Galen Vesa

“You think it’s still growing?”

I asked. The tree of life remained a mystery to me. Over the past months it blossomed from a tiny sprout to a towering giant. Its ivory branches spread in all directions and its translucent leaves rustled gently in a steady stream of mana. And it did something to me.

*Yes.*

Erta rumbled behind my back. I was sitting perched against her side with my hands behind my head, watching. She coiled herself around me in an overprotective manner and dozed off. Sometimes her dreams would seep into my thoughts. I especially enjoyed those about flying. No, not those knee jerk inducing things where people experience the sensation of falling. No. In her dreams she soared over mountains and seas. Chased the wind through the skies or traverse the entire continents on a single stroke of wings.

But not all her dreams were sunshine and daisies. She had her own pack of daemons following her. Nightmares so vivid that my own detached body was getting goosebumps. Forces she fought against and horrors she lived through stayed with her as they do with every living creature. Sometimes her mind tortured her with faces of friends and family she lost over the decades, often to her own flames. In days like those, I saw her cry herself to sleep. Dragons, odd creatures they are.

*Stop mumbling human, your thoughts annoy me. *

And quite sensitive under that layer of fat and scales… Her tail came crushing down and slapped me away. Good thing this place is not real. I think. My body bounced off the crystal ground like a potato sack and kept on rolling for a minute or two. Her tail flick took me quite a distance this time. She did that sometimes. Not that it hurt or anything but walking back to where the tree grew took some time.

This time she overdid herself tho. At this angle and distance, the mana orb shrunk to twice its size. Yup, that’s what you get for calling a dragon lady fat. Remember, those are all muscles. There is no fat under those scales. Even if one was as bold to think there is some fat there, trust me there isn’t.

*You do realize I can still hear you? Distance in this place has no effect on our bond. Unfortunately. *

“Oopsie. Anyway, would you, um, like come and get me?”

*No.*

“But It’ll take me years to get back there on foot.”

*Good for you. *

She blocked her mind from me. Oh. Well, can’t say it wasn’t my fault. So, I got up, pat myself out and started walking with my reflection being my only companion. I can’t say this was my reflection anymore. The face that looked at me seemed more and more alien with each day I spent on the outside. The short stubble was the first thing to go missing from my own reflection. What Erta explained to me, in this place, my image, my body or whatever the heck I was looking at, depended on what my mind associated itself with. Like putting on a very realistic mask or some prosthetic makeup and looking into the mirror. You will know you are looking at yourself and yet you will feel this is not how you should look. Your mind would project how it thought of itself and reject the image the mirror reflected.

Yet, the more I looked at myself, the more alien that person seemed to me. Did my nose really looked that way? How would I tell? I even had trouble recalling the male form of my current body. Although, how did she do it? That fat ass lizard swapped forms at the mere thought. Was there some magic involved? In this place? Was it even necessary? Erta, after all, is a shapeshifter. If not by nature, then by magic. She had spent years in both her dragon and human forms and probably in many in-between forms. Her mind has no trouble inhibiting any of those forms.

Were my hairs always this dark or is it the pillow girl bleaching out my old self?

*Perhaps a bit of both? *

“Weren’t you supposed to sleep?”

*And what sleep has to do with anything in this place? *

Now that didn’t make any sense.

*My poor, dense dolt. Let me use the words from one of the movies you watched. You think that’s the air you’re breathing? *

Oh. Can’t be that simple.

*It is anything but simple. It is magic. Something you lack. Try to teach your mind to stop telling you what is impossible and learn to search for a way to make it possible. *

*You still have some time left before the sunrise. As a punishment, try to get here before I wake up your body. Be sure to wear pink bunny pajamas. Then perhaps I may forgive you. *

She vanished once more before I could ask anything.

“Pink bunny pajamas. Right. Perhaps there’s a shopping mall somewhere there by the eternity? ”

Erta did not answer and I had nothing better to do than walk. Does she expect me to just flick my fingertips and pink bunny onesie would materialize?

“Why not?”

I think I would jump if I could get scared like that. A certain unwelcomed voice grinned at me from behind my back.

“Do I want to know why you’re here? So far you’ve shown a tendency to appear at all the bad moments.”

“So soulless of you to say that.”

Stolen novel; please report.

She flipped out her tongue and pulled at one of her cheeks in a mocking gesture.

“Who are you anyway?”

