Back Again

Scarcely seven days had passed before it happened again. She found herself within a dream. Before her loomed an obelisk, just the same as the first, yet somehow different. Unlike the one that had come before, this was placed alone in a great plane of tall, pale green grass. The blades swayed in the gentle wind, offering an ominous chorus for the black rock that struck up into the sky, no trees near enough to challenge its imposing silhouette. Cloy simply blinked up at it from her place on the ground, her hooves neatly crossed just like she had laid them before falling asleep. Was her mind so occupied with thoughts of the first dream that she'd conjured a second obelisk or was she being hounded by some sort of vision...?

After having the former dream, she hadn't bothered to go looking for a pillar of black rock in the swamp. It would be silly, she thought. There was nothing saying the dream was based in reality and she wasn't one to waste her life away by chasing geese. As such, she didn't know if these obelisks were actually real, towering somewhere quietly and waiting to be stumbled upon. When she would wake from this sleep, it was likely she would continue to refrain from preforming a grand search. But it was safe to say that doubts had been planted. She would have to...dwell on this

Before she could stumble too deeply into thought, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and swung her pointed muzzle around. For now, the fields were quiet, but if this was anything like her previous dream, she expected company. Sure enough, after waiting for some moments she caught sight of a shimmer cresting a distant hill. A collection of kin-shaped outlines made their way towards the only thing of interest jutting out against the sky. As the last bunch hadn't seemed to notice her, Cloy didn't doubt this procession would ignore her too. Regardless, she felt her discomfort rise the nearer they came... Before the two parties grew close enough to touch, she excused herself to a safe distance atop a nearby hill. After settling herself within the swaying grass, she turned her attention back towards the kin to see what they would do

To say it interested her was a stretch. The ghosts loitering by the obelisk, touching this and then that, had little meaning to her. They would solve their puzzle and then she would wake. After a while, they seemed to be tearing at the grass itself, but reality did not bend for the kin, thus she could not fully see what they were doing. The action seemed to hold significance to them, though. They'd ponder, touch some more things, and ponder again. None of it meant anything. Why was she here? Suffering through an odd mix of confusion, apathy, and some other things, she simply plunked her head down onto her sprawled legs and closed her eyes tight, forcing out the strange world. It did not end the dream faster, but it did shut out the ghosts in the field. She was left listening to the gentle whispers of the grass until her body began to grow heavy with sleep. Then, she was finally allowed to leave and reenter the waking world