Book One: Catalogue The Dreamer
Chapter One: Unceremonious
A rushing wind, so high, so close to the heavens, clouds passing below, how long had it been now, how long had this struggle continued. Every night, every night his dreams were plagued. Far below, a strange world one he’d only seen from on high and in the dead of night. When the clouds crumbled away turning into rain and mist, the city was revealed. A city rising upwards. High stone walls that even from such heights seemed to impose, fending off a sea of green grass, within the city itself towers seemed to rise here and there little houses standing in between, slate roofs and sturdy timber. The further one went the larger the houses, shops began to appear as artisan districts resolved from the mundane buildings standing higher, workshops affixed to the top of each house. Inns stood at the edges of roads, stables took up masses of land. An inner city pasture at the back of a ring of high towers. Within that ring the noble estates standing amidst the finest craftsmen available. The palace standing at the centre of it all, white marble that shone in the sun, lit all times of the day and night by faint lanterns, red shale covering the roof like scales. Arches and buttress circumventing the yards a series of bulwarks surrounding the palace, ornate beyond practicality.
He peered down his telescope towards the city. He would find himself there soon enough. Perhaps it would have been easier to just fall, falling here and now would be far better than just falling later wouldn’t it?
He didn’t know. The world seemed so cold to him standing so high above the mountains, in a floating fortress. One that was about to fall to the earth…
It wouldn’t be long now, not long at all, the engine that fuelled this castle in the sky, it was running out. Time was running out. Tomorrow the world he had known would crumble and fall. He had gathered everything he held of value in the belfry, every last item he could. He’d wrapped them up to prepare for the coming day. He would sleep and when he woke he’d have to face the descent.
He passed through the hallways moving slowly feet trailing behind him, ragged ash blue cloak caught on the breeze. His survival would depend on his magic, his trust in the runes he had engraved. It frightened him though, he was sceptical at best and at worst it was plain suicidal. But when your choices were certain death, and possible death, well there really was no choice at all.
He walked through the halls, where he had spent his life dusty alone, the only thing remaining darkness and death. A howling breeze ripped through the night, snuffing out the light of his lantern once and for all. He was silent moving forwards, he didn’t need the light, not when he knew every twist and turn, every nook and cranny, this place for all its solitude and its encroaching despair was his home.
He passed through an archway entering the main portion of the building. The castle had thirty-two floors thirty-one going up one going down. He cast his gaze upwards to the night sky, the moon gleaming silver above. He was running out of time, He cursed silently under his breath marching forwards, removing a long black stick from a loop cut into his belt. He swung out the iron rod striking the wall, a chime ringing through the air a pulse of mana flowing from his fingers into the rod and then the walls. A series of runes spluttering to life glowing yellow, and dieing just as quickly. He sighed; things really were becoming rundown, if he couldn’t even turn on the lights.
He swept through the corridors and passage moving down sloping passages towards the heart of the castle. The belfry was located at the very top of Carix castle, mounted on the highest steeple where the bell could be heard to ring for many miles. And everyday he rang that same bell, for tradition more than anything. The bell had to be rung every morning as the sun rose. He did not know why but he complied with his late masters wishes.
The castles heart, its core sat at the very bottom of the floating abode, high arched windows looking out swathed by clouds that obscured his view on the best of days. The bookshelves had been cleared, almost empty. Most he’d locked deep within the vaults on the upper floors; sealed by magic so strong even dragon fire could not make it waver. He’d made many adjustments to the magical sequence himself during his time; it was his contribution to the castle. He’d run maintenance everyday fixing broken magical circuits, repairing magical devices, fuelling the core with what little energy he had left. He was linked to this castle just as it was linked to him. His energy was its energy and its energy was his.
He strode into the centre of the room, his footsteps resounding mournful echoes that followed him like ghosts. Stopping before the obelisk at the centre of the room he smiled. It was a simple spell but a powerful one written in a language so old even he had trouble grasping its meaning. But to put it in short, it was a contract, a contract that promised this ‘One in kind, the brothers of the belfry, the city of the skies, one in kind. Forever shall there domain be the heavens forever shall the bell ring true to drive back the dark. Until the time of strife when peace would rest upon the edge of a blade’. That was the best translation he could provide. Sighing he funnelled his mana into the device, the very last vestiges of his strength to buy a little more time. Time enough for him to sleep and stall his descent for another day. Sighing he turned from the obelisk. It was time for him to sleep and the dreams to end.
