'Of haloed horns. The King of Dreams.' My eyes blinked —even though I saw through them— staring at the note in my hands. What? From who? I took a few seconds to wake up. The sun was already past the midpoint in the sky when I woke up. The forest was as quiet as ever.
I flipped the note over in my hands. 'Meet past the ticket booth into the forest.' The note was written with a black pen on a white square note. Nothing else was written on it, nor was it indicating why to meet whoever wrote it.
I yawned and stood up off the swing. I couldn't remember what I even dreamed of, though I could guess from my tight fingers.
There weren't any marífts on my way to the ticket booth. Once I got to the entrance the woman who was in the ticket booth wasn't there. I couldn't even hear the trees moving above me. Once I ventured through the forest path to the ticket booth the sky I could see turned red.
The same gut turning sensation filled me again. Pretty used to my guts feeling tightened. The path there had multiple downed trees which I had never considered was weird before. What could cause these trees to fall, specifically only one and never knocking any of the others to the side.
In front of me sat an old Milain styled home. Porch in the front. Second floor windows looking over the porch. But the house was by itself and had signs around it. Apparently it was a candy shop.
There was no one around the shop so I went inside. No one inside either. The house was covered in dust and was rotting ever so slightly. A dark red stain came from down the stairs and onto the porch in front of the house. The wood was permanently damaged from whatever spilled. Though I knew it well, human blood.
While I looked at the door where the blood trail led it slammed open.
"I don't wanna! I don't wanna dream!" A kid came in screaming.
"You listen here! It a fucking honor to dream! You must dream for the same reason your mother and I dreamed!" Her dad followed.
"And like my sister! Where's she?"
"Your darling sister still did what she was needed to. We miss her as well but we all have to." The mother came in.
The family didn't wear Noxstave clothes, nor were they dragons. The family wasn't old but just a regular family. When they came in they completely ignored me. I stood still as they continued to argue. The girl eventually stomped off and ran to me. Her body went through mine as she ran upstairs.
I followed after the conversation. The yelling eventually quieted. The kid tucked into bed.
"Why'd we move to Mila? Isn't dreaming better in Noxstave?"
"We moved because-" The mom was cut off by the dad.
"We didn't agree with how Noxstave was but Marine…" The man paused. "Marine is better."
"You promise I'll wake up from the dream?"
The parents rubbed the head of the brown haired girl. Her freckled cheeks burned red. Tears fell down her face like a lazy river.
"You sure I won't dream like big bro and sis?"
"We are sure. You got this."
They convinced the girl to lay down and shut her eyes, before the three faded away.
What does that even mean? I looked around trying to see if I saw anyone else. There wasn't magic making the three nor did the space feel normal. It wasn't magical but wasn't physical, the only thing that I know that's like that is Herika's glitch god whose powers weren't either.
Left alone in the house, the silence hung around me. No sounds were made as I made my way out of the house. The red sky was back to normal and day light was steadily falling.
A small group of marífts rested outside. I hadn't even heard them from within the house. It wasn't nearly the amount I was used to seeing. It was the smallest grouping of them I'd ever seen.
Like always some of them teleported away, but the others I was able to take out. It was easy defeating them. I moved them back out of the forest and to the pile.
The pile was gone when I arrived. The few I was adding were the only ones at this point. I recreated the pile and took a second to eat. The earthy flavor of the maríft I barely noticed over my thoughts.
I was here to defeat marífts, but I haven't found much today. There's some creepy area deep in the woods. There's some challenge or a wish somewhere here? Whatever was that candy shop vision was. The small town of Marine was too complicated for a simple hunting quest.
"Why do they want me to hunt them, but not too?"
My phone rang. A call from Stella's parents. Ignoring them I went back into the town to search around for the remaining marífts.
I found so little it didn't matter. Storing a body inside the backpack while moving the rest outside the city the pile was again gone. The night was already falling, and my feet could barely stand, I was so tired.
When I got to the inn an old woman was walking out. She wore the same clothes as everyone else. A white sundress and large white sunhat rested on her head. Her clothes also looked weird around the chest and waist.
I walked over to her quickly. "Excuse me."
"Yes?" she turned around.
"I was wondering, do you know anything about the myths here?"
"Oh sure I do. Which one are you asking about?"
