Lᴏɴᴇʟʏ Fᴀʟʟs || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ Bᴏᴏᴋ Tᴡᴏ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏᴜʀ || ɪɴ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍs

Sabien

We'd set up camp after only a few hours of walking, not quite as many as Tyler would have liked. However, we were all very glad to have stopped, especially Lizzie. Said girl had laid out her bedroll beside mine, and stretched out on it. On my other side, Navia was curled up beside Cerco, who was snoring gently-ish. I turned on my side, watching Lizzie's chest rise and fall. It was disconcerting to see our former enemy— enemy turned friend?— sleeping next to me. A part of me wished I could stay awake and watch her, keep the rest of the team safe. However, I wasn't nearly willful enough for that, and my eyes started to drift closed.

I was met with the sensation of falling. Tumbling through air and scrambling for purchase. There was nothing around me, only darkness. Empty and blank, and yet wind that stole the scream from my lips.

I slammed to the ground and foliage burst into being around me. Some kind of Euran forest, the same one we'd been travelling through just moments before. I scrambled to my feet, marvelling at being alive— some part of my knew it was a dream, but it couldn't quite scream that logic loud enough.

"Hello?" I called into the eerie silence.

A rustle in the bushes answered me, and a massive tarantula surged from the forest's depth. Everything in me was screaming to run, to get away, but my feet were rooted to the ground. The spider hissed, its terrible blue eyes trapping me with fear. My eyes were glued to it's, so I noticed immediately when they started to change. The pupils dilated and the irises bled from pale blue to piercing green then finally to snake yellow. Hypnotized, I didn't even realized it was approaching until its fangs struck my neck. The pain was agonizing, and I screamed—

"Sabien!" I bolted upright, shaking and covered in a cold sweat. Navia and Lizzie both reeled back to avoid getting body-slammed. They wore identical looks of concern and fear.

"Sabien!" Lizzie said, "what was that?"

"You were screaming in your sleep." Navia added, reaching out to place a hand on my forehead. I let her, my heart still racing in my ears. Navia studied me, drawing her hand away again. "You don't seem sick."

"I'm fine," I replied finally. "Just... had a nightmare." I shook my head, trying to dislodge the faint tendrils of the dream. The piercing blue eyes remained in my vision. "I'm fine." I repeated, trying to convince myself more than anything. I laid back down, casting my eyes to the bright shape of the crescent moon.

The sound of shifting and shuffling at my sides told me that the girls had done the same, though when I looked around, I saw that this time Navia turned so she was facing me. Worry was etched on her face. I gave her a reassuring smile, which she hesitantly returned. Closing my eyes once more, I slipped back into sleep.

The tarantula stared down at me, clicking it's fangs together. Vaguely, I was startled that it had retreated from its attack. But the burning sensation of its venom in my blood told me it had done what it needed to.

Another animal surged from the bushes as the edges of my periphery started to darken. Some kind of enormous dog-like animal. I squinted, trying to make it out, but the two animals were too wrapped up in their brawl to but distinguished from each other. The unidentified animal roared, shaking the entire world. It shook its head fiercely, the tarantula firmly clasped in its jaws.

The tarantula itself let out a sharp screech and writhed until the other creature flung it from its jaws. The enormous insect slammed into a tree and its grotesque yellow eyes flashed to blue before they closed indefinitely.

The burning in my blood sharpened as my senses dulled and my head lolled, my muscles suddenly uncontrollable. The other large animal was making snuffling noises near my head. Its snout came into my fading field of vision. I recognized it now, a wolverine. It had sharp green eyes and its breath caressed my face as my eyes dropped closed and my heartbeat slowed.

I woke to Navia shaking my shoulder, telling me it was time to continue with our journey. I got up and helped clean the camp, half-dazed. My mind was still on my dream, processing. We headed out of the clearing to continue to the Granite Hills, but I walked in silence. The dream had rattled me, the creatures painted in stark pictures in my mind. I couldn't quite erase their eyes from my thoughts.

The snake-like hello of the tarantula's eyes, the depth of the wolverine's green ones. They reminded me of something— maybe someone but I couldn't quite place who, and it bothered me.

"Lots of thinking going on up here?" Navia knocked lightly on my head, grinning as I jumped in response. "You alright?"

I nodded, glancing at her. "Just tired, that's all."

She smiled, her green eyes bright. "From that nightmare yesterday?"

Lizzie, who was walking ahead of us, turned at the mention of the night before. Her sparkling blue eyes caught the sunlight as she tilted her head. "What was that dream even about?" She asked curiously.

"Uh, falling." I answered. It wasn't a lie, exactly. It just wasn't the full truth.

Lizzie raised a brow, and Navia studied me closely. I looked away. Clearly I'm not as good of a liar as I'd like to think.

"Not that it matters," Navia said finally. "It wasn't real."

I nodded. "Yeah."
Mostly.

Ello my friends. I finished another chapter! POV requests are open and much needed! Also, I'm thinking that I'll probably be publishing one chapter each day, because I'm done school and I'll be bored all summer.

edit: 09/06/22
y'all I'm back
I literally don't know why I thought these were a masterpiece when I first published them lmao
anyway enjoy!!
xx