Chapter 4- The Dream

The smell of rotting flesh fills my nostrils. Dead leaves crunch and slide under my feet. I look down to try and keep my footing on the slippery surface, but the fog is so thick I can’t see past my knees. I stumble and my hand shoots out to the nearest tree to steady me, but instead of hitting a solid object, my hand pushes into it, and is surrounded by a thick, gooey substance. I struggle to pull my arm from the tree, but stumble and fall again. Suddenly, my feet are no longer on solid ground, and the tree is skyrocketing upwards. The abrupt upward movement wrenches my shoulder from its socket, and a growl escaped from my clenched teeth. I claw at the tree with my feet, trying to find a foothold. Just as my feet find a small ledge in the bark, the tree slams to a stop. The goo holding my arm in the tree starts to liquefy, slowly lowering me onto a platform. The second my feet touch down, the tree shoots down towards the ground. The branches of the tree punch through the dense fog.

The hole now explodes with winged beasts. They stream from the hole, their wings stirring the stench of death and decay. More and more pour from the hole, rising and rising in loose, lazy circles. My heart is pounding out of my chest, and my shoulder is throbbing. I kneel on the edge of the platform, trying to get a better look at the creatures.

As they soar higher and higher, I can see that they are covered in glossy black feathers, and some of the bigger ones have a ridge of white feather running down their spines. They have a massive wingspan, and almost never flap their wings. As they rise higher and higher, I can hear them screeching, sending shivers down my spine. The hole in the fog has closed up now, and the mass rises higher, reaching my platform. The smell of decay makes me gag as they swirl around me. They have large milky white eyes without pupils that are set in a wrinkled bald head. Their beaks are a deep red, reminding me of blood, with a row of sharp teeth lining the lower jaw. As I study them, they seem to be studying me, coming closer and closer, then swooping away seconds before colliding with me.

One lands on the platform, and I see huge talons coming from scaly feet. This particular bird is huge, and has scars running across its feet and face. When the massive bird landed, the rest of the swirling mass gave one more screech, then dissipated into the fog.

The bird in front of my bowed deeply, his beak nearly scraping the ground. When he straighten to face me, I was assaulted by his gaze, seeming to puncture into my soul. The longer the eye contact lasted, the heavier and darker I began to feel. My knees began to shake and the edges of my vision started to darken, as if he was feeding on my life force. Summoning the last of my willpower, I wrenched my eyes from his, focusing now on the thing's massive chest. It was then that I noticed a dark blue mist being sucked from my body, and into his. When the mist dissipated, I drug my eyes back to his, and noticed the same mist forming between us again. My legs began to wobble, and I fell to my knees, breaking eye contact with him.

Suddenly, a sinister thought entered my head- could I pull my own mist back out of him, and maybe take some of his? Stumbling to my feet, I moved into his line of vision again, this time thinking of dragging my mist back towards me. The creature's eyes darkened when he noticed what I was attempting to do. He easily pulled his eyes from mine, and a low, deep chuckle emanated from his chest.

"Stupid boy." He hissed, "Do you really think you can perform Doleat on me? Do you not know of the method? I can sense you have had no training, but yet you have entered the Orci, which is impossible for those unskilled in the way of Doleat. Tell me mortal, how have you entered this place?" The creature hissed, swinging its wings wide, as if to encompass the world of fog around us.

"I-I was dreaming, and a tree pulled me up here." I stammered, not understanding the foreign words the thing was mentioning. The creature paused, as if thinking then suddenly rushed at me, beak agape, wings spread, talons stretched wide. The beak collided with my chest as the talons flipped my legs, pushing me backwards, off of the platform. It released me, and I was free falling through the cold air. I roles over, and saw the ground quickly approaching. Bracing myself, I pulled my knees to my chest and clenched my eyes closed. Time seemed to slow, and the second my toe brushed the ground, there was a blinding white light that ripped my eyelids open, then a sharp pain in the crown of my head. Thinking I was dying, I closed my eyes and relaxed my body. There was a light pressure on my back, and I opened eyes to see the blurry outline of a ceiling fan.

I slowly looked left and right, seeing only the rumpled covers on my bed. As I rubbed eyes, I felt a dull throb in my shoulder. Moving to look at it, my forehead seared with pain. Gingerly sitting up, I squinted at the clock, 5:39. Moaning, I stumbled to the mirror on the far wall, and gently pulled my hair apart, grunting at the pain. My hands fell to my sides. Emblazoned on my skin, in a flowing deep blue script, were the words Oblitus Venator.

A scream ripped from my throat as I threw myself to the floor. I heard the pounding of feet and soon Rose was kneeling next to me, rubbing my heaving back. Looking up at her, she seemed dazed, but she quickly pulled herself together. She tugged at my arms and got me to sit up, leaning against the bed frame.

"Aaron, what the hell was that? Are you ok?" she whispered. Wordlessly, I pulled back my hair to expose my scalp. Rose's face drained. She pulled out her ponytail, and shakily pulled back her own hair. Written in bright green were the words Oblitus Venatrix. The skin around the lettering was pink and tender, like it was around mine.

"What in the hell just happened?" I muttered, pulling a sobbing Rose to my chest. As I rubbed her shaking back, thousands of thoughts sprinted through my mind, each leaving me more confused than before. Pushing Rose away from me slightly, I took a shaky breath and slowly whispered in her ear.

"Tell me about the dream you just had." Rose instantly froze, and turned to meet my gaze, her eyes full of questions.