About four or five in-world hours after I had come down from the crow's nest, we sighted land. It was the archipelago we had been looking for. Cylodel estimated we would be there in a half hour, and we began readying ourselves for the next stage of our quest. A thought came to my head just then; we had narrowly avoided Venomheart to get here, but there was a decent chance of them catching up while we were exploring the island and about nothing to stop them from torching our ship, unless Dracuoatlax had torched them first. I hoped he had, but I also half-expected Melody to be doubly evasive on account of the sirens and the dragon after what we had done earlier.
When we reached the islands Cloveroak steered our ship to one of the easternmost isles, heading it into a convenient cove as we took down the sails so that it would not be so easily spotted. Okay, one worry abated... I hope, I thought to myself as the ship came to a stop. Cloveroak turned the vessel so it could head out at a moment's notice, and we began hopping off to get to shore.
“Lower the rowboats!” I called as I jumped, and Lysandra got them down for us. Lizzy and Derwydd returned about that exact moment, bringing our little crew was back to full.
“Whew! We're here,” our Nordian smith beamed. “Lana! Dracuoatlax is coming,” she then reported, and I looked up to see our dragon ally touching down in the cover of the cove. There was just enough room for him to stretch out.
“Lady Lana.” the dragon said as we approached, and I placed a hand on him.
“All well?” I asked.
“Your enemy tried to slip around me, but none are as cunning as I; I blasted their vessel with my fire when I found them, and then hastened to rejoin you lest you find some other fiend here,” Dracuoatlax reported.
“Think they sank?” I wondered with a faint pessimism.
“Even if they did not, they will be considerably weakened; I saw at least three of their men fall into the sea as they were burning, and the damage to their ship will be considerable even if my flames were put out. They shall not make good time.” he said.
“That's reassuring,” I agreed.
“And now, master, we have a different puzzle to overcome,” Fyu remarked. “Where shall we find what we seek in these mysterious islands?” he said.
We looked around at the place we had finally arrived at; the cove was surrounded by tall, evergreen-like trees, and there were other seasonal trees we could see in the distance. A stream that was not quite a river poured into the cove from a cliff a couple dozen meters tall. In the distance, I could see a large mountain covered with greenery and with ancient ruins. It was situated on the largest of the islands we had passed to get to this smaller one. That was most likely where we would find the orb.
“I have a feeling the orb's on that big island with the mountain,” I said to the others.
“There was no good cover on that one for our ship, at least not on the sides we saw.” Cloveroak remarked, “But we could definitely hide a rowboat.”
“Let's at least explore this one some,” Healina suggested, and Peaches nodded.
“Better to be thorough than empty-handed.” she agreed.
“All right, we'll make two teams, one for each rowboat,” I said.
“Agreed.” Peaches replied. “Okay, kiddos; with me! And any Queens that want to come along as well, of course,” she then said.
“I'll, go with you,” Myanihia said as she joined them.
“Sure!” the older woman smiled. “Heali? Coming?” she said with a sly look in her eyes.
“I'd... better stay to keep these gals alive,” Healina grinned, placing an arm around Lizzy and myself.
“Oy...”
“Rude.” the two of us quipped back, and the others laughed.
“Fyu,” I called, “Would you help Peaches' group?”
“Certainly, master,” the dog-beast replied. “We shall rejoin you at the great isle soon, I hope.”
“I'm hoping,” I told him.
“And myself, Lady Lana?” Dracuoatlax said.
“If you're still eager, take a peek at the big island and see if there's danger. If not, well, get ready to ambush Venomheart if they manage to show up again.” I said with a faint grin.
“Of course,” the dragon eagerly assented. “I am certain there was no immediate danger upon that isle, but let me not be remiss!” he said as he took to the air again, flapping off.
“Well, here we go,” Peaches said, and my group got into the first rowboat to head over to the big island. “Oh, Lana?” Peaches called as she and the others began heading off to explore the one we had landed on.
“Hmm?” I turned back.
