by Kim Merrill
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I never was one for sitting still, so I decided to explore the ship. While I did the words of the Shilonan Priestess kept playing over in my head. Plus I couldn’t get over how she looked just like the priestess in my dreams. I tried to remember if I had seen her somewhere before, and that’s way she was in my dreams, but as best I can recall my dreams and the holo were the only time I ever saw her.
What she said kept running through my mind. You will encounter danger; your lives will be threatened. What could that mean or was it just part of their ancient stories. Considering all that had happened, our lives being threatened was a real consideration. No one else seemed worried, not even Daniel, so I tried to just put it out of my mind, but I couldn’t. I finally decided it didn’t matter. I was already caught up in a whirlwind of Time Shifters and killer creatures. Worrying about it wasn’t going to stop whatever was going to happen.
I settled in a chair that engulfed me while I gazed at the distant stars. I thought about how soon, very soon, we would be near one of the closer ones. I thought about the priestess, and all that had happened over the past few days. And then I started to fall into a fitful dream filled sleep. In my dream…
I am watching some kind of gathering from far above. People from all different planets are there. Mr. Alset is there too.
The group I am with also has many different races from all over the known planets and some races I don’t recognize, maybe they’re from planets still unknown. Daniel is there but we don’t speak to each other. The ones at the gathering below can’t see us – don’t even seem to know we are there. Arguments are growing louder, people protesting that, while the gifts being offered are tempting, it is wrong to lie or cheat or steal to get them. A tall grim looking man stands and holds out his hands to quite the crowd.
“Let us to show you what we offer,” he says in a quite voice that is still able to carry over the crowd, “then you can decide.” The group nods in agreement and starts to board a ship. As they do my group turns as if it were one to the meadow below us. There we find creatures of all types waiting for us. A winged dragon grabs me by his tail and places me gently on his back, Daniel climbs onto a Pegasus. There are other creatures too, lions and gargoyles – just about anything you could think of. The smaller creatures ride rabbits and dogs.
Some of the animals take flight. The rest, well their strides are so high and long it is as if they are flying. We travel along grassy, sunlit fields that give way to rocky misty mountains. It seems like we travel for hours or maybe it’s just minutes. Time is funny in dreams.
We arrived at a building made of intricately carved rocks and glass. Even at our far away distance we can see the group that came in the ship being led into the buildings. They are place in chairs that are hard yet, lean for enough back like a dentist chair.
A teeny blue ball is given to each of them and they are told to place it against their temples. As they do the ball begins to glow red and pierce into their skin until we can no longer see it. Then they sleep. Hours or minutes, again I’m not sure. When they open their eyes again the same tall man who spoke before tells them the things he wants them to do. They all agree that they can follow the desires that came from the darkest corners of their heart. That it is OK to lie and to cheat and to steal, if it is for something you really want. The groups I am with glance at each other with alarm. We all knew – the dark side had won.
I woke with a start. For a moment I forgot where I was. That same disoriented feeling I would get after my dream of the priestess. I sat for a while trying to figure out what the dream meant, but I couldn’t. The dreams ominous revelations frighten me and nothing seems to be able to shake that fear.
