Last Night

Nothing at all had gone to plan, and now she knelt in prim solemnity, sheltering like a common wretched Tai in a shallow cavern. The verdant valley below drew life from the thin waterfall that trickled around and through her home for the night. Queen Malika withdrew her gaze from the wreckage of her kingdom, far behind her now. The glitter glider - or was it demon? - had flown them both in pursuit of Taelryx. Aldreal swore he knew where the ancient dragon had taken her daughter.

Their contract had frayed. Something about crossing between worlds had weakened, or invalidated it. Her waning control meant she very well could be stranded here. Damn that bitch. Her sister had forced Malika’s hand in their ever deepening conflict, and the Queen did not wish to lose. Feared to lose. Could not contemplate losing. Never before had she disregarded her intuition.

Now... She looked at the ruin of the sapphire necklace laid upon her lap. Her moment of panic had quelled itself as soon as it arose, doused in helpless sorrow. Its enchantment was broken now as well. Even if she found one, no Mender could correct for lost magic. A perfect reflection of her current status. John’s face stirred her memory in hints and whispers. Despite her greatest efforts, she couldn’t quite forget him, no matter how much the pain of losing that life had ground her down. He had always been the key.

She just couldn’t remember why.

Mana rippled through the night sky, an uncontrolled silky well of power bathing the land in energy, sourced from the event that had devastated her former kingdom. She shivered at its caress, the thrum of it through her flesh invigorating her body while simultaneously filling her with dread. No matter what Malika’s grief with her sister Naomi, this new calamity threatened the very existence of The Dream.

She stood, hoping to relieve the pain of rocks that had dug into her calves and thighs. The Queen’s purple ceremonial dress bore the scars of Miranda’s transformation, singed and blackened at the fringes, holes burnt throughout. It still kept her warm at least, she felt with modest gratitude.

Where the hell is Aldreal? She seethed. Her grip on the necklace tightened and for a moment she thought to fling it into the void. Was this all she had? Fury? Fury wouldn’t retrieve her daughter, nor provide egress from this place. She needed an anchor, she needed...an altar. Sober purpose built within her, bringing calm to her turbulent nerves. Malika refastened the necklace about her throat.

Something caught her attention behind her in the cave, and she turned, squinting to see in the darkness. Faint rustling, as if something caught, piqued her curiosity. The cavern was not deep, yet she reached a point that enveloped her in shadow, blocking out almost all that remained of her vision. She summoned a flame to her hand, and the darkness recoiled from Malika like a physical thing.

“Show yourself!” she commanded. A squelching crunch and a snap replied back. For the first time in years, she felt uneasy. The Queen flung the flame at the nearest wall, where it flickered and blew away. Shadows reclaimed her. Her arms tingled, as if something with many legs crawled upon her. She beat at them but the sensation remained.

“What the fuck are you?” she yelled, scurrying back. Light from the inferno of her kingdom once more dimly illuminated her refuge. She saw nothing on her arms, and cast a wary glance back into the recesses of the cavern.

You treacherous ass, she thought. He’d left her here to die. She’d just walked into a hive of renzi. Given enough time, the spirits would burrow into her soul and consume it from within. A person could live for a time as an empty shell. Not my fate.

She resolved right there to spend not a moment longer in the cave. While she had been brought by Aldreal’s wings, and a modest drop fell away from the opening, a thin trail led off to the right. Skirted by small, low bushes, a minimal buffer existed to prevent a perilous fall. Better that, than death by renzi, she thought.

Malika proceeded with delicate care, one slip away from death. Her egress imperiled itself when the rocks gave away beneath her feet. She cleared the gap in one heart-stopping leap, but otherwise her progress remained uneventful. After three hours of navigating the dark, narrow path, the rock bent away into a glade, and she sank to her knees to rest. As sleep took her, she opened up herself to the mana cascading all around her.

In Dreams

“Do you remember when the dreaming started?” Dr. Earl Lee asked Michelle expectantly. In his hand tapped his pen, leaving faint streaks on his notepad. She noticed this, and figured it was just a nervous habit. It happened every time she visited her shrink. She tried to relax into the chaise lounge but something about how the pillows felt on her back kept her constantly shifting to find comfort. It didn’t help that the armrests were a little too low as well.

“I do, I do, it’s just,” Michelle paused. “It’s been months now, ever since…”

“Since you found out you were pregnant?” She nodded. “Tell me, are the dreams the same each time?”

“Not always. They feel connected, like a story. But not a story. I don’t know, it’s hard to really explain.”

“So there’s some sense of progression then?” Dr. Lee asked. “Or is it the way you experience or feel the dream?”

