Dreaming

Where am I? This doesn’t feel right. I feel nothing when my hands scrape against the walls. The walls hold no temperature.

“The dungeon is always supposed to feel cold.” This isn’t right. Something doesn’t feel–

“Tai come on, we have to keep going. Hurry up!”

Who is that? The light is so bright I can’t really see. I think they are moving on without me.

“Wait! Don't leave me.”

I run and keep running. I don’t understand why I can't catch up to them. My heart pounds.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

I’m all alone. Where did they go?

“Why can’t I remember?”

My head is spinning. None of this makes any sense.

“RRRAAAWWWRRR”

I spin around trying to find where the roar came from. I expected to find a dragon with how it sounded but instead I am staring directly into the stone passage at the entrance of the dungeon.

Did the sound come from there?

“RRRAAAWWWRRR”

It’s definitely coming from the dungeon but the more I hear the less I think it is a monster. The sound is more of an echo amplified by traveling through the halls of the dungeon.

It’s getting louder and more constant.

Water begins to pool at my feet. Is it high tide? I look at the ocean coastline and it has not changed.

Water is pouring out of the dungeon like a flood. It’s not stopping. The water is rising now it is up to my knees.

This isn’t water.

The crimson color of blood soaks through my clothing. Whose blood is this? Is the dungeon bleeding?

I’m starting to panic. The blood is up to my torso now. I try swimming back to the path up towards the cliffside but it is already too late.

I am drowning. There is no air to breathe. I close my eyes with fear.

I am in the streets of Freehearken. They are empty. That is probably not the best way to describe it. The town is devoid…

Devoid of life.

Everywhere I look death surrounds me.

The familiar shops are now nothing but rubble. Bodies line the streets with faces I recognize and strangers alike. The parish burns its steeple collapsing under the weight of the stress.

There are voices screaming out but I can’t understand a thing. There are pleas but I see no one. I run towards the sounds of battle.

Momo stands in the center of the town square. Behind her cowering in fear are the local children. She is looking above for something, holding her tower shield to the sky.

Are those dragons? Two large winged creatures circle above. They dive down at alarming speed. It is a giant dove and raven. They collide with the ground. For a brief moment Momo’s eye locks with mine. She mouths something that I can ‘t interpret.

The ground beneath us all shatters and I fall.

I fall for what feels like an eternity in a void of darkness.

I can still hear the echoes of the voice.

“Stop! Please somebody stop this!”

I’m starting to lose my nerve. The sounds of the dying are driving me insane. How could this have happened? I close my eyes but it does little to help calm my nerves.

–”Open your eyes.”

I listen. The room is bright but there is no discernible light source. The walls are pure white stone. In the center is a table of ice and two chairs. Only one chair is empty.

–”Forgive me but time is against us.”

The Goddess of Light waits patiently for me to take a seat. Her silver robes are constantly flowing with a wind that I can’t feel. She moves her golden hair back as she takes a moment to sip from a teacup.

She speaks but her mouth never moves. I hear her voice coming through me just like the last time we met.

“Can you understand me?”

–”No unnecessary questions, Tai.”

She knows my name. I’m starting to think I wasn’t just randomly selected to be brought to this world. I find some comfort in that. There is so much I want to ask her .

“Why did you bring me here?”

–”Because you asked me to.”

“I’m not talking about right now. I am asking why you brought me to this world.”

–”I know.”

What is she talking about? When I was dying did I plead for my life? I don’t remember asking to be teleported to another world.

“What did I just see?”

–“A glimpse at what light touches.”

Momo is going to fight two giant birds? No it can’t be that literal. Maybe I need to think about the imagery of what I saw.

–“Focusing too much on your own sight will do you no good. Use what you saw as a guide when you must make a choice.”

“Run? Reset? Renew? What did you mean by that?”

She laughs. Her smile seems mischievous.

–“Running? I believe you are up for that task. Resetting is the goal although you don’t know it yet. Renewal is my promise to you. You can consider it a reward.”

“That really doesn’t answer the question. Please Goddess I need a little more to work with here.”

– “Tai, please just call me Thia… Very well you have been uncharacteristically cooperative for your kind. If you wish to prevent the fate revealed to you. You will need to learn everything you can about the dungeon and what lies within.”

Well I guess that is simple enough direction. It doesn’t really tell me how to prevent what I saw. Run and learn. That isn’t necessarily a hard request but my gut says it won’t be that simple.

“I want to thank Goddess Thia. For giving me a second chance.”

–“Fufufufufufu”

Her laugh is genuine and so is her smile. I never thought it would be this easy to talk to a higher being. My gut says to trust her. That’s what I’m going to do.

–“You already have all you need. Trust those who you have met. Good people can be strong guiding lights Tai. It seems that time is sadly up. We will speak again.”

She points behind me. I stand up, turning around to see a familiar elf.

“Silence?”

What are they doing here?

Silence moves one finger across their lips and all of the sudden I am falling.

The stone floors crumple beneath me. As I look up I see the two figures floating above me exchanging some glances. I fall for sometime pondering everything.

I crash to the floor.

Ow that hurts.

Quickly I untangle the blanket that is constricting me and try to reorient myself.

There is no one with me. I am alone again. Was it all a dream?

“Wait, what time is it?”

I can hear the sounds of birds chirping and a beam of light breaking through the window landing where my head was previously resting.

That’s right, we are going to tackle the dungeon as a group today! I must have overslept. I really should never drink a mana potion before bed ever again.