[rework] Minglings - chapter 14: Bad dream

A low growl vibrated through the air, startling everyone. Mason's eyes had narrowed to slits, and his hands were clenching the dirt he'd been toying with.

Jake stared at his friend in shock. He knew about Mason's troubles, which was why he had worried about speaking, but this reaction? This was far more volatile than he'd ever witnessed. He shook himself and was about to jump Mason to stop him from doing anything stupid when something moved in his peripheral. Sandra stepped forward, blocking his way and standing in front of Mason.

"Cool your jets, and don't do anything stupid. You are acting like a petulant child. We are in a different world, and things are bound to be different here. And even then, this isn't the moment to try changing this world's moral values," Sandra said.

Jake saw Mason struggle to reign in his anger, quickly looking around to see how the indigenous Kobolds were reacting. The archers were looking at Mason and Sandra's standoff with extreme interest, their bows still raised. Bolyr's expression was hard to read, but Jake had the feeling the Kobold leader was expecting something.

The moment passed with excruciating slowness, then Mason backed off, whispering something even Jake couldn't pick up. His friend looked at the few pockets of the darkening sky, then sat down, his burning gaze directed at the ground between his feet.

Jake had a good idea about what his friend was thinking. Mason had grown up listening to stories told by his grandmother. She had been forced into slavery when she was young, barely escaping with her life.

One of the three soldiers in Sandra's group moved forward and sat next to Mason. With a weary, knowing smile, he began softly talking to Mason. Jake saw his friend flinch and glare up, then stare at the other with a look of surprise. Jake wondered what that was about when Sandra stepped up to him.

"Willson will talk some sense into him, now focus! Tell Bolyr that where we are from, we don't keep slaves anymore," Sandra said as she looked at Jake.

"You think that's a good idea?" Jake muttered, wondering if it even mattered. The archer probably already heard what Sandra said.

"We need to explain what just happened before we get a misunderstanding. It shouldn't be too shocking if you compare it to us being from another world. Besides, the alternative is punishing Tess, and I think we both know how that will go."

Jake looked at the Fiend, who had been overly quiet since they met the indigenous Kobolds, and was surprised that she didn't seem all that distressed. She was quietly sitting next to the other two soldiers, looking at Jake and Sandra.

Jake turned back to Bolyr.

"We don't have slavery on our world, and Tes isn't my... property," he said. "We can't just punish her."

"Tell me more of your world's morals," Bolyr asked quietly.

Jake began explaining western ideals and morals, the only ones he knew much about. He spoke about fairness, helping others instead of harming them, no matter their race, and knew he was letting his own thoughts on slavery slip through. He left out that race meant other humans and didn't tell Bolyr that they weren't real Kobolds. Or at least not born as such.

As he spoke, Bolyrs face went from confused to annoyed, ending in resigned. He silently stared at the dense green foliage for a while, seeming deep in thought.

The open area was quiet as everyone waited for him to speak again, which took a few minutes. When he did, he spoke slowly, carefully picking his words.

"Then the Kobolds from your world will be in for a nasty surprise. I don't know where the other of your strange tribes have spawned, but if it is anywhere in the civilized world-"

At the mention of civilization, Bolyrs face changed, a look of rage seeming to take away his ability to speak for a moment. It was gone as fast as it came, but Jake felt some bile rise to the back of his throat. He'd not seen so much intense hate in real life before.

"Anywhere outside of Antricet- they will need to abandon those lofty morals. If not, they will all be hunted down and killed for sport or enslaved. Only on Actricet can Kobolds still roam free," Bolyr finished, his voice devoid of emotion.

Jake translated everything, stumbling on the translation of what he guessed was the continent's name. While the rest was still processing the information, he turned back to Bolyr. Almost afraid to ask, he knew he had to find out more.

"What is Actriset? And why are we enslaved everywhere else? Is there a war between the Kobolds and the rest of the world?"

Bolyr was about to answer when Jake thought of another thing and continued.

"And what do you mean with a weird tribe?"

