The Nextworld Invasion and the Death of Magic - 33. Chapter 33 - The Dream

Othri was asleep beside Tigath in their cabin aboard the Mermonster. Despite the horrible things that had happened to Earth at the hands of the Humans, and even with everything he and the group had gone through, Othri’s sleep had remained undisturbed for the most part. The ship was rocking gently with the waves, but his mind was spinning in one of the night terrors that plagued him from time to time. While in the vision this night, he could already tell that it was important.

In these rare and mystical dreams, Othri was always unconsciously aware, and this manifestation was no exception. He knew his night terrors were special, even though they were often horrifying, and even though his astral-self interacted with the experience, he was never in control.

Othri now found himself in front of an impossibly vast crowd of his people. The slaughtered Urcai from across the face of the Earth were standing motionless. The dead were not ghosts. They were not spirits. They were not even real. They were the ethereal representation of all those lost in the genocide, and every one of them was looking right at Othri.

No one moved. No one spoke. They all waited.

Othri’s eyes moved over the countless dead. He could tell they were waiting for him, but he did not know what he was supposed to do. He looked around and realized he was standing on nothing and surrounded by nothing. His fellow green-skinned folk were dressed in robes like the ancients of their race used to wear, and everyone was barefoot.

A fine mist began to drift down.

Othri looked up at the sky, but there was no sky. There were no clouds. There was nothing, not even ground for the dead Urcai to stand upon.

There was only the rain, which began to sprinkle a little harder, and the non-ground shimmered as a fine sheen of moisture began to form around the Urcai’s feet.

Othri watched many of the people near to him suddenly look surprised, and then they vanished. There were still countless dead standing before him with their expressionless faces turned in his direction, but a number of them had disappeared.

The rain began falling a little harder, and the droplets caused tiny splashes as they landed by the green feet of the Urcai.

“What do I do?” Othri asked, and his voice echoed.

No one replied, but another portion of the dream-Urcai vanished before his eyes.

“Where are you going?” he asked, but none of the remaining people replied.

Their number was still beyond counting, but it had diminished, and the rain started pelting down with larger drops.

Othri wiped the water from his face, and yet a third group disappeared.

“Why is this happening to you?” He began walking through the motionless Urcai. “Please talk to me,” he pleaded, but no one reacted to him, and another group was taken from his dream. “No,” he breathed as he continued forward, but behind him, a light illuminated the space where he had just been, and he turned toward the glow.

A single Urcai was standing in the empty space where many had just been, but another massive group of green-skinned people to Othri’s side vanished, and he looked in their direction.

A second glowing Urcai was standing in the void.

The rain was pounding down, pouring onto those who remained, and the water at their feet was slowly rising.

Othri looked all around himself, and he spotted a third and a fourth glowing Urcai. As more and more of the dead were taken from his dream, yet still many more Urcai in the massive crowd were revealed beyond them.

The rain continued to fall harder until it was pummeling those who remained. The water at their feet had risen above their ankles, and it continued to slowly climb up their shins.

None of the glowing Urcai were moving or reacting to the rain, but Othri started trying to rush through the deepening water toward one of them and then another, trying to get them to tell him what was going on, but they continued to stare at him as if catatonic. Othri was getting more upset as the number of Urcai continued to diminish. The crowd still stretched into the distance, but very few Urcai were anywhere near him now. A wide expanse where the taken Urcai had been now surrounded him, and the water rose. Several of the glowing people stood here or there in the emptied space, but the crowds of dead Urcai in the distance were still disappearing.

“How do I stop this?” he asked no one.

The water was up to his waist. “Please help me!” he begged a glowing Urcai near him, but it was to no avail.

Soon, the mass of people was entirely gone, and there were only a very few Urcai standing alone, each shining with their own light.

The water had risen up to Othri’s neck, and he did not know what to do. He tried to swim through it, but it eventually rose above his head, and Othri drowned.

Othri awoke with a start.

“Tigath!”

“Wut iz it?” Tigath mumbled, sitting upright in the darkness of their shared cabin aboard the Mermonster.

“Tigath,” Othri repeated quietly, “I was dreaming.”

Tigath wrapped his arms around Othri, being careful of his bandaged hand. “What did you dream, my love?”

“I saw the dead.”

Tigath nodded. “I know,” he said as he had said several times when the night terrors first returned to his beloved, but this time, Othri countered Tigath.

“No, it was something else. It wasn’t about them. I mean it was, but it wasn’t; it was about you!”

“Me?” Tigath asked. “What did you dream about me?”

Othri did not answer, and instead, he looked confused and turned toward the room’s porthole window. “I can…” He stopped speaking.

Tigath interlaced the fingers of his uninjured hand with Othri’s and asked again, “What is it?”

Othri turned and focused on his lover’s purple eyes in the dark. “I can feel them!”

“Feel who?”

“You, Tigath, I can feel you.” He glanced back out at the dark sea. “And I can feel the others.”

