328 Recurring Nightmares

As she tried to regain her composure, she turned to see Ronni sound asleep. When she checked on Sorren, his face was full of anguish. His eyes were moving side to side beneath his eyelids. 

Seems like she was not the only one having nightmares. 

Just then, Sorren's body began to shake violently. He started shouting. 

"No! Not again! Please… No!" He was trapped in his own dream, unable to wake. 

Ronni stirred awake by the commotion while Vy rushed forward to shake Sorren awake. 

"Sorren, Sorren! Wake up, it's just a dream. It's just a dream!" Vy reassured him as she shook him. 

Finally, Sorren opened his eyes, gasping for air. Vy heaved a sigh of relief to see him awake and well. He turned to look at Vy. 

"Thank you," Sorren mumbled. He was grateful. If she had not woken him up, the night terrors would never end. 

Ronni did not move from his position, merely observing their exchanges. Vy sat back down next to him, offering him some water which he quickly gulped down. 

"Nightmares?" She asked. 

Sorren nodded, " Almost every night."

"What are they about?" 

Sorren sighed, he usually does not remember most of them after he wakes up. But the nightmare he just had was still fresh in his mind. The fear, pain and anguish he felt were very real. 

"I was being chased, captured and tortured. Not very exciting."

Vy translated what Sorren said to Ronni so that he could join in the conversation as well. 

"Some believe the nightmares and dreams you get are reflections of the memories that were lost," Ronni chimed in. 

"I don't think I want the nightmares to be real," Vy joked. 

"Same here," Sorren agreed. 

"Sometimes I dream about the survivors I was with from before." Sorren continued, "They were good people."

Vy was curious as to what had happened to them, but she never could find a good time to ask. Now seemed like the perfect time to do so. After discovering the bodies near the wall, she wondered if that was the remains of Sorren's fallen comrades. 

"What happened to them? If you don't mind sharing," she did not want to force him. 

Remembering the details, Sorren felt as if it all happened just the day before. The day he lost all of them. Sorren explained that they were trying to get to the wall from their campsite. 

On their way there, when they had the wall insight, they were ambushed by spider beasts. All of them were still new to the Jungle. They were still untrained with their weapons. 

It was a nightmare. 

Sorren watched in horror. He tried his best to fight, but by the time he was done, he was the only survivor. One of his comrades was badly injured, barely alive. Sorren brought her back to camp. 

"She was dead by the next morning," he ended his story. 

"I'm sorry," Vy placed a hand on his shoulder. 

Sorren gave her a soft smile before his parched throat sent him into a coughing fit. Vy rubbed his back and fed him some water to help. When he could finally breathe again, Sorren laid back down. 

"Sometimes I get this feeling that nothing ever goes well for me. Like there's a cloud of bad luck following me everywhere I go," Sorren sighed. 

"What… don't say that. Things will turn around for the better. When you've fallen down far, the only way left is up," Vy tried to cheer him up. 

She could see the sadness and distraught in his eyes. It made Sorren feel like a hollow husk. No one should ever have to witness the death of their comrades. 

The next day, Sorren was feeling a lot better thanks to the healing salves. He was able to walk on his own with minimal support. Ronni also officially introduced himself to Sorren. 

Since he had not been fully conscious when Vy and Cass struck the deal, she made sure to catch him up on all the details. 

"I don't think you'll have trouble convincing El. But you'll probably run into trouble with Mara."

"I anticipate it. Like I said, while it would be ideal for everyone to escape together, I know not everyone would trust us."

Just then, Ronni stopped both of them in their tracks and signalled them to remain silent. His ears were picking up on noise and sound coming towards them. Moments later, two spider beasts emerged onto the path they were on. 

Ronni rose his weapon immediately, but Vy stopped him. Sorren was ready to draw his sword too but Vy stopped him too. 

"Trust me on this one," Vy whispered to them. 

It was in that moment, that the spider beasts spotted them. As they got closer, it was evident that one of them was larger than the other. The larger one was one that Vy had seen before when she was in the Spider Nest. 

This was one of the elder spider beasts. However, she did not know its name. As soon as the elder spider beast spotted Vy, it did not give her a second glance. It ordered its spider beasts to leave them be as they continued to make their way through the Jungle. 

Once they disappeared out of sight, Ronni and Sorren were baffled by what had happened. 

"How… what…" Ronni could not understand what he had just witnessed. 

All spider beasts he had ever encountered were hostile. Every single one who spotted any other living creature would launch an attack. That was until now. Seeing as to how the encounter unfolded, Vy had no choice but to reveal how she had met the Spider Queen. 

"You met… a Spider Queen? You know the location of their nest?" He asked in shock. 

His group of survivors had always wondered where the home base of the spider beasts was. They had hoped that by locating it, they would be able to get rid of the threat once and for all. 

If Vy's words were to be believed, it was a remarkable discovery. As they continued down their path, she gave them more information on the spider beasts. With close observation, Vy realised that the spider beasts under the Queen's domain and control all shared similarities. 

They were usually all black in colour, with varying patterns across their body. The only exceptions were the elder spider beasts. Hostile spider beasts that attacked most survivors were usually wild spider beasts. 

They were usually black or brown, with no distinguishable patterns on their body. 

"Based on your deduction, the spider beasts who attacked us were the wild ones then," Sorren remarked in reference to his lost comrades. 

"Fascinating, I never knew there was even a distinction between them," Ronni remarked. 

As they finished their conversation, they were coming up on the campsite for Swords. The lookout noticed them approaching. They immediately alerted Mara. As the news spread throughout the campsite, El and Fendrif wondered if it could be Sorren. 

Uncertain if the people approaching were hostile, Mara assembled a group of ten people to follow her beyond the safety of their campsite. El and Fendrif were amongst the ten, hoping to see who it was. 

"Stop where you are!" The person from the wall shouted at Sorren, Vy and Ronni.