Bolyr let out a weary sigh and sat down, motioning for Jake to do the same. He whispered something Jake didn't catch, but he thought he heard the word children in it.

"Before I can answer that, tell me about your tribe. You don't have the same Progenitor, so by what reason are you united?"

Sandra sat down next to Jake as soon as he was done translating. Behind her, Mason and the soldier were still having a muted conversation, both seeming perfectly fine with ignoring the rest. Jake knew Mason wasn't half as uninterested as he appeared but would expect him to relay all the information afterward.

Emma was quietly listening while absently digging into the soft topsoil, and the other two soldiers were alternating between listening, scanning the jungle, and keeping an eye on the two archers. Tess sat next to them, close to the tree, and seemed intent on hiding in plain sight. Her eyes never left Bolyr.

"I've got the feeling that this tribe business is incredibly important to them, " he said.

Sandra nodded. "Yes, and we need to find out why."

--

As the last of the fading light that leaked through the branches, the group of Kobolds silently sat around the heart tree. Next to them was a small campfire, gently burning.

The soldier sat at the far end, away from the tree, one keeping a constant watch on the jungle. Sandra, Mason, and Jake sat on the other side, Emma sleeping with her head on Mason's lap. They were quietly staring into the fire, digesting what they had learned.

After talking about everything Bolyr had told them, they exchanged stories about what had happened during and after the merge. Sandra had looked distraught when she heard the city had been left in ruins. None of them knew if Earth still existed and if they could go back to it or what had happened to those who had disappeared.

"Let's get some rest," Sandra said, rising and moving to the other soldiers.

"She is right," Mason said with a deep sigh, and Jake couldn't help but agree. Although his new body seemed to have far more stamina than he was used to, he hadn't had any sleep since the hospital, and between running for their lives, fleeing, fighting, and meeting the locals, he was dead tired.

He fell on his back with his arms outstretched, wondering if this was the most tired he had ever had in his entire life.

"Man… I have no idea what we should do now. Everything is all fucked up," Mason said, still looking into the fire.

"Do you believe the things he told us?" Jake whispered, scanning the black ceiling of leaves above them to make sure the archers weren't eavesdropping

"I don't know… He could be lying, but why would he?"

"I think he was telling the truth, but he is not telling us everything," Emma murmured, moving to lay beside Jake. She curled up like a cat with her tail underneath her head like a pillow.

"He isn't, little one. You have that right," Mason said before lying down on her other side. Emma let out a content sigh and seemed to fall asleep without hearing what else he said.

"We need to rest, but at the same time, someone should stand guard. Even if they don't mean us any harm, they might leave in the middle of the night. What if this tree thing isn't as safe as they say it is? We might get eaten," Mason whispered.

"I will take the first watch then, you were heavily injured, and we haven't had anything to eat for a day now. I will wake you if I can't stay awake anymore," Jake grunted, struggling into a sitting position.

He felt a jealous pang as he heard Emma's soft snoring.

"Listen, don't fall asleep. If you feel yourself nodding off, wake me. Don't pull that movie crap where I have to wake you up tomorrow morning, and we are alone here. Or worse," Mason said, staring at Jake intently.

Jake nodded solemnly, and Mason immediately put his head down and closed his eyes. Within moments his breathing eased.

Jake looked at his sleeping friend and wondered how he could fall asleep that fast. Then he struggled back up into a seated position and looked around. The soldiers and the Fiend were huddled together, close to the tree and away from the fire.

On the other side of the fire, Sandra was sitting on her knees, looking into the crackling fire. He knew she must have heard every word of his conversation with Mason.

Higher up in the tree, Bolyr sat on a branch, eyes closed and hands on his knees. Was the guy meditating? Jake looked at the unbelievable calm the Kobold was displaying. Was this an alternative to sleeping he could learn? He decided against asking and searched around for the two archers. They were constantly wandering around, sometimes climbing the tree and sometimes disappearing inside the forest, and he wondered if they weren't going to rest.

