Chapter 5

Visions and Dreams

He could see! It had been such a long time. Grey stood there stupefied, looking up at the beautiful blue sky. He rubbed his eyes, and laughed to himself. Was this a vision? A worldly insight? He wasn't sure, but he could see.

"Oswin! Ciara! I..." said Grey. He looked to face them, but when he turned around they were nowhere to be found. Instead, numerous shadows slithered beneath the surface of the courtyard, each carrying a different form. They whispered amongst themselves, eyeing him hungrily like a sea of snakes wading in shallow waters.

He looked at these shadows a little frightened, and took a step back. A shadow coalesced in front of him, forming out of the ground. A mouse, vividly rose up from the darkness, and touched him. Two black holes where its eyes should be.

"Give them back," said a little tiny mouse. "Give them back."

Grey touched his eyes. His eyes which should have been his, but on his head he felt nothing but gaping hole. He screamed.

~~~

Grey awoke with a sweat, a little mouse was there at his feet poking at him. "Grey are you alright?" said Ham, twitching her nose. "I have come back!"

"Ham," said Grey. His world had become dark again. An illusion. None of that had been real. He was still blind.

"Oswin? Ciara?"

"Hmmm," murmured Ciara, waking from her slumber. "That was weird."

Ciara shook her head and went off to wake up Oswin. They both returned a moment later.

"I found Blue! Come follow me! Then you can talk to him," said Ham. Grey nodded, shaking off the fear from his body. He had seen something, a mouse. His eyes.

"I see with eyes that are not mine," whispered Grey, recalling his vision. He wondered if that was the path he should be taking. If that gaping hole in his head was his worldly insight. He had to ask Iris about what it meant after they got back.

Ham led the children through the castle into one of the halls. A stone altar lay in the middle of the room, a statue resting on top of it.

"Blue! I'm home! How have you been?" said Ham, cheerfully. The little mouse scurried up near the altar. As the little mouse went up, the statue suddenly moved. Its head turned. Dust falling from its body, revealing long haggard whiskers, and two sapphires eyes. A stone mouse!

The stone mouse looked playfully at the little mouse that came up and started bouncing on its head. Its eyes closed and open as if waking from a dream. As the stone mouse looked around, its eyes came to rest upon the three children, two of which looked absolutely shocked. It let out a horse yet deep growl that echoed through the chamber.

"Grey, here's Blue. What did you want to say to him?" said Ham, happily.

"Ah?" frowned Grey, scratching his head. "I can't understand him,"

"Huh!?" shouted Ham, surprised.

"I don't know why either."

Grey had only heard a feral growl. Had Ham been special? Or was there something he was missing to be able to speak to monsters?

"Ham, since I can't speak. Could you translate for me?" said Grey, turning towards Ham.  "I could ask through you and you can ask Blue."

Ham nodded. "Okay, I don't mind. Blue, this is Grey! A human child. He said people were coming to kill mouses for a quest, and wants to help us out."

The stone mouse, tilted its head curiously, and yawned revealing a row of crystalline teeth. It twitched its whiskers sheepishly, letting out a quick studded sound. The sound of rocks churned inside the stone mouse's belly. A deep reverberating squeak came out of its throat and then the stone mouse lay back on the altar as if where sleeping.  

"Blue said that he doesn't mind. There are too many mice in the first place?! Blue! How could you say that. Why are you smiling. Stop laughing!"

Oswin and Ciara could see a slight grin on the stone mouse's face as the Ham bounced up and down on its head furiously. Ham than raced all over the larger stone mouse's back and then started nibbling on its tail.

Blue opened its mouth, the rocks churning in its stomach, and let out what Grey thought sounded like sigh. Blue said a few more deep squeaks and rested its head on its paws.

"Hmph. Hmph!" said Ham, pouting. "That's right you better be sorry."

Grey giggled. "So, does he know anything about the loom shop?"

"Ah, that's right," nodded Ham, turning back to the stone mouse. "Blue! Grey said that they came to kill mice because someone is making trouble in the human cloth shop. Do you know anything about that?"

Blue closed his eyes and started snoring.

"Stop making fun of me!!" cried Ham. "This is why I left in the first place. Stop pretending to sleep."

The stone mouse snorted playfully and made a few deep squeaks.

"Blue," said Ham. "Blue says that it was probably one of the newer mouses. Ginger and Cinnamon. He doesn't know what they did to cause such a problem though."

"Cinnamon?" said Grey, curiously. "I have been meaning to ask but how do mice name themselves?"

"We name ourselves after our favorite thing in the whole wide world," cried Ham. "I like ham. So my name is Ham. Blue likes blue things. So his name is blue."

"I see," smiled Grey. "That's not a bad way to do things."

"Of course not!" said Ham, shaking her head.  "It's the best way! How do humans name themselves?"

"Well, we name ourselves after our parents. So our names sometimes come out funny. We also name ourselves after things we want to be."

