Part 4

Consciousness and confusion arrived together. Kalthier could still see the dream notification so he knew he was still dreaming, but this time the dream was completely different. He was laying on a gigantic bed so soft and plushy he felt like he was floating once again. His surroundings consisted of a heavily decorated room that reminded him of a Persian palace. Finally, from the corner of the room, an unforgettable pair of mystical eyes watched him with deep interest.

That was all it took for his nightmare to be remembered, a rush of adrenaline left him sitting on the bed which, upon closer inspection was made from clouds and smoke.

“So, ummm. Thanks for saving me. Splattering against a planet at something approaching the speed of sound is not a pleasant experience. Neither is entering it’s atmosphere butt naked by the way. I thought dreams were supposed to be pain free.”

Incredulity appeared on Viklra’s face for an instant before she composed it back to the superior-know-it-all look she seemed to favour.

“Oh, my child. How wonderfully wrong and innocent you are. That was not a planet.”

“Are you telling me the giant, round thing in space. That had an actual gravitational pull and atmosphere was not a planet? What then? A dream? It hurt! I freaking burned as I broke through its atmosphere.”

“Now,now, no need to get excited over it. That thing is among the weakest monsters you’ll encounter that deep in the dreamlands, and yet it is nothing short of a miracle you managed to resist its advances for so long. Ah, child but what a wonderful creature you are. Only one descendant from dragons could challenge a creature five hundred levels higher than they are, nevermind at level one”

“Five Hun-”

Kalthier’s jaw nearly hit the floor then he realized the true meaning behind her words and focused back on what she was saying. His gaze never leaving hey captivating eyes. Here, in this place among the strange and unreal, they shone like gemstones in the dark.

“Tut tut child, don’t interrupt. Now. As to why you felt the pain the reason is a bit more complicated. You are not dreaming... not exactly. Dreams are private things and unreachable by a third party under normal circumstances.”

She gave a pause that Kalthier took to indicate she was waiting to check if he was still with her so far. He gave her a firm nod.

“So you get that huh? Those eyes of yours truly don’t give credit to your intelligence.”

Despite having the vague feeling he’d just been insulted Kalthier remained motionless. His attention focused on her voice and her eyes.

“Then there are the Dreamlands. Think of them as superimposed planes of reality that are connected through interlocking streams of consciousness”

Another pause. A more hesitant nod from Kalthier.

*Sigh*

“Just this once I’ll help you, but you are going to have to get used to them eventually. This happens to be important and I can’t have you distracted by something so trivial, flattering as it is”

As soon as she finished speaking her eyes, her colorful, unique and captivating eyes changed. In the blink of an eye Kalthier found himself staring at a pair of plain blue and very human eyes. He felt their loss like a blow. Like someone pulled his entrails with a hook, rearranged them, then shoved them back in.

*Whimper*

“-ack. Bring them back”

He barely managed to gasp through the pain. And just managed to see the expression of alarm take over Vilkra’s calm demeanor before the roughly grasped his head between her hands and bent down towards him.

Wow, she has such smooth hands. Almost like silk.

“LOOK AT ME!”

He obeyed. His heavily lidded eyes fully opening to gaze once again upon those exotic swirls of colors, upon that maelstrom of chaos that where her eyes.

*Sigh*

“Well, that answers my question about my markings. Tut tut, how very complicated. Child. CHILD! Are you well?”

“Wha- Yeah, what happened?”

“Simply put I sealed the part of my power that related to your heritage. Suffice it to say things didn’t go as expected.” She gave him a long calculating look “You seem to be quite unique in more ways that I expected. Quite intriguing.”

Unsatisfied with the answer Kalthier did one thing he never thought he’d do. He activated Draky eyes.

“What are you...Do you think that will work on me? I’ve seen all the pleading looks in existence and there is noth- Damn. It works, I don’t know what you did but it works. STOP IT!”

The skill was snuffed like a candle. Vilkra’s order overriding Kalthier’s. Once again Kalthier’s jaw dropped in astonishment. It seemed there was even more to the mysterious woman that he’d ever thought possible.

