Waking Up From a Dream

“C-Cotter. You’re way, way too excited to be back in East Gate,” Alexandria muttered from the side. “By sunrise, we’ll be eating stone-root shrooms for breakfast. Calibrate your enthusiasm.”

Yeah? Well, you needed a sock put in your mouth!

How bad could East Gate really be, if they had that kind of infrastructure?

The kids began to stir as the road smoothed beneath us. Some sat up, blinking. Others just shifted under their blankets.

The knight chuckled. “See, Xaminen? Doesn’t it feel good to do a good deed?”

“You nearly got us killed by a horde of kobolds,” the gryphon muttered.

“That’s besides the point.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Their banter—the bonds they shared—it hit something inside me. Something I’d been missing in my pursuit of the so-called Japanese Dream. 

Maybe… being in a party was my dream all along?

I was a kid again starting over from scratch.

Then again, I’d been brought here for my skills. Skills which, historically, did not include navigating the outdoors. But hey—Malmagos didn’t say adventuring wasn’t in my new salary package.

Any delusions of smooth sailing were shattered the moment we neared the main gates.

“Halt!”

Three standard-looking guards stepped forward, weapons at their sides, with their torches gripped firly.

Sir Michelangelo sighed. “No need to be so jumpy. I know the procedure. Let me just get our adventurer credentials—”

“I don’t need your damn credentials,” one guard barked. “Just wanted to know why the circus rolled into town. Afraid you’re a few seasons early, good man.”

Didn’t take a genius to know who he meant, considering half our group had tails, ears, scales—or all three.

Maybe all it took was an elven touch?

“Sir,” I began. “If we’ve caused any trouble—”

“One thing I hate more than working late is a Crystal who thinks their voice needs to fill the air.” His gaze pinned me. “So, are you the exception, or the rule?”

That shut me up right quick.

“Please. They’re just kids,” the gryphon snapped. “They’re not going to bite your hand off just because they are beastkin.”

“I’m aware, warbeast,” the guard replied coolly. “But I have a job. I keep East Gate safe. You can’t fault me for being a little suspicious of this… menagerie showing up at once.”

“They’re from here!” the knight growled. “They were kidnapped, and we found them on the side of the road. You can put that on my reputation.”

“All twenty of them?” The guard scoffed. “You expect me to believe that?”

This was going from bad to worse.

After everything we’d been through, were we really about to be blocked at the last hurdle because of some gatekeeper’s bigotry?!

I turned around to see if any of us needed urgent care. It was at the sight of one of the younger boys going completely limp in Alexandria’s arms that I realized just how badly this interaction could go.

“We’re sick, and none of us are healers,” I said. “We need a healer. Now.”

“All the more reason to leave you out here,” the guard countered. “You could be a danger to the city.”

The fact I had no say in this made my stomach drop. It’s not like I could change my species on the spot!

The shuffling of footsteps drew my attention to the side of the cart. One of the guards had split off—and he was heading straight for…

Daisy?

“Look, Tom! They’ve got a damn Sakura too,” that guard laughed. “Didn’t your kind piss off back to wherever you crawled out from? Thought your lot was too good for us?”

He reached out and brushed her arm.

“Could’ve stayed here, you know,” he muttered. “Some people might’ve actually welcomed you.”

At that moment, something in Daisy snapped. Somehow, some small part of me felt linked with her emotions… and I could feel just how fast she was spiraling.

Visceral, foreign. ANGER.

RAGE!!

“DON’T TOUCH ME!”

The guard didn’t even have time to react. He was blasted backward by a wind gust of pure power—sent flying like a ragdoll into the frosted cobblestone.

Daisy floated out of the carriage, her feet no longer touching the ground. “Touch me again and I will carve you up like a pumpkin.”

This wasn’t like the barn. It was colder now. Controlled anger directed precisely at him.

Daisy, no!

It was just a thought that slipped out.

But—just for a moment—I saw a flicker in her eyes.

She exhaled. I felt her unclench. I knew that, for certain, I stopped impending death.

How was this happening? Was it the contract?

Connections and contract conditions here seemed a lot more literal than back home!

Daisy shivered. “Seriously, what were you expecting?”

Before anyone could respond, the downed guard snarled, “You dog!!”

In a blur, the ranger from our party moved—one foot soon pressed to his chest, pinning him to the ground. “Defending yourself is not a crime.”

The rest of the guard’s friends didn’t agree with the ranger’s assessments. As they made to move, the adventurers beared arms in kind.

The kids in the cart started whimpering again.

But that same connection—whatever thread tied me to Daisy—told me her anger hadn’t vanished; only suppressed. All it would take was a prick for her to burst.

And if she transformed back here and now… what’s to stop the guards from targeting the rest of the kids?