by Rain Oxford
“Because the castle is still under attack!”
“You mean that five Sjau, your family, Roulis, Magnus, and Merlin couldn’t beat my brother and a ten-year-old girl? I don’t believe it. This is a dream.”
He groaned. “Why do you have to be so stubborn?” He suddenly had a knife, which he tried to stab into my heart. I dodged fast enough to avoid a mortal wound, but his blade pierced my arm. The pain was instant and caused me to make a strange sound between a yelp and a gasp.
He thrust the knife again and I blocked instinctively… with my arm. The blade sliced right through my sleeve and skin. I switch my wand to my left hand and pointed it at him. “Attack!”
Nothing happened. My magic didn’t respond at all.
And then I was stabbed in the stomach… but it wasn’t from Mason. I jerked awake to find Kirin poking me in the stomach with his horn. “Stop that! It hurts!”
He neighed and stuck his tongue out.
“I know it was just to wake me up. Thank you for that.” Pain pulsed from both injuries on my right arm. “Will you please heal my arm?”
He neighed and sneezed on me, covering me in glowing, brightly colored glitter.
“Oh, gross!”
He stomped his hoof and turned.
“Wait, my arm hurts. Please!”
He walked away.
“I’m sorry! It really hurts though. Can you just heal it a little?”
* * *
Kirin stopped playing after a while and healed my wounds. I was disturbed by the fact that I had fallen asleep so easily and how I didn’t immediately know I was dreaming. It made me question if I had really met the assassin at all.
We eventually got around the chasm by finding a spot that was narrow enough to jump. At nightfall, we came to a village and Kirin slowed to a light trot. I didn’t argue that we needed to hurry, because I could barely sit up. My entire body hurt. I needed food, water, and rest. At least I could get two of those things at the village… except that I didn’t have any money. All my gold was in my bag.
Villagers closed their doors and shutters as we passed. “Maybe we should get out of town,” I said as a strange silence grew. Kirin shook his head and stopped in front of a tavern. Cautiously, I got down, patted Kirin’s side, and unhooked my staff from the saddle. “Be safe. If something happens to me, find Merlin.”
I opened the door, stepped inside, and froze. Everyone inside also froze. The room was dark and overcrowded. All of the tables and chairs were cluttered behind the bar, which was piled high with bottles and mugs. There were about three dozen people, half on either side of the room. In the center of the room, two men stood apart from the rest. One of them was tall, thin, and dressed in fancy clothes, with groomed, black hair, light reddish copper eyes, and a clean face. The other man was short and frail with a tangled, wild black hair and dark wine-colored eyes. He was dressed in plain, low quality, dirt-caked clothes.
“Wizards aren’t welcome here,” the dirty man said.
“You don’t own this land,” the clean man snapped at him. Many of the people surrounding them argued. Several of the men were as dirty as the one who had told me I wasn’t welcome.
“I’m not a wizard,” I said.
The room fell silent until the clean man said, “You look like one.”
“I’m a curse breaker.”
“There’s no such thing,” the dirty man said.
“I really don’t have the time or energy to argue. Does anyone know how I can get to Mokora?”
“It’s ten days southeast of here if you take a fast ship, as long as the weather is on your side,” the clean man answered.
I didn’t have ten days. “What’s going on here?”
“We had an elementalist who protected our crops and water. Then these outsiders moved in and our elementalist lost her magic. First our crops died and our water turned red, then our mage lost his magic!”
“My family had nothing to do with it.”
“You brought it here!”
“No, he didn’t,” I said.
“What would you know about it, wizard?”
“I told you; I’m a curse breaker. I have been to many lands and people all over the world are losing magic. For some, it’s so slow that they haven’t noticed it yet. For others, it’s very sudden.” The villagers started shouting again. When the dirty man took a threatening step towards me, I pointed my staff at him. “Curse breakers, unlike wizards, fight back,” I said. The crystal pulsed with a menacing red glow and the man halted.
“If you break curses, can you help our mage and elementalist get their magic back?”
“I’m working on helping everyone get their magic back. He’s not doing this,” I said, indicating the clean man. “But I know who is. He’s a powerful sorcerer from another world and he’s found a way to destroy magic. I have to stop him or everything will keep getting worse.”
“I don’t know how it could get worse,” the clean man said. “My family, once highly respected, was driven out of our home because the rest of the village blamed us for the loss of magic.”
“I’m doing my best, but there are a lot of enemies trying to stop me and I’m running out of time.”
“Then you need the help of a sorcerer. I can transport you magically to Red Rock on Mokora.”
“The instant I do, my mother will capture me.”
“Your mother?”
“A powerful sorceress who wants to stop me. If she hadn’t captured me a few days ago, I might already have saved magic.”
The two men frowned at each other before turning back to me. “She didn’t train you very well,” the dirty man said.
“You’re thinking like a wizard,” the clean man explained. “You need to set a diversion. During the moment you transport yourself, send a creature to attack her.”
“That’s brilliant! I hadn’t thought of that.”
“You obviously haven’t fought many sorcerers.”
“I fought my brothers.”