“Try not to burn the whole place down before we get there.” the other guild-leader smirked, and with that she headed off with the others as they laughed.
“Oy...” I sighed.
“Come on,” Ariana patted my head, grinning. “Let's get to it!”
***
It didn't take us too long to find what we were looking for on the big island. The ruins at the very top of the mountain were a large temple or palace complex, and we found a hidden passage that led into the mountain itself in one of the larger structures still standing. Peaches and the others joined us half an in-world hour later, as well as Dracuoatlax. The dragon looked over at me and then turned his gaze towards the sea. I ran over to his side, looking out in the direction he did.
“Anything?” I asked him.
“Not yet, Lady Lana,” he replied. “Perhaps the damage was too much for them to withstand, and they have sunk. Yet I am wary of these foes,” he growled.
“If they do show up, wait for them to get here, then take out their ship for good.” I said to him.
“All well and good, but they may find and seize your vessel instead.” he returned.
“Maybe; we set the rigging back on it, though, so you could fly away with it if you like.”
“How then will you return?”
“We always find something,” I said with a grin, and he dipped his head in acknowledgment.
“I admit this is the truth,” he said with a grin. “Very well! If I judge it to be the right course, I shall take your ship far out to sea, at least, where they will not get it. Fare thee well, Lady Lana, and may we soon have all the orbs we seek.” the dragon said. I returned to the others, and we headed down into the passage we had discovered.
“This is a long tunnel.” Lizzy remarked.
“Right?” Maryn agreed. “I hope it's not like the last place we had to find an orb...” she added with a soft sigh.
“Ugh.” Peaches grimaced. “That place was too big. But fun!” she then smiled.
“I think it's finally levelling out,” I said as I examined the area before us. We sighed in relief as the passage did indeed become level, a long and wide corridor now opening up before us. “Anything we should know about this place, Heali?” I asked.
“Nothing in the book, but on the walls... I think it says 'Passage of Dreams' or something like that,” she told us.
“That's what it says.” Peaches nodded in agreement. “Must be some sort of test.” she said.
“Agree.” Healina replied.
“Well,” Cloveroak said as we stepped forward, “No time like--”
He started, but a second later I couldn't hear him. I walked a few paces more and then turned around.
Guhyeck?!
Everyone was gone. I blinked. The corridor then changed. It was... like a meadow. A peaceful meadow. I looked around in bewilderment. In the distance I could see a girl with long, dark hair, wearing a white sundress with a matching wide-brim hat trimmed with daisies and buttercups. I slowly headed towards her.
Rachel...? I wondered. The figure turned to smile at me. M-Mary?! I stopped, confused. The image shifted again. Now it was Christina. Ugh. Come on, get a grip, I thought to myself. Dreams... dreams... dreams aren't real; they're passing things, they can be forgotten, they can... they can shatter, I mused, looking around.
“Lana,” the figure in the dress called to me. Now it was Rachel for sure.
“Hang on,” I said, looking for some hint of the way out.
“Lana,” Christina's voice said to me.
I don't have *time* for thiiis, the most rational part of my mind said.
“Lana...” Mary reached out to me.
Then I saw what I was looking for. Something that was probably there in the passage. A crystal; it looked like it was in the sky, but I knew it was probably on the ceiling of the passage. Deciding that firepower was best in this case, I materialized my flintlock for the first time in a while, took aim, and blasted it. The crystal, and the dream images, shattered, and we were all back in the passage together.
“Whoa!” Lizzy exclaimed. “That was loud!”
“Yeah... sorry not sorry...” I grinned bemusedly as I put the pistol away, looking around at the others. Maryn's face was particularly red, and Ariana clung to my arm tightly. “Ahh -- are... are we all okay?” I wondered with a hesitant laugh.
“Fine; just fine; why?” Healina quickly returned.
“J-just checking...”
“Y-yeah, we're good, really,” Derwydd nodded eagerly.
“Totes.” Snow Dancer said.
“Ugh.” Cylodel remarked.
What the heck did you see? I briefly wondered as the bemusement clung to my face.
