Once night had fallen and the full moon was up, it didn’t take too long for Estella to wait before the group were pinged the location of the ritual site. It was finally go time.
When the ship reached the outskirts of the site, it was clear as day, considering the site was surrounded by soldiers and agents from the Commission. It couldn’t be seen from above with the naked eye, but even Estella at this point could easily detect the illusion concealing the ritual with a simple spell Truth Vision spell. She could see the bonfire and the people surrounding it - they were still performing the ritual, but the witches were also clearly preparing for a major battle.
The ship landed, and almost everyone aside from Gartho disembarked, before the ship took off again. Estella could feel the rocky terrain beneath her armoured boots, and with a deep breath, she could smell the seaside air. She could hear waves crashing against the rocks, illuminated by the moonlight.
Something then immediately came to her attention - the full moon was unnaturally bright. On top of that, it looked much closer than it realistically should, being several times larger in the sky. It was an incredible sight, but also unnerving in equal measure. “What the hell is going on with the moon?”
“It shouldn’t be nearly that close or bright,” Natalia winced.
“It’s a passive illusion that reflects the moon’s effect on the magic around us,” Aurelius said. “Some say that magic can be perhaps… Over-dramatic in terms of presentation.”
Phi’Scia nodded, looking up at the moon, “I’ve heard of and seen effects like this before, so it’s not surprising.”
Estella didn’t have long to mull over the idea, as they quickly moved on to the matter at hand.
“Took you long enough,” grunted Gurumarra as he approached, flanked by two agents in tactical gear that Estella didn’t recognise. “We have the area completely contained. Nobody’s getting in or out. Also, these two are loans from the US - Special Agent Jax Morton, and Special Agent Linda Lupine.”
“So this is the troublemaker squad,” Jax smirked, “nice to meet you folks.”
“Wish we could’ve met for the first time in better circumstances, but it’s nice to meet you either way,” said Linda. “But right now we’ve got a job to do.”
“You guys smell like wolf,” Kat sniffed.
“They’re the werewolves I mentioned earlier,” Clarette explained, “their magic resistance is going to be useful for this.”
“Thats why Director Rhodes sent us over,” said Jax, arms crossed. “Unfortunately we don’t benefit that much from the full moon, especially compared to Thaumian werewolves, but it’s something. Speaking of which, I guess we’ve held off long enough…”
The two werewolves suddenly transformed, their clothes changing as well to reflect their new proportions, which Estella thought was pretty handy - no ruined clothes just from transforming, but considering Sonia had the same thing, that was no surprise. Both of them had grown an entire half-meter in height, and were visibly more muscular, bearing sharp fangs and claws. Linda certainly grew a few cup sizes, and her thighs looked like they could crush someone’s skull.
Sonia whistled, and she transformed into her lioness form as well. “Oh, neat, more were-folk.”
“Oh, a were-lion? We weren’t told about this!” Linda said, wagging her tail. Estella got the impression that this surprise excited her.
“Yeah, long story, we can talk about that later,” said Anja said, “how much time do we have before the ritual is complete?”
“If we didn’t have much time, we wouldn’t be standing around chatting about it,” Gurumarra frowned. “Are you sure you’re all ready for this? If any of you wish to back out from this fight, I won’t hold it against you.”
Estella didn’t even consider the notion for longer than a second. “We’re ready, Commissioner.”
“Well, some of us are. Gee, you certainly jumped into saying that, didn’t you, Es?” said Anja dryly. “Think about the rest of us who might not be so eager to leap headlong right into danger.”
“There’s little way of knowing whether we’re truly prepared for what’s about to happen, but we’ll do what we can regardless,” said Clarette.
Nobody else around seemed notably hesitant, so Estella figured if nobody had any objections, that particular question was now in the rear view mirror, so to speak.
