A man standing in an office in his hands is a rogue song birthed by the dreams of a world. A song of desire twisting into a nightmare. He holds the songs as it vibrates through his hand warping reality as his hand shifts between ethereal, to skeletal. Nicki annoyed by the concept’s antics wills his hand back to normal holding reality firmly in place.
Nicki didn’t know what to do now. Drystia was clearly hurt by the vision shown. Was that what happened? He could only wonder. He had never pried in how she found him in the void between worlds. Where they fought tooth and nail together to do what they needed to do. Maybe he should have. If he had gotten her to open up about it maybe it wouldn’t have hit so hard. Yet, even that might be wrong. He was no psychologist and was just trying his best. For now, he would give her some space.
At least he had something to occupy his mind for now, or else he would stew in anxiety. He looked at his closed hand. The song nearly vibrates through it, trying to bring a dream to his realm.
“Ok. What do I do with you?” He asked and opened his hand willing the song to hold in place. Alien was the only way Nicki could describe the sight. It was there and note, a single not and a cacophony of sound. It was only through his otherworldly senses he could even see the writhing mass, beating glowing, filled with the subconsciousness of another world.
The song itself had no answer for Nicki. It was just a song. It had no thought. No dreams and its only will was to play. It was without ego, yet it had a soul.
An abstract concept with a soul. What do I do with you? Nicki thought back to the thousands of different stories he had read. Trying to think of something that he could do with this thing. If he let it just go to another world it would just fly around causing chaos. Would that work? Is there a place that needs that? His mind sorted through the myriad of worlds some coming close but not quite what would be needed.
What about in a body or- Nicki felt like smacking himself. He knew the perfect solution for a mindless entity.
#
In a place strangely modern and filled with magic. A place much like Earth except a few steps away where magic fills the world and its people. Here is a boy on his sixteenth birthday, the most important day of his life. Today he would learn if his system would bless him with the magic he dreamed of since birth or if he would be going to engineering school. He had been studying for years and for the last few been following as many guides on raising his chances of unlocking magic. He had even been able to pull off a strange cantrip that showed his or other people’s dreams. He had accidentally discovered this when he was singing in the shower. When his crush suddenly appeared in front of him. He nearly bashed his head when he slipped in surprise, and she disappeared.
He had taken months of trial and error to recreate it, and even longer to be able to do it consistently. Now he could bring a dream to life with just a whistle. He had to be careful, the longer the cantrip the more likely it was for the construct to go wrong. He learned that the hard way when his crush appeared again, warping into a hideous beast. He still had a hard time looking at Sandra.
“You excited for your big moment?” His mother asked as he ran down the stairs.
“Yup!”
His father came in with a briefcase in hand as he grabbed the coffee pot and poured it into his Insulated Stainless Steel Tumbler we got him for his birthday. Catching sight of us he smiled “How long do you have left?”
He had been pulling up my screen nonstop for the last few hours watching the time go down, “thirty seconds!”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Oh. Then I should stick around.”
My parents huddled around as the timer counted down. His heart was beating out of his chest. Come on mage. Technomancer would be best. But I can work with any mage. He sent off a prayer to all the Gods as the timer hit zero and his screen suddenly flashed.
There next to his class something new. No longer did it say locked. It had changed as my body suddenly filled with energy and power like I’d never felt before.
“Don’t keep us in suspense.” His dad said excitedly.
“I’m a Somnium Bard.”
“That’s amazing! Hun! I don’t know what a Bard is but thats amazing.” His mother said lifting him up in a hug.
“Maybe your school knows. But what are you feeling. Usually you get some.”
“No Idea. But I think it has to do with magic. I can feel the energy moving inside me like. Like. Like a song?”
#
“Of course, he’s a bard.” Nicki scrunched his eyes. What was with their reactions? He followed the sting of fate connected to the file, searching. Huh. He’s their world’s first bard. That can’t be right. Nicki searched deeper into the world finding people playing music in taverns, putting on shows, playing instruments, and doing other bard-like things yet not one had a Bard class. Ah, there called Minnesingers, which Nicki thought was a bit of a mouthful. I wonder how they’ll react?
Nicki put down the file, unable to distract himself from what happened with Drystia. He felt awkward and confused, wanting to do something. To help her in some way. Should I just leave her alone? He asked himself for the thousandth time.
Nicki shifted his senses, reaching out with, what he liked to call, his office senses, searching. It didn’t take long for him to figure out he was alone on the moon. He stood and walked to the door stepping into his apartment. There on the couch was Drystia. She still looked out of it, as she turned to look at Nicki as he walked in.
They both stared at each other awkwardly, neither knowing what to say.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
That was all they said as Nicki took a seat on the couch next to her. Not knowing what else to say. “So-”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She cut Nicki off.
“Sorry.” Everything just became awkward as they sat there. Nicki couldn’t take the silence. “So I Reincarnated it.”
Drystia sat there for a while. He wasn’t sure she was going to respond. Maybe she does need some time alone. “How’d that go?” Her voice was soft and unsure.
Nicki took that as a good sign, “He grew up like a normal kid there. Had a few interesting powers earlier than he should have. Then became the world’s first Bard.”
“Wait. Did their world not have traveling Minstrels?”
“Oh they did. They just don’t have the word Bard. They call them Minnesingers.”
“What does that even mean?”
“No idea. Probably same thing as Bard.”
“Huh.”
“Yup.”
Just like that Nicki was out of things to say. “Want to watch something, and just relax?”
“Sure.”
Nicki pulled up their streaming service on the TV when they heard a knock at the door.
“Here you pick.” Nicki handed the remote over as Drystia took it with her small hands.
Another round of knocks came. “One sec.” Sheesh, give me a second. Nicki rolled his eyes as he went to the impatient person at the door. He was unsure who would be knocking at his place. None of his friends had been by and he hadn’t received a text from anyone. So this was odd. Maybe it’s a neighbor.
Looking through the peephole he saw someone he vaguely recognized but couldn’t quite place.
He cracked open the door, “Hello?”
“Hi, I’m Detective Mercer.” He held up his badge, “Are you Nicholas Knight?”
This can’t be good. Nicki suddenly thought back to everything he did. He hadn’t done anything to warrant a visit from a detective. “Yes. What’s this about?”
The Detective put away his badge, “We just had some questions about your incident, Mr. Knight.”
“We?” Looking around Nicki only saw the Detective. He looked down the hall in case he missed them. Then he registered what he said. “That was months ago.” He said disbelieving. Why are they here now? He had been expecting someone to talk to him about it right after the incident, yet no one did. He wait a week then after a month he debated if he should go in himself. Except he had no idea what he would say. Hey, I got shot by a Djinn, but it’s okay now I sent them to other worlds. So you don’t need to worry about it. So when no one ever showed up he figure his weird insurance somehow took care of it.
“Yes. There was a mix-up with the paperwork.”
Nicki narrowed his eyes. He knew bullshit when he heard it. “Yeah, that happens.”
“So I’m here to just ask a few questions.” Detective Mercer pulled out a notepad. “To start. Do you know a William Hayes?”
* * *