It felt hot. It felt incredibly hot. My body felt like it was burning in flames and my mouth was so dry as if I hadn't drunk even a droplet of water in days. My ears were filled with buzzing sounds and through it I thought I could hear someone scream. It echoed in my brains a few times only to be replaced by new screams, which seemed to cut through the buzzing ever so sharply. I wanted to open my eyes and take a look at what was going on, but I felt so dizzy. My eyelids were so heavy that it felt like it weighed a ton or even more. Yet, I tried my best and finally after a few more tries I managed to somehow pop my eyes open. The view was bright and it stung as I blinked a few times. As I finally adjusted to the lighting and took a better look around, I realized I was high up in the air above what seemed to be a village. A burning village, actually.
For a moment I simply stared down as I tried to comprehend the situation. The village was burning? A fire? I could discern people running around frantically and yelling on top of their lungs and I thought I saw something else down there too... Something that was attacking the villagers, perhaps?.. I tried to look closer, but the shapes were of weird and unfamiliar forms. To top it off, that was the moment when I realized another wondrous thing. I was... up? Immediately my eyes shot down to my body and then, suddenly and crazily, I realized I had no body. There was nothing. I was nothing!
Well, if to be exact, I seemed to be a silvery ball of something glittering and fluffy. Hmmm... Fluffy... Was I... a cloud?.. I shook my head in denial or, if to be exact, I thought I shook my head, but who knew... Do silver balls even have heads? What about eyes? Ears?..
"Ok..." I said out loud and thank the Gods I still had my voice. Even if I was rid of my absolutely gorgeous legs. "So, I'm a cloud. Big deal. I can be a cloud."
"You're not a cloud," someone said in a rather amused voice just behind me and I flinched so hard I actually flew up in the sky a few meters.
I did my best at whirling around to face the speaker as I cursed myself for getting scared that easily. But, hey, it's not every day that I dream of being a cloud and then someone tries talking to me. Still, what I saw literally took my breath away.
Up ahead of me there hovered a dragon and it was a humongous beast. I thought he was even bigger than the one that got me into this kind of trouble, whatever his name was. And he was all black. Pitch black. So, dragons did come in different colors and sizes... Ah, never mind that... There was yet another dragon in front of my eyes and as he flapped his majestic black wings I felt like a little ball of nerves that I was. What was the chance of me meeting not one but two dragons in a span of a few weeks? Meanwhile, the dragon seemed to be done assessing me and cocked his head sideways, as his ruby red eyes fell on me.
"Interesting..." he noted. "You're not Tanek."
"Tanek?" I echoed. Wherever had I heard that name before?..
"I didn't know he had any progeny," the black dragon continued thoughtfully as I was still contemplating on that awfully familiar name. My memory seemed so hazy at the moment. "And a Dreamwalker, at that."
"AH!" I suddenly exclaimed. "Tanek the mental dragon that died on me!"
"Died?"
"Umm," I muttered. "Yeaaah. He is kind of dead now."
If dissolving into little specks of dust means death to a dragon...
"Hmmm," the black dragon mused. "So, Tanek the Dreamwalker is dead."
"Yeah, died on me so very ungracefully," I repeated again as I surveyed the dragon in front of me. He seemed to take the news about a dead dragon comrade rather well.
But putting that aside, what is actually happening? Am I dreaming? Dreaming to be a cloud, which is having a rather civilized conversation with a dragon? And talking about dragons. That Tanek. Is he the cause of all this... mental craziness? And the fainting incidents I had before, too? Well, bummer. He did curse me, after all. But then again... who is this huge reptile?.. Looking at its majestic wings and sharp claws, his bloody red eyes that seemed to be piercing through me with slight mock, I could not help but be intimidated by him.
"Tanek is dead," meanwhile, the dragon said, interrupting my thoughts. "You are not his child, yet, you Dreamwalk."
"Uh, Dreamwalk?" I echoed confused and the dragon inclined his head as he pierced me with his eyes again.