“I can bet it's gonna be like that in a lot of places.” Peaches said as we continued. “Lana, what did you shoot?”
“There was a crystal thing I managed to see; not sure if it had a color or anything,” I reported.
“This?” Cloveroak wondered, picking up some shards from the ground. “Heh... clear-colored, though it might have lost color after you blasted it.”
“True...” I agreed.
“Or maybe the color is irrelevant to our shooting them yet not to the kind of dreams we get from them.” Lysandra added.
“Ooh, interesting,” Healina said. “That's a good theory. Come to think of it, I thought I saw a flash of blue before... before that...” she trailed off, her cheeks coloring in embarrassment.
“Let's go with the presumption that blue, and maybe other cool colors, give pleasant visions, and warm colors may give us unpleasant ones.” Peaches said as she pondered it out.
“Agreed.” Snow Dancer nodded. “Here's our chance to find out,” she then said, pointing ahead towards a flash of yellow light.
“Ah, snap...” I said as we continued forward.
“Lana?” Ari said to me, and then once again everyone vanished. I closed my eyes.
Please no. Please, please, please no. I silently prayed with a shiver.
All around me, I could hear buzzing. There was no need to open my eyes. I knew what was all around me. I hunkered down, trembling, covering my ears, a whimper coming out of my mouth. The buzzing grew louder. I could feel a scream welling up inside. Then the gunshot rang out. The buzzing stopped, and I felt two hands gently take mine. I gasped for breath, opening my eyes to see Ariana before me. She smiled kindly, and I glimpsed Myanihia putting her own pistol away.
“Come on.” Ari said, gently pulling me up as she rose to stand. All I could do was nod back, the two of us clasping hands tightly. I could see Healina shivering as well, and Maryn certainly looked spooked.
“Yipes,” Peaches quipped as she shook it off. “Getting older but not much bolder,” she said as she coughed to clear her throat, dusting herself off and thumping her staff on the ground. “Ha-hem! Anhe, Heali, let's try activating some resistance skills and auras to see if that helps us any.”
“Got it!” Anhe nodded back.
“R-right,” Healina managed to reply.
“Clover, do you think any of your skills might help?” Peaches asked her guildmate.
“Hrrmm... if we see them soon enough Der and I can probably smash the crystals early so Myanihia and Lana don't have to waste ammo,” he said.
“Good point,” Derwydd nodded. “We should have done so when we saw this one.” he added, smiling wryly.
“You think?” Heali flicked him on the nose with low-key exasperation.
“Yeahh, we really should have, huh...” Cloveroak grinned broadly.
“My ammunition, won't run out, any time soon,” Myanihia said with a shrug.
“Oh?” Peaches wondered. As for myself, I knew exactly what Myanihia meant. She had fashioned or she'd had the bullets fashioned with a magic or magic-imbued ore so she could store them in mage storage.
“Heh,” I cracked a grin. “And I thought magic bullets were a joke.”
***
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Now that we were aware of this dungeon's tricks, we had an easier time making our way through it. Sure, there were a few corridors where the crystals were hard to spot and the effect began to overpower our defenses, but we managed. Well, those tricks, anyhow. The one we couldn't figure out how to overcome were the mirage paths. Which got us a good fifty-percent of the time.
These tricky things would keep us going in circles or such for several minutes before letting us back out where we had entered, and then one of our mages had to cast an awareness spell to find the right door. Of course, after the first one, we did this every time we came to a place where the path ahead diverged; yet for some reason the mirage path could avoid detection that first time. Even Myanihia was perturbed by it, but she eventually remarked that it was probably an intended feature to keep players using their wits in this game.
Aside from the dream-corridors and mirage paths, we encountered a few champion-elite monsters that would cast hallucinations on us, or try to, at least. The ones most susceptible to it were those of us who had no true magic skills; myself, Maryn, Lizzy, and Lysandra. She was a magic-being, but I guess only those with actual mage skills had a resistance to the effect. Myanihia was not as affected as us, but she was not as resistant as the actual mages in our group.