“I’ll set up position over there,” Tharen said, pointing up towards the roky cliff to the west of the site, slightly inland. It seemed to have a decent view of the ritual site. He then dashed off, clambering up the rocks with his claws easily as his suit began to shift colour, camouflaging itself with the terrain and the amount of light around him.
“So what’s the plan, Commissioner?” Logos asked, as the group were lead over towards the barricades that blocked off the entrances to the ritual site. The two American agents slung assault rifles off their backs in preparation for the assault.
“Simply put - we move in, disarm any magical traps, surround the site, secure the brainwashed civilians, and apprehend the coven. It’s not rocket science,” said Gurumarra. “Gulara’s up to something, though. Thankfully, we’ve got people waiting in the wings who can step in if things potentially go south.”
Estella glanced at Arika, who had been silent up to this point. Seems Gurumarra had shared her concerns regarding this operation. Just charging in was likely going to go poorly, so it was best to follow the lead of the most experienced people on the field.
Estella nodded. “Let’s not waste any time, then, let’s get to work.”
She was in the front line as almost everyone began moving in on the ritual site. The bonfire was roaring at the shoreline, water barely lapping at the pile of wood that the flames fed from. Naked men and women danced around the bonfire, and while some of the witches joined them, the rest were standing by, watching their enemies approach. And at the front was Gulara.
The brief but wicked and lustful grin aimed Estella’s way by the witch sent a shiver down her spine. Of course on top of her existing bad luck with her love life, she attracted this crazy lady as well! Just her luck.
The witch’s eyes scanned the gathering assembled before her, “so the ‘heroes’ are all here, ready to-”
“Gulara. I am too old and tired for theatrics, and I am in no mood to indulge in yours. No grand speeches or monologues. Let the civilians go, and surrender. I’m only giving you one chance,” said Gurumarra. Estella could tell from his voice alone that he was a hundred-and-ten-percent done with this. “I’ve been willing to leave your coven be because you’ve been keeping to yourselves, but I won’t overlook this.”
Gulara briefly fumbled what she was going to say next, but she sighed, “oh, Gurumarra, still the puppet of those whitefellas in government. I’m just protecting our way of life.”
“You’re doing so while brainwashing and raping people,” said Clarette, “you’re acting only barely better than demons. If that’s ‘protecting your way of life’, your way of life deserves extinction!”
Estella nodded, pointing at Gulara, “basically, you’re a fucking creep and a rapist! We’re not letting you get away with this!”
Gulara smirked, which was probably not a good sign. “Spare me your moral nonsense. My coven are granting those we convert a kindness, giving them power. The strong rule the weak. That’s how it always is.”
“Then you won’t mind if we assert our dominance, then?”
The sea behind the bonfire began to part, as if a set of invisible barriers had pushed the water aside - Moses parting the Red Sea certainly came to mind. The Tenebris Imperatoris and his soldiers, including several amalgamates, emerged from the sea, surrounding the coven from the other side. “Your assertion is correct, but you are quite wrong about who possesses the power to dominate.”
Natalia frowned, Blade Rifle drawn, “it’s him. Great. I was hoping he’d stay home tonight.”
“Oh, that’s cute, the boy emperor thinks he’s hot shit,” said another voice from the rocks to Estella’s left - Hanzo was sitting up on the rocks, looking down on everyone. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m the strongest here!”
“Cool, I get to beat the shit out of this guy again,” said Anja as she slammed her fist into her palm.
“They’re not the only ones here,” Logos said cautiously, as shadows began to emerge from the rocks - various native monsters. Estella noticed that among their number was a scarred Namorrodor - likely the one that Anja had fought twice already. “All the native monsters and spirits in town are converging here as well.”
“Man, that’s a lot of ugly motherfuckers,” said Sonia.
“Ugh, how unpleasant, but nothing I hadn’t already prepared for,” sighed Gulara.
Gurumarra’s eyes narrowed. “I gave you a warning, Gulara. But if you insist on not heeding it… I’m more than prepared to do this the hard way. Let’s take them all down, people.”
