Chapter 1; The Dreams

Nina keeps having her dreams of Jago and gets increasingly scared. What will happen?

Many mysterious things happen when there is ignorance involved. Let us remain slightly ignorant, so these mysteries continue to appear.

High Counselor Marton, House of Marton, in his yearly speech for the King.

In her dream, the man had appeared as always. Always the same crooked smile, the same slouching way of standing, as if he was continuously drunk. The young man that called himself Rhad sat on a fallen tree next to where she lay on the forest floor. She tried to get up, shout at them to leave her alone, but her muscles wouldn’t work. Somehow it seemed different this time. She felt every muscle in her body ache, as if she’d been forced into the same position for a long time. All she could do was give them both the evil eye, which send them in a laughing frenzy again. She wondered for the hundredth time why they enjoyed torturing her so much. The second the thought went through her head, Rhad stopped laughing and became serious, as if he had read her mind. For a change, he looked her straight in the eyes when he spoke. Only now did she realise how odd their colour was.

 

“This is no torture, woman. We are merely causing you to be confused, so you will remember every word we say and ponder on it. You need to be ready. You need to be prepared. But maybe you are now, eh? There is so much anger in you...”

 

He gave a sad smile and got up from his sitting position. He kneeled besides her and, ignoring her angry looks, stroked her hair. Without looking at him, Rhad spoke to the other man. “Make sure everything is in place. We are running out of time.”

The man looked shocked. “Beg pardon, Your Holiness, but the girl isn’t ready y...”

“Do it, Jago.” Rhad interrupted. “You have one more day.”

 

Jago bowed nervously and turned around, to walk away in a hurry. She saw him disappear between the trees. Rhad still had his eyes on her and was making her feel more and more uncomfortable. Face down on the forest floor, the smell of rotting leaves prickled in her nose and the twigs spread all over were poking in her ribs. He smiled a little wider now, made the tiniest movement with his hand and released her muscles. She could move again, and the second she realised that, she shot up. This dream was getting too real. Out of breath because she’d been struggling against her invisible bounds, she almost spat at him. “Who the hell are you and what do you want from me? Why don’t you just leave me alone, you creep of a man!”

He almost looked guilty. “You know my name, but I am no man. Knowing that you live in a god-forsaken world, I will not blame you if you do not believe my words at first. I am a God, Nina, and my followers are in danger. What I want from you, I cannot say. Not right now. It will be explained soon.”

 

Nina shook her head and started laughing. She had some imagination if she was dreaming this. Time to wake up. She closed her eyes and willed herself back into her earthly body. But, try as she may, she still heard the birds in the trees and the rustling of the leaves in the wind. She felt a little breeze on her skin and opened one eye. Rhad was grinning at her efforts and raised his hands in apology when he noticed her looking at him. With a sigh she opened both eyes and snapped at him: “What?”

“You will not wake up until you believe what in what I told you.”

 

“That’s blackmail.”

 

“No, that’s just the way it is. We are running out of time fast and I cannot afford waiting longer. I have waited long enough. You will meet Jago again tomorrow and you’d best be ready.”

 

“Ready for what? I’ve only seen you in my dreams and have no reason to believe that you are real.” She hit her forehead. “What am I doing? I’m arguing with a figure of my dreams. This is nuts. I’m going to wake up. Now.”

 

Rhad looked a little hurt, but seemed to give up. “Fine. Wake up then, but there is no turning back from here. You have been chosen and have received your da-ak. We shall meet again soon.”

 

 

And with that, he was gone. She had only blinked her eyes, but he had vanished. No sign of him, and she was alone. She didn’t feel his heavy presence anymore and felt that she could breathe again. She inhaled the rich smell deeply and closed her eyes. She experienced a moment of dizziness and sat up in her bed. Her heart was still pounding in her chest and her muscles felt stiff from sleeping in a cramped position.

The alarm next to her bed said it was a little before seven. It was winter still, so outside it was dark. A little too much darkness after that dream, she thought. She clambered out of bed, shrieked when her feet touched the icy floor and ran for her robe and slippers. Having turned up her heating, she put the kettle on and switched on her laptop. She checked her email, roamed around on Google for a while and looked for the names Rhad and Jago, but found nothing of interest. She needed to stop thinking about these things and get her head together. She was done thinking about this.