This woman is confusing as hell. (Snow PR note: Heh. Is any woman not? I don't understand myself)

“It’s been centuries since someone was able to influence me mentally. Tut tut but you are a dangerous and ever intriguing one. I’ll make you a deal. You never pull that skill in my presence again and I’ll reciprocate. No mental manipulation in or out of training.”

“Done.” Kalthier’s acceptance was accompanied with a brief feeling of vertigo as something burned his forehead and stirred his mana flow.

*Sigh*

“Alright. First lesson before we get back into topic. Never. NEVER agree to a deal with one of the fae without extensive bargaining and analysis. We are not kind folk.”

*Gulp*

“Relax child. You who bear two of my markings should never fear me...Well, maybe sometimes”

Charming. And what markings? The flicks to my forehead? I’m starting to wish I was back with Eva.

Kalthier’s brief thought died as he remembered his terrible mistake in regards to the cooking skill. The next time he saw Eva might very well be his last.

“Attention child. Tut tut, but you are a wild one. As I was saying you are in the Dreamlands and...”

Once again, Kalthier found himself in that strange trance. Looking at her eyes, hearing her voice. Registrering everything but powerless to do anything about it. It struck him as strange and he tried to accuse her of breaking her word and using mental manipulation. Things did not turn out well.

“HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF BREAKING MY WORD. I’M A QUEEN OF THE FAE AND MY WORD IS LAW, BOUND BY TRADITION, MAGIC AND BLOOD.”

Kalthier tried to explain his case, but it was a long time before Vilkra was calm enough to give him a reasonable answer. Or what apparently passed for one in her mind.

OK so this lady is either completely senile or she has strange and unique compilation of mental disorders that match her eyes.

“I posses a certain degree of kinship with dragonkind. I gave you one of my markings in order for you to withstand my power. It didn’t work. I gave you a second marking. It shouldn’t have worked. You are now my vasal twice over, and it seems the power of the markings are feeding off each other and making all kinds of unexpected results appear. And it seems you are absolutely reluctant to learn about this realm and the dangers it poses to you.”

After a meek nod by Kalthier and a long pause of absolute silence Vilkra finally continued her explanation.

“With the right training and conditioning anyone can move his or her conscious mind from the private dream to the Dreamlands. The reasons anyone would want to do this differ from one another, but it mostly revolved around the search for knowledge.”

A tiny nod by Kalthier.

“There are barriers in the Dreamlands. Each of these planes of intangible existence require a more thorough and experienced mind to enter them, not to mention they all have their respective guards. The deeper you reach into the Dreamlands the heavier the burden is on the mind and the stronger the guardians that protect it.”

A barely perceptible sound of agreement.

“And you, my dear child blew past all of them in the blink of an eye. A brave, if stupid feat by all accounts, and absolutely impossible in both theory and practice.”

The look Viklra directed at Kalthier let him know that he was not going anywhere until she had solved this mystery. It also made his tail, which was slowly wagging to the pattern in her eyes, to go completely rigid with unbridled fear that lasted less than a second. Then her calm and serene demeanor returned and her explanation continued.

“Before I started the long and arduous journey that you skipped, all in order to save your scaly hide from eternal doom, I had a talk with your teachers.”

*Gulp*

“Relax, they had nothing but praise towards you. Well, most of them did anyway.”

Kalthier could guess who didn’t, especially if his mishap in Uldren’s smithy was made public.

“It also became quite clear that they were partially responsible for your eventual collapse. Most of it is still your fault. What kind of idiot forgets to sleep for three weeks straight”

Once again her calm demeanor slipped and Kalthier could see some real expression behind her mask of serenity. This time it was something akin to baffled amusement that flashed across her features as she spoke.

“My theory revolves around the fact that you not only posses the willpower to sustain a high level of activity in a state beyond exhaustion, but this caused you to fall into a sleep so deep that you found a backdoor into the Dreamlands. I want this backdoor.”

