Chapter 21 - The Nightmare Between Universes

We all had trouble trying to get to sleep. Victor suggested we use an herb that he uses to get to sleep. He said that the only problem is that he doesn't know how our bodies will react to the herb. He said that it can cause dogs to have horrible nightmares. This, though slightly concerning, was not necessarily a bad thing as there was no guarantee as to what would happen and we didn't plan on being in our dreams for long. We did not know if the nature of our species would cause issues with the herb, but we needed to get to sleep somehow. And the hard chairs around the table did not exactly help our situation. I moved the table and chairs to the side of the kitchen and brought a couple of blankets in, laying them on the kitchen floor so we at least had something soft to sleep on. I took the pillows from my bed before we drank the tea with the herb in it. We all lay down on the blankets and drifted off to sleep. Everything became dark, and there was nothing around me, not even a floor to walk on. I could hear Victor calling out to me, but I could not find him anywhere. I began looking around for him but to no avail. I couldn't tell if I was even moving, I could hear my feet hitting something hard but never saw any sort of movement. It was like I was suspended in space. Eventually, I just lay on the ground, or the lack thereof. After I laid down, I was surrounded by a black haze that swirled around me like a mist that threatened to soficate me. The mist became a raging storm of darkness that flashed with dark lightning that almost looked darker than the darkness surrounding me. After a short time, the storm began to twist and morph into a dark figure that was as massive as a mountain. The creature was made of darkness and had dark lightning that shot out of its smoke-like skin. It had huge fangs that looked to be made of iron. It took me a moment to realize it, but the figure was a replica of Malici. I waited for a moment watching to see what the figure would do, and then from out of nowhere, Victor reached through the darkness and grabbed my hand. I felt Victor pull me up from the invisible ground and through the smoky figure. We began running in a seemingly random direction, but soon I saw a spot of light in the nothingness that I was running through. This must be the door. I dive through the light to find myself landing on the hard floor of the kitchen. I shouted out in pain as I began scolding Victor for not warning me not to dive out of my dream. Victor simply laughed and said that he thought it was self-explanatory. And why can I even feel pain, I don't have a body. Victor laughed saying, "Your body is not the only thing that feels pain, your soul does too. Well, more accurately your life source feels it. When someone dies they no longer feel pain because it is their life source that causes the pain as part of it is ripped away when you are injured. Generally, though it is not enough to do anything to you because your life source can heal itself, though it ages as it does so. Outside of your body, you are more sensitive because you don't have a strong meaty shell to take the brunt of the force. It's like taking a cup of jello and dumping the jello out onto a plate. It will still hold its shape, it will still look and taste the same, but now if you smack it, it will squish a lot easier than when it is in the cup." With that, I pull myself up from the floor. I look at my body on the floor next to Jacen. "Where is he?" I ask Victor. Victor reaches out his hand telling me to take it. I hesitate for a moment, but when I do, Victor touches Jacen's head and we are suddenly in a shipyard. There is a terrible battle raging inside of an arena built out of cargo containers. Several people battling monsters of various types. There is a group of what look to be humans backed into a corner. Suddenly they begin to morph into great golden foxes. They speed around through the crowd of monsters, slamming their bodies into them as hard as they can. The Cracononians were hardly fazed and continued their assault. Others like the slithering swamp turtles were easily knocked over. Werewolves were ripping savagely through the field toward the vampires that were hiding behind their army of creations. I looked around for Jacen, though could not find him. I expected to see him among the sun foxes sprinting about, though Victor said he wasn't there. Victor could look at each one of the creaturs and tell that it was not Jacen. Victor could sense someone's soul and he had memorized the way our souls felt before we began our journey. Victor checked all the sun foxes and Jacen was not there. He began looking through all the creatures on the battlefield. Victor was having trouble keeping track of all the creatures on the field. Victor may have some impressive abilities, but he is still only human. After what seems to be an eternity, Victor says, "There" as he points into the battle. I follow his gesture and see a large werewolf shredding his way through the field. "How are we supposed to get him out?" I ask looking at Victor. "You will have to transform and drag him away from the fight, he will break free of the dream and regain his natural form and control of himself." Victor says. I look at Jacen, wondering why this would be his nightmare. I look back to Victor, "How am I supposed to do that? I can't change at will." Victor explains, "You have more control over yourself outside of your body, you can change whenever you want. You just have to focus on bringing the wolf out." I close my eyes and focus on the feeling of the change, the primal urges that drive every nerve in my body during the change. I can feel the transformation begin, I open my eyes wide as I feel the wolf rising to the surface. I look toward Jacen who is quite large even for a werewolf, but not quite outside the realm of what I imagine I can handle. I head out into the frey with my teeth ready to sink into anything separating me from Jacen.