The Caverns, Near the Town of Eldor. Troug, 8th.

Olea Munroe

I had spent the night getting some well-deserved sleep, there was nothing else to do. During the time of my blissful oblivion, you know, proper sleep, I had an utterly undeserved dream. I had dreamed that I was alone and panicking while soaring through the sky on black wings. It took me several long moments before it dawned on me that I must have been using one of my abilities to share senses with my bonded companion.

I had activated one of my skills in my sleep, the thought both excited me and scared me. I was happy to be seeing all the sights below and coasting along on a breeze but at the same time I could not help but think about how bad it would be to channel Create Water while in an enclosed sleeping chamber.

With that small distraction drifting into my subconscious to fuel nightmares in the future I took a moment to sink into the feelings I was receiving from my companion. It was startling to feel his depth of worry and anxiety, a feeling I had suffered through for too much of my own childhood. I could relate to this creature’s pain, I had been somehow struck down, sickened, and cursed, only to be healed and then disappear.

I was not sure how much time had passed with myself or even my friend being unable to fully sense the other, if only in a peripheral sense. I had never really focused on the connection before, not truly giving it the level of respect such a bond should be met with. Nope, I was a bad friend there in the end, excuses be damned.

I mean, how cool was it that I now had a friend that could shapeshift back and forth between human and bird. Add to that the ability to become an oversized bird, one that I was sure I would be able to fly aloft with someday and it only got better.

As my thoughts began to center more on my connection with the familiar, I sensed a slight shift, my friend had noticed me. I felt it as his wings missing a beat and his altitude dipped for a fraction of a second. I could feel his mind whirling about with thoughts as his head turned back and forth scanning the predawn sky, it was almost morning.

I saw a large black mountain in the distance to the northeast and a small, blurred line of what I assumed was the lake around which the two small cities sat. My friend was looking for me still. I reached a little deeper into the connection and felt again that slight increase in sensitivity, I had not been using the full ability of the skill.

There was a small pop, the sensation of bursting through a bubble on the surface of the water. A breaching of another membrane, a sensation neither pleasureful nor painful but akin to a soothing welcome home. I had other thoughts in the darker parts of my mind, but those had no place in the moment and left me quite a bit confused.

It was then that I could feel my feathery friend trying to bridge that gap as well, and for a second we touched, and all was well again. Obviously, I was still trapped somewhere underground, and my friend was quite a bit away, but at least he now knew I was hale and healthy.

I could feel the sense of relief in his chest, a loosening of the bottled dread. He had not known I had been cured of whatever had been eating away at our bond. I was not even aware that I had been affected so deeply. I suppose I should be more curious as to why I had never considered it possible for such a thing to happen.

Magic. I had to keep reminding myself that the world itself was foreign to me, regardless of how numb I sometimes felt to it all. I loved magic, truly I did. It was just that sometimes the whole concept felt overwhelming in a frighteningly scary way. It could do so many wonderful things, but it was, for all intents and purposes, limitless in what it could do, how it could affect me. Sometimes I also had to remind myself of the potential that was inherent in magic much the same as I was at one time forced to remember that the same was true for my fellow human beings. We could be both monstrous and angelic in thought and deed.

Before my mind could become distracted with thoughts of whether I was still counted amongst the human species now, I doubled down on the now. The feelings coming from my bonded familiar.

I felt the wind flowing under and over his wings, the constant battle with the air around him. The feelings were so real that I had a challenging time remembering that it was not actually me in flight. I caught the scent of a multitude of things in the air, both wonderous and foul. I could see small glimpses of the world below in detail while most was a haze flitting by and being disregarded as trivial in the moment. My friend had a purpose; me. He was still searching for me; I could feel the strain in his body as I had the thought.

I sensed a great many things then and had to shield my mind from the overwhelming fatigue for fear that I might not wake for quite some time under the burden of that mental weight. The little food stealing, ever annoying alarm clock of a bird was running himself ragged. Eating quite literally on the fly and only as meals presented themselves, he had been flying about hunting for me. Along with our shared connection of abilities he had lost access to his version of Dowsing and could no longer sense my exact location. That was no longer the case now, but I could somehow remember his memories as if they were my own in this odd mindscape.

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I could almost feel him resisting the sharing of his own memories, but I was unforgiving. I would make my friend pay for his ill treatment later, a proper scolding was already forming in my mind before being washed away with the relief I felt as he acknowledged my continued living. I was so confused by the whole mess that I only caught glimpses of his frantic search and constant berating of himself as he failed to find me after I had gone west.

