The Revelers (Serial 1)

Act 1 - Chapter 3: Gunhild

It's odd how this realm is so black and empty. Children often have vibrant imaginations, but this girl has nothing. Is there something that inspires her? Motivates her? Anything that sets the dreams in motion? I'm certain something makes her tick like the clocks of eld. For now — absolute limbo. Still, there must be something lingering in her mind, and I am certain it involves a trinket from the past. A moment she would rather forget.

But you cannot forget it, Ari. You know what happened and you will not forget it.

Ah yes, her childhood. Such a strange time it was. To see you cry and endure in pain. Yet your caretakers misunderstood my plan and took you away from me.

"Who is that?" A young woman's voice echoes from a distance. "Where are you?" It is a voice I know well. It seems this person can detect my presence.

I walk in the voice's direction, echoing in the sea of emptiness, and confront the individual. She appears dressed in street clothes, her favorite green unbuttoned shirt with a plain white undershirt, knee-high khaki cargo shorts, and brown trail boots. The girl has gold-tanned skin with short white hair, and slanted eyes. Her organic eye is a verdant green while the cybernetic eye is silver. There is also a vertical scar over her cybernetic one. It's a scar that brings back a memory of a previous time with her.

"Greetings," I say while remaining concealed.

The girl turns to me and, upon noticing my presence, takes one step back. "What the hell?"

"No need to run. I will not hurt you."

"In that case, who are you then?" she asks.

"A simple traveler who ventures into the dreams untold. If you prefer to stick a name to a face, then you can call me Gunhild."

She shrugs. "Well, I can't see your face with all that purple smoke, but I suppose I should keep your name in mind."

"You have the potential to discover something, locked deep in that gray bit of matter caged inside your skull."

"Maybe you can tell me more about you, yeah?"

I let out a smile, even though she can't see it through my smoky veil. "Perhaps you try to find that out yourself. I'm sure someone will tell you. After all, it took me long enough to realize you truncated your birth name, Ari."

"Fair enough," she says with a straight face.

"I can tell you for certain that when you wake up, you'll find yourself in an awkward situation."

"I'm sure those strange animal half-persons themselves are awkward enough. Their magic, though — now that's something else."

I extend my hand, covered in cold dark iron, and rest it on Ari's shoulder. "The threads of fate work in ways we may never expect, and the wheel turns in mysterious ways. I'll give you this suggestion, though, and it's one you should make your priority." My eyes glow, piercing the veil of smoke over my face. "Seek the truth, and know the lies behinds the fortunes."

And then Ari vanishes, returning to the realm of the woken.