Gulara laughed, as the moon in the distance only became even larger, “oh, my dear Gurumarra, did you not think I was prepared? Prepare yourselves, all of you, for tonight, dreams and reality become one and the same!”
Estella wondered for a moment what the hell that meant, before the ground suddenly gave way below her, reality seemingly collapsing around everyone, as the sound of a zap of energy went right over her head…
❖
Estella groaned as she sat up, finding herself on wet sand. Water lapped at her boots. She felt really strange, for some reason, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. “Ugh, I think I blacked out for a moment there…”
“Reality is being warped into some kind of demi-plane,” Allagí said, “it seems we’ve been sent somewhere down south along the beach. That being said, I’m not entirely sure where exactly we are anymore.”
“What the hell do you mean by… That…” Estella’s question trailed off as she looked around. “Oh Christ what the hell is this.”
This wasn’t the coastline of the Angel Bay area anymore. It was a small island, illuminated by the moonlight - and the moon was enormous at this point. The island itself was a mixture of desert and rainforest, as if a microcosm of some of Australia’s biomes. The ground seemed a bit glassy, somehow? Almost like a mirror without a reflection, which was the closest analogy in her mind, even if she wasn’t sure it made sense. One of the big things that stood out like a sore thumb in the distance was a building that seemed like it had Mycenaean Greek architecture, which confused her a ton.
As she stood up, she noticed a ghostly, semi-transparent form overlapping hers, and realised she felt a strange pressure where she stood, as if something was forcing her to move. She decided not to resist it, and when she moved, she realised the ghostly form was moving opposite to her.
It was herself - as if looking in the mirror. Well, if the mirror was buck naked. “What the hell?!”
“I was gonna say that,” said her reflection, “this feels so weird! Also, why am I naked and you aren’t?!”
It took a couple of moments for Estella to notice part of why why she was feeling so strange. She was experiencing two different perspectives and thought processes simultaneously. She extended a hand, and the other her did the same, and they found that they could actually touch.
“I believe that’s your dream self, Estella,” Allagí advised. “Also, if she’s part of the dream world, then you should have no trouble making clothes for yourself. She is part of a dream, after all.”
Estella felt almost offended that Allagí was talking about her like she wasn’t there. No, wait, that was Dream Estella’s thoughts. Ugh, keeping them from getting mixed was going to be a headache. Still, she nodded to her dream self, who sighed, and focused, her standard casual outfit appearing on her body. “Okay, that’s better. Okay, so Gulara has completely fucked up space-time and has mixed up the real world and the dream plane. Now what?”
“If I had to guess, the bonfire is at the centre of the island. We need to disrupt the ritual before it fully completes,” said Allagí.
Estella looked towards the centre of the island - and lo and behold, she could see the flickering of the bonfire in the distance. It wasn’t that far. “Well. Guess I shouldn’t waste any-”
Her thought was derailed when she saw Jay standing a bit further up the beach, staring at his dream self. Estella was going to call out to him, but then she stopped. Jay’s dream self was noticeably female, and pregnant. “Uh… Jay?!”
“Oh God… Estella… Gulara got to me a couple of nights ago in my dreams,” Jay said, looking like he was on the verge of a panic attack as he clutched his head. “My dream self’s thoughts are leaking into mine, she… She’s trying to screw with my head!”
Dream Jay just smiled, caressing her belly, “just accept it, you’re me, and you’re Mistress’ slave just as much as I am, now. She’ll be here soon. You need to be more presentable for her.”
“What the fuck do you-” Jay let out a gasp as he transformed, using magic to change gender, taking on a very distinctly curvy figure. Estella suspected his other self probably manipulated him into activating his runes. “No, I… I don’t want to…!”
Another voice entered the conversation. “Aw, but Jay, you look so much better like that.”
