Theo woke in a cold sweat. His mind reeled as he attempted to get a handle on the situation. Alex honked and sputtered, spewing streams of fire and plant matter all over the room. It was still dark outside, only a few minutes having passed since they went to bed. Panic stripped away all logic from the alchemist. Tresk wasn’t in her bed. Swapping his cores, the alchemist used his willpower-fueled aura to scour her bed, finding traces of something familiar.

He sprung from his bed, urging Alex to follow him as he dashed down the stairs. Sarisa and Rowan must have been out cold, because they didn’t rise when the pair fled from the manor.

“The lab,” Theo hissed, spurring Alex to move faster. “We need to find her.”

“Why!? What happened?” Alex’s soul had been ripped apart, perhaps worse than Theo’s.

The Tara’hek was shattered. Not irreparable so, but the longer Tresk was gone, the worse it would get. He ran into the Newt and Demon, jumping up the steps to the third floor as quickly as he could. There was a way to explain what had happened. But it would take too long for Alex to understand. “Trust me,” he said, digging through his things.

Theo pulled a board near the wall, revealing the Fairy’s Cunning Potion imbued with Holy he had stashed there. He had avoided placing it in his inventory to avoid temptation. But he needed two things to find Tresk. To establish their connection once again before it became too weak. A Greater Potion of Limited Foresight that had been Spiritwoven, and a Fairy’s Cunning potion that had been Shadow Wrapped. He conjured the Shadow Wrap ability first, imbuing his farsight potion with its potent power. Alex was still honking as he inspected the potion.

[Fairy’s Cunning Potion]

[Holy]

[Potion] [Modified Potion] [Shadow Wrapped]

Mythic

Created by: Theo Spencer

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grade: Excellent Quality

Drink to experience the Fairy’s cunning.

Effect:

For fifteen minutes after drinking this potion, the imbiber may view another part of the world of their choosing. Magical counter-measures may impede the imbiber’s ability to see into guarded places.

Only two far-sight potions may be imbibed per day.

Shadow Wrapped Effect:

Imbibing this potion now allows you to view multiple places during the effects of this potion.

Allows you to view places outside of mortal reality.

Double the effective length of the potion.

Theo used his Spirit Weaving ability on a Greater Potion of Limited Foresight, quaffing it in an instant. “I’ll be back,” he said, turning to pat Alex on the head.

Without waiting for a response, Theo drank the Fairy’s Cunning Potion. With his aura, as weak as it might be compared to a real magic user, he traced the line that connected the place where Tresk’s body had been, to where it was now. He forced his soul through space, pursuing the thread like a wolf on the hunt. An instant later, his soul hovered above a white marble pool of crystal-clear water. Pillars sat near the sides of the pool in various states of ruination. Standing in the center of the pool was Tresk, looking up at a pulsing golden light on the far side of the pool. It sat above a shifting throne, urging her to move forward.

Theo yanked himself out of the vision, finding Alex panicking nearby. He wrapped his arm around her considerable size and drew his willpower inward. The building rumbled around them as he interdicted them from the Newt and Demon’s third floor, through the unpierceable membrane of reality, and into the realm of the Dreamer. He didn’t use his standard practice of interdiction. The alchemist hadn’t sent their souls through the veil, but their bodies as well. Tresk turned as they appeared on the edge of the pool.

“Theo…”

Theo spread his will over the area, shrouding it in his excessive willpower. The golden spirit faltered, falling to the ground as though it had mass. But he wasn’t done. The alchemist imparted the authority of Tero’gal over the realm. The edges of the pool were cracked pieces of white marble, that cracked further when he exerted his authority. He had no plans to let the newest earthling in this realm react. The alchemist clenched his teeth, tasting copper as he drew on every piece of his willpower. Something brushed against his soul, but failed.

“One charge down,” Theo grunted. His willpower consumed the Dreamer’s realm. When he felt as though he couldn’t push any harder, Alex joined the effort. She bolstered him, making up for the stupor that Tresk found herself in. There was time for explanation later. “Tero’gal. Now!”

Theo and Alex joined together, targeting everything inside the Dreamer’s realm they wanted to take with them. The edges of the realm cracked, then sundered. The void rushed in as the entire scene was interdicted into Tero’gal, bypassing the Bridge that Khahar had promised to fix. With a flash of thought, he buried the chunk of the Dreamer’s realm deep into the soil, hollowing out a section where it could remain undetected.

Tresk snapped out of it. “What the hell!?”

In complete darkness, Theo fell back and drew labored breaths. Tresk withdrew a magical lantern from their shared inventory, holding it high. The light danced off the throne in the distance. The alchemist was too exhausted to explain. But that piece of his soul that had felt torn away was restored. And they had the Throne of the Dreamer. Safe in Tero’gal. But his concentration couldn’t waver. If the barrier dropped, Uz’Xulven would know they had avoided the Bridge. Khahar would sense them. Other gods would voice their objections.

