Dreams of the Tempest

[Nayt]

11:57pm

Etsu stared at the paper before her. Sarah had long since gone to sleep. Apparently that was normal. Earlier when Sarah was growing tired, she explained to Etsu that she often worked long days at the farm and was beat by the time she was done eating dinner. Etsu and she were sharing a room for the night, and though Etsu tried to sleep for hours, she'd failed time and time again. Condemned to tossing and turning, she had little choice left but to try tiring her mind out. Physically, she felt exhausted. Emotionally, she felt the need to crawl into a corner and die. But mentally, she was far too active. Too many thoughts were firing off at once.

About an hour ago, Etsu got out of Sarah's bed (Sarah slept on the floor at her own volition), stepped over Sarah, and took a seat at Sarah's desk. She lit a candle and rummaged around for anything she could find. What Etsu procured was pen and paper.

11:58pm

So she began writing a letter. To whom, she hadn't the slightest. Maybe she was writing it to her mother. Maybe her father. Maybe even Eld. She might have been writing it to herself, even. Etsu wrote paragraph after paragraph, filled a whole two sheets of paper with thoughts and feelings, confused and disjointed as they may be, but by the end of it, she couldn't help but look up. Sarah had an old clock up there. It was almost midnight, and if she didn't try sleeping again soon, tomorrow was going to be horrendous for her.

11:59pm

She set her pen down and sighed. The second hand kept moving and she was running out of things to say. With a sigh, she took the papers, ripped them in two, and dropped the severed sheets into Sarah's trash can. With that, Etsu got up and started for Sarah's bed.

12:00am

Elsewhere in town, back at the clinic, a boy's dream was interrupted. What was a normal day, sitting in a circle with his closest friends, discussing the value of universal health care in Algeroth, altered drastically. At first, the air was standard. Simple. Normal. And then it changed. It adopted color. Green hues struck the wooden floor, spread, and gathered across the walls. Waves of blue flowed through their bodies, but no one else noticed. Maya spoke freely, moved her lips, but no words came out. Sarah moved as if to laugh. Etsu stared confusedly. Toushikyo spoke to explain. But Eld would hear none of it.

And soon, he'd see none of it, either. The colors spread and intensified, grew into light, and bathed all around Eld until there was nothing left but an emerald expanse, swirling with subtle blues and flowing like a tumultuous ocean.

. . . And song.

In the distance, deep within the vastness of cycling colors, someone was singing. A girl. And even from this far away, she sounded like an angel.

[Zach Kaiser]

One minute he was talking to his friends, a day like any other. The next...a blur of color, as his vision seemed to stretch out and warp until all he could see was green. It was...disorienting and confusing.

And then dull realization hit him. Oh...I'm dreaming, aren't I? It was a hard fact to miss when he was greeted with such a bizarre sight. Usually his dreams made at least enough sense that he didn't realize he was dreaming until he woke up.

Sound was added to the visual...a beautiful song, a voice unlike any he'd ever heard. It was mesmerizing. He found himself wanting to find its source, willing himself to move in the direction...however it was he moved in whatever state he was in.

[Nayt]

In this state, Eld walked as if a flat slate of ground lay beneath his feet, though the only thing he could see for the longest time were those of the green and blue streams of color. As he walked, however, there was a new sound that pierced the expanse. It was loud and thunderous, following the girl's singing like rhythmic drumming. This one, too, had a defined origin. In the distance there was the girl, and within Eld's closest proximity there was the slow pounding.

It was the beating of his own heart.

Lub-dub

The further Eld walked, the clearer the world become. It was a slow and steady process, but after long enough, the emerald expanse proved itself to be more a fog than anything else.

Lub-dub

The fog progressed into forever, but the origin of the angelic singing did not. Eld was getting closer with each step. Soon, a distant silhouette became visible. It was not the only image that made itself visible to Eldridge Tsukimono, however. Within the ephemeral mist, there flashed a series of scenes . . .

