Nightmares

Though the Hellscape was gone, that didn’t stop the nightmares.

Relic was following Ziodyne into the woods for a camping trip. It was supposed to be a normal outing into nature, into an environment that gave Relic the room to stretch her legs and Ziodyne an excuse to get away from work for a while. A foray into the woods to sleep in a sun-dappled clearing, drink from streams, and pick wild fruits to eat would be a welcome change of pace. Relic always enjoyed the great outdoors, and she also enjoyed the company.

All it took was a wrong turn and the woods became treacherous. The roots tangled and gnarled, taking on a hauntingly familiar shade of gray. Instinctively, she dropped to all fours and reached for Ziodyne’s tail hook with her tendrils. His telepathic small talk was drowned out by her growing panic. A cloud drifted over the sun and cast deep shadows through the branches. The birds and insects fell silent. The snap of a twig echoed through the trees like a gunshot, yanking Relic’s focus away from her companion and into the darkness. She strained her vision but saw no threat. She knew something was there. While she watched for danger, the line of eyes on her left arm glanced back in front of her again.

Ziodyne was gone.

Relic froze in place. No. No no no no no no. She strained her two sets of ears for any noise at all. Dead silence. The leaves had vanished. The bare branches above knitted into a dense thicket that blotted out the sky. There was no sky. Not anymore, not here. All sounds were threats now. Separation was permanent unless the other party managed to survive for enough centuries to run into the other by chance, and with Ziodyne’s small size, domestic lifestyle, and minimal combat experience, he’d make an easy meal for the starving wretches imprisoned on this demiplane. He was already dead.

Another twig snapped. Relic whirled around, flaring her tendrils and baring her rows of teeth in a hellish, rattling snarl. She whipped her tails in front of her, brandishing her wickedly sharp hooks. It was her duty to survive, now, to preserve Ziodyne’s memory. What would she tell Rox and Citra? Would she even make it out this time? No. She had to. Death was not an option. The shadow moved to approach. She lunged.

Her jaws caught on something round and impossibly hard. She felt a guard fang crack, and her vision flooded with light.

Ziodyne’s saffron eye fell from her mouth with a heavy thump. A striped blue tail looped its hook around it and rolled it over the edge of the carpet and to the feet of its owner, who scooped it up and returned it to its rightful place in his skull. The moment it was safe, he rushed forward and threw his arms around the neck of the stunned crook.

“It’s okay.”

It was a dream. Ziodyne had heard her whining like an animal in a bear trap and rushed into the living room to find her writhing on the floor, eyes rolling in their sockets and tails whapping weakly against the floorboards. Based on the stories she had told him, he was wary of shaking her awake with his bare hands in case she mauled him in her sleep. So, instead, he offered the seat of his soul, an absolute sign of trust, in hopes that her wildly darting eyes could pick up on a lodestar of pure magic to guide her out of the nightmare.

Cracking a tooth on it was a serviceable alternative, though. Scared the guardians-damned daylights out of him, too. He was lucky he pulled his hands away fast enough to save his fingers. It wouldn’t have been too difficult to regenerate, but he was a wuss when it came to dismemberment, and he’d have a hell of a time trying to convince Relic to forgive herself for it.

Dazed, she leaned forward just a bit, groggily trying not to collapse on top of her small friend. 

“Where…?” she breathed.

Ziodyne tightened his embrace and buried his face in her shoulder. “Home. We’re home.”

That’s right… home. The Hellscape was gone. She was home, with the family she had chosen, in a city her people had fought to be accepted in, on the earthen back of their divine progenitor. She settled back to the floor and steadied her breathing, allowing the magic in her veins to repair her damaged tooth. Ziodyne let go of her and curled up in the nook between her chest and the floor, emanating comforting signals from his crowns. If you need anything, just ask. I’m here.

And he was. He was here, having found it in his heart to welcome his strange crooked cousins home from their exile. She was here, having survived the Hellscape with enough sanity remaining to continue loving. They were all here, together and free, and mighty Skire yet slept beneath their feet.