*

  Soren immediately knew she was dreaming. The sky above was clear of clouds and swirling with iridescent colors. Her tan hair flowed around her as if she were underwater, an experience she was completely unfamiliar with. Yet somehow, she knew what was happening, knew the experience and wasn’t even startled by it. Suddenly, she became aware of another fact. This didn’t feel like her dream. As soon as she realized it, she also became aware of the presence next to her. It hadn’t appeared out of nowhere, instead, it was more like suddenly, she became aware of something she had never been aware of. She turned to her left and looked at the cloaked being next to her. The thing seemed to be as startled by Soren as Soren was of it. At first it faced Soren, possibly studying her, but turned its attention outward as Soren turned its way in a very conspicuous gesture. It wore a long black cloak that billowed about it, though there was no wind Soren could feel. The fabric seemed to change colors too, like the sky above only a darker version. The cloak flowed like oil, catching the light in rainbow reflections while the sky above swirled in brilliant pearlescent patterns. The diametric congruencies made Soren uneasy and she had to force herself to only look at one or the other. If she tried looking at both, her eyes would become unfocused and her mind would immediately feel heavy and fuzzy. Peering under the hood she was surprised to find only more of the oily black fabric. At least Soren thought it was fabric. The longer she stared at the thing, the less certain she was. In fact, the less certain she became that the thing was human at all. Finally working up the nerve, Soren turned to the thing and waved sheepishly.

“Hello” Soren said as cheerfully as she could. The cloaked figure jumped and quickly turned its attention back out to the scene in front of them as if ignoring Soren would make her go away. Soren followed what she assumed was her gaze. The scene in front of them was utterly alien. They were seated on a white bench on a ridge overlooking a vast ocean. The rocky beach was comprised of perfectly shaped stones, all the exact same shape, size and color. They were a metallic blue color and about the size of Soren’s hand, perfectly smooth and oval. Past the beach an even odder scene played out in front of them.

Divots, all varying sizes but uniformly spherical in shape, bobbed up and down, creating huge overarching fractal patterns in the blue waters. It was as if giant invisible globes were being dipped into the water then picked back up, leaving massive indentations of perfect spheres all over the dark blue sea. The indentations themselves grew to at least thirty feet in diameter before slowly diminishing. Just before the indentations began shrinking again, one single droplet fell from seemingly nowhere, into the water. It created a perfectly centered drop that rippled across the smoothly sphered divots before the entire thing shrank back up. Around these growing and shrinking indentations, the waves chopped violently and turned frothy white, though never cresting the diameters of the divots themselves.

The ever growing and diminishing divots in the water made oddly specific patterns, weaving in and out as far as Soren could see into the distant horizon. The longer Soren watched, the more certain she became this was some unfathomable process she was witnessing. She could tell the cloaked figure next to her was shaking under the cloak. She waited a moment before slowly moving to comfort the figure. Soren had intended to put her hand gently on its shoulder yet when she did so the thing yelped,

“No don’t!” it cried in a rough masculine tone. It quickly shifted away from her, though it remained sitting on the bench. For her part, Soren pulled her hand back as if touching the thing would burn.

“If you touch me, you’ll absorb me, and I don't think either one of us want that right now.”

“Oh, sorry.” Soren said dully,

“you can see me.” It said in an oddly fascinated way. "Do you know who I am?"

“yes, of course I can see you. You’re in my dream. And no, at least I don't think so, but sometimes I forget my dreams so maybe we have met before.” Soren said, as she looked out at the strange sea, she was confident she could never imagined this dreaming or not. The thing in the cloak began to shake violently, a soft “eh, eh, eh, eh” coming from underneath its hood. It took a moment for Soren to realize it was laughing.

“I’m not in your dream,” it said between fits of laughter, “You think this is your dream!?!” the cloaked figure seemed to wrap its arms around its waist and doubled over in mirth. Soren wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all. It did confirm her suspicions that this wasn’t her dream though.

“well, I guess not.” Soren mumbled. Then, after waiting what seemed to be long enough, She asked,

“How did I get here?” At this the thing stopped laughing immediately. the ‘eh, eh, eh,’ cutting off sharply. In a sober much more voice it said,

“You don’t know.”

“I… what? No. I… Actually, I can’t remember too much before this. Where am I? I mean I know you said this wasn’t my dream but,” and she gestured to the strange bobbing sea,

“what is this place? And who or, what, are you?” She looked expectantly at the iridescent figure next to her. The thing made a slow turn as if facing her, yet it had no face. Then it began the “eh, eh, eh” sound again before saying,

“So its true. Well then, you are in Enki's house, the house of The Dream God. On the shores of emotions and memories forgotten and all that. You can call me Caracara, lets put off what I am for now. That your here, means you Soren Picket are a Dreamer, capital D." Soren knew this already but had to admit it did feel good for someone to acknowledge it even if it was a very strange stranger. This Caracara knew her name though. Her mother always said the power of names was insignificant. Her mother had taught her that true power came from something unnameable. Still she didn’t like Caracara knowing who she was.

