--==Chapter 54:Don't Go--==

Explosions erupted in the air around us as Sori bobbed and weaved. Hands had much more control of his domain than I'd had on the stone ship. Then again, I hadn't actually tried changing anything, let alone creating anti-aircraft missiles. Sori was fast, however, and in the midst of some kind of mania. He dropped down, shot up, and darted all around, cackling the entire time. As Sori zipped about, my body was tossed around, caught abruptly, and manhandled carelessly hundreds of feet above the ground.

It felt a lot like being repeatedly punched in the stomach, and I was beginning to feel like an anime character being hit into the air over and over.

My balance atop the basketball-sized orb was precarious, and I instinctively looked for a way to take a measure of control. I had no interest in being juggled through the air while Sori and Hands went to war around me.

My options were not many.

I considered pushing myself off Sori, but we were high enough that there was no way I'd survive hitting the newly barren landscape far below me. Death might not hold the permanence it used to, but I wasn't eager to hit the ground after falling at least a mile. Our height didn't seem to hinder Hands's attack at all; the air still burst all around us as though we were being targeted by anti-aircraft artillery.

"Hey," I finally said to the eye. "Help me shift so I'm sitting on you instead of being held up by my stomach."

"Oh my god! You can talk!" Sori burst out.

"Finally, yes, I can talk. Now, will you help me reposition?"

"I don't know if you can tell, but I'm a little busy. Also, I don't want to nestle into your taint. 'Hey Sori, I know you're super powerful, will you let my balls dangle against your eye?' You're not even wearing pants."

"Then let me down. He wasn't trying to kill me."

"Really? I guess if you insist. I didn't realize you-" He dropped me.

"Fuuuuck!" I yelled as I plummeted, Sori's voice lost above me.

Looking over my shoulder, I watched the silver orb zip across the sky, trailed by explosions. My thoughts raced, looking for a solution. The ground was coming at me fast, and blood rushed to my head as my heart pounded in my ears.

This was a dream. Sori was darting around without propulsion; Hands was making things explode and vanish entirely. There had to be a way to fly, or float, or conjure a parachute, or just wake up back in my body.

Guy had been able to wake up–or, well, he wasn't able to, but he expected to be able to. I should be able to return to my body in the hospital. Hopefully, Hands or his goons were keeping a closer eye on my body than they did Guy's. I couldn't afford to let someone puppet my body around, causing trouble. A fistful of fur was enough to get me exiled. I could only imagine what I'd come back to if someone attacked my allies in my body.

My thoughts were scattered, and the ground was getting terrifyingly close much faster than I'd expected. I didn't have minutes to figure things out. I had seconds, maybe half a minute.

Suddenly, Sori was in front of me again, flying downward at the same speed I was falling.

"So," Sori started, "Are you not able to fly? Hey!"

I reached out and grabbed the orb between my paw hands and brought him in under my shoulder like I was holding a football. "Save me!" I burst out. I'd wanted to be cooler, calmer, but even the barren landscape was becoming more distinct, taking on texture. Slamming into the ground would hurt. It would also kill me. I didn't know if dying in the dream would kill me in real life, but it seemed likely. I wasn't ready to start the day over yet, not before I'd done something to clear my name.

Not that I was really thinking that rationally. Fear had overcome my reason, and I just didn't want to smash into the ground going a gazillion miles an hour.

Sori began to slow our fall but was still being trailed by concussive blasts, so he turned the fall into forward motion until we were speeding along just feet above the ground.

"Ok," Sori said. "now what."

It was difficult to tell without any landmarks to look at, but we had to have been going at least a hundred miles an hour, pursued all the while by explosions. At this point, I had to wonder if Hands was even aiming at us, or if he was just trying to keep Sori moving.

The domed space that had seemed surprisingly large when I first entered, felt smaller by the second.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Dangling precariously from Sori, only a story or two above the ground, we zoomed toward the border from the center of the space, across fields of dirt. A plume of dust trailed behind us before being dispersed by further explosions. The barrier was fast approaching, and Sori would have to turn.

