Ashan 9, Arc 718
She was floating in the blissful nothingness of empty, dreamless sleep. It was a welcome relief from the nightmares that haunted her since Orimar and then the encounter with the Sessfiend. There was no pain, no aches, no overwhelming paranoia that something was lurking in the shadows. Just nothing. A soothing balm to a distressed mind. It was a timeless feeling. Slowly though, as the night crept on into the early breaks of dark morning, images came to her.
A dense canopy of leaves overhead. Sunlight filtered through green, leaving patches of broken light over a forest floor. Trees tangled together intimately and their roots left prominate trails across the ground. It smelled like rain and dirt.
Nothingness again.
A strange sound from somewhere unseen. Something akin to the call of an owl. A flutter of wings, then a nip at her fingers. Ellen twitched in her sleep.
“Is your wing broken?” The voice was soft but distinctly male.
Silence.
“Get up!” The stranger’s voice was a little harsher now. “It’s time to leave.”
The trees were back. Ellen lay at the base of one large oak, resting against its roots, unable to move. It was that sort of dream, it seemed, where the body didn’t want to cooperate.
“Get up!” Something bit her on the hand—a sharp prick that made her want to draw away—but she couldn’t. Ellen couldn’t see anything near her. Nothing that could be the culprit.
“Go away,” she grumbled, closing her eyes.
Another bite. Her limb seemed to listen now. Ellen swatted the air blindly, more annoyed than anything.
“I said leave me alone!”
“I can’t do that.”
She woke with a start, tangled in the linen blanket of her bed and drenched in sweat. Ellen winced as her body protested, rubbing her eyes blearily and glancing at the window of her room. Still well before sunrise. Her head dropped back to the too-warm pillow and she stared up at the ceiling, unable to recall the dream even though she was left with a strange sort of restlessness. The rest of the night she would toss and turn, fussing over the fuzzy details that were just out of reach.
She was floating in the blissful nothingness of empty, dreamless sleep. It was a welcome relief from the nightmares that haunted her since Orimar and then the encounter with the Sessfiend. There was no pain, no aches, no overwhelming paranoia that something was lurking in the shadows. Just nothing. A soothing balm to a distressed mind. It was a timeless feeling. Slowly though, as the night crept on into the early breaks of dark morning, images came to her.
A dense canopy of leaves overhead. Sunlight filtered through green, leaving patches of broken light over a forest floor. Trees tangled together intimately and their roots left prominate trails across the ground. It smelled like rain and dirt.
Nothingness again.
A strange sound from somewhere unseen. Something akin to the call of an owl. A flutter of wings, then a nip at her fingers. Ellen twitched in her sleep.
“Is your wing broken?” The voice was soft but distinctly male.
Silence.
“Get up!” The stranger’s voice was a little harsher now. “It’s time to leave.”
The trees were back. Ellen lay at the base of one large oak, resting against its roots, unable to move. It was that sort of dream, it seemed, where the body didn’t want to cooperate.
“Get up!” Something bit her on the hand—a sharp prick that made her want to draw away—but she couldn’t. Ellen couldn’t see anything near her. Nothing that could be the culprit.
“Go away,” she grumbled, closing her eyes.
Another bite. Her limb seemed to listen now. Ellen swatted the air blindly, more annoyed than anything.
“I said leave me alone!”
“I can’t do that.”
She woke with a start, tangled in the linen blanket of her bed and drenched in sweat. Ellen winced as her body protested, rubbing her eyes blearily and glancing at the window of her room. Still well before sunrise. Her head dropped back to the too-warm pillow and she stared up at the ceiling, unable to recall the dream even though she was left with a strange sort of restlessness. The rest of the night she would toss and turn, fussing over the fuzzy details that were just out of reach.