Eventually, he returned to watching the silent Kobold. The longer he did, the more he got the feeling it wasn't some form of rest. He had a nagging feeling that Bolyr was harnessing magic, or ki, or some other form of energy. He wanted to try it for himself but didn't want to make a fool of himself. At least, not yet.

Deciding he would ask first thing the next day, he rose and began pacing around the clearing, copying the archers. If he didn't, he would fall asleep within minutes. Instead, he focused on the soft sounds from the jungle, trying to recognize individual animals while delighting in how well his eyes worked in the almost complete darkness.

After two hours, and almost falling over as he stumbled around, he finally woke Mason. He didn't even wait, but as soon as Mason woke, looked up, and muttered something, he lay down and closed his eyes. Sleep came instantly.

--

Jake dreamt, but somehow he knew it wasn't his own. He was staring through the eyes of another, and he knew it, but he couldn't wake. Instead, he looked down at the gruesome scene below, like watching a bad slasher movie, while hearing the soft rustling of the wind and the occasional flapping of the massive creature whose eyes he was looking through.

He could sense the being's mind, a confused worry as it watched from so high none from below could see it in the dark. It looked and thus forced Jake to look.

Below him stretched massive green plains with only a distant forest to the north showing anything but grass.

An insanely large group of beings were running towards this forest, while confused and scared screams filled the air. Most of them were Goblins, but there were also Kobolds, Fiends, and others that resembled animals and insects. All of them wore the tattered and mostly misfitting remains of familiar clothes.

Jake knew he should know what was happening, but the ideas wouldn't form, his mind a muddled mess.

The mass of figures was fleeing from a much smaller group of armored two-legged humanoids. Tall, with long, tightly braided hair, they ran after the figures, hacking and slashing at them with a cold, meticulous frenzy.

Time flowed oddly, and movements sped up as those who were fleeing dropped by the hundreds as they reached the distant forest. A carpet of bodies lay behind them as they ran between the gloomy forest's dark, gnarled pine trees. When the last vanished inside, the line of tall warriors stopped, looking at the forest.

Before Jake could try and figure out what was happening, the dream changed- and he saw two moons pass through the sky, one hunting the other and every time overtaking it just before they vanished in the sun. Faster and faster, almost as if to show the passage of time. It continued on and on, but at the same time, it seemed to be over in the blink of an eye.

With a jarring suddenness, another image appeared- Goblins, larger than those he knew and decked out in heavy armor with shields and long spears, were slowly moving through what must have been a stunningly beautiful city. Long, thin spires rose in the air, some decorated with a green crystal, but many had toppled, and fire raged everywhere. Bodies littered the well-crafted streets, while horrible crying and screaming came from some parts. He saw the Goblins laugh as they pulled struggling figures into houses.

Jake sensed the mind again, no longer confused but angry as it watched the happenings below. He somehow knew that the mind wanted to act, but couldn't, fueling its anger even more.

Jake watched in dismay as a Goblin speared a toddler holding a doll to her chest, laughing uproariously. As she fell, her sparkling blond hair parted, showing a long, pointed ear with two golden studded earbuds. The Goblin knelt and ripped them out before staring at her twitching body and licking his lips. She spasmed a final time, then turned limp, and the Goblin laughed and moved away.

Even in his dream, Jake felt anger start to cloud his mind. The image cleared as it did, and he felt the being's mind resonate with his anger! He wanted to stop the slaughtering, the horrors! The being held back, but as it did, Jake felt something- a power, deep inside of it. Deep inside of him! He could use it to stop this nightmare from happening if he could only-

"JAKE, WAKE UP! It's me! Wake up, stop it, wake the fuck up!"

The dream and the connection shattered, and Jake looked around, sweat oozing from his face. Lights swirled around him, simultaneously turning everything blurry and shiny as if a sheet of water hung before his eyes. Something was pinning his arms to the sides of his body, and he began struggling, the muscles in his body growing taut.