"Which one do you believe in?"
Her eyes widened a bit before she spoke. "One said that if you completed a challenge you'd have great fortune. I didn't get that as you can see, but another said that I'd find my direction in life."
"Did you?"
"I sure did." She smiled but it didn't look warm like Paukena's.
"Well, thank you."
I walked inside the inn, her voice calling out to me. "There was another that said a monster would eat you if you ventured into the woods by yourself."
"I'll keep that in mind." I responded.
She waved slightly to me. The old man at the reception desk laid flat on the table sleeping. My head hit the pillow in the room, once again I was sleeping.
I was left alone on the shore. Everyone was gone as my blood covered hands washed away in the ocean. My tight hands tied tight around what might have existed.
I threw the blanket off myself as I woke. The room was dark and still. It's still night outside. In my hand once again was a note. 'Of haloed horns. The King of Dreams.' flipping to the back side I read the rest of the note. 'Meet at the shrine'.
I double checked the light outside and sighed. Putting shoes on I walked out of the Inn. The old man wasn't at the reception desk. When I stepped outside it was like stepping out into a void. It was hard to see in the forest at night.
Costing four times my normal amount I brought out a little fire to use as light. I quickly jogged over to the interaction. When I got to the intersection I smelled a softest hint of ash and smoke.
Instead of going to the shrine I followed the smell. It was coming from somewhere up the hill with the park and church. I ran to investigate whatever was happening.
While I ran up the spiralling road the area got brighter. When I passed the park the entire square box of mulch was fully brightened. When I looked up in the clearing of the trees I saw the church again.
The whole church was burning. The sky around it was painted almost beautifully if it weren't a burning building. I hurried even faster up to the fire. No one was outside to see it or stop it.
Taking matters into my own hands I casted a large amount of water magic to put out the fire, almost as much as I could. A giant wave washed over the building but it failed to put it out.
"How is that possible? It's magic water. It should put out phy…"
I pulled as much magic back as I could from the water to myself and replaced my tactics. I tried to take control of the fire. The magical fire responded but not too kindly to my invading control.
My control wasn't presence level but whoever burned the church down wasn't better at fire magic than me. Straining against whatever had been blocking me from using fire magic I pushed the flame down. The constant effort was making my veins pop.
"What are you doing!" The man I talked to earlier came running at me.
"Someone li-"
"You lit the church on fire!"
"N- no it was already-"
His arms grabbed mine. He was stronger than he looked. My control over the fire faltered as he forced me to the ground.
"Hey-"
"Save it!"
"Let me put it out!"
I pulled out of his grip and tried to regain control of the fire. He again pounced onto me. Stopping me from being able to put out the fire.
He lived so close and didn't come out till I was out. That liquid inside the church must have been from the only man who lives all the way up here.
I pushed him back and layered pounds of weight on top of the man. His body crumbled and strained against my gravity. While he was retrained I took control of the fire again.
The building was already mostly burned from the inside but it was getting close to spreading around the forest. If I wasn't here to stop it the town would be set aflame by this hot of fire.
"HEY! STOP IT!" He screamed
My control had pushed the fire in the church down just enough to keep it from spreading. Turning to see the screaming man, curling in his hands was a tiny flame that grew in size rapidly before exploding out toward me.
"Shit!"
I was able to dispel the fire inside, my magic and brain worked to the limit. My head ached terribly as his fire exploded across my skin. I didn't feel it hurt, but I was terrified when the smoke cleared if my skin would be fine or not. The fire was hot enough for me to feel its temperature's danger.
I first saw his eyes. They were wide and staring back at mine. Looking down at myself my clothes were badly burned. My backpack thankfully survived, along with what was important of the maríft wool wrapping. My skin on the other hand was entirely fine. Not even red.
Not only was that fire hot as all hell but it was also as much as the man could muster. He was spent and it showed clearly on the full dragon. The spell I had on him faltered and he stood.
He shook looking at me. Then he fell to the ground terrified and screaming. I walked over to the man and punched him hard enough to knock him out. A full dragon without any magic training along with having a weaker control over fire than me was saddening.
I don't know what this dude was planning but the town would have been screwed if I wasn't here. Thankfully it happened at night and no one would have seen me save the day. I looked at the pitiful man unsure of where to go from here.