Wake Up Once

> ”For a world as important as Brymeia, there’s more than just good and evil fighting for the world. There are those like us who try to save it. What? You thought the good guys wanted to save Brymeia? I didn’t come here to speak of comedy.” ~Schrodie, the Gatekeeper

About half an hour had gone since Frein found Evanclad and Norazzel. With nothing much to do, boredom quickly overtook him and Elizzel.

Since he couldn’t even Gather, there was nothing to Mill, and he didn’t feel like reading at the moment given the place they were in. Exercising didn’t have a point either; he needed to be ready in case something wrong happened and he couldn’t afford tiring his muscles since there wasn’t much meiyal to spare.

So Frein just sat on the floor, splayed his legs comfortably, and patiently waited. Elizzel flopped in between his legs and began to doze off. He didn’t like that. And their Tether was tied enough that there was no chance she wouldn’t be aware of it. Meaning, the faunel was doing it on purpose to get him to do something interesting to take her off her boredom.

Without a hint of warning, he wrapped his arm around the faunel’s head and pushed her face against his armpit in a suffocating submission hold. Elizzel squirmed in surprise, flailing her slender legs in a state of panic, while helplessly trying to pry open the lock. Her thin form was powerless and left her no choice but to tap out desperately. Frein released her only after a few more seconds.

Elizzel breathed and wiped her face with her sundress, disgusted by the sudden torture. “Why!” she exclaimed.

“Ask before you sit on Katherine’s throne.” Frein firmly pointed the gap in between his legs.

“I sit on you, piggyback on you, and this? This is the limit?” Elizzel gestured dramatically.

“Correct. Ask Kat if she’s willing to share. Otherwise, it’s off-limits for now.”

“Fine.” The faunel pouted and turned away. She walked around to his back and promptly sat. Frein didn’t even budge after she threw her entire, nonexistent weight. “I’m still bored, though.”

Evanclad’s presence and the dream wolf, Norazzel simply gave the two of them a glance before promptly returning their attention to Kristel who was still chained up. The ninth wolf had just manifested, dead as expected. The faunel of Dreams and Memories created three more copies of herself, sending them into the Princess. She was almost out of meiyal again.

“I do have a question, if you folks would indulge my curiosity,” Frein began, trying to drift between his formal and casual mannerisms.

“What is it?” Elizzel asked. She instinctively probed through their Tether. “Oh…”

“Where was Kristella’s meiyal core located?”

He felt the faunel’s reluctance to respond. But Evanclad turned his attention to him, fortunately.

“Do you mind if I ask why, first?”

“Just curious in general. And I couldn’t find it on the painting earlier. I thought meiyal cores are supposed to be always uncovered to allow for full potential?”

“We didn’t know back then,” the Monarch replied. “But to answer your question, it’s on her tailbone, with her fluid line-patterned marks spreading up to her spine.”

“Did she unseal all one-hundred?”

“Easily.”

“Oh, but she didn’t leave any advice on how to do that when she wrote her book.”

Evanclad turned away, returning his sights to Kristel. “Because the marks don’t matter.”

Frein tilted his head. “You know, if you say it like that, it makes me think like you’re hiding something.”

“No, I’m not.” The Monarch turned to him again.

“Sure, you are. But don’t worry, I won’t pry if you prefer keeping secrets. I just wanted to know if there are any.”

Evanclad studied him carefully and sighed. “I never thought I’d see the day to find someone more capable than one Blessed with Heart’s Will. Yes, Frein, we know the way to unsealing your meiyal marks. But we would rather not tell people—”

“It has something to do with Destiny again, does it?”

The Monarch’s invisible presence stepping back in surprise was all the confirmation he needed.

“As I said, I won’t pry any longer. I think I can figure it out from here.”

“That’s absolutely crazy. I thought you were literally reading my mind!” Evanclad couldn’t hide his amazement. He coughed slightly to regain his composure. “But yes, you’re right. I will leave the rest up to you.”

“One more question, totally unrelated, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, Frein, would you please not ask that one?” Elizzel complained. It didn’t stop him, though.