"No, don't! It's me, Mason, you bloody fool! Whatever it is you're doing, stop it before you get us killed!"

Mason's angry and scared voice rippled through Jake's mind. For just a moment, it seemed foreign and alien. Then his mind cleared, and Jake relaxed. He looked around, breathing raggedly, but couldn't see clearly. Everything was blurry and vague, like he had foggy diving goggles on.

"W.. what- where, am-" Jake began, stopping almost immediately. His own broken and rough voice. It was as if he had been shouting at some concert all evening.

"You are still under the tree, it is morning, and you are currently scaring the shit out of everyone," Mason said, sounding strained.

Jake swallowed and tried to nod, but the world turned upside down, nauseating him.

"Let me go," he managed to croak, afraid he was going to vomit.

"Only if you promise to keep your hands down!"

Jake nodded and felt the pressure around his arms slowly fade. Taking a step forward, he wanted to raise his arms to wipe the sweat from his face.

"KEEP THEM DOWN!" Mason bellowed.

Jake froze, his hand halfway up his waist. He looked around, still seeing things unclear. Then a picture of what was happening began forming.

A large sphere of water surrounded him, and he wasn't sweating. Water constantly dripped from the watery ceiling onto his head. Looking at his hands, Jake saw a stream of bluish liquid surge from them, creating a pool of muddy water below him that fed the sphere.

What the hell? He tried to sense what was powering the water and how to stop it, but he didn't even know how it was happening in the first place.

He tried to look through the sphere, attempting to focus on what was behind it. The headache throbbed with a vengeance, and he was about to stop when the watery sphere turned solid. Now less like running water and more like a film of water covering glass, he could see a group of upset Kobolds encircling him, the two archers pointing their arrows his way.

Bolyr was standing in front of them, a curved blade in his hand. As the sphere changed, he seemed to relax and sheathed his weapon. Behind him, the archers hesitated for a moment longer before lowering their bows.

"Can you understand me?" Bolyr asked, muffled but understandable.

Jake nodded.

"You are interesting. I haven't seen a mixed Kobold with the water element in ages, not since the last war of dominance for Actriset," Bolyr said, a wide grin forming on his face.

One of the archers muttered something to his comrade, who turned and snapped something to Bolyr.

"He is right. Your awakening is somewhat more extreme than it should be. It's good that you don't have the fire or earth element; otherwise, we would all be dead now."

Jake swallowed, feeling the hairs on his head rise, and he heard one of the soldiers curse under his breath. He noticed that Emma was together with Tess, and the little Kobold girl seemed anxious as she held the slender grey hand of the Fiend.

Bolyr walked forward until he was in front of the sphere. He tapped it, causing a dull gong, and he shook his head in wonder, ignoring Jake's start. "You are lucky your friend is as strong as he is, or we would have been forced to kill you. You owe him a great deal."

"Damn right," Mason muttered weakly.

Jake looked across his shoulder in worry. Mason knelt in the muddy water, water dripping from his arms and torso. Under the sheen, bruises were visible that covered his arms. Jake started, taking a step when Mason waved him back with a tired smile.

"Don't worry, just some bruises. But you should figure out how to control that! It could be useful in the future."

Another soft tap came from the other side of the bubble, and Jake turned back to Bolyr. With eyes narrowed, the yellow Kobold hissed.

"Don't get distracted. You must take control of your power immediately, or you may lose this chance. The first time is always the worst, but also the best chance to connect fully with it. Close your eyes and relax. Try and feel the stress in your muscles. Notice how tense you are. Take a deep breath and as you exhale, relax and remember a moment when you were completely content and at ease. Picture the moment, feel it."

Bolyr was speaking in a deep, soothing, and practiced voice. A flitting thought crossed Jake's mind just before he closed his eyes. Was Bolyr perhaps a meditation guru?

