The Dream

## The Dream (RP)

“It is time”

“Are you sure, sire?”

“If we do not act now, we will lose him”

Manaia awakens in the night. He had heard these words, surely a dream. Looking out of his window he sees that it is far from dawn and so he returns to his bed to try to gain some more rest before the day ahead. Tending the land took up much of his day, he was raised a farmer by the man who had found him as an infant, his size and strength lent well to that kind of work. The other members of the Mystic Nomads had certainly found his talents to be useful in keeping their bellies full and their home protected.

As his head rests back against his pillow, Manaia feels a slumber upon him, this drowsiness is not like any he has known before. It starts at his head, a feeling floods over him like a thick oil encompassing him down his neck and running into his arms. This is not a restful feeling as his stomach and legs fall weary as well and finally the darkness floods across his face. He feels it as if sinking in mud or swampland. As the last of him descends, he no longer feels able to breath, he isn’t drowning but he thinks himself fully submerged in a fog of darkness. This is no ordinary dream.

#### "̵͓͓̊̒F̶̫̑͋͜i̴̤͌͆n̵͙̏ḁ̴͠l̵̘̑l̵̠̓̚͜y̷̤͝,̴͚͈͌ ̶͚̜̕y̸͍̾͗o̴̱͂̃ů̶̲͖͊ ̵̤̈̓a̵̫͕͝r̷̯̋e̶̫̒ ̸͎͐̐ḧ̵͉́̊ḙ̵̠͌̈́r̷͚̓e̵͖̐̏.̶͉̍͜ ̶̩̾W̶͙͈̚e̵̘̪͘l̴̗̓̀ç̷͂ǫ̶̫͋͛m̴̌ͅe̶̮̎͝ ̴̧̽͆ẖ̴̂o̶͖̿m̷̗̊͝e̵̛̝̩͝!̵̜̽̿"̶̥͙͂̀

A crackled, familiar voice bursts into his dream. This would be enough to wake the young farmer usually but not this night.

#### "̵̜̔͐W̵̨͕̔ȩ̷͎͒ ̶̝̓́h̵̻͙̆ȧ̷͕̠v̷̫̠͗̊e̴̠̖̓̅ ̷̙̩́ẅ̵̢̮́͋ǎ̵̰͠i̸̺͔̕t̸̹̖͑̐e̸͓̞̊d̴̥͋ ̷̦̰͝f̸͙̘̃͗ô̵̢̼r̵̢͈͝ ̸̰̌ỵ̸͜͝ơ̵͔u̶̡̜͊ ̴̙͍̈́̌m̵̖͝y̴̛͇͗ ̸͕̜̑̈́b̸̗̔̽o̷̞͑y̷̥̻̾,̸̬̥̊͝ ̴̼̽ŵ̴͈̜e̸͂ͅ ̸̲̊͜h̴̬̖͘ả̵̫̩v̴͇̘͠e̷̞͌̄ͅ ̴̮̣̒b̶̫͝ę̸͒e̷̪͆́n̵̦̫̊ ̷͈̺̕w̵̹͇͑ä̵̖́t̵̟̀͝č̶̯h̸̨͓́̃ì̴͎n̵̼̭̈́g̷͙̍̔ ̷̙̓̔y̵̽ͅỏ̴̺u̴͔̗̒ ̵͉̑ğ̶̺̯r̴̬̾͂o̵̩̺̎̋w̵̮̐̄.̶̦̅̅ͅ"̶͉͆

This is the voice of Manaia’s grandfather, he would know it anywhere, even through the distortion. As the comforting thought of his grandpa’s image enters his head a loud whistle and rumbling occurs. A screech of metal on metal as wheels grind to a halt. Maniacal laughter fills his head and chills his soul. Manaia still could not see anything; he did not yet realise that this dream was taking him from thoughts of his lost loved one to something much more sinister. The circus was in town.

“I think I have it sir, I believe this time it should work!”

The voice that had awoken him from his sleep once before was calling out again. In an instant the sluggish feeling of tar that had surrounded him was gone as was the complete darkness. The darkness Manaia could see had been replaced by a glow, two green orbs staring down at him. Eyes, these were glowing emerald eyes.