 

When the water had boiled, she poured herself a cup of tea and sat back on her bed. The world had entered the twilight now, although the thick clouds overhead refused to let through a lot of light. It was supposed to start snowing today. Nina didn’t mind, it would be nice to have a good, cold winter for a change. Her thoughts jumped back and forth between the dreams and her daily life, and came to a sudden conclusion. She had been doing nothing for too long and it needed to stop. She should get a job, get some extra money, maybe travel for a while. She looked around her apartment and realised what a mess it was. You could barely see the floor for the clothes that had been thrown around, empty cups and glasses filled the space around her laptop and it would take her a week to clean all the dirty dishes in her kitchen. She had failed to do the laundry for two weeks in a row now and had no clean clothes. Depressed, she got up to brush her teeth. As she entered the bathroom, she caught her reflection in the mirror. Startled, she looked at her eyes that had sunk in their sockets, the cheekbones once one of her best features and now hollow. Her skin had the colour of wax and her hair was dirty and way too long. She was a complete mess and it scared her. Abruptly she turned around and started cleaning fanatically. She didn’t get dressed, nor ate until she was finished and her apartment was cleaner than it had ever been. It had taken her a few hours and a lot of frustration about how she could’ve let this happen, but finally she sat down and happily looked around. The washing machine was thudding softly in the background, the place smelled like soap and she could walk around again without the risk of breaking her neck in the process. This feels so much better, she thought. All I need now is a haircut and some new clothes.

 

She got dressed, pulled a sweater over her head, checked her bag for her keys and wallet and opened the door. A gush of cold air welcomed her, and to her surprise she heard a thin lair of snow crunch under her boots. It was still very dark, although the sun has risen hours ago. Nina made her way to the hairdresser, who clicked his tongue when he saw her. For a painful hour and a half, she sat in front of the mirror, having to look at herself while he cut, rearranged and blow-dried her hair. She had send Ricky a message asking if he felt like shopping, on which he had immediately replied that he had been waiting for her to ask and that he would pick her up from the hairdressers’. She was happy to see him and even more when he said: “You look awful, but that can be fixed. I’ll take the night off work and we’ll go have a nice, healthy dinner after we’re done shopping.”

 

 

The rest of the afternoon was filled with running in and out of shops, trying out the most ridiculous outfits and laughing until they cried. Nina felt a little more alive again and had pushed all thoughts of Rhad and Jago in a far corner of her mind. There was no room for them today. She had almost succeeded forgetting about them, until she and Ricky stood in front of a window, looking at shoes and Nina caught sight of Jago’s reflection, standing right behind her. She almost screamed and turned around, but he was nowhere to be seen. She looked back at the window, but he had disappeared. Ricky looked at her with confused eyes. Nina started shaking. She really was going mad.

 

“Hun, what’s wrong?”

 

“It was him... That guy. The drunk guy, from that night in your bar. He was right here, and now he’s gone.”

 

Ricky grabbed her shoulders, looking extremely worried at his friend, who seemed close to collapsing. “Where is he? We’ll go sort him out right away if he shows his face around you again, don’t you worry. Where is he, Nina?”

 

She shook her head. “He’s gone. I saw him standing next to me, in the reflection, but he’s... I turned around and he...”

 

Her knees went jelly and with no energy left she fell against Ricky. He caught her and carried her to a nearby bench. She started crying and while he was stroking her hair, she blurted out everything about her dreams and how the sleeping pills the doctor had given her didn’t help as they would only cause her to get more stuck and not being able to wake up properly. He tried to calm her, but there was no stopping her ranting. He couldn’t believe what she was telling him and felt she was genuinely scared about what was going to happen.

 

She looked up to him with watery eyes and said: “What’s happening to me, Rick? I’m losing my mind here and I don’t know what to do. I’m scared to leave the house on my own, I’m seeing things, hearing things and scaring the s**t out of myself. I just need to know that it’s not real.”

He smiled. “Of course it’s not real. You just need something to do to keep yourself busy. Sitting around thinking about it only makes it worse. You know what? You come work with me, in the bar. Just a few nights a week. You’ll earn some money, I’ll get some nights off, and you can get your life back together. How does that sound?”

 

She nodded and smiled. Ricky let out a sigh of relief that she listened to him. Hadn’t lost her mind completely then. He helped her stand and with arms locked they went to find a nice restaurant. They decided that there was no time like the present and that she should start right away, so that night was the first time she stood behind a bar and poured the drinks instead of drinking them herself. She laughed with the customers, showed talent for the job and generally had a good time. Her face had a bright colour from the day spend outside and the heat inside. When it was time to go home, she hugged Ricky and thanked him for his support. He kissed her forehead and said that if anything was, whatever it was, he was living five doors down and she was always welcome. They said goodnight and Nina walked home, feeling a lot better. Coming home was a blessing as well, just because it was so clean and smelled so nice. She had changed her bedspread earlier and it felt cool and fresh on her skin as she slipped under the cover. Ricky had put her mind at ease so much that night and the alcohol in her blood made her fall asleep quickly.