Lub-dub

In a slate gray world stood three figures-- two men and a woman --each clad in armor. Two of them wore half-plate armor and the other full. Slowly, they crossed the gray sands. They walked until they reached a cliffside, beyond which fell an endless shadow. However, there seemed to be an shore beyond the darkness. With weapons, unique to each of them, drawn, they stopped short, stood tall, and looked upon the cathedral that stood upon the distant shore. They hesitated, but finally, one took the first step into the dark ocean.

Lub-dub

Within the confines of a wide, steel clad room, half collapsed on one end and riddled with burn scars, two figures stood against one. A turquoise haired young girl in a tattered dress stood behind a taller man with long, reddish-brown hair. On the other side of the expansive structure stood the one against them, a figure clad in a worn and beaten hooded sweatshirt. His shoulders hunched forward and his arms dangled before him. There was a long moment of silence between them, before finally an inhuman growl echoed throughout the vast chamber.

Lub-dub

A large silhouette stood at the boundaries of a small village. It was tall and foreboding, jagged in appearance, and created a terrifyingly large shadow even in the presence of night. The moon had just risen to power. There stood within the village a series of men, all armed to the teeth. They stood in poorly trained rank and file and kept watch upon the road before them, prepared for what they believed to be an invasion from the road ahead of them.

Lub-dub-lub-dub-lub-dub

The figure looked down upon the villagers. Upon the hill it stood, overlooking the entirety of the village, the figure went unnoticed. It raised its hands to the sky.

Lubdublubdublubdublubdub

The sound of Eld's heartbeat grew and grew, overpowering the girl's song, and filling the expanse with a chaotic hum--a growing mixture of one's own heartbeat, taken to an overpowering tempo and melding all into one horrible sound. Shadows fell upon the village, and soon a pair of crimson eyes appeared within the first villager's shadow . . .

12:00pm

Eld would awaken from one of the strangest dreams of his life, carrying only a vague memory of what happened, one guaranteed to grow even more vague if he attempted to recall specific details. A very standard dream, perhaps, except for one issue: even when he acknowledged that it was a dream, he had no control over its narrative.

[Zach Kaiser]

Flashes. Scenes; they seemed random, without context or meaning. Which in itself was jarring, because the mind usually filled in its own context. Why was this different? Why was his heart beating so hard that it was painful? Why was he beginning to panic, even knowing he was dreaming?

And then it was over even more suddenly than it had begun, and he was in his bed, panting. He sat up, and swiped at his forehead, feeling the cold sweat that had gathered there. Nightmares were not unusual to him, but he'd never had one quite like...that. A lot of random people he didn't recognize, places he didn't know...or did he? One of them seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it.

He sighed. Now he was wide awake. And with the sun shining down through the window, it was unlikely sleep would come back to him any time soon.

[Nayt]

Few a couple of hours, the day would progress normally. Eld had a few chores to take care of, and both of his parents were busy with the clinic. It turned out a girl was brought in last night with a mighty bad wound on her face, one worse than what Noah predicted. She had to be held overnight, given some heavy pain killers, and had to undergo two procedures to fix the gash in her cheek that was left behind. Fortunately, it wasn't going to scar too badly, not after the second procedure, but that jacked up the inevitable payment for the doctors' services.

Fortunately that was already covered.

No doubt about it, though, the girl had told the doctors all she knew. A bunch of ruffians weren't leaving her alone, and when she effectively told them to shove it, she was hit hard. Then a local young man, one Noah Herst, stood up to make sure nothing else happened to her, brought the ruffians outside-- and that was the end of it. That was all she knew. Come the afternoon, though, there was no doubt that Eld's parents would hear about Noah's beating of the ruffians and Eldridge Tsukimono's arrival to watch it all go down.

Around late afternoon, however, Eld received a visitor. It started with a knock upon the door, and when Eld inevitably answered (for lack of his parents' giving the house any attention), he'd find that it was Toushikyo of Terra that stood waiting for him. He was dressed down in a dark blue overcoat and a white scarf. Definitely late summer-early autumn walking clothes for Toushikyo.