----------------------------------------
Light poured through the window, peering through the curtains casting hazy shadows on the floor. Many small figurines were rested on the windowsill, knights, wizards, and random anime characters. He sat up in bed casting his blanket aside. It was such a pain; he really was losing his mind. He could barely tell what was real and what was the dream anymore. But this world he was sure that it was the real one. After all magic and floating castles what kind of ludicrous dream was that, it was like something out of a children’s cartoon. The dreams had been one thing when he was young perfectly natural a child’s fantasy. But he was sixteen now, it was time to give up on those idiotic dreams. If only he could make them stop. But he could still feel it, his heart beating so slowly merely waiting for the inevitable and the fear it induced. It had aged him, more than he cared to see. When he was young and things were happy he could smile and laugh, but not any more.
Deep circles ringed his eyes, giving him a menacing look, he was thin he ate rarely, at least in reality. It was different in his dreams though, despite all of the terror he felt, something there just seemed to put him at ease. He stood tugging his clothes off of the radiator where he had hung them after yesterday’s sudden downpour. It was still raining.
A black blazer with a red badge on its chest and a dark grey shirt. He attended secondary school and was in his final year, the pressure of the things he was going to have to do were killing him, tests, tests, tests, tests it was all anyone ever talked about. He clutched at his tie loosening it slightly and affixing his glasses to his face.
“Hey mom.” He called walking out of his room and into the apartment. His mother turned from where she stood in the kitchen that conjoined to the dining and living room. She smiled pulling two slices of bread from the toaster.
“Here, you look worse than normal today, something happen, are you being bullied?” She questioned with a yawn. Sampson rolled his eyes.
“No it’s just the dreams again, they’re getting worse.” he replied sitting down at the table and grabbing a jar of jam.
“Is that so…” His mother spoke in a whispered voice refusing to turn to him shoulders tensed hands shaking. He knew that his dreams wore more on her than himself and that he regretted. “You know they’re not real, right. They’re not real Sampson.” she pushed her tone laden with concern. He nodded,
“Yeah.”
He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say, he honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the two realities, and it was because of that he had been forbidden from attending school until this year. He clenched his teeth; they had rushed the decision to have him released from psychiatric care for the sole purpose he could take his tests, fail them and then return the government unable to be held accountable. He hated it every last part, couldn’t they have just let him have his dreams, real or not. And now they were trying to screw him over, but he’d been studying for hours and hours every single night, he would pass his tests and he wouldn’t have to worry anymore.
“Good darling, now eat up, you need your strength for class” He nodded glumly staring down at his food. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything. If he started talking about his dreams again, then he was going back for sure.
----------------------------------------
School started the same time as usual and as usual everyone kept their distance from him. He had entered a public school, a literal playground for bullies and thugs. Yet even they steered clear of him. He was alone a stigma attached to him like a curse, whispers spoken behind his back, almost everyone refusing so much as to meet his gaze, teachers included.
He dropped his bag besides his seat and lowered himself down he was in for a long day just like usual.
“Hey Sampson.” A dull voice called looking down to him “I heard that you’d been locked up again, guess it was just a rumour.” Sampson looked upwards. At the large man that stared down at him “Come on you ever going to tell me why you were locked up?” the young man smiled at him.
“I’m not telling you James.” James ‘mellow’ Stockburn, He just preferred to go by mellow most of the time though. He stood over six-foot tall with broad shoulders and a close cropped head of brown hair
“You know that just makes the rumours about you worse, or is the truth worse than rumours could ever be?” James grinned sitting down in the desk behind him. Sampson rolled his eyes messing with his tie, he hated wearing the thing, it was suffocating. “Anyway, aren’t you here a little early, you should relax more the bell hasn’t even gone.”
“Maybe but remember I’m four years behind all of you, so I need to work to make up the difference, besides she was here before me.” He pointed his thumb towards the woman sitting in the far corner; she was young, with pale blonde hair, probably dyed. She wore her uniform immaculate, her eyes were blue, her figure slender and without a doubt she was beautiful.
Her name was Lillian Alcove
“Hmm, is there something you need?” She questioned smiling to them. Sampson blanched something about the woman was just disconcerting. It made him feel sick inside.
“No its nothing.” He replied glumly turning towards James.
“The girls just too nice, she’ll even talk to a freak like you.” the large man laughed
Sampson snorted folding his arms.
“Don’t let the façade fool you.” He declared loud enough for the girl to hear “She’s not as sweet as she wants you to think, she’s obsessively competitive and I’m sure that isn’t where the discrepancies between who she really is and how she appears to be ends.” He slammed down his hand and turned towards the girl who was looking away from him blushing. Why in the hell was this something to blush over. “I mean come on, you know how she’s the best at everything even things she hates, like running she claims to loathe it, but she practices everyday.” As he spoke the door flew open.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“And how do you know that, are you a stalker?” a girl questioned walking into the room, it seemed like it was one of Lillian’s harem members. The girl had one of those magnetic personalities people just tended to gather around her, male or female, she even managed to drag people from years above and below her into her group of friends.