“Where was Evangeline’s core?”

Frein felt Evanclad’s presence gesturing towards the faunel beside him. “You can do the honors.”

She was covering her face.

“You know I can pull on the Tether if I want to, right?” Frein threatened jokingly.

“Fine!” Elizzel covered her eyes in total embarrassment. “It’s underneath her navel. Above her womb. It’s shaped like a rose petal with thorn-patterned marks going around her waist.”

His eyes widened at the information. “That’s…kind of kinky. I was sure it would be the same given that they were twins.” He found it amusing when Elizzel withdrew into a little ball while squealing like a kid.

“So, uh, I assume you were feeding from her meiyal before, right?” Frein asked, allowing his curiosity to win over. The faunel, still covering her face and blushing brilliant red, nodded frantically. “Did you, uh, bite her over there?”

This time she shook her head so much that her pink hair whipped everywhere. “I only need to bite the core directly when performing a Faunel Tether,” she explained.

“You didn’t Tether with her?”

“No. I didn’t know about Tethering until after she was gone.” She calmed down, now solemn with the memory of regret washing over her embarrassment. “I do wonder what it would’ve felt like.”

“Still,” Evanclad interrupted. “I doubt you would’ve Tethered with Evangeline, Eli. You two were already deeply in love that a Tether wouldn’t matter at all.”

A realization hit Frein like a truck appearing from a blind corner. “Wait a second! I get now why you’re so embarrassed! You have them on you, don’t you?”

Frein crawled on all fours, chasing Elizzel who squirmed away while screeching at the top of her lungs.

“Show me!” he demanded.

“I have it! You don’t have to look! You’ll see everything!”

As easy as that, Frein relented. “Oh, so touching your bum, biting your thighs, it’s fine. But looking? That’s your limit?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yes!” Elizzel cried, defending her skirt with her life. “You have your limits, I have mine. We deal with it!”

“Fair enough,” Frein agreed, driving the discovery into a more productive discussion. “So if you do have a meiyal system, can’t you really do Meiyal Arts?”

“I told you I can’t,” Elizzel replied, sitting more relaxed now that her host had given up on his assault. “It’s against our oath.”

“But you’re free, right?”

“Actually, Eli, you can now,” Evanclad interjected casually. His presence indicated that he still faced Kristel, just leaning to the side towards them slightly. “You just keep forgetting about it, but your meiyal system adjusts to the Visitor you’re Tethered with. So for Frein’s case, you can Draw the same Meiyal Arts as he can.”

At that, the two were of single thought. Elizzel immediately tried to Draw a four-meiyal Siffera. And it worked, almost instantly and fluidly as if Frein Drew it himself. Surprisingly enough, Frein also gained the benefit of the Art through their Tether.

“See?” Evanclad’s smug grin transcended his non-existent physicality. His voice rumbled with laughter. “One of the reasons why your oath makes you forget previous Visitors is to prevent the current one from information overload when you Tether with them. But basically, what either of you can do with regards to meiyal—be it Meiyal Arts or whatever—the other can do just as well.”

“Seems like she’s taking from my meiyal reserves,” Frein observed, causing him to catch the implication a little bit slower than usual. “Wait, but Eli forgets the disciplines.”

“Eli doesn’t actually forget.” Evanclad turned to them this time around, aware of the gravitas he was about to say. “She offers them for safekeeping. Now, there’s nothing in her oath that says she can’t take them back.”

Frein turned to Elizzel. “Where are your memories?”

She shrugged.

Evanclad said something, but Destiny intervened.

Just like that, it deflated all the tension Frein had. He sighed. “The earlier I can get that Fragment, the better. I hate getting denied like this.”

“Oh, I can tell you the name of the place, just not how and where to find it,” Evanclad clarified. “It’s called Talendrym Isle.”

Before Frein could ask any further, Norazzel stirred from her concentration.

“She’s waking up.”

Frein pulled out some spare clothes from his Spatiera, passing some of them to Eli while holding a long coat. The chains snapped one by one, causing a resounding echo to bounce off the narrow walls of the basement.