"The 'cloud' state you're in now is called Dreamwalking," the black creature explained. "It allows you to cross space and even time if you are experienced enough. That was the gift of Tanek. Apparently, the power is yours now."
"Cool," I grinned inwardly. "I get to be a cloud once in a while!"
"There are two ways to inherit this power," the dragon continued, ignoring my little outburst of joy. "One – to be the progeny of Tanek and the other – to be granted it by Tanek himself."
"Uh, the latter one," I murmured in response and Blacky as I had dubbed him nodded.
"So I have concluded."
"Great, so I Dreamwalk," I summarized and tried moving in my ball-like state. It wasn't that easy, but hey, I needed to do something more than just float around in my bubbly state, right?
"I heard rumors of Tanek granting his powers to a mere human, but I figured it was just... rumors," the dragon said as he watched me whirl around myself in the air. I was having trouble controlling this Dreamwalking ball or whatever. I mean, why do I turn to the left when I want to go to the right?! Is everything reversed here or what?..
Still, my musings over my inability to move were cut short as soon as I heard him call me 'mere human'... I did my best to turn to him with my façade half. Did balls even have a façade side?
"Mere human?" I exclaimed angrily as I did my best to glare at him hatefully. I think I failed in that.
"Yes, mere human," the dragon hissed with deep despise in his voice as he narrowed its carmine red eyes on me.
In my fit of anger, I managed to jump up and down as I retorted, "Oh and look who's talking! A mere worm with wings!"
"Excuse me?!" Blacky flapped its wings up and his head leaned so close to me that I could actually feel his breath. It was hot. Really, really, really hot.
"Uhhh, ah... did I say worm?.. Haha," I laughed sheepishly. "I, uh, I meant... a majestic and proud dragon, uh, of the most, um, um, noble races on this earth!"
To my surprise, Blacky stared at me baffled for a moment and then he laughed, letting out a loud roar. At least, I think it was supposed to be laughter. Either that or he was trying to kill me by roaring at me.
At that particular moment I wondered if I should actually use this time to run away, but then again, I had absolutely no idea where I was. Yippee. I glanced down to earth again and noticed half of the village was still burning in flames. The other half seemed to be smoldering and the people were rushing around pouring water on the houses. Oh, how could I have forgotten the little village in distress?.. Now my chances at any kind of a reward are ruined! Of course, given the fact that I could actually help in any way in this fuzzy bubbly state. But still, did the attack just end like that so suddenly? But who and why? Was it the bandits?
"Should we help somehow?" I muttered questioningly and the dragon gazed down as he had already calmed down from his roaring fit.
"Ah, so you're as much of a fool as Tanek, aren't you?" he noted and I glanced at him confused.
"But the village-"
"What about it?" his voice rang coldly in my head and I felt like I was suddenly stranded in North Pole or a whole bucket of cold water was splashed over my head.
"Um... it's burning?"
"Nice flames, aren't they?" Blacky noted nonchalantly and I frowned inwardly. "And why would you even care, Dreamwalker? Unless..."
I stared at him confused and flabbergasted as the dragon scoffed at me. "Unless, you're going to continue Tanek's legacy."
"Legacy?" I echoed as I blinked quickly, because suddenly the view in front of me swayed. The buzzing sound in my ears returned and my view got covered with slight mist.
"Whoah, what... wait," I muttered as I tried holding onto the dark figure of a dragon that was in front of me. Yet, it was slowly fading and my consciousness dimmed away so suddenly I had no chance at keeping it with me.
With no sound or any other sign, I simply disappeared from the sky and the black dragon stared at the empty air in front of him contemplatively.
"I guess that's your limit, little one," he murmured as he flapped his wings and whooshed across the skies. "Not bad for a first timer. Not bad at all."
*+*
Once again, it was a harsh task to open my eyes, but when I did, at least there was no blinding light. And no more dragons, which was quite a relief. Instead of the supernatural I was met with the beige ceiling of my room and I turned my head sideways, wondering how in the world I ended up home. If ignoring the crazy dream I had just had, I was having fun in the fair, right?..
