Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

Who Am I to Disagree?

“Oh, another one of these dreams, “Silent Dream thought to himself. “I must have fallen asleep while meditating. How sloppy. of me.” He looked around the room he found himself in this time. This room was different than the last one he found himself dreaming about. For starters this room was on a ship – he could tell by the gentle rocking motion of the floor. It was sized for large creatures, too. He easily spied the large figure sleeping on the oversized bed. It took a moment for Dream to understand.

“Xerx’ses…?” He tentatively whispered. The sleeping figure moved a bit but did not wake. Dream could now tell he was looking at Kom’var as he slept. “I must be on the Shield of Light,” he thought silently to himself. “I was just thinking about how we should break the news to Kom’var and the crew…” His thought trailed off. “Is this really just a dream? Am I astral?” He tried to move through a nearby chair and bumped it softly. “Ow,” he whispered. Kom’var stirred again but did not wake.

“What would Xerx’ses do?” He wondered. Did Kom’var even know about the Great Tree‘s gift? It was good to see that the Tree was right, and Kom’var Spellborn survived his creator. This brought back a wave of sadness to Dream as he remembered Xerx’ses sacrifice. “I don’t know what’s going on,” Dream thought, “but maybe Xerx’ses way is how to proceed here.” Cautiously Dream moved towards the sleeping Kom’var.

Dream took a few moments to recall the lingering memories he still possessed from the mind bond at Glade with Xerx’ses. Though they were faint, they wouldn’t completely fade for another week or two. It took a little effort but he could recall them with clarity if he wanted to. He did so now. He filled his mind with the memories of Xerx’ses from when they left the Shield of Light up until their mind bond in Glade. This would include his entire conversation with the Avatar of the Tree.

Recalling those memories saddened him greatly, and Kom’var grumbled in his sleep. The emotions spilling from Dream were washing over the sleeping minotaur unintentionally. Dream tried to get his emotions under control. There will be time to mourn. There will be time to be sad. Right now he needed to do something only he could do. If this was even real.

Carefully Dream reached to the sleeping Kom’var and touched him gently. With all of Xerx’ses recent memories freshly recalled, and of course all of Dream’s memories still raw and exposed, he activated the mind bond. All the past of Xerx’ses came flooding back to him up until Kom’var’s creation, then all the memories from there were Kom’vars. Dream had already experienced most of them. The newer ones from the last few months showed the Minotaur’s growing connection to Annie, and his life on board the ship.

Kom’var received Dream’s memories and the recalled memories of Xerx’ses. It was as if a storm invaded his own dream. His subconscious fought to process the flurry of new memories and experiences. This quickly turned his dream into a roiling nightmare. The Minotaur grimaced in his sleep, and Dream grimaced in response. This was not his way to do things. But he felt this was what Xerx’ses would have wanted. Dream shut his eyes and looked away to avoid looking at the pain he caused Kom’var. It was also to try to hold back the fresh tears as he thought of his fallen friend’s death again.

Kom’var suddenly opened his eyes in shock at the memory dump. He looked straight at where Silent Dream had been standing. Nobody was there. Dream opened his eyes to force himself to look at what he had done. But he saw instead that he was back on The Guppy. No-one seemed to react to his “return” in any way. It was as if he never left.

Note: These events were not a dream and occurred some time after the 21^st of Corg (exact date unknown), in the seventy-second year of the Great Wolfen Empire.

Image Credits:
Lyno3ghe
AZ_Rune Art