The worst pre-boss encounter happened just before the boss, where we unwittingly entered some devilish blend of the three dangers.
“I see a crystal up there,” Derwydd noted as we entered the large chamber ahead of us. On the opposite end I could see a door.
“That's probably locked by something.” I said.
“Oh definitely.” Ariana nodded.
“Masters, I smell those strange creatures again,” Fyu said to us.
“Oh lovely.” Maryn sighed. We stepped into the room, and right before our eyes it transformed.
“Ahh, snap...” I groaned, and then tilted my head as the contours of the room stretched or spun around. There was a sound of laughter, and when the room finally settled down again it looked like an Escher painting.
“Where... did the crystal go...?” Snow Dancer blinked uncertainly.
“Come on, really?!” Lizzy grunted, readying her halberd as she saw a small army of the hallucination-monsters stomping towards us from bizarre places in the room.
“That is so weird,” Anhe said as she observed them. “They are like... bugs, or--”
“Please don't.” Heali interrupted her.
“Ah! Sorry!” the younger girl smiled apologetically.
“Too late,” Cylodel said flatly. There was now a horde of mirage bugs crawling speedily towards us. I heard Heali let out a scream, and then I saw a blinding flash of light followed immediately by a deafening sound of thunder. The second sound I heard was a sickening chorus of death-grunts from the advancing monsters. I looked over at Ari, who had a smug smile on her face.
Once again, remind me to never make you angry, I thought to myself bemusedly.
“... Eh?” Healina blankly wondered.
“What do you think happened?” Lysandra patted her on the head.
“Crystal! There!” Belle pointed, casting a pixie spell at it to illuminate it. Cloveroak targeted it with his magic, breaking it at once.
“Hah!” he said as it shattered. The area around us sort of fizzled, but the spells were still in effect. “Come on, how many more?” the big guy scratched the back of his head.
“Belle!” Peaches called. “Cast Pixie Radiance on this next spell of mine!”
“Got it!” the other replied, and as soon as Peaches had cast her spell, Belle enchanted it with the skill in question. Peaches' spell then began to split, heading around the room like seeker missiles while we fended off the monsters and their hallucinatory allies.
“One, two, three... five, six... nine, ten... eleven... yep, eleven left.” Peaches confirmed.
“Argh!” Cloveroak sighed.
“What are you grumbling for? Why do you think I had Belle cast Pixie Radiance on those seekers?” Peaches softly elbowed him.
“Huh? Oh!! Because it sticks around!” he recalled with a grin as Belle smiled. “Right, keep those things off me, will yas?” he asked as he began readying his magic.
“Got it!” Maryn said as she and Lizzy advanced to the front to create a wall with Fyu, Anhe, Derwydd, and Lysandra. Myanihia and I slipped into the shadows, scurrying around to take down the more isolated targets while the others kept the attention of the massing hordes. In the meantime, Cloveroak began smashing the crystals with his vines and roots, a fierce grin on his face. A couple minutes later, he had smashed all of them, but still the effect of their spell remained. Peaches frowned.
“Must be a thirteenth somewhere... heh, how fitting...” she mused.
Then why didn't the--oh, because the same principle that kept the mirage corridors from being spotted by us might also be in effect here, I inwardly pondered.
“Belle, again!” Peaches said, and the two of them fired off their spells again. This time, the seeker spun around the room for several moments, and then dissipated.
“Ah--!” Belle remarked as she saw it go poof.
“Rats!” the older woman snapped her fingers irritably. “Oh I wonder if it's one of these,” she then wondered, looking towards the monsters. Myanihia and I looked at each other, nodding. Once again, we slipped into the shadows, turning on Shadow Vision. If there was a special monster here, it would show up in a different outline than the normal ones.
“There.” Myanihia pointed. Sure enough, there was our target.
“On it!” I said, activating Shadow Speed to barrel past the other enemies.
