve been trying,” I reassured her, petting her hair softly. “We just need to free the Creators and that should hopefully break the hold on us.” I wasn’t even confident in that, but at least it was something.

  “But why would they trap us here?” Melly asked, teary eyes meeting mine.

  I had no choice but to explain. “I used to dream of this place a lot, so I think it was natural I ended up here…” I admitted before continuing. “Sadly I think my refusal to help the demons and angels might be what got you stuck here. They were bitter I ignored them.”

  Melly frowned for a moment before it turned into a glare. “Those bastards. They couldn’t even figure out a way to convince you without bringing in emotional manipulation.”