"I don't remember telling you my name." She said warily. He completely ignored this saying,

"As for why, the only way you could have made it here is by tapping into those gifts Enki gave you. Each dreamer is sent here after the first time they access one of their gifts. do you by chance remember seeing a prism or geometric shape since the last time you dreamt?" She had of course but wasn't about to let Caracara know. She didn't trust him and while she couldn't say why, she got a feeling of emptiness or maybe hunger from him. And he was obviously hiding something. Caracara for a moment for her to respond, when she didn’t he began so scrutinize her in a very obvious way. He was so blatant about his mischievous nature it was humorous to Soren in a way.

“Not supposed to talk about it, eh? I get it. Plus your still pretty new to all this huh. Ok, I'll explain. This is just basic information all Dreamers have. I can tell your not from one of the big cities or Dreaming schools so here’s the gist. That geometric shape you saw in your mind? It is a gift from Enki. It allows you to store your thoughts and emotions which you can then use to to enhance your other gifts. That prism has many, many uses. Even if you don't put anything in there, that prism is a powerful tool. Just, just be very careful with it. Don't worry, don't worry, you won't be able to open it yet anyhow. But when you do, just be careful what you put in there. We are what we eat after all.” The shadow made the "eh, eh, eh" sound then paused a moment before clearing its throat and continuing,

“One of the other nifty things that prism does is bring you here, in body. If you want, you can physically manifest in Enki's realm. Which I guess you did, because you are."

"I'm what?"

"You are here, literally here. Like actually physically sitting on this bench, not some dream manifestation. Like me.” He shot himself a shadowy finger gun. Soren looked with a raised eyebrow and gave him a scoff.

"Fine, don't believe me. But I would advise not coming here in the flesh again unless you've got a damn good reason to. It used to be safe for dreamers here. Its how they traveled all over Meridian back in the day. Now though,” and his tone changed to something much more menacing, “the memories of Enki's shores have become disturbing and wild. There are monsters both mortal and not out there, I'd watch my back if your gonna come here in person again. You're here so if you die, ya know, its for keeps. More so actually..." Caracara trailed off before breaking into another fit of laughs.

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Soren thought about this quietly for a long time. Then she poked herself which made Caracara laugh the harder. It felt like a dream and the realization was startling. The thing about poking yourself in a dream is, it feels real. That’s why it’s so scary, your dreaming but the poke feels real. Now though she felt the opposite and it was just as troubling.

“So wait if you're here, as a dream projection, you said? and I’m here now, In person, talking to you… does that mean, what does that mean?”

"Lucky for you, at the moment it means nothing. But there are hungry things here now. Its, been a while since I've walked these shores even as a projection. Enki's realm has changed and not for the better I think. There haven't been Dreamers here for a while I think and the natives have grown restless."

"So where are all the other Dreamers? I mean I assume they can do this Dream projection thing too right?"

"Indeed."

"Where are they? No offense but shouldn't someone who can teach me about all this be here? I don't know what you are but its obviously not a Dreamer." Caracara shook with laughter again,

"How do you know I'm not a Dreamer? How do you know what a Dreamer looks like here? How do you know what you look like here?"

"I... Are you a Dreamer?"

"No." It laughed, "But that's beside the point. You know nothing of this place, Enki's realm. I'm here and I'm not trying to destroy you or entrap you. For now, for you, that has to be good enough, I'm currently all you have." Soren had to admit he had a point, and she didn't want to be needlessly obstinate. She was still a far cry from trusting the man, but maybe she could take some of this at face value.

"Fine, sorry."

"Humph well, to my point, the first thing you should know is you can come back here as a projection if you wish. There are many things to learn on Enki's shores. Emotions more complex than you can imagine just short walk away on that beach. This place is a collection Soren. It contains every dream, every emotion, every memory ever contained within a consciousness. I recommend you take some time to explore once you've returned as a projection. annihilation is a common theme."

"Right," she replied before asking her next question, "What about this?" she pulled out the small green stone. It had been with her all this time, now it was once again shining with a brilliant pulse of light and energy.

"Put that away!" he hissed at her. she quickly put it back into the small inner pocket of her pants.

"Ochre." he cursed. "I haven't seen that stuff in a long time, where'd you get it? No wait lemme guess, a dream?" She nodded. "Thought so. Take my advice, get rid of that thing as quickly as you can. Its way too powerful for you to control, and even if you could, it attracts all the wrong kinds of attention. Here and on Meridian. There's no hiding with that thing attached to you. Your best bet is to take that out somewhere, bury it deep enough nobody will find it and stuff the memory into that prism of yours."

"What is ochre, why's it so dangerous? It just seems like a rock to me. Its pretty when it pulses like that and all but it hasn't really done anything." She was tempted to take it out again, but resisted the urge.

"Ochre, like you, is here physically. Anything that enters Enki's realm physically has touched on a vast source of power within. Most people think the dream self, our soul if you will, is separate from the body. This is false, for everyone, Dreamer or not. Dreamers can simply recognize that oneness and tap into it."

"Your saying Ochre has a soul?"