As soon as the last of them snapped off, Kristel fell. She dropped slowly into Frein’s arms, allowing him to cover her with the coat. The marks left by the chains riddled her body, leaving her with bruises and other minor injuries. Otherwise, she was breathing fine, stirring into consciousness as he placed her down the ground.

The surrounding dead copies of Norazzel vanished one by one, dispersing into residues of meiyal.

The Princess opened her eyes slowly, burdened by fatigue and pain. Azure pupils tried to focus as they peered over Frein. She blinked multiple times, trying to get rid of the blur.

“Hey,” she said, finally. “Thanks for waking me up.”

“It wasn’t me,” he admitted, pointing towards Norazzel and where Evanclad’s presence was supposed to be.

The Princess turned to the First Monarch first. “Evanclad?” she asked.

“You can see him?”

“I think so?” Kristel blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to get a clear view of her ancestor. “No, I can’t see him anymore.”

“That’s alright, child,” Evanclad said. “But it wasn’t I who pulled you out of your nightmare.”

“Then it’s you?” Kristel asked the dream wolf. “Ah, I remember you leading me out. Thank you. But I didn’t quite catch your name.” She made an effort to stand, but failed. Frein helped her sit up and held her by the shoulders.

“My name is Norazzel, Princess. I once served under the Irista bloodline, but I’m now oathbound to the Dream. It’s my pleasure to have served the Irista once again.”

“I…” Kristel took her time to find her words. “I think I’ll be alright now,” she said, finally.

“What do you mean?” Frein asked.

“I feel much better. I think I’ll be able to sleep well from now on.”

Norazzel approached them and sat on her rear haunches. “Would you give me permission to analyze you briefly? Just to confirm if everything is indeed stable.”

“Please do.”

The dream wolf lowered her head, her fur glowing with meiyal. A few seconds passed before she opened her eyes again. She began with a few agreeable mumbles.

“Indeed it seems you’re better now. Apologies that I had to examine you. You were under Void Sleep due to an aggravated Nightmare influence.”

“I had Nightmare influence?” Kristel wondered. “I thought Atlas Sid cleared me when we got back?”

“It must’ve been a dormant one from when you were younger,” Evanclad suggested. “Otherwise, they screwed up.”

“It must have been,” Kristel guessed. “I made a few visits to the Western Sanctum when I was a kid.”

“The Nightmare influence was triggered by your guilt and loss, weaponizing it against you,” Norazzel explained. “But now that Frein has taken care of them, there should be more problems.”

“I concur,” Evanclad said. “They were hindering you from Milling and utilizing your Exhibit properly. I would even go so far as to say that they’ve been affecting your use of Spatiera specifically. But you will need to find that out yourself, I’m afraid.

“In any case, I think the three of you should wake up now. In the real world, I would guess that only a few minutes have passed, but you’ve exhausted yourselves way more than what should be possible in that timeframe and you must recover.”

“Will I see you again? I have a lot of questions.” Kristel’s firm eyes made an impression on Frein. She was more determined now, still trying to find her way, but not completely lost anymore.

Evanclad’s presence nodded. “My intention has always been to stay here and help you rebuild your Mind Palace. If you will allow it, I would like Norazzel to stay here as well.” He gestured towards the dream wolf who bowed gracefully.

“I would love that. Thank you.”

“Great, off you go now.”

“How?” Frein asked.

Elizzel wrapped her arms around them both. “I can always pull you back, remember?”

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As soon as Kristel, Frein, and Elizzel vanished from view, Evanclad made a sigh of relief. He hadn’t expected the results to be this favorable. “That Frein’s surely something,” he mused.

“I agree,” Norazzel said, standing and stretching.

“We should head back to a more open space.” Evanclad picked up the small wolf and began to float back up the stairwell. Just like Elizzel, Norazzel also weighed nothing. The two walked and talked.

“How many did it take to wake up the Princess?” he asked.

“About a hundred, give or take a few.”