“That isn’t the same thing. Sorcerer families have to work together because a sorcerer’s greatest enemy is another sorcerer.”
That’s what Shaerl was saying; the Rynorm family was so strong because they fought together, not because of the dragons. Yet, I still had a problem. “I haven’t eaten all day, but I don’t have any money. Is there any---” Before I could finish my question, someone shoved a loaf of bread into my hand.
“If you can save magic, we will do what we can to help you,” the clean man volunteered. “I’m Castor Wilde.”
“I’m Ayden. And thank you.”
Another man handed me some water. He frowned with concern when I took the mug from him. “You need sleep more than food,” he said. He was clean, but his clothes weren’t fancy and he didn’t wear a family robe.
I’d met few people who showed so much concern for a stranger. “Are you the mage?”
“I was. Without my magic, I’m not---”
“You’re still a mage,” I interrupted. “I’ll try to get some sleep.”
“You can sleep in my shop for the night.”
“I appreciate it.” I didn’t know how I was going to protect myself in my sleep, but I had to try. If I was going to face Baltezore, I needed to be able to think. Additionally, the longer I was awake, the harder it was going to be to fight the curse.
“By the way, why are you covered in glitter?”
“Because my aunt’s unicorn sneezed on me and it’s really hard to get off.”
The mage introduced himself as Theobald and led me to his shop. It was a decent sized hut with wall to wall shelves and hooks, full of potions, ingredients, books, and tools. In the middle of the room was a large table, covered in more of the same. The only thing personal in the room was a straw mattress on the floor in the northeast corner.
After thanking him again, I settled on the mattress and let myself fall asleep. I was prepared to fight.
Chapter 15
An explosion woke me and shook the ma
ge’s hut. People in the village screamed. “What now?” I opened the door and froze with shock. It was snowing, but the sky was dark red with streaks of orange, similar to both fire and blood. Accented by angry clouds, the sun was shining red. “That can’t be good.”
“We need to get out of here,” Merlin’s voice said in my mind. Startled, I turned to see him behind me.
“How did you get here?”
“After you escaped from Sven, we were able to find you.”
“Kalyn let me go. What’s going on?”
“The black star is here. We need to get back to the castle. It might be the safest place on Caldaca.”
“It can’t be starting! We haven’t saved the egg yet.”
“We lost. We must focus on survival now.”
“No, this can’t be right.”
“We were too slow.”
“No. This is just a nightmare.”
“This is not a nightmare, you are awake, and we need to get out of here.”
“I can’t be awake. This is impossible.”
“Well, run anyway!”
There was another explosion outside, followed quickly by terrified screams. I looked in time to see what was causing them; a fireball fell from the sky and crashed into a hut two shops down and across the street from the mage’s hut.
Merlin pushed me outside. “Run for the mountain.”
“I thought I was going to have to fight another monster; I wasn’t prepared for something I couldn’t fight. I don’t know what to do.”
“Ayden, this is real.”
“I don’t want it to be real! How do you know it’s real?”
“Because I am---”
“How can I know what’s real and what isn’t? Are you real? Am I real? Am I still in Sven’s basement? Am I still in Mother’s basement? What if I try to go back to sleep? Will I wake up?”
He groaned and put his paw over his eyes. “I think I am the one stuck in a nightmare.”
“That’s exactly what Merlin would say.”
“I am Merlin and we are in danger! We need to get to the mountain!”
“What mountain?”
“That one,” he said, pointing his paw down the road, where there was suddenly a mountain.
“Now I know for sure that this is a nightmare! There wasn’t a mountain there earlier! Also, I’m not climbing it! I told Cennuth I wasn’t climbing a mountain and I meant it!”
“You might be losing it.”
Although I was certain it wasn’t real, I also knew I could be killed. I ran back into the hut and grabbed my staff. After that, we started running for the mountain, while everyone else was trying to get in their homes or shops. “Shouldn’t we be telling everyone else to run for the mountain?”
I didn’t hear an answer, so I turned… and he was gone.
“No! Merlin, what do I do?” He must have woken up… or he wasn’t here at all. I hate dreams.
A fireball crashed into the ground in front of me, throwing me backwards into another hut. I barely managed to keep my agony inaudible. I didn’t want to give my mother the satisfaction, although I doubted she was watching me.
I stood and pointed my staff at the sky. “That’s it, you stop it! This is my dream, and I’m not afraid! I’m not afraid of the black star because I’m not going to lose! I’m not going to lose!” Magic tore out of me, through the staff, and out at the sky.
Then, suddenly, I was standing alone in the desert. All I could see in any direction was sand, and the sun was blazing high in the sky.
“Now I’m really confused.”
“You need to wake up,” Merlin’s voice said in my head. Unfortunately, he didn’t appear.
“I don’t know how.”
“By being aware of the fact that this is a dream, you can control your actions.”
I sensed movement behind me and spun around to see a strange mountain with four flat sides, which angled up to a point, with no greenery on it. “Before, you said to go to the mountain. Well, one just appeared. Should I---”
“Do not go towards it,” he interrupted.
“Why not?” No answer. “Merlin?”
