A Dream #2
A shriek tears through the air somewhere to my left, high and sharp enough to make my teeth ache.
It is answered by a deeper roar that reverberates through the ground beneath me.
My heart hammers, and I quickly get to my feet; keeping low, I rush towards the nearest jagged, blackened stone.
Every sound makes me flinch, and I feel as if something is watching me, but I refuse to make myself easy prey.
I stay there until I’m certain nothing is about to jump out at me. The hum of the dome itself is intensifying. I scan my surroundings as I begin moving again, my feet having a mind of their own. Up ahead, the land seems to dip, but I can hear something from that direction.
I keep moving, weaving through the rocks and uneven terrain until I come to a stop when my eyes land on the scene before me.
Cocoons.
Hundreds and thousands of what you can only describe as cocoons.
They rise from the ground like a forest of grotesque monuments, some so huge I fear to know what’s inside them, and others smaller but no less dreadful.
Their surfaces are not smooth but ridged and veined, dark and semi-translucent in places where a faint inner glow reveals movement within.
Some hang suspended between crooked spires of tree-like branches that weave through the cocoons.
Others are rooted directly into the earth, thick cords burrowing into them as if drawing nourishment from somewhere.
A few have split open.
The openings gape like torn flesh, edges curled back and hardened. Inside them, there is nothing now but slick, slime-like residue and the faintest shimmer of energy dissipating into the air.
But most of the cocoons are intact.
Slowly, I step closer, my breath catching.
Within the nearest cocoon, I see a shape, curled and suspended in swirling shadow.
It is not fully formed, yet not formless either.
Limbs stretch long and strange, fingers tipped with black, hooked claws that twitch as though testing their own strength.
A narrow skull tilts within its prison, horns sweeping back in jagged arcs from its brow.
Its mouth is too wide for its face, filled with rows of needle teeth that glint faintly in the low light.
Thin membranes pull taut over sharp cheekbones, and beneath them something pulses in slow rhythm.
It looks a bit like a crawler, but at the same time, it’s different. We’ve seen the crawlers and studied them carefully. I was the one who first dreamed of the crawlers, too.
Another cocoon shudders, and I spin towards it, my heart ringing loudly in my ears.
I turn and glimpse at it. A second being is within it, more formed than the last, larger than the first; its torso elongated and ribbed as though armour grows directly from its flesh.
Long tendrils of shadow trail from its spine, floating in the thick air like dark hair underwater.
Its eyes snap open, and it looks directly at me.
They glow sinisterly, burning with hunger.
A whisper threads through the air.
It’s not sound exactly, but it’s like an odd sensation within my mind.
You are here.
I swallow and take a step back, but my feet do not obey fully. Something in me leans towards the voice even as dread floods my veins.
More cocoons begin to stir all around me.
Shapes shift inside them. Claws scrape softly against inner membranes. Horned heads turn in unison, though I have made no noise.
The whisper grows clearer.
Not one voice.
Many.
Layered and overlapping until they blur into something singular.
Come.
The ground beneath me hums, and I realise I am not simply standing among these things. I am being guided.
Drawn.
My body moves before I consciously decide to walk. I weave between the cocoons, feeling their heat, their barely contained power, the air thickening with each step. The whispers follow, growing louder and louder with every passing second.
I move until I have passed countless cocoons, my heart in my mouth, and finally, my body allows me to stop. In front of me, sitting in a circular basin in the ground, is what looks like an egg made of membrane, every part of it pulsing.
It’s far larger than the cocoons, and the power I felt is coming from it. Veins stretch from it in every direction, thick cords of dark energy that branch outward and connect to the surrounding cocoons. Each vein pulses with light that flickers in rhythm with the beating I now feel beneath my feet.
I don’t know how, but I know that this thing is what controls the rest.
The very energy here feels dark; it presses into my chest, into my skull, and into the very marrow of my bones. My chaos magic stirs violently, recognising something ancient and terrible. Alarm bells are going off in my head, but I’m unable to move away.
The egg’s surface ripples as I approach, and I see my own reflection warped upon it.
The whispers quieten.
One voice remains.
The drakaths will be free.
The words echo through me, not spoken but from within me.
A sound to my right makes me turn sharply. One of the broken cocoons splits further, and something steps out.
It unfolds to its full height, and I see it clearly now.
Its skin is grey and stretched tight over sinewed muscle; faint glowing lines trace along its torso like cracks in cooling stone.
Two long, curved horns frame a gaunt face, ears pointed and sharp.
Its mouth opens impossibly wide, revealing those jagged teeth that are even more terrifying now that I can see them properly.
Its glowing eyes turn to me, and I feel terror wash through me.
Behind it, others emerge. Tall, clawed figures with elongated limbs and talons that scrape across the ground. Tendrils of shadow trail from their backs, writhing as though alive. Their presence is suffocating, immense, yet they do not lunge or attack.
It’s as if they’re waiting for something.
The egg pulses, and I hear that soundless voice.
It calls to me again.
To become one with it, to touch it, to claim it.
Power surges from the egg in a wave that makes my knees buckle. If I step forward, if I lay my hand against that pulsing shell, the veins will answer me. I somehow know it. The cocoons will respond. The drakaths will come forth. All they need is the energy I can give them. My power, my chaos.
I could complete it.
Immense power blooms in my mind, intoxicating and terrible. I see legions moving at a single thought. I see the world bowing before the entity that has finally found form.
The air vibrates with anticipation.
I lift my hand.
The egg’s surface ripples towards me, almost eager.
Stop…
But I can’t.
The demons within the cocoons stir faster now, their pulses quickening, their whispers rising in a swelling chorus.
Belong.
My fingers hover inches from the shell, and something in me falters.
This place hurts.
It’s wrong.
If I touch it, I will not be destroyed.
But I will never be only myself again.
Jayce.
His face flutters into my mind, slamming me back to the present.
The memory of him cuts through the hum like lightning through a storm. His hands, steady and grounding, linger on my waist, his lips against mine, his smile… his faith.
The way his eyes search mine as though I am something worth protecting, not consuming. The way he anchors me when I spiral.
I close my eyes and pull my hand back.
No.
The whispers rise in agitation, the ground trembling beneath my feet as the egg right at the core of whatever this is pulses harder, faster.
Come.
I shake my head, breath shuddering in my lungs.
I won’t!
The drakaths step forward as one, their claws digging into the barren earth, their glowing eyes narrowing.
The energy around me shifts, and for the first time since I entered, I feel the egg’s displeasure.
I gasp and blink as the dream disappears, and I’m left trembling. My fingers brush Jayce’s nose as I remove them before my hand drops onto my lap, and I look away. I didn’t mean for him to see that last part. I wasn’t trying to show him what he means to me.
“So that’s it,” I say softly, my voice cracking. I avoid looking at him.
He’s watching me; I can sense it, and it makes my heart pound, consumed by too much.
“I’ve seen them before.”
I look at him sharply. “What?”
“Those things, the drakaths, there’s mention of them in the tomes.”
My eyes widen. “You mean they’re one of the mentioned beasts?” I ask.
He shakes his head, and his next words make my stomach twist with unease.
“Not beasts; they’re a species, mentioned amongst the other immortals of the Gods’ Realm.”