“No it’s because we live next door to each other.” Lillian sighed. Yeah like that was something to sigh over. Sampson unfolded then refolded his arms, he could tell, today was going to be a long day.
----------------------------------------
His eyes opened, he must have dosed off in class again, that was a pain. Wait if he’d fallen asleep then that meant, he was back in the dream world. He hoped against it as he opened his eyes, but he already knew hoping was futile, he could feel his back leaning against the large canvass pack containing all of his items. A black night a sky full of stars. He sighed, the castle hadn’t yet begun to fall but it was only a matter of time. He looked to the other side of the belfry where a shadowy figure stood leaning over the railings looking down at the clouds swirling below.
“Hey, you awake?” She questioned turning to him with a smile.
“Yeah, he mumbled throwing off his blanket.” She smiled at him “It’s nice isn’t it, I mean sure I’m worried about the fall, but your spell will keep us safe I’m sure.” She chuckled smiling at him “So Cat how long do you think we have?”
“Cloudy I told you that’s not my name.” He yawned glaring at his sister. The young girl had long white hair that fell past her waist at the back and was cropped short at the front, he eyes gleamed a pale shade of blue and she stood at barely five foot, she was still only thirteen after all.
“Call me Kit.” She responded.
He yawned shaking his head.
“Take more pride in the name you were given Cloudy, other wise you disrespect our master’s memory.” He shook his head pulling his blanket tighter.
“Yeah I know, but master had a horrible naming sense.” She muttered “Right Catalogue” Cloudy smirked striding back and forth the moonlight pooling in her eyes, she looked sad. “Come on Cat sounds cuter right, it isn’t even that different.” The only reasons she wanted to call him Cat rather than Catalogue was because she thought it was cute and the hood of the traditional robes he wore was made of a stiff leather the very top of the hood folded down and synched to give the appearance of feline ears.
He groaned shaking his head, “If you insist on giving me a nickname call me Logu.” He sighed as the flap of leathery wings resounded through the belfry. It seemed Serpen had returned from a successful hunt, going by how long the little creature had been gone. Their master had not had the best naming scheme; actually it was a stretch to say he had a naming scheme at all. Nicholas Nimbus had been the last of the brotherhood, the last of the keepers. Of the former order of roughly eight-hundred monks all had died. While both Catalogue and Cloudy had the blood of the brothers in them and were bound to the castles core they had never sworn the oath to protect the castle, Master Nimbus had forbade it. He claimed that the castle was destined to fall, as it would take a minimum of three full brothers of the order to keep the reserves of mana powering the city level. The original plan was to let the energy in the castle slowly dissipate the three of them being able to prevent the complete emptying of the mana in the obelisk and allowing for a slow controlled descent. But with Nimbus dead the two of them had been left with no alternatives. Logu had worked for the past year on constructing the magical circle and the relating theorems that would protect them from the fall. There lives were in the hands of fate, resting upon the vague hope that he knew what he was doing.
“Hey Logu, Pen here has a gift for you!” She laughed releasing the little dragon. In appearance the creature looked like an Asian dragon with a pair of antlers and a mix of fur and scales. However it had a pair of wings as well, and only two front feet. It was a subspecies of wyvern that inhabited the castle. Pen one of roughly eighty surviving members of the species.
The little dragon darted towards him wrapping its metre long body around him like a snake, a lizard like tongue lashing out to lick at his face. He swore the creature was more like a dog than a dragon.
“Get this thing the hell off me, Cloudy call him off!” Logu yelled throwing the dragon away as it began to glide through the air latching onto Cloudy’s shoulder.
“I’m going back to sleep,” he murmured closing his eyes.
----------------------------------------
“Sampson wake up” A gruff voice yelled a heavy hand grasping his collar. He looked up dull eyed towards his teacher. The old man was glaring at him with irritation though as there eyes met the man turned away “If your not feeling well step outside and take a breather.” The teacher marched back to the front of the class as if nothing had ever happened. Sampson looked backwards and forwards everyone was staring at him, it felt like they were judging him.
In the end he decided to do a suggested standing up and marching towards the door of his English classroom.
“Don’t worry.” A sardonic voice called after him. He paused recognising the voice of Lance, just another one of the jackasses from his school who thought it was fun to pick on those weaker than himself. “I’m sure the sky castle won’t fall down.”
