Dio - Wheel (1)

Dio had to chuckle when he saw the vehicle that Ogan and the man with the white curls had cobbled together, more poorly than well. The two of them had mounted Ogan’s transport platform onto an axle connecting two crooked wheels cut from thick tree slices. Looking closer, Dio realized they had used tree rings to form a shape roughly circular. In the end, though, the result was more elliptical, with dents they had tried to smooth away.

It was still beautiful.

Somehow, it was exactly the small imperfections that made the construction feel alive, as if the two men’s creative spirit had seeped into it. The tree rings, uneven and hypnotic, seemed like little secrets waiting to be discovered.

Secrets? Why think of them that way? They’re only tree rings! I must have seen them many times in my former life!

Maybe. Yet here, in this dream, they felt special. Dio thought back to the circle Ray had seen, and the one the priestess had drawn in the sky. To how Ogan and Des had called his drawing in the dirt “pure”... and they were right. The shape had been beautiful. But the rings showed the influence of the Dream, which had not allowed perfect circles to form in the tree’s trunk. What had caused the irregularities? The soil? The twilight, even but still pulsing unpredictably in the sky, disturbing the tree’s growth? Maybe...

“Dio, this is AMAZING!”

Brela yanked him out of his tangled thoughts by tugging on his arm, laughing as she pointed at the vehicle.

“May I present to everyone: the wheel! Now attached to Ogan’s transport platform!” proclaimed the white-haired man, rapping a hammer against one of the wooden discs.

Many of the onlookers began to laugh. The air around Dio overflowed with cheer, and suddenly he had to giggle too.

How could we have forgotten the wheel?

Now that it stood before him, it seemed so obvious...

Judging by the others’ reactions, though, no one had thought of such a simple construction before. Dio didn’t know why, but it felt natural, like he had known wheels so well in his previous life that he no longer noticed them.

“There he is! Dio! Come here! Hey Lot, Dio here gave me the idea! Just got here and already full of energy!” Ogan laughed and waved.

Dio considered slipping behind one of the others, but he wasn’t fast enough. Before he could decline, Brela had nudged him forward and nodded brightly toward the vehicle. He could feel the curious gazes of the crowd settle on him, and he stumbled awkwardly over to the two men. Ogan clapped him on the shoulder so hard he flinched, and the people applauded.

“No, it was your idea! I only mentioned the circle, you thought it through yourself!” Dio waved off the praise, trying to find somewhere to look that wasn’t an excited face.

“Well, yeah, but that was the spark! That’s what gave me the idea to use the circle to make my work easier. Don’t get me wrong, most of the glory still belongs to me!” Ogan laughed.

“The circle?” Brela asked eagerly.

“Yeah, exactly. You all remember, don’t you?” Lot asked.

The people around him exchanged briefly clouded glances, then lit up all at once.

“Yeah, of course. I know what a circle is,” someone muttered.

“Me too, I guess I somehow forgot it? Or pushed it away?” someone else chimed in.

“Right, and now it seems so obvious. Looking at those wheels, I almost feel foolish,” Brela admitted, blushing.

“Let’s celebrate! Eat together and enjoy this moment!” Ogan suggested, pointing to the large fire pit resting cold and dormant in the square nearby.

Dio watched as they slowly made their way toward the center of the settlement. Faces that had once seemed dazed were now glowing, broad grins and cheerful conversations filling him with delight. Brela bounced beside him, but unlike the others, she seemed more thoughtful now, shaking her head with a quiet smile so that her braids whipped around her.

“Everything okay?” Dio asked after she squinted, as if trying to focus.

“Oh, it’s just... I find it confusing that I forgot what a circle is. But what’s even stranger is that I think there’s more. I feel like I forgot something else that’s connected to it. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t reach it…”

“It’ll come back to you. Realizing something’s missing is already a good first step, isn’t it?”

She smiled at him and stopped bouncing.

“You’re right,” she said.

When they had finally settled around the now-lit firepit, Dio was already looking forward to something to eat. He hadn’t had anything since arriving in Daw, and although he wasn’t driven by real hunger, his stomach had started to growl. He stared into the flames for a while, letting his mind rest, until Lot broke his quiet.

The white-haired man handed him a small loaf of bread that gave off an appetizing aroma. Dio ran his fingers across its browned surface, blackened at the edges, and enjoyed the warmth at his fingertips. When he finally took a bite, he nodded and closed his eyes. A mix of sweetness and a hint of saltiness blended together, and the soft inside melted on his tongue. It felt like a little piece of joy flowing from his palate into his mood, making everything seem even more cheerful than it already was.

“This tastes amazing! How do you get it so sweet?” he asked, looking around for whoever had baked the bread.

“Sweet? That bland stuff?” Lot snorted.

Dio blinked.

“Bland? It doesn’t taste bland at all! It’s refreshing!”

“Well, it’s bread. Ground grain and water. That can’t possibly taste sweet,” said Brela.

Dio looked down at the loaf in his hand and took another bite. Again, he tasted that light salt and sweetness.

“Incredible!” Lot suddenly exclaimed after trying a piece of his own bread.

Others around them looked up in surprise as they took their first bites. Brela squinted again, this time studying her loaf.

