Tisis

Dreams and Ambitions (S)

After cleaning up the bloody mess the 'canine', as Nym called it, left behind, we return to our daily lives, with one little change in the routine.

Nym put it into her head to sit on Sera's back - I think she called it 'riding', or something.
I mean, I can see the benefit behind the idea, that critter is strong and fast enough to take us places for sure, but Sera doesn't seem to be entirely convinced of having anyone sitting on her back.

Just thinking about it, my chest starts aching again from when she kicked me as I tried to climb on her back.
And guess what, Nym told me that 'I startled her and that I should never approach her from behind'. She defended the bloody animal! But if it had been Zero, she...
Alright, I need to calm down. If the roles had been reversed, I would've defended Zero all the same.
I have been a little rash and careless in hindsight.
I guess I'll give her the benefit of the doubt...for now.

I close the little book and put it back into my pack before looking up to Nym's continued efforts to make it on the Zolemna's back...Zolemna...must be an Asmodean word, considering how hard it is to pronounce.
I need to ask Nym if there isn't another word for that thing.

"Ayeee!" Thud

Ouch, that looked like it hurt.

I get up to see if she managed to hurt herself this time, Zero idly trailing at my side.

When I get where she hit the ground, she's already trying to get up again.
She's got quite some fight in her, that's for sure, but I don't think her body can take much more beating up.

I clap my hands and say, "Alright, I think that's enough falling down for one day. You should get yourself cleaned and rest up before you kill yourself."

Nym glares at me, just about ready to kill me from the looks of it, but then her angry face distorts into one of pain.

I extend my hand and say, "You have two options right now, Nym. Either you let me help you up and get to the bath on your own two feet...or I pick you up and put you into the tub myself. Got that?"

Nym's face flushes deep purple as she tries once again to get up, but her feet are clearly failing her.

Eventually she sighs, grabs my hand and allows me to pull her up.
"You're the worst, you know that?" she asks as we slowly move to the bathing cavern, leaving the Zolemna to her own devices.

I drop her off at the entrance and close the door, but wait nearby.

After a while, she asks, "Sirus, you're still there, right?"
"Yup. Feeling a bit better?"
"...a little. I...wanted to thank you."
"For what?"
"For looking out for me. I...got too riled up."
"Heh...don't sweat it. That's what friends are for, right?"
"...right. Still, thank you."
"You're welcome. Besides, I'll be counting on you too."

A little while later, she comes out and I help her get back to camp before going out to hunt with Zero at my side.

The coming night, I have a peculiar dream.

I am flying through the skies of Tisis under the brilliant sun, soft, fluffy clouds passing by me left and right.

I can see everything, the crash site, the swamp, the lake, the mountains and so much more. I fly over a great patch of yellow, vast and barren with no life or water to see for untold steps to come.
The sun burns hot on my back, but I cannot stop going farther.

Then, all of a sudden, I take a turn and face an even greater something, a lake so vast I cannot even begin to imagine where the end of it might be and in an instant I feel small and unimportant.

All we have seen, all we have endured and all we have created pales in comparison to the vastness of the world around us.

What makes my heart sink the most however is not how unimportant I am however, but that even though I can see so very far right now, I still fail to see another friendly face.

Suddenly the sun descends from the heavens and stops right before me, keeping its distance as I keep flying.

"This is not your place to be," it says and with a flash I startle awake to the crackling noise of the fireplace.

After orienting myself, I look over our little homestead, the soundly sleeping Nym, the peaceful Sera, who sleeps kneeling on the ground and...wait a second.

"Zero?" I ask into the darkness, but I don't get a reply.
That's strange...he's usually right there whenever I call him.

But I don't worry about him just yet.
He probably just went to take a piss or something.

I go back to sleep, but in the coming morning, there's still no trace of him.

During breakfast, I ask, "Hey Nym...did you see Zero anywhere?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Really? Where?"
"Right next to you when you picked me up from the mud yesterday."
"Ha ha, very funny. You know that I meant today."
"No, not yet. Is something wrong?"
"...honestly? I'm not sure. It's not like him to wander off."
"Eh, when nature calls, you know?"
"That would be the longest piss in the history of pissing...he was gone last night too...ah yeah, check out the dream I had."

I tell Nym about my dream, but my eyes keep darting back and forth in the hope of catching a trace of Zero, but he remains gone.

"...an interesting dream to be sure...what you describe sounds like a desert on one hand and the ocean on the other...but you've never seen either...oh wait, maybe you did!"
"I did? When?"
"When we came crashing down, we were able to see this world from the birds eye perspective. Your subconscious must have recorded it and showed it to you in your dreams."
"Right...still, what about that voice?"
"Well, humans aren't birds, so the skies of course aren't 'their place to be'. Your subconscious was probably just telling you that you cannot fly."

I shake my head and mutter, "Whatever you say..." before raising my voice, "But dreams aren't real, Zero is. I'll go looking for him."
"Sure, knock yourself out...but don't leave the cone without telling me first, okay? I don't need two children to worry about."

I shake my head and go looking, but no matter where I go, there's neither hide nor hair of Zero to be found.

The door was still intact and closed, so he couldn't have left the cone, unless his little baby wings suddenly grew large enough for him to actually fly out of here. Or maybe he found another passage we overlooked? But still, why would he leave in the first place?

Just then, I hear Nym shout in the distance, "Sirus, get over here! I found something!"

Oh God, please don't let it be the corpse of little Zero...