“It’s...I don’t know. Sometimes I dream I’m a queen. My sister Naomi’s there too, and we’re always fighting. We’ve never exactly gotten along,” she offered.

“In the dream, or real life?”

“More in the dream than in real life. We’re besties,” she laughed. “I tell her everything of course. But in the dream, she tries to steal my queendom. I think she feels entitled because she’s older. She’s much more of a bitch,” she chuckled, but with a grain of uncertainty.

Michelle tucked her knees up under herself and leaned onto the left armrest, propping her head up with her chin on the palm of her hand. She tucked her auburn hair behind her right ear as she gazed out the window at nothing.

“Why is that?” Dr. Lee prompted. Why must psychologists have to be so vague sometimes?

She tried recalling even her most recent dream, but as always it danced around the fringe of her mind, taunting her. Dreams never were more easy to retain than shortly after awakening. Michelle had experienced enough by now, it should be easy. It was not.

“The most recent dreams escape me. It’s always the first ones that I remember. Those were the most vivid. I was standing on a balcony? A parapet? I’m not sure what they’re called but it was obviously in my castle, and I was looking out over everything. I remember seeing…” An explosion. It had been like an atom bomb, annihilating everything in its path. A mushroom cloud lifted high into the sky as she watched the shockwave approach the castle, trees toppling…

“Michelle, are you alright? What did you see?” Snapping his fingers, Dr. Lee tried to get her attention.

“Sorry. Something destroyed my queendom. Over and over, that’s why those dreams are easiest to remember. Each time I had the sense of Naomi being behind it. I don’t remember her actually being there, you know? Just like an intuition…” She trailed off as Dr. Lee scribbled several notes in that streaked notepad.

“How does this destruction make you feel?”

“Worried, but determined. Something is coming. I don’t know what it is but I’ll do anything to stop it.” Dr. Lee leaned forward in his chair, the swiftness of her reply unexpected.

“In the dream?” he asked.

“Yes. No,” she hesitated. “Both here and there. I want to shake it when I open my eyes but it’s there still.” Michelle laid her arm on her stomach, five months swollen.

“Have you tried reconciling with Naomi in your dream?”

“No,” she whispered, a tear snaking unbidden down her cheek. Naomi had come for her child, stabbing her over and over again in the belly, wrenching the baby from a gaping wound and dashing it on the floor...What the fuck… She shook her head violently. “No,” she replied again, unprompted disgust and loathing tainting her voice.

“What does John think of your dreams, or do you even tell him?”

“I keep them secret,” she continued in a hushed voice. He’d never understand. “John thinks sometimes I overreact. I feel self-conscious telling him. It’s embarrassing, honestly.” She sniffled. “Do you have a tissue?”

“Of course, Michelle,” he said, offering her a box of tissues, then scribbling more notes. Looking up at her, he reset his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “What are you feeling right now?”

“Terror.” She must die, Malika! You know this! Naomi’s words crept back unbidden from a forgotten dream. If you don’t do this...it must be you. Please! “If you don’t, I will…” she murmured, barely audible.

“What was that last bit, Michelle?” Dr. Lee asked, concerned. “What terrifies you?”

This Morning

Sizzling bacon’s aroma beckoned, but it was the pop of firewood that awoke Malika. Rolling over, she saw Aldreal. Of course he was cooking bacon. He wouldn’t let her suffer in this glade without providing some of the comforts of home. She smiled. The glitter glider lived to serve. He looked up from his efforts and smiled, or did whatever it was that passed as a smile for him.

“Almost there, my Queen. Sizzles?” He offered up two strips of bacon. She did not want to think where he’d gotten them in the night.

“Sure,” she replied, taking one and sitting on a rock, irritable. Something wasn’t right. But the bacon was delicious. “I slept like shit.” Not much longer now, and she’d have her daughter back. The bacon tasted succulent, juicy with a hint of crispiness, still fatty and yet unburnt. Delicious. How could she ever regret enslaving him? Aldreal was the best servant.

While she chewed, she realized that he gazed at her intently, not even trying to avert his eyes when she noticed. It was her hair, wasn’t it? Two days in the wilderness had assured her of nothing but tangles, especially after sleeping on the rocks and dirt. The blood stains would also never come out of her dress now, not to mention the singed, holey fabric could never be mended. Not much of a queen now, eh?

Aldreal kept smiling that mischievous smile of his. What was he up to? Malika smiled back. This holiday was a wonderful idea! It had been years since she’d gone off like this, left behind all the court intrigue... Aldreal turned back to the bacon.