As he listened to Bolyr, Jake took deep breaths and tried to remember a time when he had last been relaxed and at ease. After a while, a memory began to form. It was from a summer holiday, and Mason and he had been sitting at the small cafe after school. It was a hot day, and with nothing to do, they had just sat there, looking at girls, drinking coffee, and simply enjoying the weather. His muscles relaxed as he remembered the hot sun on his face, the strong coffee in his mouth, and the soft music in the air. As the memory grew intenser, he felt almost entirely relaxed. Almost, but not completely. There was something... off.

A muscle was cramping deep inside his body, somewhere between his heart and stomach. Ignoring the fact that he had no idea what that could even be, he tried to relax it. Surprisingly enough, it worked straight away. As the unknown muscle eased up, a great weariness overflowed him. A lingering tension that he hadn't noticed before faded away. He thought he heard a gasp, but it barely registered in his tired mind. Powerless, he staggered.

"Jake!"

Two strong arms caught him just before he crumbled, keeping him up. Jake struggled to open his eyes and saw small spots and lights swim and flash through his vision as if he was going to faint at any moment. A golden-scaled face swam into his view, a concerned look on it.

"Jake, stay awake!"

Hearing the concern in Mason's voice, Jake struggled to comply, but his consciousness slipped away, and then there was only darkness.

--

Vast blue skies stretched out before him, no end in sight. Below, an enormous forest-covered island stood out like an emerald in the sparkling blue sea surrounding it.

The shadow that was his prey quickly fled below the waves crashing onto the shore, heading for deeper waters. Roaring in frustration, he folded his wings and plunged towards the sparkling water. Air rushed across his eyes, blocked by the transparent blue eyelids covering them.

A moment before hitting the water, he flung out his wings and skirted across the waves, the white foam gently caressing the plates on his belly. Reaching out with his long and powerful hind limbs, he broke through the water's surface. One last look down showed him the horrified expression on the dark giant sea snakes snout. How dare it think it could just flee?

Before his prey could evade, he plunged his claws into the tail and began flapping as hard and fast as possible. Feeling the snake go crazy while trying to escape him, he doubled his efforts. How could he lose what he had stalked? Soon, with a good grip, he rose higher in the air and turned around, heading back to the island. The snake curled up, trying to attack his wings, but he headbutted it into submission.

It took only moments to return to the island, and as soon as he was above the tree line, he began flying higher. When he decided he was high enough, he dropped the snake. It hissed in panic, curling around itself in its futile attempts to get away from the inevitable. A loud boom, followed by a small cloud of splintered branches and sand, showed where it hit the ground.

He flew down, feeling incredibly content, and when he dropped onto the carcass, he roared to show it was his kill. As the sound rippled outward, he felt a sense of security. That should keep away the smaller ones! Wings sore from the strenuous exercise, he cursed and wished his body would grow up faster. He wanted off this rock in the middle of nowhere!

Annoyed and hungry, he bit down into the sinewy flesh below, ripping off large chunks. With the new rows of teeth that had grown recently, chewing took only moments, and he began gorging on the meat. He knew he had gotten a great catch that would help him grow faster- faster than the others. The snake was at least thrice as long as he and weighed just as much!

As he ate, his stomach began bulging out, causing him some discomfort. In dissatisfaction, he growled, and almost immediately, a thick haze of water particles appeared all around him, causing his scales to shine in the setting sun. As soon as they appeared, his stomach shrank like a deflating balloon, and he continued eating. His stomach alternated between growing and shrinking, and he felt the bones in his body become thicker and longer. Although painful, he knew if someone were watching, they would see him grow!

It took him until dark to finish the entire corpse, but it was worth it. He had hunted the snake for days, and it was one of the best forms of sustenance on the island. He knew he needed to remain the largest, or he wouldn't be able to protect them. If he showed any sign of weakness, the smaller ones would defeat and eat him. Then, without him to guard them, the others would follow shortly after.

As he relaxed from the thrill of the hunt, he thought he heard a sound, soft and vague. Raising his head in annoyance at who would dare face him now, he looked around at the trees. The voice seemed to be getting louder, then a shock of recognition caused his mind to flee into the darkness.

"Jaaaaake!"