Myanihia apparently pulled out her gun, because I heard several shots behind me and saw several monsters before me go down. Once I reached our target, I used that deadly combo skill on it, and the thing went down. The other monsters began howling in dismay, retreating, and the corridor, after a dramatic visual, returned to normal. When everything had settled down, I noticed that I held a large key in my hand.
“Whew!” Maryn sighed in relief.
“Hmm,” I remarked as I examined the key, and then headed up to the door with it. I slid it into the lock; it was a perfect fit. “All ready?” I turned back.
“Ready here, chick.” Peaches smiled.
“Let's go!” Cloveroak punched his fists together.
“Let's do this.” Lizzy grinned, and the others nodded. I unlocked the door, and it opened inwardly. We stepped into the final room, and then the door shut behind us.
A series of braziers with blue flame began lighting up until they formed a circle of thirty around us. I looked behind; the door was gone. Everything but us and the braziers was gone, actually, and we were standing on... nothing...? I looked around; it was like we were standing in a void. Then there were twinkles of light like stars that aided in illuminating the emptiness, and I saw wisps of aurora-like clouds trailing around.
“Are we in... space?!” Lysandra wondered, her voice bordering on excitement and hysteria.
“If those little twinkles are more crystals, so help me...” Cloveroak grunted with a shake of his head.
“Ugh. That'd be majorly rude.” Lizzy agreed.
Another source of radiance then caught my eye, and I looked up. There, suspended in the nothingness, was the orb we sought, the orb of dreams. I blinked a few times as my eyes fell on it, seeing something familiar about the patterns on it. Moving a bit closer, my mind instantly hit upon the answer, and I looked back at the others with a smile.
“It's like a globe, a globe of Panarena -- the orb of dreams, it's literally a miniature of this virtual dream-world of ours,” I told them.
“Cool!” Ariana exclaimed enthusiastically as she joined me to look at it, touching it gently for a brief moment.
“Oh wow,” Derwydd agreed as he and the others joined us.
“Heh! Neat-o!” Peaches remarked. Lysandra whistled in amazement.
“So we kind of are in space.” she said. She reached for it, but as her hand tried to touch it it went through it instead. “Hahh, of course it's not actually there.” the werewolf-girl sighed.
“Choose your champions.” a deep voice intoned.
“Eh?!” I said as we looked around frantically.
“Choose your champions.” it repeated. “Harmony, balance; light and shadow, the Taijitu; choose your champions, and send them to meet me.” the voice said to us, and a portal of deep-blue color opened at a short distance from us.
“What do you suppose that means?” Snow Dancer wondered.
“Sounds like it wants a pair of us to face it,” Cloveroak said. “And they have to be in-tune with each other, I guess.”
“Hmm... well, I think we all know who's going in there.” Lizzy then grinned, patting Ariana and myself on the back.
“Huh?”
“Eh?” we looked back at her.
“From what I'm hearing it obviously wants to fight or deal with two people who are unbelievably in-sync with each other.” Lizzy continued, nodding wisely.
“Heh...? You picked up that much, huh?” I returned with a sly grin.
“Don't pick on me, hon. I may not be as bookish as Heali but I know video-games.” the blonde girl tugged my ear, and I heard Heali giggle.
“Taijitu is the yin-yang symbol, as I'm sure Anhe could tell you,” the Sea Elf told us, and Anhe nodded.
“Exactly. Obviously, you two are the closest we have.” she said in agreement.
“Not Heali and Der?” Ariana wondered.
“I'm not as quick on my feet as you and Lana,” Derwydd said with a bashful grin.
“And you're sure no one but us will work?” my partner wondered skeptically.
“Oh good grief.” Lysandra said, stepping forth to pick us both up.
“Ah--!”
“Sandra!!” the two of us nearly squawked as she hauled us to the portal.
“Pfffft!” I saw Snow Dancer cackling.
“Oh my.” Peaches shook her head.
“Masters, be careful!” Fyu called to us.
“Ahh... will do, buddy!” I called back to him.
“Toss 'em in, Sandy!” Lizzy beamed.