Estella grit her teeth as she drew Allagí, seeing Gulara walking down the beach, alongside her own dream self. A part of her hair was covering the side of her waist, which was notably wounded, the hair acting like a bandage - it didn’t take two seconds for Estella to figure out why. That zap of energy must’ve been Tharen taking at shot at her. “Now we can tie up some loose ends without any distractions. I must say, though, your sniper friend did certainly give me a fright there - he must be quite the crack shot to hit me even when reality was collapsing around him.”
Estella grit her teeth, “what did you do with everyone else?”
“They’re all split up and dealing with either our mutual enemies or my witches. As they say, divide and conquer,” Gulara smirked. “No-one’s coming to save either of you.” She looked around, with a perplexed and concerned expression, “still… This is awfully strange. The reality-warping field should be somewhat larger. It’s like something is containing it…” She then shrugged, “oh well, it’s a minor nuisance at best. Now then…”
Gulara snapped her fingers. The moon started glowing red, and the other part of what Estella felt was off started to intensify. Her dream self suddenly went into a trance. To her horror, she realised that both versions of her were being bombarded with hypnotic waves that were trying to pressure her into submitting to Gulara and the coven. Estella thought quickly, switching runes to cast a ‘Mind Barrier’ spell on herself, which blocked out the hypnotic waves for the most part. “Shit…!”
Gulara smirked. “Anyone exposed to the moonlight is being bombarded with hypnotic waves as we speak. Dream selves are especially vulnerable, and their brainwashing propagates to the real self, so magical protection won’t do you much good. Jay, sweetie, keep your real-world self in check while I break in Estella, will you? I’ll impregnate you for real soon enough.”
“Yes, Mistress~!” Dream Jay called out cheerfully. Estella noticed Jay whispering in tandem, as both of them fell into a trance.
Estella put aside thoughts about how incredibly fucked up that was and focused on the immediate threat headed right towards her, taking on a sword stance. “Bring it, then.”
❖
“Cool,” Anja and her dream self both said in tandem as they looked each other over.
Of course, it hadn’t taken long for Anja to figure out that her dream self was currently a gestalt entity with Prometheus, something they had both suspected ever since she had started experiencing those dreams. Thankfully, both of them were currently adorned with the bio-armour.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
And in this case, she was standing right next to the large bath where the blonde woman was relaxing. The fact that she was also partially transparent indicated this wasn’t just some normal dream.
“Oh dear, you’ve gotten yourself into quite the mess this time, young lady,” said the blonde as she looked towards the doorway - rather than the corridor that normally lead to the bath, it instead lead outside. At the entrance a few of the local monsters and their dream counterparts were, clawing and bashing at a blue barrier - a few of them unnervingly resembled Neanderthals (except with sharper teeth), and a huge, neckless bestial humanoid roughly three meters tall, trying to smash against the barrier with an enormous club. “And you’ve brought some uninvited guests along with you.”
“Not my fault, the witch did it,” Anja said simply.
“Indeed,” the blonde said, standing up in the water, “very well, I suppose. I can sense your friends already engaging in battle only a stone’s throw away. This has rather spoiled my mood - I’m going to give whoever was foolish enough to meld realities like this a piece of my mind.”
Anja’s dream-self had a thought first, which propagated to Anja’s ‘real’ self, and both winced. “Wait, if you see them, you’ll know-”
The blonde’s response was to wave her hand over her face as it glowed with magical energy. “Yes, I had considered that. I cast a spell on myself that will make your friends visually nondescript to my eyes and obscure their names from my hearing.” She stepped out of the bath, adorning herself with light greyish red breast coverings and a loincloth, along with a partially transparent veil over her face. Gold wrist and armbands with intricate patterns formed on her body. “It’s been a long, long time since I’ve engaged in combat. Honestly, having something to vent my frustrations on might do me some good.”
The barrier fell, and the monsters stormed in, as Anja and her dream self prepared to fight. However, the monsters stopped upon seeing the blonde, as if wary of her presence.