"All things have souls, all things dream, even rocks. You're Yunadaya no? surely you've seen the Dream Vipers. How do you think the snakes hunts in dreams? Unlike living things though, a rock like Ochre can be subjugated, controlled and influenced. Ochre allows a Dreamer to manifest Dream intent in the physical world. What could you do with one stone if you could image it doing anything?" Suddenly, without any warning the rock shot out quick as a bullet. It ripped Soren's inner pocket as it flew out over the ocean. It flew into the distance at incredible speed. Further and further until Its pulsing light dimmed to nothing. Then it slowly faded into existence in her open hand.

"Yeah, something like that." Caracara said, wariness creeping into his voice. His laughter was gone now. "Still think you should get rid of it. But onwards, I have two other things I need to discuss with you. First, the whole reason I'm here. While I am not a Dreamer, I am a friend of a Dreamer who wishes to send a message. Litaelim is her name and she knows of you, has known of you from the day you were born. Think of her as extremely extended family. Now that you have reached Enki's shores, she would like to meet you."

"Why didn't she come herself?"

"I'm not a liberty to speak on Litaelim's motivations or intentions, I only know what she told me to tell you. She believes you are in grave danger in Cottonwood and would like for you to come visit her, for a time. She does not expect you to travel through Enki's shores but instead has sent an escort should you decide to make your way to her."

"What? How far away is she? I don't know about any extended family. Why wouldn't she just visit herself?"

"Litaelim is very old and not able to make any kind of journeys. As for how far, I have no idea. I have no idea where you or Litaelim are in the physical world. I would assume if she sent an escort, it would be a bit of a journey. She told me you are welcome to bring your mother and father as well." Soren inwardly laughed at the idea of her trying to convince her mother and father to let her go, let alone join her. No, if she went with this escort to meet some other stranger this stranger was pushing her towards, it would be from pure desperation. She said none of this though, instead listening as Caracara spoke again.

"It may not mean much coming from me but Litaelim can be trusted, if she says there danger I recommend heeding that warning. But I will speak no more of Litaelim. There is one last thing I'd like to discuss."

"Oh?" Soren prodded. She knew he'd been holding back and couldn't help but feel a bit of his anticipation.

"I'd like to offer you a, partnership."

"A what?" she deadpanned,

"I believe we have much to offer each other. I can provide you with lifetimes of dreaming expertise. I believe the best relationships are based on reciprocity however. And for us to accomplish there there needs to be report between us. So for now, it would simply be a dream tendril. It will only exist here in Enki's realm and either one of us can easily break the connection if we desire. think of it as a calling card. If you want to talk to me here in Enki's realm, all you have to do is give this a little tug." As he said this he reached out and a wispy grey tendril attached to the back of her hand. It was completely ethereal and she waved her hand through it before trying to actually grasp the thing. as soon as she did, she found the tendril oddly tangible. she pulled and the tendril attached to the back of her hand came off easily. she put it back and it stuck.

"Hmmm, as long as its only here in the dream realm and I can remove it if I want. I'll have more questions for you anyway." She didn't like the idea of being attached to the strange man, but it did seem harmless enough, what's the worst that could happen?

"I'm sure you will. One more thing, if you want to get back, I recommend using that stone in your hand as an anchor of sorts. It will make the connections between Enki's realm and Meridian feel more tangible." With that Caracara stood facing her. Soren stood as well and they faced each other in front of the alien ocean. "Until next time Soren Pickett." Was all he said before making that weird "eh, eh, eh" sound and vanishing into wisps of smoke.

Soren sighed looking out at the sea. She sat back down before pulling out the uncut green gem of Ochre. She studied the stone, watched the gem pulse softly in the odd quality of light. She thought she could see a change in the pulsing. It began to pulse faster and faster. Was that just her own heartbeat speeding up as well? It was grew stronger and the green light flooding from the thing was growing brighter. It was a feedback loop, Soren realized as she watched. The gem grew in strength and made her own heart thump harder, and as her heart thumped harder and harder the gem grew brighter and brighter. Before she knew it her hand was strobing rapidly with a beacon of green light.

As the Ochre became a crescendo of green light, her head felt heavy and her entire body began to buzz with energy. Then with a sudden whoosh of force, Soren was back in her bed. Clean white sheets covered her in a soft embrace. She was vaguely aware of the green light still flashing in her hand, though it was definitely diminishing and rapidly. She once again felt the fatigue and soreness deep in her bones. Soren thought it odd she hadn’t felt sore in the dream world. Laying there in bed, stretching her sore muscles and luxuriating in the soft bedding around her, she was suddenly shocked into alertness by a voice, deep and masculine coming unbidden in her mind.

*

“I'm still here.” the voice intoned. Soren’s face went blank, the voice chilling her to the bone with its intimacy and disapproval. Anyone speaking anything directly into her mind would have unnerved her. but the "still" part had her very concerned and Caracara did not sound happy either. Looking down she saw an mark on the back of her hand. it looked like a wisp of smoke rising up past her wrist before fading on her arm. It looked just like smoke, just like the smoke of the tendril Caracara had shared with her. This was definitely going to be a problem.