Sampson’s eyes widened as he turned back, He must have been talking in his sleep, the entire class froze beneath his glare. It was as if a spell had been woven, just like in the other world, in Tarail. Lance sat stock still, a sweat begging to form plastering short blonde hair to his forehead. Sampson turned on his heels closing his eyes.
“Be quite.” He uttered the words before marching away. The instant they left his lips he knew that any hope for a halfway normal school life had gone up in smoke and nothing would be rising from the ashes.
As he left the classroom he could hear people brake out into discussion as tears formed within the corners of his eyes. He marched away turning for the door. He couldn’t take this anymore, why couldn’t he just pick a world and stay there. Perhaps if he died in this world he could live in the other… Perhaps.
But then there was his mother and James, they would be sad if he left wouldn’t they?
He sighed leaving the building entirely and leaning against the wall, his eyes were fixed upwards, it was a strange sensation for him looking up, he was used to looking down on clouds and the world below. If he could just remain Logu, if he could be Catalogue, then he’d be happy.
“What the hell was that?” A light feminine voice questioned full of venom and hate. Sampson turned around to see Lillian glaring at him. The woman rushed forwards grasping his throat and pushing him up against the wall. Her eyes had changed there was fury there; she was going to kill him. “What did you mean, the sky castle won’t fall, you’re a duality aren’t you. You used magic back there, tell me!” She screamed at him pushing him further upwards as he struggled for breath. He thrashed beating at the fragile girl, but she wouldn’t move an each, her arms were like steel, it was almost like a reinforcement technique from Tarail.
He could start to feel his head swim, his limbs becoming weak, falling to his side. Lillian let him go. “Tell me, Will the Carix castle fall?”
Sampson fell to his knees grasping at his throat choking.
“Who, who in the hell are you, How do you know about my dreams!” He roared staring up at the girl standing over him, as the weak willed front reasserted itself on her. The girl paused stepping backwards.
“Uh, Ah, you’ve never met another duality before have you?” She questioned her eyes going wide “I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”
“What the hell are you raving about, you’re the one who should have been locked in the crazy house not me.”
“Please just tell me.” The girl said looking away from him, her gaze fixed on the floor “Will the sky castle fall or not?” She turned her gaze upwards pinning him down. He stood there frozen, “I’ll explain everything if you just tell me, will the Carix castle fall and if so when.”
“You first, tell me what the hell is going on.” Sampson hissed stepping forwards grabbing the girl’s shoulder. “I need to know.” He stared directly into her eyes, but as he did that same resolve appeared giving her a steely gaze.
“ You are a duality, someone who two interconnecting selves, think of it as having separate minds and bodies but a conjoined soul. A duality has the ability to pass between realities when they sleep existing in two places at the same time. The origins of the two worlds are kind of hazy but going by the physical size and shape of the world other dualities hypothesise that each world came from the same world, earth, the two diverging this happening in the eleventh century AD when the forces of science and magic were evenly matched with each other, one reality where magic is the main focus of the people and the other where science is. Of course Tarail is roughly three times larger than earth and the structure of its landmasses are slightly different so no one is sure about it. Of course Dualities aren’t normal people they all have various abilities that seep through the barrier between realities carried with the soul. Like what you were doing earlier.” She crossed her arms glaring at him.
“How do you know all of this?” Sampson questioned glaring at her; the woman flinched for a moment
“You’ve got some seriously mean eyes you know that. Well in this world it isn’t like magic doesn’t exist, there’s black magic, a type of magic specialised for being untraceable and having small but dangerous consequences, among them are people who were magicians in Tarail, the only people in this world who can use real magic. Now it’s your turn, I’d also like an explanation as to why you used Murderous Intent on those people back there, if you had tried anything I would have had to kill you.” She warned and Sampson could tell she was being serious.
“I didn’t know okay.” Sampson muttered, “I had no idea magic worked here, I never tried it. I guess I just lost control I couldn’t help it.” He felt numb; he didn’t know how to respond, was he losing his mind or was it the world that was getting crazier around him. “But yeah Carix is going to fall.”
“How do you know that?” She questioned “No one has been in the ruins for thousands of years, no one can even see it without a telescope.” Sampson glared at her turning around.
“Because I live there,” he responded marching away towards the gate out of the school.
“Hey wait, you have to help me, if the city falls thousands of people will die!” She screamed chasing after him.
“I know, but there really is nothing I can do, chances are I’ll die as well… I’m leaving.”
She reached out grasping his shoulder.