“My my, are you actually scared of a foreigner? How amusing,” the woman smirked, as she strode towards them.
That seemed to actually anger the monsters, whom begun charging her. The blonde made an unsettling grin as she began to punch and kick the smaller ones, sending them flying with superhuman strength. In between blows, she started unleashing a variety of super-powers on her foes, from elemental attacks to changing the size and shape of her limbs to heat vision. Anja was fairly sure she wasn’t using magic, either. Who was she?
Anja decided to put that aside for later, as she and her dream counterpart began slicing and dicing nearby foes. She recognised that the easiest way to kill two birds with one stone was to prioritise killing the ‘real’ ones, and that proved to be quite true as the dream versions immediately faded away when their real counterparts died.
Turns out fighting while trying to coordinate two consciousnesses at once, despite being in control of two separate minds, was a challenging task that would require a lot of practice to get right.
A shadow came over her as the ogre-like monster towered over her, club raised. She reinforced her armour around her arms, and raised them both defensively, blocking the incoming strike, barely holding her ground. Her dream self noticed the dream ogre swinging at her from the side, and she just jumped right over the club, slashing at the monster’s chest. Anja just swung up on top of the physical ogre’s club, surprising her enemy as she charged, driving both arm-blades into its mouth and right through the brain, igniting them both and setting its head aflame, sending the monster crashing to the floor as its dream counterpart faded away.
In short order, the entrance to the bathhouse was littered with monster corpses. Anja winced at the realised of how much blood and gore splattered the area around her, but then she recalled that these monsters were Pangkarlangu - cannibals that rather specifically preyed on babies that strayed from their mothers. That particular factoid alleviated her distaste rather considerably.
“Well, that was fun,” said the blonde as she stretched. “But I’m just getting warmed up. Shall we go help your friends?”
“Yeah, let’s not waste time.”
As the blonde stepped out into the moonlight, she frowned, “Ah, so the witch is using the moon as a conduit for a mass brainwashing spell. Interesting, but inconvenient. If you step out here, your dream self will be completely vulnerable. One second…” She turned around, her hand glowing as Anja and her dream self felt a wave of energy flow over them, “That should protect you from the mass hypnosis for a good while. We need to move quickly.”
“Right,” Anja nodded, as she raced out.
❖
Natalia had found herself with Florrie, Tharen and Phi’Scia in one of the forested areas of the island, and yet still at the very edge of the water, which was a bizarre sight. She was still getting to grips with the whole ‘dream self in the same place’ aspect, but the concept seemed simple enough, it was just the idea of experiencing two active consciousnesses at once that was making her rather unnerved. Thankfully, with a bit of instruction from Phi’Scia, the dream counterparts were able to manifest outfits and weapons, though Florrie was having trouble manifesting a dream version of her powered armour, so a simple combat outfit and beam rifle would have to do.
“From what I understand from talking to Aurelius, circumstances like this are the few times when magical power around the level often seen in Thaumia can be used on Earth, which is why the witch was able to pull this off,” said Phi’Scia, as Natalia felt a pulse of magic flow over them. “Fortunately, that benefits us as well. I’m trying to locate our allies so we can regroup.”
“This is trippy as hell,” Tharen said, “but where’s the ship? Gartho should still be giving us air support right now.”
“Ship’s got magical protection built in, I’m guessing it’s probably outside of the reality warp right now,” Phi frowned. “It’ll take him time to get the ship inside.”
“Guess we should regroup with the others as soon as we can,” Florrie nodded, “let’s-”
Then the moon suddenly became red. Natalia gasped as she felt her mind being bombarded with hypnotic waves demanding her to submit to the coven. NIA rerouted her suit’s power to increase protection against mental attacks, but her dream self was not so lucky, as were the other dream counterparts, whom were struggling to not fall into a trance.
Phi’Scia summoned a large mind-protection barrier dome around the group in short order, which reduced most of the pressure. “I should’ve known there was more to this than just splitting the group! The witch is using the moonlight itself in this altered reality as a conduit for mass brainwashing!”
