Dreams Are Weird

Dreams Are Weird

“I’m sorry for ignoring you for so long Lon,” Rain said as she stared over the side of a bridge and down the mountain, the night breeze rippling through her hair.

“I know you're right, and I know that I’m a bad person, but I thought that if I ignored you, I wouldn’t have to admit it.”

Lon stayed silent as he leaned against the bridge railing next to her, blood from his neck pooling on the top rail. That was okay, though he didn’t need to say anymore. Rain understood.

“You're right. I'm a monster, and no matter how much you want me to be better, this is the only way I know how to help. So Lon, never stop hating me. After all, you’re a part of my mind, aren't you?”

Rain pushed off the rails and got to work.

Ady had finally managed to get Commander Bartel to drink the river-blood-juice, and Rain had felt the connection form earlier today. Leaving the bridge behind, Rain returned to the small Mid Ring apartment that currently hosted the mind uffters.

“Goddess Goddess!” squeaked a bunch of voices in her mind.

Rain smiled and sat on the floor, allowing the uffter kits to jump onto her and play around. With Estom Manor housing at least one spy, Rain didn’t want to do anything there that might raise suspicions. Plus, she enjoyed the uffters' presence.

“All right, watch over me while I sleep, okay?”

“Okay!”

Rain closed her eyes and let herself slip along the strand of thought leading to River. When she arrived, it was to find River’s dreamworld had grown again since the last time she had visited. It now contained several buildings and homes for nearly a quarter mile around River’s pub.

“Rain, it's good to see you. Are you all right?”

The concern in River’s voice caused Rain to look down at herself. Her mind body was so blurry she could hardly make out her shape. Trying to make herself look more solid sent a spike of pain through her soul.

“Gah! Er ya, I’m good,” she said, keeping the pain off her face, not that it probably mattered, given that she was more of a cloud than a person right now.

“All right,” River said in a tone that made it clear she didn’t believe Rain. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m just checking if you have any messages for me before I go get a bad guy.”

When the dream solidified around Rain, it left her confused. In the past, every dream she had visited made sense; it would be a scene of the dreamer doing something they enjoyed or being tormented by their fears. Whatever it was, it was at least somewhat realistic. Commander Bartel’s dream felt random.

Rain stood on the wall of an island fort. All around the island, different types of fish danced on the beach using their tails like legs. Ash was raining down from the clear blue sky, and a tasty smell was wafting all around.

Before Rain could try to find where Commander Bartel was in all the chaos, Ms. River appeared next to her and looked around.

“I see, so he’s a type four dreamer,” she said with a matter-of-fact nod, like dancing fish and impossible weather were totally normal.

If there was a type four, then did that mean there were types one through three? And who was classifying them? Rain wondered.

“Do you know where Commander Bartel is?”

Rain figured the question was worth a shot since Ms. River seemed to know so much about dreams.

“Hmm, he should be somewhere over there,” Ms. River said, pointing toward the center of the fort.

Rain floated that way with Ms. River right behind her. The two of them passed through a few walls before appearing in a large courtyard with a cage of majestic predators. Rain recognized the wolf in the cage, and her past self’s memories said that the big one was a bear.

Standing outside was a man Rain assumed was Commander Bartel, who was using a sword to fend off the fish that were trying to hop into the cage to eat the predators inside.

Rain watched as he fought. Every slain Fish puffed into delicious-smelling smoke before the next fish tried to get past Bartel and eat the helpless savage animals inside.

“Ms. River. Do you have any clue what's going on down there?”

“No, but this dream doesn’t feel like it's from an awful person.”

Ms. River was the expert when it came to dreams, and there was no way Rain was going to try to talk with Bartel during this chaos.

“Do you think you can control this dream?” Rain asked. She knew it was possible to change others' dreams. She had done it to Ms. River once, but that had done Rain some serious damage. Ms. River, however, had shown herself to be more competent with the skill than Rain ever had, so it was worth asking.

“That won't be hard. What do you want me to turn it into?”

Rain smiled at that. Sure, she was here to help Ady get revenge and maybe pick up a new minion, but that didn’t mean she couldn't have fun - or test the man a little beforehand.