“Don’t leave just yet, you have to help me or their blood will be on your hands!” She yelled clenching his shoulder.
“You have twelve hours at most, if you evacuate the south east side of the city, I might be able to push the castle out of the way a little bit, but I can’t promise anything more. I need to leave.”
“Thank you.” Lillian or whoever she really was murmured.
“Don’t, frankly I’m not sure whether to believe you or not. But for now I’ll play along, after all if you are telling the truth then the people in that world are real to. I can’t just let them die. But later I want a proper explanation of all this crap.”
Sampson walked away burying his hands in his pockets, focusing on his body. He could feel the mana coursing through his veins, though it was faint, his body wasn’t used to it yet. He’d find out whether Lillian was telling the truth later, after all once the castle did crash she would surely know. She wouldn’t be able to bluff that. Of course there was always the chance he’d just end up dying. He felt his stomach drop as he approached the gate. It was still raining the faint drizzle falling down around him, he should have brought and umbrella or something. He yawned; he was still tired he’d been up to late last night. He began walking out of the school searching for his usual bus stop and checking his pockets for change
It wasn’t long before he was on a bus returning home, he felt exhausted, everything had changed so suddenly, his realty, realities had been turned on their heads and now he had no idea what was real and what was not. It frightened him. Still he was tired and could already feel sleep calling to him, dragging him deeper into his dreams.
----------------------------------------
His eyes burst open looking out at a different world. Cloudy was on her knees in the centre of the Belfry, hands over her ears Serpen coiled around her arms. Logu stood casting his gaze around him, everything seemed perfectly normal, nothing strange at all. So why was she crying, and why had he woken up. He cast aside his hood and searched for the answer pulling his canvass bag onto his shoulders.
The world jerked forwards sending his stomach reeling as he dropped to one knee. It was time; Carix castle of the heavens was finally falling. Logu cursed under his breath rising to his feet and looking down he didn’t know how much time was left. The castle jerked again. He was thrown slightly into the air before being dropped back onto his feet. He needed to move quickly.
Focusing all the mana in his body into his feet he took a combat stance sending his mana flooding into the earth imbuing the stone filling the mana circuits in the castle, specifically the ones directly below him that fuelled the array he’d prepared. A series of runic glyphs drawn with sand and fired into glass. A yellow light burst from the earth around the runes as a pale yellow barrier formed. He was Catalogue a user of ancient magic following the path of the principals. In other words he was a Magician that specialised in utilising the laws of science creating chemical and alchemical reactions along with manipulating the laws of mass, inertia and momentum. He drew a sweeping line with his hand letting the words of the spell spill from his lips.
“I decree it so this barrier immortal un-breaking. Shall not he desecrated by the ravages of the world. Nothing may pass within this place of my dominion. Reality is as I decree: Stasis Wall!” The words rang through the air as the castle dropped another hundred feet towards the earth. They had some time until the Carix failed completely and they were plunged to the world below, but the question was would it be enough.
With the spell enacted in a dome around them Logu began to solve his other problem. They were going to crash into the city. He cursed silently dropping to his knees. This idea wasn’t just crazy, it was ludicrous, it risked their lives even further. If it had just been himself he wouldn’t have hesitated to try it, but it was the little girl kneeling before him, tears in her eyes clutching her beloved pet that made him hesitate.
If he were to ask her, he wondered what she’d say, would she give up her life to help those below… Damn, he already knew the answer and there was no changing it. Cursing his own sentimentality he dropped to one knee placing a palm against the floor of the belfry. He could feel it, Carix, an extension of his own body, the castle in the sky and a part of himself. He sent his power and that of the rapidly draining obelisk towards the north-western propulsion array; a wind magic array meant to navigate the flying castle. But the problem was the array was old, degraded from centuries of neglect. Logu had just staked their lives and the lives of everyone below him on a gamble, one that was unlikely to pay off. Slowly he stood looking out of the pale yellow barrier that was already becoming faded the colouring from his mana vanished though the barrier itself was intact.
Then the world began to shift. He felt his stomach rise as his body fell. He was plummeting towards Tarail below, the array hadn’t gone off. The people beneath, if they hadn’t evacuated they were going to die and that was certain. Logu grit his teeth wondering what else he could have done. Then the ground shook as Carix began to spin, the castle in the sky twisting out of control descending towards the earth aimed at the south-eastern wall. He blanched hoping beyond hope that his spell would hold with what meagre power he could still provide. As they went spinning forwards the bell above them began to toll, Logu looking upwards to the sky above, once blue, now blood red.
But before thoughts and questions could preoccupy his mind, his eyes closed and all went black.