[Zach Kaiser]

The day was going mostly uneventfully, but he kept himself busy enough to put the dream out of his mind. Studying filled most of his time, though a quick check in on the clinic revealed that the girl Noah saved had taken a much worse blow than he'd thought. It sounded like word about the fight was spreading around, too, and sooner or later his parents were going to find out he was present for it. He could only hope the fact that he'd participated a little was left out of the rumors.

Being the only one in the house proper, he ended up answering the door where there was a knock, which was just as well as it was for him anyway. "Oh, Kyo. What's going on?" He looked his friend over, but it was impossible to tell at a glance whether it was an "off" day for him or not.

[Nayt]

At first, Toushikyo said nothing. He lowered his eyes and furrowed his brow, visibly thinking about how to put to words an answer for Eld. For a full second he tried, but came up short. At least, not without a preliminary motion. He pointed to the direct left.

Down the edge of the house and around the corner, someone was peering in on Toushikyo and Eld. The platinum blond color of her hair made her absolutely unmistakable, though. A second after Toushikyo pointed at her, she darted back behind the corner again, clearly hiding.

"She has not left the house for a week," Toushikyo said.

Which was a strong concern of his, but until today, there wasn't a thing he could do to convince his sister to leave the house. Nothing shy of dragging her by her ear, that is, and no matter how concerned Toushikyo could be for her sometimes, the last thing he needed (let alone wanted) was for his father to be upset with him for causing his little sister any degree of physical pain. Gestahl of Terra had never once laid a finger upon any of his children, but that wasn't to say that the possibility did not exist. Their father might not have even been an angry man (in fact, he was very mellow most of the time), but Oboreru and Toushikyo were both sure to be on his good side at all times.

"But she has agreed today and we are taking a walk," Toushikyo paused, then asked: "Would you like to join us?"

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld felt his heart leap into his throat, and he imagined it showed. "S-Sure, j-just l-let me get my coat, I'll be right out," he answered quickly. And then he rushed back into his room to catch his breath, which he'd suddenly lost.

Does this mean she actually wants to see me? Or is Kyo inviting me on his own? He'd caught a glimpse of Akizetsumei, still hiding. Was she just being shy? Did she even remember who he was right now?

Calm down, calm down, why are you freaking out about this? But of course he knew why. He liked Akizetsumei. Liked liked. And he was fairly she felt the same way--or at least she did. Now? He wasn't sure. And he was about to find out.

Unless she didn't know who he was right now, like Kyo suggested was happening to her occasionally now, in which case he would not find out at all.

Before he could second guess himself any further, he threw on his white windbreaker (a stark contrast to his usual dark clothing) and returned to Kyo. "S-So, where are we going?" he asked, trying (and failing) to hide how nervous he suddenly was.

[Nayt]

By the time Eld got back to the door, Akizetsumei had edged her way closer and now stood before the door, too, albeit somewhat behind Toushikyo. Her brother must have picked out her clothes for her, because though she wore a pink button up jacket and long pants, it really wasn't cold enough to require a jacket. Toushikyo had worried about her catching a cold, though, and with it being the first time she'd been outside in about a week and there being a chance, however small, that it might get chilly . . . well, he made sure she wore the right clothes for the right occasion. There was no way she was going to catch a cold this way.

Akizetsumei stole a glance at Eld when he stood at the door all ready to leave with them, only to avert her eyes quickly. There was visible warmth in her cheeks, though embarrassment was only part of the issue.

"I do not know," Toushikyo said to his friend, "We've no destination in mind."

Toushikyo held up one finger, though, as if to wordlessly say but first . . .

"Akizetsumei, this is Tsukimono," Toushikyo said as he turned to face his sister, "Do you remember him?"

This caught Akizets off guard, but prompted her to get defensive rather quickly. "Y-yeah! Of course I remember Eldridge!" she exclaimed, "H-how could I ever--?"

