Dreams Of An Astrologer

Chapter 4: Alchemy of Stars

The astrologer woke up for another night. Normally, she would close her eyes immediately and resume her rest without further ado, but her throat and mouth were dry. It was not the first time, nor the last, that happened at all, so she decided to get out of bed and go to the kitchen.

She grabbed her vision and, with her hydro light, advanced through the dark corridors stealthily. Once she entered the room, she felt a presence that sent shivers down her spine. Mona reached for the light switch, but a cold hand rested on hers.

"Again?"

"Fuck!"

She pressed the button and found Wanderer, who looked like he hated brightness by the way he narrowed his indigo eyes. She vanished her elemental magic and removed her hand under his, though the Anemo one made a point of reaching for it again. He smiled slyly before asking:

"Do I scare you that much, Megistus?" He teased. "You keep waking up at the same time as me, by the way."

All her chances of telling him that he would not scare the hell out of a fly were eclipsed by that second piece of information. Wanderer did not need sleep, and yet it was the same for him as it was for her. For some reason, the hand that held hers returned to its usual warmth. Mona squeezed it with interest, her pupils determined.

"Describe your dream, now." She demanded.

"Why don't we go to the couches and talk about it?"

She glanced at the clock on the wall, its hands reading three thirty-three in the morning. The next day she had arranged to meet a certain friend to talk about it, but if another one was going to join the equation, she needed to know as much as possible about it. Once she was sure it was the same dream, she would tell him.

"Just this once."

And, with her glass of water in hand, she ended up sitting on the couch next to Wanderer's. The puppet began to describe the dream to her, fitting perfectly with everything she had seen and heard.

He also emphasized the factor of him not being the protagonist of the dream, as it was for her with the other one. Then it was finished with a sentence, but it was different from hers. "Sinners shall be punished."

She hugged the seelie plushie thoughtfully, reflecting on that last thing she had said. If they put it all together, they would get. "You cannot escape forever, traitor. Sinners shall be punished."

Mona wondered what exactly it was that she had done to anger such people. They could either be devotees, or the Gods themselves. In any case, she had no debt to any of them, at least not consciously.

"... Anyway, my hydromancy refuses to cooperate in interpreting the vision. It's not like the previous one, it's a clear block to danger." Mona mused aloud. "I would rather not be ignorant of it, no matter how much it would put my life at risk. This fate will come sooner or later, but it will, and I'd rather be prepared for it when it does. Knowledge is power, and in this situation even more so."