The last part was delivered as an order. One Kalthier felt to the marrow of his bones.

“Unfortunately is it beyond you to even begin to comprehend what you did, much less show me. So from now on I will personally train you in the ways of dreams. Oh, and in the affinity and control of the smoke element. Which was my original task before you became Oh so very interesting in the dwarf’s smithy and priceless in the Dreamlands”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Kalthier could only wail mentally as he realized what was happening. It seemed that even in his dreams he would now have a teacher. This time a being with so much primal power her eyes alone made him willing to submit to her training.

“So, lets begin. The first thing you need to know about the Dreamlands is that you should forget everything you think you know.”

As she talked, the bed, the walls and the whole room they were in started to disappear, his rings and clothes materialized on his body, and a vast, endless plain was revealed.

“That reminds me. Since I do posses a certain degree of power over dreamland and you do bear my mark...twice. Some of my affinity with this place must have been transferred to you...twice. Remind me to check on that later.”

Hearing her mention the mark again made Kalthier rub his forehead as he remembered her flickering finger. As soon as he started looking through the menus in order to find the system messages from the flicks and their consequences she stopped him.

“You can do that latter. I've only got until you wake to teach you how to survive here, or at least how not to blunder blindly into the dangerous parts of the Dreamlands.”

Knowing that arguing with a teacher would only result in increased work and pain Kalthier closed his menu and lowered his finger. Resistance, as they say, is futile.

“OK, the first thing you should know is that we are still deep, right next to your ‘planet’ if you like. And here we will stay until you gain some control over your mind and fears. Enough to resist its mental influence for at least two hours. Don’t worry I bring you back to this pocket plane of mine if gets close to eating you.”

“Why would-”

“Focus child, you will not like what happens when your mind wanders. Find a good mental image and hold it, or suffer the consequences. Good luck”

With that Viklra disappeared along with the plane and everything in it, and Kalthier found himself once again floating within the orbit of a familiar grayish planet.

“...Shit”

Mental image, mental image, mental image.

Surprisingly enough, what came to his mind was not his bed or any other place from reality. Not being able to feel and express emotions for years apparently meant that he could not associate any object or place with good or bad feeling. Every memory from those years felt bland and empty when compared with those from Royal Road. The fact that the mental image that formed within his mind was that of Eva’s kitchen, disturbed him a little.

Disturbed him enough that the mental image he had vanished. Immediately, like a switch being thrown, he started to fall. What followed was mirror image of the nightmare before, made worse by the knowledge of the pain that awaited him upon entering the atmosphere.

Kalthier tried. Tried with everything he had to bring back the vision of Eva’s kitchen, but fear and apprehension clouded his mind as he fell. His screams a continuous trail of agony and misery.

-----------------------------------

“Tut tut. Five minutes, four of which you spent falling and screaming. And here I thought you’d master this in one go and surprise me once again”

This was the fifth reprimand by Vilkra. She was apparently so shocked at how fast he failed that she almost didn't catch him in time. Not only that, but her description of what would happen if he so much as touched the planet/demon thing worsened with every telling. To the point that eternal suffering and damnation sounded like a picnic. Or Eva’s shop.

“It’s not that hard. All you have to do is maintain and image in your mind separated from all other conscious activity and emotion. Child’s play really.”

Yeah, for a powerful entity managed by the most advanced AI in the world

*Sigh* “No matter, it will only prove a slight delay.” (Kudos to whoever recognizes this quote.)

And so it began. The most rigorous mental training Kalthier had ever experienced, tempered with pain, fear and danger. It almost broke him.

Eventually though, after hours upon hours of suffering accompanied by the strangest woman in existence and her weird grandmotherly/evil-queen/spoiled child attitude, Kalthier found himself laughing. Playing the space version of bungee-jumping with a hostile planet like entity.

It was quite simple in retrospective. All he had to do was realize that, for all it’s weirdness this was still a dream, and dreams are not bound by rules. Only imagination and power had any meaning here. Fortunately Kalthier had both.