After my mind had recovered from whatever was causing me to lose focus, I became aware of the voice. A soft pleading whisper near the center of my very soul.

“Where are you?”

I was surprised at first and then began to remember where I was. I recalled all the relevant images and feelings, the scents and sounds, everything. I thought long and hard about everything I had recently experienced, not sure what would help the little guy find me, he needed some form of comforting knowledge from me. Nothing would stop me from providing it, all, and everything.

I was bombarded with a sense of recognition and confusion both as I saw his own memories of his flight over the town of Eldor not long ago, probably before I had arrived from wherever I was before. I even saw flashes of another memory, one where my friend had seen a pile of unrecognizable bodies decaying in a forest to the south.

Guilty, that was me. I almost laughed as I felt the condescension wafting from my friend now that he had recovered from his own pit of despair. It was good, something more than wholesome, to feel his happiness return. Such was the nature of our connection I assumed, though why I had not felt this deeply of the bond between us before now I had no idea. It was intoxicating and wonderous, while also maddening and frightful. I loved it.

A loud cry echoed through the vast air around me and I realized I was not alone in my bliss-filled acceptance of the bond. Though he was happier for me as he expressed somehow that he had felt this all along. That thought also pinged another memory of me dismissing his excitement back in the forest, along with the pain it caused as I walked away, doubled by the fact that my reason was never made clear.

“Why would you leave me for a stranger,” his heart had asked. That pain was also my fault. I could say it was the curse and be truthful in that response, but I should have known, should have realized something was amiss. I had lacked the drive then to fight for what I had, I was still in denial at that time, somewhere deep down about the reality of my situation.

Who could reason out the answers at this point, when so much had happened? Not this girl, nope. Not me at all. What I could do, nay, what we could do, was to escape this hellhole and get back at the people that had aided in our separation. We could and would make them pay dearly for this insult given as they kept us apart.

I heard another shrill cry as the town of Eldor came into view ahead, along a snaking river and encompassed by a large expanse of forest. Small roads show in each of the cardinal directions, weaving their way through smaller villages and farmlands. The scale of it was so much smaller than the smaller city to the south, both being several steps short of anything on earth that would compare. I saw the large graveyard on the eastern shore of the river, and there on the hill we both saw the manor, the estate of our captor.

My captor, again I had to separate my mind a small degree away to keep sane. I was also wondering how fast my friend could fly, though I must admit I could have lost an hour or more in the sea of memories and mental gymnastics that my spirit, or whatever form I was now using, had been put through.

My friend now knew where I was, and that caused me to feel hope, and a little worry about my prospects. I knew escape was something within my grasp even if I had a small fear for the safety of my friend so high above me.

As I sensed the sun cresting ever higher over the horizon, I realized that yes, yes it had been quite a few hours since I had begun this dream.

I also felt that our time here in this space was nearing its end as my rest was complete, my body was waking even as my very soul was screaming at it to let me remain here. I expressed these feelings to my companion, and he laughed in his own head, a musical laugh filled with renewed vigor and joy.

I waited for the laughing to stop as I relayed some few messages through the connection. Things would need to be set in motion as I knew it would take several days for me to escape. My feathery little friend listened in rapt attention as I shared my thoughts. There were a few corrections and alterations as we shared our information, and we agreed on a plan.

If all went to plan, I would be out of here soon, though I still was not sure why he refused to deliver me any meat pies, I had asked very nicely, and he had confirmed that he could access the Soul Vault.

I was relaying my disappointment in his decision to deny me a healthy meal when I was rudely removed from our reunion.

“Olea, wake up. Wake up, wake up.”

I awoke to Derek gently shaking my shoulder as the girls watched with worry. Great.

They had noticed I was awake when I shoved Derek back and he toppled onto his rear with a squeak. Really, I did not do that on purpose, he was kind enough, but he reminded me sometimes of someone I once knew, now that I thought about it, and I could not help but be that encouraging antagonist to promote growth in him. I am aware of the meaning of antagonist and in this case, it fits in roundabout way, everyone needs goals.

“I am awake, okay. Calm down.” I looked around, noticing the dampness on my cheeks. No doubt my eyes would be a little red, damn the traitors. I guess I should spend some time relieving the worry of my new friends in the waking world.