He was gone. With no other option, I headed for the mountain.
* * *
No matter how long I walked, the sun never went down and I never got any closer to the mountain. I needed water desperately.
Eventually, I decided the mountain was just a trick to tire me out, so I sat down in the sand and focused. I visualized a cup of water in my hands. My focus was driven by necessity, so it was surprisingly easy. Considering how difficult the quest had been going so far, I really needed something to go right.
I drank the mug of water, felt it fill my stomach, and lowered the mug… to find myself in a forest. “Great. I really don’t have time for this.” I was already in pain from being thrown into a hut and exhausted from walking in the hot sun. At least the trees protected me from the sun.
“I have been waiting a long time for this,” a familiar voice said behind me.
Instead of trying to spot him, I rolled forward and ducked behind the first tree I reached. An instant later, black magic struck the spot I had been sitting in. “Get out of my nightmare, Zeus, I don’t have time for you!”
Zeustrum, my oldest brother, laughed. “And waste the chance to get my revenge? Never.”
I had banished him and the rest of my brothers except Thad to a world without magic and never expected to see them again. It was just a dream, so I refused to be afraid. No matter how powerful Mother was, it was my dream— my head, and thus, she had no more power than what I gave her.
I just had to learn to control it.
“Make me invisible,” I whispered to my staff. Fortunately, it did as I ordered, since it understood that I was in trouble. I cautiously stepped out from behind the tree and had to dive to the ground to avoid Zeus’s next curse.
“That’s not how dreams work, idiot,” he taunted. “I know everything you know.”
That gave me an idea. Releasing my invisibility spell, I closed my eyes, climbed to my feet carefully, and blindly stumbled in the direction I thought was away from my brothers. To my pleasant surprise, I didn’t hear them and I wasn’t immediately blown to bits.
Soon, the pain and exhaustion caught up with me and I was forced to open my eyes. Movement in the near distance told me I hadn’t lost him, so I ran as fast as I could, forcing the pain out of my mind. When I glanced behind me to see if Zeus was following me, I crashed into a tree. For a while, I couldn’t get up; I just curled up in the fetal position and whimpered.
When I finally regained enough strength to sit up, there was a mountain in front of me. It wasn’t terribly tall, but it was definitely more than a hill. “This is ridiculous! I’m not climbing that!” I turned and saw Merlin in his person form. “You’re real! You’re really real!” We were suddenly sitting by the creek again.
“Yes, young sorcerer. We have very little time, so please save the questions for later.”
“My mother used a nightmare curse on me.”
“I know. I saw it. Now, what you need to do is learn to dreamwalk.”
“Isn’t that what I’m doing?”
“No. You are aware of your dream and therefore have power over yourself, but you cannot control others or the dream realm. When you learn to dreamwalk, you can control your own dream and the dreams of others.”
“I can control my mother’s dream?”
“Yes.”
“But she’s more powerful than me.”
“Perhaps, but that means nothing if she cannot dreamwalk.”
“So, if I learn, I can enter anyone’s dream at any time?”
“No. First of all, they have to be asleep. Secondly, you must have a connection to them.”
“Like using hair or blood?”
“Yes, among other things. I can dreamwalk in your dream because our mental bond is enough of a connection to you. Entering your mother’s dream will not be as easy, but it is possible for th
e same reason she can summon you when you try to transport yourself.”
“How can dreamwalking in my mother’s dream help us?”
“I will explain as we go. We have little time.”
“I know. I will listen this time. Tell me what to do.”
“That is music to my ears.”
“What?”
“Get in your meditation position.”
“What if Mother isn’t---”
“No questions, no stray thoughts. Get in your meditation position.”
I leaned against a tree, laid my staff across my lap, and closed my eyes. “Zeus is---”
“I know. Clear your mind for meditation.” I groaned and did as he ordered. Slowly, my mind settled and my surroundings faded. “Can you still hear me?”
“Yes.” Anyone else’s voice would have startled me out of it, but I was so used to his that it didn’t distract me at all.
“Good. Keep listening to me. You are going to have to go deeper than usual, as if you are going to sleep in this dream.”
That only sounded slightly impossible.
“Imagine you are floating on your back in a tranquil lake. It is a nice, relaxing day with a few white clouds in the sky.”
I did. I imagined the water being a little on the chilly side while the air was warm.
“Good. Now, you will feel your feet slowly sink into the water, and as they do, your muscles are going to relax. Next, your ankles will submerge, and you will feel the relaxation flow into them as they do.”
He continued talking, but I stopped hearing the actual words. I felt like I was asleep, completely calm and not concerned with anything.
“Everything is dark and quiet and blank. Now, visualize a full-length mirror. In the mirror, you see your mother, but it does not frighten you. She has no power over you except that which you give her. Stand before the mirror, face her, and know that she cannot hurt you. Stay calm.”
The image of my mother was as frightening as if she was a massive giant with unimaginable power. However, she didn’t move, cast a curse, or tell me how much of a disappointment I was. It was my own fear of her that was in my way. I visualized her expression softening, as if she was kind. That was all it took to prove to myself that I was in control.