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"So since you are a boy. They call you Grey Boy?" asked Ham, playfully.

Grey laughed, remembering his books. "Kind of. If your dad is John. They sometimes call you Johnson. Cause you are John's son."

"Humans are so weird," scoffed Ham, "My dad was named Yellow. So if I was human I should be called Yellow Ham. Everyone knows Ham is not yellow. So sad."

Grey smiled "I guess. Anyway, now that we are here. Can we look around? Where can we find Cinnamon and Ginger?"

In truth, Grey was a little curious about the world these mice lived in. Monsters. How their lives must be similar yet different to humans. If they spoke did they make their own cities? A monster city. Grey shuddered at the thought. But even so, as Ham spoke to Blue again, Grey was drawn to the strangeness of this room.

"Blue says they like cookies. So they will be near bakery."

"Looks like we have to get of the sewers then," sighed Grey. He remembered the bakery girl he met earlier. Ran. Should they visit her shop? No way.

"Hmm?" said Ciara, looking at Grey. "Grey what happened? What did the big mouse say?"

"Blue said that the mouse who were causing problems are probably near a bakery."

Ciara's eyes lit up. "Melon Bread! M-M-Melon Bread!" She danced around happily.

Oswin too started to smile and stretched his arm over Grey's shoulder. "Well that makes things easy. Let's go back to that shop. That reminds me. You didn't get a taste of that bread did you?"

"I did not," chuckled Grey, casually. Ciara had acted so silly at the time, he had been embarrassed to ask for one.

"When we grow up we should definitely make it a law to eat that bread forever," giggled Oswin. "So that all shall know the power of the Melon Bread!"

"Haha, okay," giggled Grey. "By the way Oswin. I feel something different about this room. Could you tell me what you see?"

"Oh? Is it magical? I feel no magic, but...hmm. You are right something is different."

Oswin looked around the ceiling and at the walls. Tree roots. This place was filled with tree roots. There were a few bricks, shattered wood over the floor, and strange drawings on the walls. The stone altar in the center.

"This place...looks like an old temple," said Oswin.

"A temple?" said Grey, incredulously.

"Yes. I have seen a few temples. There are drawings on the wall. Pictures of some old battle. The big stone mouse sits on an altar at the end of the room. These wood boards on the floor look like they used to be seats."

Oswin walked over and picked some of the shattered wood debris on the ground. He pieced them together, forming a phrase.

"Keep us safe. Keep us sound. Return all things. To where they are found?"

Oswin flipped over the boards. "Sounds like a chant. I wonder if this is a spell?"

Grey nodded. "It could be, but don't try to use it. Iris said that magic can be dangerous. Magic without purpose-"

"-can only hurt us." smiled Oswin. "I know. Okay, Mr. Worrywort. I am just curious that's all. Just curious."

Oswin placed back the wooden boards back on the ground and then realized that together these wooden boards created a larger image when lined properly on the floor. He gently kicked the boards slightly to the side so that Ciara wouldn't see them.

"We should be heading back soon," said Oswin, looking around the ruins. "Iris said to come back before it got dark."

Grey nodded. It had been a few hours since they had left for the sewers. It they waited too long then they might not back to the inn in time. At night, most inns close their doors, and they might get locked out.

"Ciara! Come on let's go back. It's getting late" called Grey.

"Coming!" replied Ciara, dropping rock. She whipped out the map from her bag and started to make her way out of the chamber.

Ham then looked at Grey. "What are you doing?"

"We have to go back to our 'home' to sleep," said Grey. He thought about using the word 'Inn' but realized mouses might not know what an Inn is. "Did you want to come with us? We can talk more and I can give you lots of ham!"

"Really!" hummed Ham, dreamily. She ran up to Grey's sleeve and snuggled next to his cheek. "Would you please! I would really like you. Maybe, add some honey? Oh and glaze it with the fire."

Grey smiled. Iris did have a little bit of smoked ham from their travels. She would understand right? "Yep! And you'll even get to sleep on a soft fluffy bed."

"Hehe," said Ham, drooling. "Ham...Ham.."

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Author's Note:

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Hi everyone so a little bit about my editing process at the moment. I have been reading a bit on how books are published, and I have heard it usually takes a few total revisions before the final product is out. That is the writer goes out and rewrites the whole thing from scratch 3-4 times until it comes out right.

While I am not sure if that is true. It does feel like if I went through this a second time it would go a lot faster. The end goal is to make a manuscript. I will be looking at some resources these coming days and maybe do a novel swap with a few other writers to get some second hand opinion on plot, direction, and pacing. I do have enough material currently for a book, but I feel some things in the first volume, while they can be expanded upon, I am not exactly sure how to do that at the moment.

Anyway, I will see you all next time. Thank you for reading. ｍ（｡≧ _ ≦｡）ｍ