“What others?”

“Tigath, you’re not the only one. You’re not the only Urcai who can do magic!”

Tigath was surprised. “What do you mean? What did you dream, Othri?”

“We need to go east,” Othri stated without answering. “I can feel another one.”

Tigath squeezed Othri’s fingers, and Othri pulled their hands up to his lips and kissed Tigath’s knuckles.

“All Urcai are magical,” Othri said quietly, and Tigath remained silent as his love continued. “We all have access to the nature magic that you’re using. Every single one of us, but unlike with Rothians, who generate their own magic internally, ours is channeled directly from the Earth, but the Earth’s magic is finite. Throughout time, our individual magic diminished as our Urcai population grew, and the Earth sustained us, but with so many of us, the magic was spread thin. When the Humans first attacked Vuliburge and slaughtered a huge amount of our people, there was suddenly much more magic available to us, and more specifically, you.” Othri hesitated before reiterating, “And there are others. There are other Urcai tapping into the Earth and doing magic, and I can… feel them.”

Neither man spoke for a moment, but Tigath believed Othri’s words. “Othri, do you think if we found the other magical Urcai, we could stop the Humans?”

They sat in silence.

A faint glow outside began to illuminate the world.

“Dawn,” Tigath whispered. He leaned against Othri. “Everything’s going to change.”

Othri did not reply. He had not told Tigath how his dream ended, and he could still feel himself drowning. He was grateful that the sun would soon rise to chase away the shadows of the night.

Neither of them fell back to sleep as morning came. They did not speak; their minds were each working through the revelation about Urcai magic. It was not until the men heard others in their group starting to move about the ship that they rose.

“Do we tell them everything right now?” Tigath asked. “Maybe we should just start with Nuji.”

Othri looked doubtful. “Do you think the others won’t believe me?”

“I believe you,” Tigath replied.

Othri brushed a purple lock of Tigath’s hair back from his eyes. “Thank you for believing me. I don’t know why I know what the dream meant, but I do. I know exactly what it meant.”

“Then we should tell the others. There’s no reason for us to wait if we’re just going to tell them anyway.”

“But what if I’m wrong?”

Tigath leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on Othri’s cheek. “Your vision clarifies and explains what’s been going on with me. It also gives us a goal, and you can point us in the right direction.”

Othri turned to the east. “I can feel whoever it is. There’s someone that way, and they’re not far.” He pointed at the inner wall of the cabin and the wide world beyond. “I can feel them.”

Once everyone was above deck, Othri informed them about his dream and its meaning. Although Tigath had not questioned him, the others wanted to know more.

Dorjin spoke up first. “I get it that some of my fellow Humans think their dreams have deeper meaning, but dreams are just our subconscious minds working through things we’ve experienced.”

Lestralin put his hand on Dorjin’s shoulder. “I’m actually with the Human on this one. I’ve never trusted the interpretation of dreams. I don’t put much stock in their importance.”

“You know,” Kilial added, “the Mermonster dreams, and it sometimes likes to tell me its dreams, but even the dreams of a magical ship are nothing more than fancies in the night.”

Tigath and Othri remained silent, as the others worked through their doubts.

“Last night,” Lestralin commented, “I dreamed about a giant fish. It ate a palm tree and flew up toward the moon, but I don’t think it has anything to do with explaining the world, or predicting the future, or anything mystical. I think your mind was just working out some of the confusion. Tigath shouldn’t be able to do magic, so it makes sense that you would have a crazy dream about it.”

Nuji raised one hand with her spidery fingers extended, and she turned her palm to face the others.

They all looked at her.

“This isn’t the first time Othri has had an important dream,” Nuji declared. “The dream he shared with me back in Elstall is what made me come along on this voyage with all of you. I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for his dreams.” She looked up at the taller, green-skinned man, and his orange eyes focused on her. “Othri, am I remembering correctly that you had many more visions right after the destruction of Vuliburge?”

He nodded. “As a child, I had strange and terrifying dreams, and they even recurred into my teenage years, but something about being with Tigath has always calmed my soul and kept my sleep peaceful. If my dream from last night is true, and Tigath is a conduit for the magic from nature, maybe if we find the others who are like him, we can stop the Humans.”

Kilial turned to him. “Well, I didn’t have a heading to chart this morning, and I was going to ask you lot where you thought we should go, but if you are a living compass that points to magical Urcai, then give us a direction.”

The ship had remained quiet as it listened to Othri explaining his dream and the other’s reactions, but it now let out a series of creaks, and the main mast groaned.

“What did it say?” Alydrael asked before either Nuji or Kilial could translate.

The captain chuckled, and Nuji smiled at Othri as she stated, “The Mermonster said it believes you.”

Alydrael bit her lip and nodded as she said, “If the Mermonster believes in you, Othri, then so do I.”

The ship rattled a chain and squeaked a pulley, and Kilial grinned as she translated its words.

“Where to, Othri?”