As his own eyes focused Manaia found himself looking up to a giant. Luminescent emerald eyes, bright white hair, metallic armour of green and black, this behemoth man towered over him as he lay on the ground of what appeared to be a cave.

“Welcome, Void-born.” A voice booms from the giant.

“I apologise if the crossover was difficult young sir, transcending the celestial plane is tough even with the Davian technology I have been crafting.” Another voice comes from besides Manaia. “Perhaps we should introduce ourselves” The voice continues. “I am the Davekiller known as Dave and this colossal beast is Lord Bond!”

“We have brought you here temporarily, to the plane known as Oblivion. This is the afterlife to your world of Mysteria. The afterlife to all mortal realms.” The Emerald Warrior added. “Do not be at unease, you are merely a non-corporeal visitor to this place thanks to the advanced sciences of the Davemention and the Davekiller’s familiarity with them.” He continued.

With that Manaia slowly found his feet and stood with the two, he and the giant look to each other eye to eye, he had never met a being of his own stature. He tried to speak but no voice came out, his limitations in this realm becoming apparent to him.

“I do not have much time to explain to you exactly what has passed since we arrived on this world, but I will do my best to fill you in on the important details” Dave tells the farmer.

“Your form here is already weakening.” Lord Bond adds.

“Since arriving in this place we have been at constant war, not just with the other natives of this land but with a power far greater than any you could ever have known. The Ringmaster, the being strong enough to have killed the ‘Immortal’ Giant Lord Bond on your plane, and to entrap his younger self and I in a state of pure malice, has tormented us throughout life and beyond. We have brought you here to warn you of our fears, that you may be next.” Dave explains. “I know you do not know of your own history and you may never gain the full picture, but you are a son of many worlds. You are a direct descendant of Lord Bond, the first of his kind, his blood runs through your veins as does that of a host of the warriors and scholars of old Eternia. With his undying blood you also carry that of the demi-god Maui and thus you have claim to a place amongst the Celestials were you to choose it. Through millennia of peace in Lord Bond’s time, you also carry the blood of several other members of nobility, of the great warrior Ulf of Firebrand, of the wizard Merlin, of Queen Avarian the Arborean Elf, her partner and royal guard, Raiden Nallren and their child Valeria, I believe you have met them in your current time.” He adds. “Sadly, you are also descended from a much more sinister line. In an attempt to regain lost powers from the deaths of Lord and King Bonds, The Ringmaster tricked your mother, also descended from the greatness I have spoken of. He used his illusion magic to lay with her under the guise of her husband, he impregnated her before bringing forth the powers of Archon, a demonic entity of his own creation, to capture her and her unborn child. That child was you. You were born in the Archon void young sir.” Dave revealed to the shock of Manaia.

“My own escape from the clutches of Archon came at a price, that price was my life and thus I regained my partnership with Lord Bond here on Oblivion. With the same crystal technology that I had once used to save King Bond from himself I delivered you to a world I thought would be hidden enough to keep you from the dark fate that Ringmaster had planned for you. I left you on that coracle in the lake of Mysteria.” Dave revealed. “It is the very act of using the dimension-shifting crystals that attracted Archon back to me and with it, King Bond. In order to stop him I used the last of the crystals to take us both permanently to this afterlife world of Oblivion where we fight the deceased members of Ringmaster’s armies and King Bond himself” Dave explained as Manaia began to fade further from the pair. Before disappearing completely, he hears just one more thing from his ancestor, the Giant.

“Find your power. Follow the light!”

And with that Manaia shifts from the place he had been and feels himself falling through a darkness not unlike the one that had swamped him before. As he falls he hears a cackling laughter.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA…” the sound brings his entire being to a shudder and suddenly he finds himself back in his bed in a cold sweat.

The void-born son of Eternia bolts upright in his bed. The sun is beginning to rise over Mysteria, Manaia ascends from his bed unsure whether what he remembered from the night was real or not. He knows one thing for certain; he must talk with the elves.

- By Martin Bond