Florrie moved as the group began taking cover to avoid the moonlight, the entire group spreading out quite some distance. “Great, like we didn’t already have enough to worry about!”
Tharen grit his teeth, as he took cover behind a tree, “damn it, that bitch is trying to brainwash us all at once… We gotta move. Now. I’m guessing if we destroy the ritual-”
“I’m going to have to put a pin on that, I’m afraid,” said another, familiar voice. Emerging from behind a tree was Hanzo, smirking as he crossed his arms, followed by his dream counterpart, “because I have the perfect opportunity to finally claim what is mine.”
Natalia took a deep breath, and she and her dream counterpart pointed her rifle at him, “it’s eight against two. You’re outnumbered and outgunned.”
“Oh, really? You might want to check your math there.”
Natalia heard a few panicked yells to her side, and with a glance, she quickly could see why - Florrie’s power armour had grabbed Tharen and pinned him to the ground, while Dream Florrie had summoned a pair of glowing tendrils that had tied up Phi and Tharen’s dream counterparts. “I’ve evened the numbers, Master!”
“Florrie, what the fuck are you doing?!” Natalia snapped.
“Hanzo got to her before we thought to enact measures to prevent that exact scenario from happening,” Phi’Scia grit her teeth as she ended up back-to-back with Natalia. “This is… Not great.”
Hanzo then destroyed Phi’s barrier, forming a translucent dome of his own that covered a large chunk of the forest. “This should filter the hypnotic waves to convert them so you all become my adoring slaves instead.”
The effect was immediate - Natalia’s dream self and those of her friends were starting to be overtaken by the mass hypnosis. Natalia was at least thankful about the contract she had signed with Phi, at least. “Yeah, this ain’t good. Got any ideas, Phi?”
“Depends on whether-”
Phi’Scia’s dream-self suddenly stood up straight, her eyes glowing green as the tendril around her was quickly obliterated with a burst of energy. “Allow me to remove that uncertainty, my child. I will not allow one of my librarians to have her mind enslaved by some deviant.”
Florrie eeped as she stumbled back, dragging Tharen’s dream counterpart away, “hey, what gives?!”
“Something else has joined the battle using that consciousness as a conduit. Interesting… Interesting, but troublesome,” Hanzo’s dream counterpart frowned.
Natalia’s jaw dropped, and she looked at the real Phi’Scia, “uh, is that who I think it is controlling your dream-self?!”
Phi’Scia just chuckled, “hold off Hanzo while I deal with Florrie. Akasha will handle the dream counterparts.” She then began moving towards Florrie’s power armour, raising a barrier to block shots coming from the weapons systems.
Natalia refocused on Hanzo’s physical counterpart, as his dream counterpart moved towards the Akash-possessed Dream Phi. “Okay, round two, then. I’m more than ready this time.”
Hanzo just grinned, “are you, now? I very much doubt that. But if you insist, I’ll just put your confidence to the test!”
❖
Clarette narrowed her eyes, maintaining a firm stance on the sandy dunes. “This is not ideal. I appreciate actually being taken seriously as a threat, but…”
She was back-to back with her own dream-self, whom had manifested a copy of Naolin. Aurelius was also back to back with his own dream counterpart, activating his remote drones - floating spherical magical devices that he used to augment his magical firepower. The four of them were currently protected from the hypnotic moonlight, but they were surrounded by witches. “What percentage of the coven are we facing right now, do you think?”
Aurelius paused to consider the question for a moment, “at least a quarter, my lady.”
“That’s all? Gulara should’ve sent more of them. Naolin?”
Her sword glowed, and a young woman with silver hair and a knight’s armour manifested much like the two dream counterparts, wielding a copy of the Arcane Arm. “Ready to fight by your side, m’lady.”
“What’s our objective?” Aurelius asked.