I had no idea if I'd be able to hold on.

Sori tried to take the turn at speed, and my body careened outward, threatening my grip. The barrier was feet away. If I slipped, I'd likely collide with it hard. I didn't think the impact would be enough to kill me, but I also didn't know what kind of barrier it was. For all I knew, it would just disintegrate anything that passed through, like the vortex wall.

Two things happened at once before I could slip. An explosion from behind hit closer than the others, sending out a shockwave that threw me forward. At the same time, a stone wall rose up right in front of us. Sori swerved and increased his height to go around it, but my grip wasn't strong enough to hold on.

The blast hit me from behind, disorienting me. My hands slipped, and the stone wall took me in the shins, sending pain screaming up my body and causing my body to ragdoll through the air until I hit the ground in an uncontrolled roll.

When I finally came to a stop, everything hurt. It didn't feel like a dream or even a nightmare. It felt real. My legs were shattered, and one of my shoulders was dislocated. I writhed in the dust, trying to catch my breath.

"Sorry about this, Oberon. Sam. I won't risk this place or my people to that thing, god or not." Hands's voice said from nearby, though I couldn't see his body.

"Help." I groaned.

"I don't think this place will last long when I leave. It will be over soon. It was a mistake to bring you here; it opened the door for the Eye. I've evacuated my people to a new dream space."

His words felt distant, unimportant, as I gasped for breath through the pain. I was pretty sure I'd broken my clavicle as well. Any motion was excruciating.

"I don't have your shadow. I didn't hurt your allies. You, however, attacked me on mere suspicion. You killed one of mine and maimed another. For that, you can stay here while the plasma ocean reclaims the space. Thank you for telling me about Guy. I will find your shadow and reclaim his body. And then, we're leaving Forest Lake behind. Don't get in my way again."

With that, his presence was gone.

The explosions must have stopped pursuing Sori, because I suddenly saw him floating above me.

"Yikes, you do not look good. Doesn't it hurt for your bones to poke through your skin like that? It looks gross. You should probably stop."

"It hurts," I moaned. "Help me."

"Uh, Sam, it's not real. Just stop. Right?" Sori said, sounding baffled.

"How?" I pleaded through the pain.

Sori bobbed up and down in the semblance of a shrug. "How should I know? You're the one who dreams. Try squeezing your eyes shut and focusing really hard. That's how it works on TV."

I followed his suggestion, but my hopes weren't high. That was pretty much what I'd been doing since I stopped rolling. "It's not working," I groaned.

Sori made a raspberry sound. "Well. The dolphin's gone anyway, so at least you won't get blown up. Then again, the dolphin's gone, so this place is going to collapse. You should probably head out. You should be fine back in your body."

"How?" I asked again, frustration filling my voice.

"I told you, you're the one who dreams. How do you usually wake up?"

Above us, the barrier holding back the black and green plasma began to flicker.

"Ooo, uh, full disclosure, that plasma is kind of a bitch to deal with, so I think I'm going to head out."

"Take me." I gasped, hoping he'd have some way to bring me with."

"No can do, amigo." Sori said, sounding unconcerned, "Dream doors are only ever one person wide, here anyway. Not that it's an actual door, mind you. You get metaphors, right? I can never remember. Anyway. My fingers are crossed for you. That's another metaphor. Just, you know, figure it out."

"Don't go." I pleaded. The idea of being alone with my agony while the world collapsed terrified me. "I'll give the shadow to Hands." I threatened weakly.

Sori snorted. "Yeah, we'll see. You have to find it first. You shouldn't believe everything he said anyway. Even Hands doesn't remember everything. Anyway, don't be so serious. It's almost over."

Then Sori too was gone, and I was alone in a dustbowl as the barrier gave out and plasma and shadow spilled into the space in a cacophonous roar.

For all the terror and pain, both of them were right. It was over quick. The flood washed over me and ended my pain in an instant. The next moment, I respawned in the lobby bathroom, silent sobs leaving me shuddering on the ground.

--==