Once he managed to hold a steady image in his mind Vilkra told him to infuse it with mana. That took a long while as well, but after he managed it he realized that any thoughts he had whilst holding the image in mind tried to become real and only failed when they sucked him clean of mana materializing. Sadly enough his mental image, the only one he could hold indefinitely at least, was that of Eva and her shop.

Now Kalthier found himself back in Vilkra’s strange cottage in the Dreamlands. A huge grin on his face and his tail wagging at mas speed as he looked into the surprised look the fae queen was giving him.

“I assumed you’d managed to keep it’s influence from affecting you, and after a couple our hours I go there to find you...And what do I find. This tiny little half-dragon taunting a being that has existed since the beginning of time, laughing all the while and completely in control of the situation”

Taunting? Oh, I guess if it saw me as food...and I kept bouncing near it...

Her revelation only made the whole experience more surreal and entertaining for Kalthier. To the point that he wanted to go back and do it again. His tail was now a blur of movement as he entertained the notion in his mind.

*Flick*

“Ouch”

Immediately realizing that she had flicked him on the forehead once again Kalthier paled. Did she put a third mark on him?

“Tut tut, relax. That was a perfectly normal flick. A third mark would be completely beyond my power to give and you to survive. Now pay attention. Now that I know you’ll survive just fine in the Dreamlands we can begin with the actual training I was meant to give you. How to control and manipulate the smoke element”

Suddenly having an idea Kalthier use his new-found ability to create some smoke inside the dream, and once making sure it was completely materialized at the cost of half his mana he used his Mana Manipulation to infuse the smoke with his mana. Once he could feel the smoke he tried to alter it. First he started with the shape. Concentrating on the intangible substance he reformed it to create a simile of Eva, then Bergroth, Pleandra and Uldren. Once he was satisfied with his ability to change its form Kalthier tried to do the impossible. To change that actual properties of the smoke.

He began with it’s consistency. Making it consistently thicker to the point that he could feel the resistance as he waved his hand through it. Then, using his suit as reference, he tried to make it emulate different materials and fabrics. This resulted in utter failure due to his lack of knowledge in the fabrics, their texture and how they behaved, but it did show him the extent of what he could do with it.

You have gained a sub-skill of Mana Manipulation.

Smoke Affinity - Control and Manipulation.

*Blink*

That was… Easy?

“Got it”

For a millisecond Kalthier saw Vilkra’s eyebrows rise, she was getting better at masking her reactions.

“About time, you've been asleep for almost a day and it’s time for you to wake up”

At her command like words Kalthier almost expected to wake up immediately and when nothing happened he just looked at her and shrugged.

“Err. How do I wake up?”

This time Vilkra didn't even tried to hide her reaction. She smacked her forehead with her palm and started muttering in a wide array of languages.

“It’s not like I make it a habit to visit strange dream like planes. Just tell me how to leave”

She looked at him and for almost a minute said nothing. The silence caused Kalthier to shift uncomfortably from foot to foot all the while fighting to both look and avoid her mesmerizing gaze.

*Sight*

“Will just make that into our next lesson, for not we’ll just use the fastest method”

“Fastest?”

Vilkra smiled

It was not a very friendly smile. Downright terrifying in fact.

Then she blurred and agony enveloped Kalthier. Through misty eyes he barely managed to see the form of Vilkra holding something in her hand. His brain barely managed to make the connection of the red mass in her hand and the pain in his chest as Vilkra, wicked smile in place and a bloody hand holding his hand said in the sweetest whisper he’d ever heard.

“Die”

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This is the end of chapter 6. sorry it took so long, I had it almost done for almost a month now, but I had finals piled up with appendicitis and everything went to hell for a while.

I know how annoying it is to read something with such long breaks in between chapters. Things get foggy and you only remembered half of what the last chapter was about. I’ll do my best to avoid such long periods of inactivity.

O.o and Snow I feel like we've been playing hide and seek in both chatango and steam, so let me know when you have some time to work on Choice Road.

Thanks for reading.

{[999aba}] "Nevermore"