“One yin and yang combo meal, served!” Lysandra said. I could imagine the look of delight on her face as she threw the two of us into the portal. And with that, Ariana and I were on our way to the boss.
***
The two of us landed in a spot that was not unlike the room we had just been tossed out out of a moment ago. Even the orb was here. Wait...
“Oh, so that other one was a fake or something... no, wait, it was like a button,” I mused out loud.
“Ohh, like ringing the front desk or something,” Ariana nodded.
“Yeah, kinda,” I agreed.
“And that activated the portal and the boss; at least I guess that was the boss' voice...” she remarked, looking around at the starry nothing surrounding us.
“But where is the boss...?” I wondered cautiously, slowly getting an arrow ready.
“Dream Islands; the Orb of Dreams; a dungeon of mind-games and hallucinations and dreamy or nightmarish creatures...” Ari pondered, readying her staff. “The boss itself has to be in-theme as well.”
“Some kind of dream-creature again, huh?” I returned.
I looked around again; the Orb of Dreams was floating far overhead, yet it also seemed as if it might be right next to us. That was probably a trick of the dungeon we were in, though which perception was accurate I couldn't say. Then something else caught my eye, and I quickly noted it before examining the room again.
“Did you notice that too?” Ariana asked me. “Some of the stars look more... 'twinkly', than the other stars,” she said.
“Yeah, I just noticed it; like that one, over there,” I nodded towards a reddish star in the upper left of our field of vision.
“Hmm... I bet those are crystals,” she nodded confidently, and I grinned back.
“I bet you're right. Now we just have to--” I started to say, but was interrupted by a ghastly howl from some inhuman thing that began sauntering towards us.
“Where did that come from?!” Ari blinked in astonishment.
“Ahh... I guess it means we're on the right track... tell you what, I'll go after that thing and you can deal with the crystals,” I told her.
“Deal!” she nodded back, preparing her arsenal of spells while I fired two shots at the mostly indescribable mass lumbering nearer to get its attention.
It was vaguely humanoid in shape, with two gleaming eyes of a yellow-white hue glaring out of a head and body that was colored various shades of grey with hints of deep violet or black in various places. Two fists raised themselves up to cover its face as I let my arrows loose, and I put the bow away to rush it with my blades instead. I attacked it with Holy Crescent Flash and Vortex Storm, which was similar to Thousand Needle Strike except that I whirled all around the target to deliver my blows instead of just standing there.
I heard the sound of shattering behind me; Ariana was using her Elemental Shards spell to break the crystals in pairs or in threes with each attack. Behind her I saw another one of the dream-creatures lumbering up with a dreary yet intimidating howl. I hastily decapitated the monster before me, then entered Shadow World to use the combo strike on the one coming after her. It went down in an instant, but the one I thought I had beheaded began getting back up again, this time as two monsters.
“Gyeck!?” I stared in unbelief as Ariana took out another set of crystals. She turned to look, and a nonplussed expression crossed her face.
“So why did the other one just die...?” she wondered.
“Ehh... I wonder if it's one of those monsters, where you can't just cut off its head or limbs willy-nilly...” I said as I composed myself, lightly rapping the side of my head with the pommel of my sword.
“Oh! So I can do this to it,” Ari said in a more upbeat tone.
Uh-oh... sorry monsters, I thought with a hesitant smile. With a snap of her fingers and a thump of her staff, she encased the two creatures in flames, incinerating them as another came waltzing out.
“Ahh... how many more crystals left?” I then asked her.
“Hmm... I think I'm halfway through them,” she told me.
“Got it!” I said, slipping back into the shadows once more to do another instant take-down on our newcomer.
This little game continued for about three minutes more, and then Ariana had finished taking out the crystals. As the last one shattered, the dream-creature that had been approaching us vanished into nothingness, and the area around us shimmered. Instead of the dark and starry void, we were now in a celestial palace of light. The beauty of the place left us both staring in silent awe as it materialized around us. We found ourselves at the entrance to a long hall, with thirty-two gleaming columns of what looked like ivory and gold, sixteen to a side. On the walls were unbelievably designed stain-glass windows, frescoes, paintings, or tapestries. Sparkling chandeliers and candelabras lit the room, along with two ornamented braziers that sat at the foot of a dais. Atop it was a throne, where sat a magnificently robed figure.