“One more trip,” Theo said, rolling onto his belly. He tried to push himself up, but it didn’t happen. He was simply too weak.

“Share your burden,” Tresk said, setting the lantern down near him. “Keep that fancy barrier up as we make history.”

Theo rolled, watching as Tresk did the only thing she could. She smirked as she ascended to the Throne of the Dreamer. Of course she had a quip. “Heavy is the head that wears the… That sits on the throne? That didn’t work.”

“Tired is the butt that sits upon the throne?” Alex asked. She nodded, approving of her own joke.

“That works. You wanna talk about a willpower level-up?” Tresk asked, laughing. “This is invigorating.”

The scene flashed before them. Tresk, Alex, and Theo were in the lab at the Newt and Demon in an instant. The marshling pat him on the shoulder. “Take your time, buddy.”

Theo felt something else brush against his soul. Another soul-slaying attempt from the heavens? No, it came from somewhere else. It was a mind-slaying action and the difference was important. Slaying a soul was an action performed by gods. Mind hunting, or mind-slaying, was performed by a mage. A few potions later and he was ready to tell the story.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Khahar gave me the hint. Someone from Earth came here after me. We assumed the Throne of the Dreamer was open for you, Tresk. Whoever came after me claimed it before we could.”

“So you just… threw yourself across reality to find me?” Tresk said, giggling. “Man, I gotta remember how determined you can be.”

“You left a trail when you left, which meant you were interdicted. But what god could interdict you? No god. Someone who held the Throne of the Dreamer—since that would have given them enough of a connection. I knew it from the moment you talked to that thing in the Dreamwalk. It was warning you, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. When we broke the rules, something detected us. The Dreamwalk has a location, just like the realms. It found us, and snatched me from there.”

Theo let out a steady breath. If he hadn’t done his willpower training, this would have ended badly. Tresk’s authority as the holder of the throne gave her the edge, but whoever that was thought the plan was foolproof. The accent of the Dreamwalk had been the thing to inspire the alchemist to think about the newest earthling. After that, it was a matter of following the trail.

“I can move it now,” Tresk said, rubbing her hands together. “I got a new core.”

Theo looked at her, raising a brow. “What is it?”

“The Dreamer’s Core. Look.”

[Dreamer’s Core]

Unique

Throne Core

Bound

2 Slots

Level 1 (0%)

The Dreamer is the title of the person holding the Throne of the Dreamer. This position is the guardian of the dream realms of the world. Their duties include preventing otherworldly beings from influencing the mortal realm.

Effect:

Significant increase in Willpower

Absolute authority when facing those that break the Dreamer’s design

[Dream]

“A throne core,” Theo whispered, reading over the description several times. He stood, finding a place to sit and rest. Maintaining his aura bubble was getting harder, but those gentle brushes against his soul had faded away. “And it has a skill.”

“Indeed it does,” Tresk said, sharing the skill next.

[Dream]

Dreamer Skill

Unique

The Dreamer performs their duties by entering the dreams of others.

Effect:

Allows you to pass into the dream realms created by dreamers.

This skill drains your willpower, which will need to be recharged by resting.

“I can see this web in the air… all these people dreaming,” Tresk said, in complete awe of the sight. Theo couldn’t see anything. “I can also sense the throne. No one detected it going into Tero’gal. It should cloak itself on its own.”

“How do you know?”

Tresk shrugged.

“But that’s how this guy found us,” Theo said, tapping his foot on the ground. “With the Dream skill. Damn, why didn’t we sense that sooner?”

“Good question. And he was smart enough to conceal himself. I’m just ashamed he got me. No one interdicts me! Wait, let’s go back! I wanna stab him!”

Theo felt the wound on his soul expanding. If he had endured any more of that strain, he would have needed to reforge his soul. That wasn’t something he was eager to do. And it still might have happened. No one had snuck up on him like this in a while. Getting the drop on Broken Tusk, let alone its leader, had become an impossible task. But the old Dreamer had dropped into the Dreamwalk, snatching Tresk away to remove their competition. Whoever it was had been smart enough to cut the connection of the Tara’hek.

“We just keep making enemies, don’t we?” Theo asked, ignoring Tresk’s request for some therapeutic stabbing.

“That’s not true,” Alex objected. “They were just after the same thing.”

Theo retracted his aura, feeling it rub painfully against his soul. He winced, waiting for more attacks. But nothing came. They had left the old Dreamer in a crumbling dream realm. If the person made it out, they would have been wounded. He hoped they couldn’t reforge their soul to strike again.

