From dreams to dreams

The world shattered around him, the sky fell in, and a deep throbbing pain erupted in his head. Kato crashed to the ground, face first, his eyes level with the dead woman’s skull.

A pressure radiated across him, pinning him flat to the floor. Vainly he struggled for a moment, bucking against the invisible force keeping him down, he gritted his teeth and pushed… but nothing, there wasn’t even an easing of the force, his strength here apparently meant nothing.

Kato kept fruitlessly struggling for a while more until he saw it out of the corner of his eye. The blood red of the ground was leaving, leaching away into the air as if it had never been there. The familiar, monotonous grey returning as if nothing had ever happened.

“I.. I claim this place” Kato desperately forced the words out, but whoever or whatever had listened before was in no mood to listen again.

The sword fell from the sky, a piercing whistle accompanying its descent. Kato braced himself, as much as he could do, whilst being unable to move. The giant weapon in response approached the ground with an ever-mounting speed, before… CRASH! The very world reverberated from its impact; a thermal pulse superheated the air. Kato and the skull were flung several feet into the air before they crashed back into the ground, the familiar pressure not giving them an inch.

The skull now lay directly ahead of him, practically nose to nose hole, Kato gulped ‘starting to think I should never have claimed this.’

The pitch black of the sword followed the blood red of the ground, leaching into the ambient before fading back to the same dull grey.

‘Why did I think listening to someone who wanted me dead was a good idea?’

The sword cracked.

‘Right, yeah because she was upset not angry.’

Sections of the sword collapsed from its frame, each shaking the ground worse than the one before.

‘Why did you even think you were qualified to read her emotions? You hardly knew her.’

A mountain in the distance collapsed to rubble.

‘And so, what if she was upset, doesn’t mean she wasn’t trying to kill you.’

Vast sections of the plains now began to fall, the very, floor disappearing into an endless void.

‘Starting to realise that’ Kato thought mirthlessly, desperately attempting to push himself up, but the pressure holding him down refused to give, if anything clamping him down tighter than it had before. His muscles shook from exertion, then failed.

‘Guess this is it.’ A wave of helplessness washed over him; he had really tried.

As the remnants of the sword met the void, he turned to the skull, his eyes locking into its empty sockets.

Kato hinged his jaw open, brutally fighting against the pressure clamping it shut. Blood ran from his nose and his left eye popped forward. “Are you happy now?” he spat the words out with every ounce of vitriol he could muster.

The skulls colour leached into grey and shattered the parts of what had been someone now strewn across the land, unrecognisable from the shattered remains of everything else. Then everything went black, and Kato was engulfed by the sweet embrace of the void.

“Uhhh” Kato stumbled forward, fighting against pressure that was no longer there.

Sunlight pounded against his eyes, squinting he raised a hand up, guarding himself against the sudden shift in lighting.

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After he had become accustomed to the change, his eyes widened drinking in the idyllic scene he’d been transported to.

Light green grass stretched ahead of him, smooth glossy brownish rocks lay basking in the warmth of the sun, trees stretched high overhead forming a thick dark green canopy, that many a creature must have called home.

Kato breathed in deeply, ‘this, this was unexpected.’ He turned in a slow circle, drinking in the real world and oh the colours so many shades of green and brown in the trees and shrubs. Flowers dotted the landscape, reds and pinks and blues and ‘purples ‘Kato’s stomach knotted, and he took a step back.

His head spun around, looking for the familiar spear, darting towards him, but nothing.

‘Man, you’re going crazy. The world remains as peaceful and un-violent as the first time you gazed upon it. Un-violent is that a word? Ehh it doesn’t really matter.’

Kato turned his chin up and closed his eyes, just enjoying the sun soak into his skin, a pleasant warm tingle that slowly overtook him.

He shuddered. It was good to be alive.

“???////???” A familiar, unfamiliar chittering took Kato from his revelry.

Lazily his eyes tracked across the ground, resting on a familiar aged cloth wagon with a human sized imprint in the side.

‘This wasn’t it couldn’t be?’ The fog it had gone and, in its place, paradise or at least something close to it.

Kato felt kind of bad, ‘whilst I was off fighting in the Dreamscape, they were here and apparently defeated the fog or waited it out, I shouldn’t have thought so badly of them.’

“Hey guys” he waved, smiling ear to ear.

The chittering intensified as he strode forward. The blursons from earlier stood in a rough semi-circle ahead of him, the poker conspicuously absent.

‘Guess it returned home’ Kato thought to himself.

He walked toward them; head held high, his feet gently treading over the soft sun-dappled dirt. This was it, the reunion they had all been waiting for, out of the fog and the worry and panic, they could now focus on the future. He’d finally found some friends!

One of the blursons growled.

Kato’s smile faltered at the sound, ‘was that a warning?’ he paused on the thought momentarily, before shaking off his doubt, his smile widening again. ‘They can’t even contain their excitement! Wow, I must have really made an impression.’

He stepped forward, arms stretched out wide, ready for their joyous embrace “group hug time” he laughed merrily, he had really missed them.

One of the blursons returned the gesture arms raised high, walking towards him, a gleaming metallic saucepan clutched in its hand, “oh you’ve got a-”

Clang! A metallic bang struck the side of his head. Pain erupted, sharp and unexpected, he stumbled forwards vision spinning, “wha-” he slurred, arms flailing, as he fought to regain his balance.

The blurson swung again, another clang ringing out as the pan connected with his skull. Kato faltered, swaying from side to side. “Accidents happen,” he mumbled dazed, Clang! The blurson hit him again, and Kato’s vision doubled, finally realising the danger he raised an arm to defend himself, but it was too late.

Clang!

Kato fell to the ground motionless.

Sometime later awaking to the gentle susurrations of a moving wagon.

Wide, aged wooden bars, slotted into the floor and raised to the ceiling cutting him off from the rest of the room. ‘How did I not see this earlier’ he thought to himself frantically. “Help” he called out loudly, in response a metal tankard was hurled from somewhere ahead of him.

It hit the bars with a dull thud, overturning on the ground and leaving a frothy yellow mess on the floor.

‘Right, got it, why would the people who put me in here, help me out of here?’ He grasped a bar and shook against it, levering his body against the floor, but it stayed stalwart, refusing to even acknowledge his efforts.

Kato gritted his teeth even his prison was mocking his attempt at making friends.

‘When did I become such a bad judge of character?’ Kato thought mournfully to himself, although looking back he’d never been particular good at telling others’ emotions, ’I mean really who would have done what that woman said, just because she looked sad?’ Kato shook his head ruefully.

“///???//” A quiet, small voice croaked out from behind him.

Kato turned. “Poker!” He exclaimed racing over to her, a dark mottled patch of fur beneath its right eye had swollen to an unseemly reddish-blue, flecks of blood marred its previously pristine coat.

He had really misjudged the blursons, he shook his head again closely examining the poker. ‘Or maybe… I mean the poker does have a propensity to crazy outbursts.’ Kato still recalled their confrontation with the lizard, in all too vivid detail.

‘Are you crazy?’ He rebuked himself they had just attacked him with kitchen utensils, how could they be the good guy in any semblance, that stuff was for cooking? You should never mess with food, somethings were sacred.

Kato circled his chest, “may Cogul judge you.”

After overcoming any doubts, he returned to the poker gently ribbing a shred of cloth, from his already tattered attire, and bringing it to her skin, gently rubbing the dirt and blood out of her.

The poker softly whimpered and leaned into his side, eyes flutteringly wildly as it battled the demons of its mind, before finally settling and gently snoring against him.

Kato’s head turned to face the bars, his eyes narrowing into a cold fury, they would pay.