Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 035 - Part 2

_____________

The Tree of Dreams

_____________

TheirWorld

“So,” Liorax went. “The the fool priest can see us. And what’s this? The Servant’s mantle? How quaint.”

“How is a cat supposed to help us find the Dragon King?” Jormund asked.

“This one doubts me,” Liorax grinned even wider. “What a fool, doubting Death.”

“I told you to leave him alone,” Guin grumbled at him. “Can you help us?”

“Oh, I could,” Liorax said, floating over to land on Guin’s head. “But it would be quite redundant. The Webspinner read your fate well, Candidate. Wise awaits you now, at the Tree of Dreams!”

Annoyed at the game, Guin went, “The what?”

“Just walk on, now,” Liorax told her, floating off her head. “Shall I lead the way?”

“I-I guess?”

Dawl poked Jormund’s arm. “What’s going on, exactly?”

With a look of concern, Jormund nodded his head in the direction where Liorax was floating. “Just follow Guin,” he said.

Several dozens of Beedants and Moarbits later, the group came upon a tree with a large trunk, covered in vines. Liorax turned and floated in front of it as they walked toward it.

“Didn’t you say Wise would be here?” Guin asked.

“It seems that she has gone ahead,” Liorax told her. “It matters not,” he said, and began to glow again. The vines on the tree parted, revealing a a dark path inside the trunk. Parts of the tree that weren’t covered in vines and overgrowth were either glistening with moisture, or sprouting moss.

Wearily, Guin stuck her head inside. “We go inside of this thing?” she wondered out loud, her voice echoing through the cave.

“Indeed,” Liorax told her as he disappeared, leaving her with a speed buff.

Jormund looked around. “I think,” he went. “I think I recognize this place.”

“Do you?” Dawl looked dubious.

“We should go in,” the pastor in blue cloak said, his voice sounding stronger than it had before.

“Go in?” Dawl did not seem convinced. “Just like that? It’s pitch black in there, and from the looks of that trunk, it can’t be that deep. Tell me that’s not odd.”

Jormund looked at him stupidly. “We are speaking about the home of the Dragon King,” he said. “Did you think it would be normal? Did you think it would come with a welcome sign? ‘Enter here to see the Dragon King! Come one and all!’ Lady spare me - this is White Fox Forest and you are pointing out that something is ‘odd’?”

“Don’t have to put it that way,” Dawl grumbled, scuffing his feet. “I was only pointing it out..” Jormund tsk-ed at his friend with crossed arms. Amused, Guin watched the boyish interaction between the two men before turning to the cave. Dawl was not wrong, but they had no choice.

Dawl made a torch and took the first step in. Jormund was right, Guin realized as she followed. There was something odd about the cave.

For starters, it was much, much bigger than it looked from the outside. From the outside, it had just been a tree; the cave had started off barely wide enough for them to walked through one at a time - but the further they went in, it became wide enough to stand a good distance apart side to side. The air in the cavern was also strange; is felt quite cool, dry, and comfortable, and had the faint scent of flowers, rather than earth.

Ten minutes in, small, floating orbs of light began to appear, drifting towards them in peaceful quiet. At first, there were only one or two, but eventually, they filled the whole cavern, lighting up the place enough that Dawl just put his torch out.

The blue lights hovered, beautiful and delicate. There was no boy to them - they were just lights, floating through the cave like large fireflies. Putting her hand up to one of them told Guin little more about what they were, as, though they were warm to the touch, they may as well have been wisps of smoke.

Walking, walking. Does this ever end? Guin bit her lip and looked at the lights as they floated like stars through space. It gave a feeling of calm, and serenity that made her want to just sit down and watch them forever. They gave an illusion that they weren’t even moving as it was, but she knew that their feet were all moving, as she could hear their footsteps.

But as she looked at the ground, she grew curious. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… Guin started counting her steps, but her eyes rested on a little shaded outcropping in the cave wall.

‘Shit! Guin exclaimed, stopping her tracks. No matter how many steps she counted, the shadow only moved as the little lights passed. The other two looked at her in confusions as she turned around and looked around the cavern. “What the hell…?”

Guin’s mind raced as she knelt down and checked the ground around her feel. They weren’t floating, but when she ran a hand across the stone floor, it’s appearance did not match it’s texture. It looked like right, uneven stone, but when she touched it, it was smooth.

Looking back up at Dawl and Jormund, she asked, “Would either of you know how to dispel and illusion?”

“An illusion?” Dawl looked around. “Have we been tricked?”

Not bothering asking any questions, Jormund simply said, “I can,” and pulled out a piece of charcoal and a handful of leaves. He drew a magic circle on the ground, and placed the leaves a certain points of it. After lighting the leaves on fire, he began to pray, his hands clasped together. The smoke from the leaves spread up and out and filled the air with the strange scent of decay mixed with tangerines. Though Guin could hardly stand the smell, the illusion was swept away as if were dust on a wind that had begun were Jormund had prayed. Seriously, this game and it’s smells...

With the illusion lifted, the three found themselves stranding in a kind of place they did not expect to end up. They weren’t in a cave, but a courtyard. Warm rays of sunlight shone down on them, and illuminated what what looked to be a perfectly manicured garden, complete with a stone tiled pathway. And in the center, sitting on a dragon fountain in the center of the courtyard was -

“Wise!” Guin exclaimed, running over as the owl cooed warmly at her.

“Welcome, Candidate,” Wise said, her voice sounding as bemused as ever. “You’ve done well. I see you have found your way here - and not alone.” Wise looked up at the two who were standing behind her, confused. Wise, however, seemed to have an odd ring of joy as she said, “I bid thee welcome, Sir Jormund, Sir Euen. The Dragon King is expecting you.”