“So breaking those crystals back there didn't shatter the dream, but brought us into one?” I wondered curiously.
“Maybe,” Ariana agreed, relaxing her grip on the staff and reaching to take my hand. “Shall we?” she asked with a smile, and I smiled back, putting my weapons away to take her hand.
We walked towards the throne calmly; there were no guards that we could see, and no doors or doorways in the walls to the right and left of us. There were two doors behind the left and right of the throne, though. Above the throne was an alcove where sat, I hoped, the genuine Orb of Dreams. As if reading my skepticism on the matter, the robed figure on the throne smiled.
“Fear not; there it sits, the Orb of Dreams. Not long ago it was used to call forth the ancient one known as Djaziim; and now the pendulum has swung for another band of heroes to return him to slumber.” he said.
“I wouldn't call the King-Priests heroes, but I get what you mean,” I said with a shrug.
“Be that as it may,” the other replied, “You now face your final challenge. Are you ready?”
“We're ready.” I affirmed, and Ariana nodded.
“We are.”
“So be it!” the figure said with a clap of his hands. “Now then tell me, mortals, if you can; what lies on the edge of dreams? Where are the borders, the ends of fancy and imagination? Answer me truly, and I will give you what you seek.”
A riddle?! Snap, maybe Heali and Der *should've* gone through instead of us... sure, I'm quick for thinking on my feet in a fight here, but riddles... I bemusedly thought to myself. Then I blinked; maybe the answer was simpler than I thought, and I was just overthinking it. What is on the edge of dreams, and where is the border of imagination...? I thought imagination was boundless, endless...--!!
“On the edge of dreams are yet more dreams to be dreamt,” Ariana said with a confident smile.
“And there is no end to fancy or to imagination, nor do they have any borders,” I added. The figure smiled broadly, chuckling with delight and amusement as he clapped his hands.
“Well done, little mortals! You answered much quicker than the others. Here, the Orb of Dreams is yours!” he said, and it vanished from the alcove to reappear in the air before us. I reached to take it, and the figure on the throne nodded, then waved his hand. As we were whisked away, I caught a fleeting glimpse of his name-tag, The Dream King, and then we were back with the others.
“Oh hello!” Snow Dancer said as we materialized. “Got it, then?”
“Yep!” Ari smiled back.
“Phew! That was easier than I thought,” Lizzy said as she hopped to her feet. “Let's get out of here, then.”
“Let's!” I agreed, and we made our way out of the dungeon, heading back to the rowboats. They were undisturbed, but something was pricking at my senses.
“Lady Lana!” Dracuoatlax's voice came booming down. “Make haste to your vessel! Our enemy approaches!”
“Row!” I said as we jumped into the boats, and we rowed for our lives back to where our ship was. As soon as we had gotten back aboard and secured the smaller boats, we turned the caravel to open sea and set the sails.
“They're coming up behind us!” Cloveroak called.
I turned to Dracuoatlax, who was dodging some spell-casting from the enemy. His eyes seemed wide with alarm, and he broke off his assault to come back near our ship. I scurried up the mast to talk with him, and he turned to me.
“I do not know how, but one of their fiendish casters has found out how to make a spell from the components of Dragonsbane! Forgive me, Lady Lana, but if they have that ability I would not fight them unless you forced me to,” he told me.
“I would never do that,” I said to him honestly. “Make your way back to Harmonia; we'll deal with them somehow.”
“It burns me inside to let you face so cunning a foe as this, for Dragonsbane may kill you as well; but as you command, my master!” the dragon said with a somber tone, and with that he flapped off away from us and away from Venomheart.
I looked back towards the other ship balefully. There goes our winning hand... I thought gloomily as we sailed on, Cloveroak turning the ship back towards Harmonia as we rounded the isles.