“It even looks nicer! So round. Normally it’s just a lump of dough, but this one is so nicely shaped. Almost like a…”

“…circle,” Dio finished her thought, glancing around.

He spotted Wes and Reab arriving with a new basket of bread for the growing crowd. Slowly, he stood and gave Brela and Lot a short nod before walking over to the two men, who were already handing out loaves.

“Hey, you two! This is really delicious bread!” Dio greeted them, and Wes gave him a wink.

"Yeah, it’s not quite what I had in mind yet," Wes said. "But when I told Reab about our journey, he suddenly lit up and started baking while I was still talking. He was fired up with joy. Thinking back to my own new idea, I can’t blame him. Remembering something is exciting. But having a new idea is just as wonderful..."

"I had to bake," Reab laughed, handing Dio an especially large loaf. "For so long I made bland bread and didn’t even realize it. Sure, it filled people, but it never brought joy. It was just there, like background noise. And that’s what it felt like to make it too. There was a little satisfaction, sure, yet now... now it’s as if baking has so much more meaning!”

“It’s really delicious! How do you make it so sweet? And that salty touch—how do you get that?” Dio asked, still chewing.

“I don’t do anything different. I just mix the grain and water,” Reab replied with a smile.

Dio stopped chewing and gave him a sharp look. He could’ve sworn he tasted other ingredients. Was he imagining it? Had he misjudged? He chewed again and closed his eyes. No. There was definitely sweetness. And salt...

But it made no sense to press further. The certainty in Reab’s voice hadn’t sounded like a lie. Dio thanked him again and soon returned to sit near the fire with Brela and Lot, now joined by Ogan and Des, who looked exhausted from the fields.

Brela was excitedly telling Des about the wheel and the bread, with Ogan and Lot trying to add something now and then, but they couldn’t get a word in over her torrent of words and finally gave up, smiling.

“So much new stuff. Feels strange, I have to say! Not bad, just... strange! I mean, there’ve always been new discoveries when newcomers arrived, but they were little things. A flower here, a new animal there…”

Des bit into his bread and looked absently toward Wes and Reab.

“And now we’re sitting here on this square, celebrating. I don’t even remember ever using the firepit…”

“Me neither!” Brela chimed in.

“It’s funny how such a simple symbol can spark change,” Ogan said with a grin.

“It really is fascinating,” Dio mused. “A simple shape, and yet it has such a huge effect. I wonder why?”

“Oh, who cares about that,” Brela pouted. “I’d rather know what’s on the tip of my tongue. What I’ve forgotten.”

“I wonder...” Dio turned to Ogan. “The wheel... Ogan, do you think you remembered it, or invented it again?”

Brela gave him a light jab for ignoring her, but Ogan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“I’m not sure. I think I remembered it. It just came to me, like out of nowhere, when I saw you draw that circle. It seemed obvious then that I needed wheels. To make my work easier…”

“I see.”

“Hey, Dio, aren’t you going to help me out?” Brela cut in. “I’m the one with the problem here! I still don’t know what’s bugging me!”

“How am I supposed to help with that?” Dio raised his hands in defense. “I was only the messenger.”

“But you ask questions that really make people think!” Brela insisted.

Dio sighed.

“All right. You were going to show me the forest anyway, weren’t you? We could go together, look around for something new that might inspire you. After I’ve rested a bit. Maybe that’ll help.”

Brela clapped her hands.

“Yes! That’s what I wanted to hear. We’ll figure it out somehow! Two explorers in the woods! On the trail of a lost memory! That sounds like an adventure!”

“As long as you keep that stuff away from me! Adventure, ugh! Too much hustle and bustle,” Des waved off as Brela’s gaze flicked his way.

“Well, that’s your decision,” she said, trying to sound cheerful, but Dio could hear the disappointment in her voice.

“You two go on ahead. I’ll try to be a little creative and carve something. Maybe a plate? That’d be useful. Worthy of that good new bread!” said Lot, gazing toward the fire.

“Good idea. I’m going to test out my wheels. Maybe I can improve them. If not, I’ll come find you and get on your nerves, Lot,” Ogan laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

They all joined in his laughter, and Dio felt how the closeness of the others spread within him as well. It was as if they were now with him in his thoughts, similar to how the distant light reminded him of Ray, except the glow of the people around him, those he was sharing these moments with, felt different. The connection to Ray was more like a sense of safety and shelter, almost the core of his world. The new feelings taking shape now were about community and trust, about cheerfulness and lightness, even if different for each person.

Brela, for example, was a whirlwind of energy and joy. Des was a glimmer of calm and slowness.

Dio paused. He’d almost missed it, though the connection to Ray had become a little clearer again, even though he was sure she still wasn’t coming toward him. Still, he felt her more present now, though the feeling was also more washed out. Her light suddenly flared brighter, outshining everything else inside him, and it kept growing. As if a part of her was doing something that,,,

A tremendous rumble echoed across the square.

Dio snapped out of his thoughts, but as the roaring swelled, his connection to Ray grew sharper. He felt the ground trembling beneath his feet, the earth shaking in steady pulses. Brela gasped, and Lot and Des exchanged confused glances. Ogan rolled to the side as one of the firewood logs toppled and shot toward him.

Then... everything lit up.