“Not telling. Especially not when you’re so unkind.”

Being ridiculed by a part of my own psyche. Good job me. Good job.

“Does Logic know you’re here?”

“Of course not. That stiff popsicle wouldn’t let me anywhere nearby… oops. I probably shouldn’t say that. Pretend you haven’t heard it.”

Swinging her arms in exaggerated fashion the young woman marched beside me, humming a cheerful tune. Her hair… odd. Every time I looked at her, her appearance seemed to change. Her hair, her cloths, her height, her face.

“Took your sweet time, a?”

She tugged at my cheek. It stung.

“Well, bah-bye!”

She waved and vanished. And my cheek still smarted a bit, but it got me thinking. What if…

I closed my eyes took a deep breath and opened them again.

Sure, enough my old hoodie stretched out under the influence of two overgrown pillows, my mane cascaded down my shoulders and my odd eyes glowed in my reflection. But that was not who I was. I closed my eyes again. Deep down I knew that face. I stared into it every time I shaved myself in the morning. I knew what face I would see.

And presto, my reflection surprised me with a work ready me, complete with a cheap suit I bought at a thrift store and a set of dark circles under my eyes. Interesting.

I closed my eyes again. I hope she won’t get angry at me but… Allynna’s curious face looked back at me. The pillows hardly fit in her elven gown. Perhaps I shouldn’t go back to that. I focused on the male form the witch gave me. It took longer than I expected but I it did emerge. Naked. Well, at least my mind got that right. Halloo flappy. Nice seeing you.

As if I were within a lucid dream, I could switch between the forms I knew. Oh, that’s what she meant by it. I swapped between the forms I limited myself to.

Once again, I closed my eyes but this time instead of focusing on something I were, I recalled an anime character Erta refer too and Imagined myself wearing her bunny outfit then I opened my eyes.

Not exactly the result I would expect. I turned into that character. It looked so fake and out of place that my appearance instantly collapsed back into my good old self. With pillows. Should that worry me? After a moment of consternation, my mind did swap to a banana.

A failure one might say. Perhaps. But it also confirmed what she said. A mind limits itself. No, not that way around. Perhaps it was I who put in all the limits?

I stopped.

Who was I kidding? I won’t make it through that distance in the nearest future. Unless I cheat a little bit. Because why not. Free your mind and all that. Just to find a way.

I closed my eyes again and focused on a memory I had. It wasn’t exactly mine memory but, hey, I was gonna cheat anyway so, it counts.

Heavy eyelids slid aside as I opened my eyes and my elongated neck strained to hold my head. I straighten myself, remembering how that body felt. If the limbs worked exactly as I remembered, ah there it was. The feeling I looked for. As if moving my shoulder blades without moving my arms. And it worked. I felt membranes stretching to my sides and catching more and more air with each beat.

Effortlessly, my enormous body lifted off the ground and soared up.

Like Erta in her dream, I gained altitude flying in a circle then banked towards the tree where she slept.

I think my mind made her butt a little bit too large. Like several tons too large. She is soo going to kill me if she’ll see that. Or at least probably try if that’s even possible.

My mind recreated her body based on what I saw and felt in her dreams. And I soared, her wings swallowing distance in a heartbeat. I arrived at the tree within moments of liftoff. But I have not considered one issue. None of her dreams I saw, showed a way how to land a dragon’s body.

Erta, my dear, wonderful roomie. May I have your assistance.

*And what exactly have you…*

Our eye met as I made another circle around the tree.

Help. Please?

*Angle towards the ground. Let your hind legs touch first and break with the wings. *

It sounded so simple.

I hit the ground head first then tumbled and rolled, pushed by momentum. Thankfully I'm not a dragon. No disgrace to gain there. I relaxed and felt my body reform into my original unshaven self.

*How did you do that? *

“I closed my wings and gravity did the rest. If there is such thing as gravity in this place.”

For an imaginary dimension, hitting the ground seemed very real.

*No, you looked and moved like me. That is nothing to shrug off. Taking control even within a lucid dream is no easy feat. I congratulate you on your attempt. *

She bowed her head to me. A sort of pride emanated from her.

*You have made your very own first step on the road to understanding magic. *

“If you say so. Although I Think I'll leave flying to you.”

*Perhaps that would be for the best. Now, a new day is dawning. You have played unconscious long enough, go, do not trouble our employer any longer. It is time to wake up. *