“Deal with these miscreants, then neutralise the ritual. Anything else will come afterwards - preventing the ritual’s completion is our highest priority,” said Clarette.
“Very good, my lady. Let’s not waste any more time, then.”
Clarette nodded, and battle immediately commenced.
❖
Arika dodged out of the way of a hair grab, using her lighter to launch a stream of flame at her attacker. That should at least keep him busy for the moment. Now for the other five…
She was surrounded by enemy witches on the shoreline. Gulara clearly wanted her separated so she could be killed or captured with ease by her goons. The flat terrain meant nowhere to hide or to break line of sight, and she had little opportunity to make her own cover. She was certainly more skilled than all of them, but numbers still counted for something - with all the physical and dream selves, it was basically two against twelve.
Still, she had to come up with something. Otherwise-
“Tsk. Ganging up on a younger woman? That’s hardly sporting.”
From the direction of the new voice, several paper talismans came flying - they were called ‘Ofuda’, if Arika recalled correctly - and started attaching to the heads of the closest witches, who had been taken completely by surprise. The talismans glowed, and one by one, the witches began dropping like flies, alarming the rest as they tried to swat away and dodge more talismans coming for them.
With the remaining witches distracted, Arika and her dream counterpart knelt, putting their hands to the ground and chanting in their mother tongue, focusing on manipulating the sands to swallow up the remaining adversaries. The dunes gave way beneath the feet of their enemies, causing them to sink halfway into the sand, disorienting them enough for the talismans to hit their mark and render them unconscious.
“Well done. So that’s Aboriginal Australian magic, hmm?” Stepping towards Arika was a gorgeous fox woman with orange fur, her dream counterpart moving in sync behind her like a shadow, wreathed in ghostly blue flame. The vixen was very voluptuous and barely dressed in a literal gold two-piece that was incredibly detailed in its decoration, along with purple silk around her sides and arms and dark blue stockings that went up almost to her butt. She was heterochromiac, with her right eye being yellow and her left being pink, the same colors showing on mystical markings on her body and lines on her ponytail. And lastly, she had a full set of nine tails. “Nevermind that, I suppose, pleasantries can wait. I believe these boors were keeping you from helping your friends?”
Arika blinked, “uh, who are-”
“As I said, that can wait. Go help your friends, I’ll handle the ritual. I’m best suited for it, since the enemy fortunately has no idea I’m here.”
She suddenly turned into a regular fox, zooming across the dunes towards the distant bonfire.
Arika and her dream counterpart blinked, looked at each other, and shrugged, before turning their sights towards the person who likely needed her help the most…
❖
Gurumarra was so very glad to have the foresight to give all of the agents and soldiers protection even from their dreams being affected, right about now. Gulara was always somewhat obsessed with the plane of dreams, and that made her a bit predictable.
Battle had broken out in the forest between his forces, a large contingent of the coven, and the Emperor’s soldiers. Of course, his people had been well-prepared for this kind of battle, even if they hadn’t been quite prepared for the circumstances, so while this was rather disorienting, it took little time for the soldiers and mages to establish a defensive perimeter and start handling things themselves. His people could handle the operation without his input just fine.
Walking alongside him and taking shots at any adversary that came too close were the two American special agents - they were using custom top of the line XM7 assault rifles. To his understanding, the EAD’s top scientist and engineer performed the modifications, enhancements and enchantments necessary to consistently fire enchanted bullets. There were only a handful of such weapons in existence, and for good reason - the man in question was one of the sharpest minds in the world in terms of both magic and technology, but little was known about him outside of the EAD, other that he was apparently an otter-person - Gurumarra had suspected he was a were-otter, but recent events had opened up new possibilities.
The two werewolves by his side noticably didn’t have dream counterparts active. They were magic-resistant and expertly trained - Rhodes wouldn’t send shit operators. They showed absolutely no signs of being remotely affected by the mass hypnosis.