 

 

The forest smelled of autumn. It had obviously rained and Nina felt her clothes soak as she laid face down on the ground again. She tried to move, and to her surprise her muscles decided to work along for a change. As she scrambled up, Jago turned around as if frightened. He had a bottle in hand and swayed on his feet, looking more drunk than ever. His beard looked scruffy and he kept scratching it vigorously. He smiled and spoke with a lisp: “Nina! What took you so long? His Holiness has been waiting. I had to tell you something, but I have a tiny problem remembering it right now.”

He scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. He was clearly about to fall over and pass out, and the smell that came from his body was sickening. He swayed towards Nina and she backed away as quickly as she could. “Stay away from me!” she growled.

“Ah come now deary. You know old Jago, eh? I’m not gonna hurt ya.”

“You’ve done quite enough already, you idiot.”

She reached for a solid looking branch she almost stumbled over and held it like a sword. She would bash his brains in if he dared coming closer. Again he shrugged and took another swig of the stuff in his bottle, dropped it by accident and swore in a language she didn’t understand. Muttering to himself, he walked a little away from her and disappeared behind an enormous tree. She walked after him, to keep an eye on where he went. As she came around the tree, she didn’t see him. She backed away again, but there was no sign of him anywhere. “Jago?” she peeped.

 

No answer.

 

“Jago! Stop playing games! Get your sorry a*s to where I can see it!”

Still no answer. She listened hard for a sound of him but heard nothing. He had vanished as Rhad had done before. She realised all of a sudden that she was in the same kind of dream again and swore loudly, closed her eyes and tried to wake up. Nothing happened again, but this time Rhad was nowhere to be seen. She knew now that he was the person controlling if she was awake or not, so she needed him to be here. She opened her eyes and called out his name. She jumped and let out a cry when his voice sounded right next to her ear.

 

“You called, madam?”

 

Nina swirled around and stood almost nose to nose with the handsome young man. Anger took over her brain immediately. “I demand answers.”

“Ah, but then you are indeed ready! I love what you have done to your hair, by the way. It looks so much better than that birds nest.”

 

Branch still in hand, she swayed it at him. He cleverly dodged her first blow and her second, then grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back. “Calm down, Nina. I’m not here to hurt you.”

 

“You’re doing that right now, a*****e. Let me go.”

He pushed her away from him, sending her flying. She landed painfully on hands and knees, but ignored it. Still furious, she got up to face him. He had sat down on the same fallen tree he always sat on – for they were on the same spot, every time – and looked at her with a curious look in his eyes. He sighed. “Where does your anger come from? We have done you no harm.”

 

“Ha! No harm. Are you kidding me? I haven’t had a good nights’ rest in weeks! Every time I wake up, I feel like I’ve been running for miles. How is that no harm?”

“I never intended for that.”

“You say you are a God. To my knowledge, Gods have limitless power. You could’ve put an end to this.”

He laughed at her. “Yes, to your knowledge! But we can both agree that isn’t much, now can’t we? For your information, I do not have limitless power and that is exactly why I need your help. My people are in danger.”

“I don’t give a rats a*s about your people.”

“Then learn to do so, because you are not getting out of this. I welcome you to my lands, Nina. Welcome to Remudion.”

She looked at his face to find a trace of mockery, but found none. In fact, he looked very, very serious. In a flash of insight, she knew. “You are not letting me wake up this time.”

 

“Correct. You are a very clever woman. Not to worry, you will not die in your worldly life. If you happen to die in this world, you will be send back to your earthly body. I merely separated your subconciousness from the rest of you. As far as time goes, I’ve put that of your world on a standstill.”

Nina laughed, hard and sharp. “You tell me you can stop time, but not stop me from getting tired? You are ridiculous.”

Suddenly, his face turned angry. “Do not mock me, human!”

Nina could feel the air getting heavy, which caused problems to her breathing. It seemed like the light was drawn away from around them and everything turned very dark. It scared her. “Alright, alright, calm down. I won’t do it again!”

 

Instantly, light came back and the pressure was released from her chest. Rhad looked himself again, although his lips had formed tight lines. He shook his head. “I am not a wrathful God, nor an angry one. But be careful with what you say. You have seen only a fraction of my power, and I can do so much more. However, Gods like me are bound to faith as much as you are and we cannot do whatever we wish. If I lose the faith of my people, I shall die. Not in the way humans do, but I will still vanish. I am on the edge of losing what I have and there is nothing I can do. Jago’s faith in me gives me enough power to remain still, but he is worthless in any other way. I need you to save me.”

Nina couldn’t speak. She now believed fully in what he was and that was she was seeing was real. She bowed her head. “What will you have me do then, Your Holiness?”