Then, my view was obstructed by a familiar face and someone's hand touched my forehead gently.
"You're awake. How are you feeling?"
I furrowed my brows at Elek, who was leaning towards me and just as he asked about my well being, I finally realized my whole body and limbs were throbbing in slight pain.
"Does it hurt anywhere?" Elek asked, his hand coming down to rest on the edge of the bed.
"No," I whispered as I shook my head. There was no way I was gonna show my weakness and pain to Elek.
"Liar," he smiled and I giggled.
"Prove it."
The man beside me shrugged and sat on the bed. I too tried sitting up and winced slightly as my body felt way too heavy.
"Don't rush it," Elek noted as he held my shoulders and helped me sit up. "You fainted all of a sudden. Gave me quite a scare."
"Sorry," I smiled at him sheepishly as I wondered back to the weird dream I had.
Just what in the world was it with me and dragons?.. Why do I keep attracting them? And now, more than ever, I suddenly realized that Tanek the slightly mental dragon that had the gall to curse me had actually CURSED ME! And then, I freaked out.
"Oh, Gods almighty!" I whispered as I grabbed my head with my hands and rocked forth and back in my sudden stroke of panic. "Curse my stupidity!"
Why oh why did I stop by that dying dragon?!
"Aleta?" Elek looked over me worriedly. "Are you ok?"
"I-I..." I looked up at him. What should I say?..
Hey, I got cursed by a dragon and now I have a weird power to turn into a cloud during my moments of fainting, which is actually called Dreamwalking!
"Uh... yeah, just, uh, tiptop!" I grinned idiotically and Elek gave me a troubled look.
"Aleta, if something's wrong, just tell me," he leaned towards me and his hands landed on mine gently. "You can trust me."
For a moment I actually considered telling him everything, but then again... Me, cursed by a dragon. Him, sworn to hunt dragons down. Yep. A nice couple we make, don't we?
No. This is my problem. I got into it and I'll be the one to haul myself out of it.
"Everything's fine, really," I replied to Elek. "Thank you for caring about me. And I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't mean to."
Elek surveyed me for a minute or so and then smiled kindly as he retorted, "Well, yeah, I guess you don't faint on purpose, do you?"
"Oh, just when there's a big strong warrior to catch me," I grinned at him and winked.
To my surprise, Elek leaned and planted a soft kiss on my forehead. "Then, I'll make sure to be there when you decide to faint again."
I nodded my head and felt a blush coming up my cheeks. I haven't had much interaction with guys in my life and some male attention was more than welcome.
"I'll let you rest now," meanwhile, Elek said and got up. "I'll come visit you tomorrow, alright?"
"Yeah, please do," I smiled at him and he smiled back.
"Night, then."
I nodded and watched him walk out the door. Then, I giggled to myself and covered myself up with the blanket tighter. It felt nice and warm. Elek felt nice and warm.
I slid down the bed and put my head down on the pillow. Perhaps, there is something more to Elek than I thought. I never really knew how relationships worked, but hey, I'm up to try some! I giggled again as if I was a little girl as I thought that Elek must be the one who carried me home. But then, my happy thoughts were interrupted by the remembrance of my dream.
It was weird. I kept fainting and now I had this queer dream or a vision. Could it really be only a dream? Or is it something more?.. Could I really be cursed by a dragon?
I frowned as I tried to recall what Tanek had told me before letting out his last breath. Something about me having his powers? And something about me finding his friend Soran? In the highest peak of the Ugundi mountains. Suave.
I rolled to my otherside with a grumble and then sighed. Fine. If I happen to have yet anothercrazy dream like this one, then I shall go to the Ugundi Mountains and findthat Soran or whomever. And if not, then not. Then, I shall lead my perfectlynormal life as I have up till now. Good plan, right?.. Right?