“That’s a lot.”

Norazzel agreed. “Something was blocking me on my way there.”

“Destiny?”

“No, something more tangible.”

Evanclad stopped. “You think it’s Brymeia?”

“If my mother refuses to meet me, I would be…” Norazzel stopped as well. “No, I think I would understand. Her ways are always too out of the way.”

“Brymeia finds loopholes in Destiny with relative ease,” Evanclad commented. “But if it was the other one…”

“She would do the same thing.”

Evanclad sighed and resumed walking. Norazzel followed, unable to stop a sigh of her own.

“How many copies do you have left?” he asked, trying to find a more tangible topic to discuss.

“I managed to produce a few millions before things went into chaos. It’s not enough to monitor every edge of the Dream, but there’s absolutely no possible way to achieve that anyway. I’m only just a faunel. That said, I’m sure I still have millions going about while a few have turned and died.”

“Have you made a contract with Frein?”

“Yes, just recently. He has a surprisingly wide Dream, and he’s not bothered at all by my comings and goings.”

Finally, good news. “I’m glad to know that.”

They finally reached the main foyer. Evanclad assessed the damage and tried to visualize how he would go about fixing the place.

A lot of the infrastructure floated about and some sections were gone entirely, disintegrated into nothing. Meaning, he had to convince the Princess to spend time recreating those sections, which would cost more time than meiyal. But to possess a firm and well-built foundation was key to most success, and the Princess would be wise to invest in it as soon as possible.

Nonetheless, no reason to start later. Might as well be now. Evanclad picked up the closest pebble suspended in the air and started collecting all of them. Norazzel noticed what he was doing and began to help, creating two more copies of herself. She tagged each piece of debris with a paw, causing them to orbit around her.

“Say, Nora,” he began after making a third pile of rubble. “Have you heard anything about Liang?”

The closest dream wolf deposited her collection to the rubble before sitting on her haunches. “I did. She also told me not to tell you anything unless you ask for anything specific.”

“She always says that,” he retorted.

“She told me you’d say that too.”

“Fine. Can you tell me what she’s up to?”

“Specific, please,” Norazzel corrected.

“Can you tell me what she’s been up to when you heard from her?”

A second dream wolf deposited some rubble before taking a seat. The first copy went to return to work.

“She was preventing a Consumed world from dying out, sending a number of heroes and adventures in a collective movement by influencing their dreams and ambitions.”

“Was she successful?”

“I didn’t stay long.”

“Did she tell you when she’s visiting?”

“You know she doesn’t tell anyone who doesn’t need to know.”

“Fair. Did she mention anything about Kielmera?”

The third dream wolf arrived and replaced the second. “Yes,” Norazzel replied.

“Anything I should know?”

“Not for you, sadly. You’ve been long dead.”

Evanclad sighed. The name, Kielmera, eluded him for the longest time. And all he knew from the day he heard the name, from Liang on the day of Zerax’thum’s death, until now was that it was somehow another world involved with Brymeia. Nothing more, nothing less.

It was maddening.

Liang, too, was aggravating with how much she wasn’t willing to share. Why did he have to trust this old ha—

Norazzel clawed at him before he could finish the thought. It didn’t hurt the First Monarch, since he wasn’t physically tangible, but he felt the motion.

“I was told to do that to you should you be silent for more than ten seconds.”

“That old ha—stop scratching me!”

Norazzel swiped at him again. “I was also told to do that when you start calling her names.”

“You don’t have to follow all her instructions, you know? She’s not even your mother. And how do you even remember all that?”

The dream wolf tilted her head. “I’m the faunel of Dreams and Memories, Evanclad.”

“Oh, damn. You’re right.”

“In any case,” Norazzel began, “I was told to keep information from you until, and I quote, ‘I make sure that Gatekeeper gets his job done’.”

“Alright, tell me about the Gatekeeper then.”

“Gladly.”

The three dream wolves gathered around him, each sitting beside one of the piles. Evanclad sat as well, no longer motivated to pick up any debris for the rest of the day.

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