Jax frowned, as he gunned down a shadow soldier charging right at them, “ugh, this is borderline getting out of hand. I’ve got half a mind to call the Boss.”
Gurumarra shook his head, “I’ve never made a habit of running to a dragon for help when things get tough, and I don’t plan to start now. This is still under control. My people can handle the situation just fine. The Emperor himself isn’t here, at least…”
“Sure, they can probably handle things here, but what about the other groups? We’ve been split up,” Linda frowned.
Gurumarra’s dream counterpart kneeled, putting a hand to the ground and muttering an incantation. Gulara wasn’t the only one who could manipulate the dream world to her advantage. Once he had a mental map of the island and where everyone was, he formed two glowing wisps that began to move in separate directions. “You each follow one of those wisps, they’ll stay constantly ahead of you until you reach your destination. Help the groups that they lead you to.”
The two werewolves nodded, and bolted, following the wisps, running at speeds comparable to a car.
Gurumarra turned to his agents, calling out, “Agent Yang, I want all enemies here arrested or neutralised. Once you’re done here, get to the bonfire and stop the ritual. Am I clear?”
“Yes sir, Commissioner!” Agent Yang called back, “be careful out there, sir!”
Gurumarra just chuckled. Who did Yang think he was talking to? But the concern was appreciated nonetheless.
Both his real and dream selves combined their powers to summon an enormous snake from the earth, which they began to ride to their destination. They had a specific group of foes that they were specifically suited to deal with.
He had taken stock of everyone’s positions. Gulara seemed to be going after Estella and Jay, and Akira was by herself, but it looks like she was headed right for that fight, and Agent Lupine would be there shortly as well. Natalia, Florrie and the off-worlders were engaging Hanzo - good, he was too occupied with his prey to realise he had walked into a trap. And lastly, Sonia and the Gaians were being attacked by a whole lot of monsters, with Anja on route, with… Her. There was no mistaking it from her aura. And he was headed right into that mess. But he’d cross that bridge when it came.
A female voice spoke in his mind. It wasn’t Gulara. “My my, things have gotten rather spicy all of a sudden. Good thing I made the preparations. This dream island would be much larger, otherwise.”
He just sighed. “Can you do something to at least disrupt the ritual? I know your target is elsewhere, but…”
“Fine, but you owe me one. Thankfully, it seems he’s completely unaware of what he’s walked into. This time, he’s not getting away from me.”
“That’s fine by me. I just want all of this over and done with. Having him out of my hair is just a bonus.”
Off his back, he pulled a telescoping spear, marked with runic symbols and glowing around the bladed end. He did prefer the more native methods of wielding magic, but runes did have their uses, and sometimes, two systems of magic could be blended. This spear had been quite the project.
Time to show the youngsters what the Aboriginal tribes could really do when united.
❖
Karla embraced the joyous atmosphere as she danced along with her dream counterpart and fellow inductees, rubbing her belly every so often to check on the progress of her child. It was a strange sensation, her belly expanding like this so quickly, but it was something to be celebrated. Not only would she be reborn, but she would bring new life into the world, to be a part of her new family.
Still, increasingly something didn’t seem to feel right, as if something in her stomach didn’t seem to agree with her all of a sudden. She found herself stepping aside, coughing as whatever was in her stomach started forcing its way back up, until she up-chucked it into her hands.
It was the talisman that Lim gave her. She thought she left it behind at her apartment, but then she recalled deliberately swallowing it before her memories were altered.
The immediate thought she had was that it was a liability, that she should destroy it. But she was no mage, so she didn’t know how to do that properly. She was considering informing one of the witches, but she found she couldn’t bring herself to. It had been a boon so far, and somehow, it felt comforting. But why? It was a tool of the enemy.
Or… Or was it? Her head hurt. She looked at her dream counterpart, who stared back at her with confusion.
Was participating in this ritual the right thing? It seemed like blasphemy, but… She found herself doubting everything, including her mistress.