Malika shook her head. Miranda. Almost there, my Queen. Don’t forget. How did she forget? That imp. She knew he was free now. He couldn’t enchant her otherwise. Her anger and fury from the night before returned. Then it vanished.

“The bacon’s delicious, Aldreal. I think it’s to die for.” He really was the best. Why would she think otherwise? He’d brought her so far, but she knew his wings were tired. They could walk the rest of the way. Better to be on the ground when approaching a dragon, to avoid being seen.

“‘Twas a pleasure to serve you, my Lady,” he replied. His overt obsequiousness nauseated her.

Treachery, treachery, she felt. That didn’t make any sense. He’d brought her daughter to this world and sought to make up for losing her immediately by taking his queen to some dragon grounds he apparently knew. Why did he know, and keep it from her?

Aldreal snapped his piece of bacon down, then kicked dirt over the fire. They departed in silence, suspicion building in Malika against her servant. What did he get from all this? He hopped and fluttered ahead of her, almost joyful - like an overgrown puppy with wings. It still brought a smile to her face. NO. Stop.

Malika needed her daughter back. Memories filled her with mournful sadness. Regret for what she’d done, and what she had yet to do. But to hold her child in her arms once more...Would Miranda remember her, or even know who she was? Malika’s life as Michelle had been fleeting, but marriage with John had filled her life with love and care, and given her such a beautiful daughter.

Time passed differently in the Making Place. Her daughter yet remained young, while she herself had lived several more decades since her return to The Dream. Perhaps the time of separation would help her now, rather than hinder her.

Those moments of seeing Miranda on that altar where Aldreal had placed her...She’d grown but had that fire within her, burning still, ever burning, a fury which had consumed her Queendom. Just yesterday.. What had she wrought, bringing Miranda to this place?

And Aldreal! When he looked at her, she knew his love for his Queen was truly genuine, and she reciprocated in kind. But when he looked away, the feelings faded, and his enchantment waned. He hid something from her. His weak enchantments revealed as much. It also showed her that his strength had grown, freed now from her control. He would need to be dealt with, and soon.

As she walked, she pulled in more mana. She couldn’t help herself. Creation’s energy soothed her troubled mind, and powered her resistance. At times she walked beside Aldreal, and others stepped behind, bending her perception to unravel more of his enchantments. One more illusion fell away from her sight.

A hulking demonic beast walked before her, one from the lowest depths even, perhaps. Its wings lay folded down to its back, while its great curved horns bent outward, torturous menace learing from that crimson skull. He looked back at her, and was a glitter glider again, horned snout smiling before he bounded up to a rock. She recalled for just a moment as that form faded from view, seeing it once before as Aldreal obeyed her command to rescue Miranda. Aldreal had summoned forth Taelryx.

She’d known he’d been a demon when she enslaved him; that had been the whole point. Malika now recognized she’d misjudged and simultaneously overachieved in capturing this one, to her peril. This was why he bewitched her, just as she bewitched him. It’s power could rival her own. It’s power could overwhelm her given enough time. Aldreal already tested her boundaries.

Malika could not allow that.

Mistress and servant crested a hill, and what she saw stole her breath. The great shape of a massive dragon embedded itself across several hillocks, towering over them like a new mountain range. With her mana enhanced senses she could feel the glimmer of life within the dragon as it dwindled. Something about it gave quite a fight.

Another essence was there, almost entwined with that of the dragon. Recognition grew on her face, the hint of a tear sliding down the scars upon her cheek. Aldreal looked at her. All she could see was that demonic face, leering at her, poised. The enchantment shifted, pulling at her senses very hard, trying to hide his true form. He was such a good boy, they’d found her! Be proud of me! She’s right there, with Taelryx!

Light erupted forth, sending a beam of energy out into the sky, ionizing the air. Low-lying mist and fog hung for a moment, framing a shifting rainbow as the beam passed through, burning away the moisture. But for the destruction, it was a beautiful sight.

“Miranda!” she cried out. If her daughter truly was there, who knew if she could survive that? Her mother’s instinct took hold of her, a feeling long dormant. Malika sprinted, running full-out through the forest, pulling in mana from the well roiling across her world. She’d never tried this, but it felt right. Her senses hyper attuned, flames licked at her feet as she increased her speed, passion burning in her righteous need to retrieve her daughter. Aldreal kept up with her, a mixture of plodding demon and bounding glitter glider. Keeping up with her, his enchantment faded.

Her empowered agility allowed her to dodge trees and slice through the underbrush, a flaming scythe of desperation. “My granddaughter is fine, your other father is awakening her now,” Aldreal tried to reassure her. His calm irked her before his words set in. WHAT? She sprinted past him, passing him a look of disbelief. Love bloomed in her heart. They were almost to Miranda!