Then she cut herself off, but her lower lip, and went silent.

[Zach Kaiser]

She remembers me. Which meant that it was a good day for her, right? (Incidentally, he still hadn't figured out whether or not Kyo was alright today or not, but he suspected the concern he showed for his sister meant he was fine.) Though, Kyo'd said it increased in frequency as time went on, so it probably didn't happen to her too much yet, he imagined. Or at least hoped.

"H-Hey, Akizetsumei...how are you feeling?" he asked. After all, being haunted didn't make them immune to regular illness, as far as he knew. She could've been feeling ill on top of everything else, which might explain why she spent the entire time inside.

Though he was worried for more than her physical health; he didn't know how much Kyo had told her about what was going on (he guessed not much), but she'd probably realized it was something unusual by now. He wondered how she was taking it.

[Nayt]

"I-- I-- um--" Akizets stuttered.

Toushikyo looked at his sister expectantly. He hoped she'd have something to say. That by bringing Eld out here, he'd get her out of her shell . . .

"I'mokay," she squeaked meekly.

It was a boldfaced lie. Akizetsumei was horrible with those. She couldn't tell a lie to save her own life. Clearly there was something still wrong, but if she was even going to bring it up was likely a different matter entirely. She was closed off, without a doubt-- evident in how she went quiet after that.

But there wasn't much to be done about that. Toushikyo suppressed the urge to sigh and pushed forward, taking the first step in going out on this walk with his sister and his friend. Hopefully he didn't make a horrible mistake by coming out here . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

"That's good..." He didn't press her any further, but the look of concern didn't leave his face.

He followed Toushikyo as he started to walk, but silence fell. It was uncomfortable; he normally had no problems talking to Akizetsumei, but right now he didn't know what to say. Or rather, he had a lot of things he wanted to say to her but he wasn't sure which, if any, were appropriate at the moment.

So instead he turned to Kyo. "So...did you get the book?" he asked, recalling that he'd given Kyo permission to retrieve it from his room.

[Nayt]

"I did, yes," Toushikyo nodded his head.

Eld hadn't noticed it was gone? Well, maybe that was to be expected, considering the quality of the book itself. It was easily forgettable.

"It . . . is very poorly written," he concluded.

Certainly there was much to ascertain from it, what with the code that Eld alluded to and all, but he wasn't going to talk about it in the open . . . or around his sister. The less she knew, he felt, the better off she was. And so his knowledge, she still felt completely normal.

"Wh--whatbookisthat?" Akizets squeaked, trying to insert herself into the conversation, but ultimately failing. She was way too on edge.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld frowned for a moment, realizing that even if Kyo found something else hidden inside it, he wasn't going to say anything in front of his sister. He personally felt there was nothing wrong with telling her, but he supposed it wasn't his place to argue.

"It's 'A History of Hillcrest' by Chaz Surman. It's...not very good. The author focuses on mundane details and personal grudges more than actually recounting important events." It's real value, of course, was in the coded message Etsu found, though what all it meant he still wasn't sure.

[Nayt]

"Oh. I saw Tou reading that," Akizets replied.

". . . I must admit, though," Toushikyo began in order to amend his previous statement, "We are not from Hillcrest proper. The book was poorly written, but something was learned."

History, at least. Toushikyo hadn't really known the history of the village that well before this. He'd read the book front to back, hated most of the experience, but at least came out of it knowing more about Hillcrest than before. Unfortunately, that was never going to be useful for his life experiences. Whatever he was going to go into at whatever university accepted him, the history of a small town in southern Algeroth was not going to be imperative to his success at that school. But that was fine. Sometimes superfluous information was okay.

Regrettably, Toushikyo hadn't any good conversation starters, and only now realized how poor of a situation he'd put himself into. He wanted to get Akizetsumei out and trying to be normal, much like he did sometime after his curse, but the actual process of that was . . . well . . . it felt like it depended on him to make conversation, and of all things, conversation was Toushikyo's greatest weakness.