“I need a vacation,” Theo said, leaning back in his chair. He drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“Not me! Check this out!” Tresk shouted. She vanished.

Theo could still feel her, but her body wasn’t there. The connection provided by the Tara’hek was still there. He watched flashes of something. It was a confusing landscape with Miana at the center. She was tending to an endless field of fluffy white karatan. The chittered, frolicing through the fields as the woman breathed in fresh mountain air. A massive dronon, looking suspiciously like Theo, appeared on the horizon and burned the landscape. Tresk appeared at his side moments later, cackling.

“That was Miana’s dream!” she said, falling to the ground with laughter. “You’re the bad guy!”

“Ha-ha,” Theo said, glaring at his companion. Of course it didn’t phase her. She vanished again, hopping between the dreams of people within Broken Tusk. He felt her go more distant, searching out others within the world.

Tresk reappeared half an hour later, looking slightly shaken. Theo had been resting his eyes when she came back. He looked at her with a tired expression.

“Alright, I moved the Dreamwalk somewhere safe. Not gonna tell you in case you get captured and tortured.”

“Always appreciated,” Theo said, knowing exactly where the Dreamwalk was through their connection.

“Anyway… I was hopping through dreams. Just checking out what weird stuff people were dreaming about. There are some crazy dreams out there, Theo. You couldn’t imagine the amount of booties and weiners I’ve seen tonight.”

“I think I can imagine, Tresk.”

“Anyway, I stopped in on Hanan, who was having a dream about his dad. Yeah, how sad is that?”

“Extremely depressing.”

“Anyway, I figured out how to talk to people in their dreams.”

Theo leaned forward, locking eyes with Tresk. “What?”

“We ironed some stuff out. Had a really good one-on-one.”

Tresk explained Hanan’s tale…

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

It was that damned dream again. Hanan knew he was dreaming, but he couldn’t shake himself out of it. No matter how soft the bed or how pleasant the smells in his royal chambers, he only had fitful sleeps. His father was berating him again. The same speech fell from King Karasan’s lips, falling on him like the strike of a hammer against an anvil. But there was a lucidity in that dream that was abnormal. He looked around for a moment before slapping his father in the face.

“I’ll skin you alive, boy,” Karasan growled.

“You’re dead, father,” Hanan said. The words felt better than he could have ever imagined. “Forever.”

Hanan turned away, ignoring the constant berating to pursue something else in this dream. The world outside of this sanctum wasn’t much better. Qavell had been falling repeatedly, more systems of dark magic failing by the day. Dark Coresmiths were dying in droves, leaving only a handful left to manage the strange system. That creature, ever-shrouded in darkness, did little to lift the spirits of his people. He stood in a vague void of the old Qavell. The city before it flew.

“And who might you be?” Hanan asked, finding the only other moving thing within the dream.

“That’s kinda hard to explain,” the little pink lizard-girl said. She tugged at the edge of a leather tunic nervously.

“Since I’ll be dead by morning, and you’re just a dream, I’ll entertain you.”

“Sorry, King Hanan,” the girl said, chuckling to herself. “I ain’t a dream.”

“Sure you are. I’m dreaming. I just slapped my father.”

There was an amount of control that was out of Hanan’s grasp. This dream was lucid, but there were elements he couldn’t control. His responses came out too stiff, almost as though he were following a script generated by his subconscious.

“Good news. Bad news,” the girl said. “Which do you want first?”

“The bad news, of course.”

“Your city is going to fall. Tomorrow or the day after.”

“I already know that. What’s the good news?”

“We don’t want to kill you. Hooray!”

“Hooray!” Hanan said reflexively. He cleared his throat. More lucidity reached him as he realized. The lizard-girl was real. “What’s going on?”

“Hey. Nice to meet you. I’m the Dreamer. Well, I’m the new Dreamer. The old one was weird and tried to kill me. Why don’t you explain what that weird entity is in your city? We’re gonna kill him when you get to Broken Tusk.”

Hanan faced a stark reality at that moment. This Dreamer was in Broken Tusk, broadcasting herself into his dreams. He broke down, explaining everything he remembered. The entity had coerced his father into quite a few things, but this latest flying city ploy was the worst. He rattled off every detail about the dark figure. Always cloaked, bird-like, and consistently ruthless with his punishments for failure.

“Yep,” the Dreamer said with a single nod. “Looks like you got yourself an extra-dimensional bird-person on your hands. Pretty sure we can take care of it for ya. Can you get your dudes to stand down when we go for his throat?”

Hanan blinked. “The army is loyal to me,” he said. “If you destroy the creature, we’ll be in your debt.”

The Dreamer cackled. “I’m counting on it, buddy!”