That was too much. It was now or never. No more would she contend with this demon. He’d outlived his usefulness. Her confusion manifested itself as she struggled with her thoughts and feelings of what he’d just stated. No time to work through it! Now. Do it now.

With a smooth motion, she grabbed a low hanging branch, shearing it off as she spun. Using mana to arrest her momentum, she planted herself before Aldreal. Malika brought up the broken end and thrust it toward him, his own speed impaling him through the heart. Pulling herself away, she sprinted off, and didn’t look back as he collapsed.

Now

Fear for her daughter propelled her through the forest as the dragon mountain loomed to her left. She could feel the beast’s warmth slowly fading, its fleshy scales now solid. There remained no need for secrecy as Malika left a path of withering flame behind her approach. Should she mourn Taelryx, or rejoice? Miranda was so near!

Aldreal’s last words warred inside her for attention. How could he and Taelryx(!?) be her parents? She would know, wouldn’t she? Malika remembered her father, he was a bumbling fool, always messing around with grand ideas. Then he’d brought her here, telling her she could be queen, if she wanted. So she had become one. Naomi had the misfortune of taking his advice as well, and so had been born their rivalry.

That couldn’t matter now, but somehow, it did. Why? Why did these thoughts swirl in her mind, clouding her purpose? What was Aldreal getting at? He’d chosen to reveal her lineage now for a reason. Could she trust it? Not now, she decided. Aldreal’s recent failures and betrayals couldn’t be allowed to cloud her judgement. In time, she’d look into those allegations.

Malika had covered the distance quicker than she’d thought, and the dragon’s head towered above her. She grasped the tendrils of its beard and climbed up, enhancing her strength with mana, and climbed past the lips to the snout with ease. Across the bridge of its nose, Taelryx’s left eye was a blackened gem, shot through with orange lightning. The nearer one gaped, an empty fissure in its skull. This appeared to be the source of that beam of light. But it was also a way in.

She peered down into the darkness. A spherical room of dragon glass surrounded her as she climbed in, hollowed out and empty. So much obsidian! She thought. Near the back, Malika saw another passageway descending further into the dragon’s skull. From down this tunnel, she heard something struggling to climb up. Was it Miranda at last?

A few steps into the passageway she stopped. Was she ready for this? She had to be. Nothing would keep her from her daughter now. A man rounded the bend. What? This was not her daughter! Malika gestured, bending mana around him. He fell to his knees and she pulled his spear from him across the gap between them, catching it in midair.

A damned Tai?! He looked exhausted, which she thought odd. Tai were known more for their stamina and endurance than their intellect. As she approached, she watched with curiosity as he undid a bundle from his neck and across his chest, laying it upon the ground. Something stirred weakly within. Miranda! Something about a Tai even laying a hand upon her daughter enraged her, but she dared not show it.

Malika looked down upon the piteous Tai. Her concerted loathing raised itself to husky sadness. “Thank you for finding my daughter,” she offered. Cloaking her hatred with the dispassionate precision, Malika speared the supplicant Tai’s body until his own weapon wedged in the ground beneath him. For the second time this day, she’d taken life with a spear.

Blood slowly pooled beneath the Tai until it left a snaking trail when its surface tension broke and it flowed downward into the depths. It was an undignified end, but did Tai deserve dignity? She hoped for his sake his death came swiftly upon the wings of fate. That was all the thought she spared for him.

Malika grabbed the bundle, cradling it protectively as she strode forth from the dragon’s eye onto its broad snout. She did not want Miranda inside any longer. She laid the bundle down and unwrapped it. Immediately she withdrew her hands in confusion. What the hell? She didn’t understand. Was this one final sick joke from Aldreal, another twisted scheme he’d led her down?

This thing certainly wasn’t Miranda. The Queen wouldn’t even call it human. Its pinkish orange skin varied in mottled shades of light and shadow, lit from within by a sly luminescence. Veins of orange lightning pulsed warmly beneath its skin. Its eyes though, entranced yet horrified her. At first glance they almost appeared human, but their gem-faceted irises peered out from beneath faintly scaled, ridged eyebrows. Two small conical nubs of horn pierced the flesh of her bald skull.

Bewildered, Malika walked away. The child remained too weak to move, and laid there in the light. What had the Tai done with her child? Why had he brought her this? Perhaps Miranda was further below, lost in the dragon’s corpse. She reached out with her magic, pursuing any hope of life within, yet it returned nothing. This thing was all. She screamed with despair and frustration, and fell to her knees.