“What the hell does that mean?”
Airess passed him and sat on the rocky shore, motioning for him to sit. “You’re going to want to sit down for this,” she said wearily. He hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to her, both of them facing the watery expanse.
“If my mother never told me about my abilities, I wouldn’t have known either.”
Airess’s voice cracked at the end of her sentence, clutching her necklace she wore close to her heart. This was the first time she had ever mentioned anything personal, and Taryn knew to stay quiet.
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I never knew what I was capable of. Not in the beginning, at least. My dreams were like anyone else’s. You dream of something and wake up and remember it, as if you were recalling a distant memory. But as I got older, things became different. My dreams began tochange. It started with flashes of images and voices at first.
“But things started to change around my tenth birthday. Every night when I fell asleep, I would fall into this–thisblack hole. I would end up in different landscapes, places I had never seen before. Sometimes I would be alone, wandering into my dreams aimlessly. Other times I would appear in towns, homes, cities I can’t even begin to describe, crowded with people and beings all around me. But I couldn’t speak to them, they couldn’t see me, almost as if I were–”
“A ghost,” Taryn finished for her and thought about how he had observed his own body in his recent dreams, appearing so translucent that he swore he could have been a ghost himself. His stomach twisted as he felt a certain truth in her words.
Airess nodded in agreement. “Exactly. I became aware that my body was… different. It looked like me, but it wasn’t me. I wore clothing that didn’t belong to me in those dreams. I had no skin, but a ghostly projection of myself. One night I woke up so scared. I thought I haddied.” Airess chuckled, fiddling with her fingers.
“I ran to my mother and told her what happened. She told me what it was that I was doing. She called itdreamwalking. It’s a form of astral travel. Our souls leave our bodies at night and travel the universe. From what my mother told me it's a rare trait. Not justanyonecan do this. You are actually the first person I have ever met who has this ability.”
Taryn stared at his boots, taking it all in. He had no reason to doubt her words now, everything she had said was entirely too identical to his own experiences. He didn’t know what it meant for him, though.
“And you’ve beendreamwalkingyour whole life?” he asked her, still getting used to the terminology she used.
Airess turned to face him now, her gilded irises boring into him as she spoke softly. “Ever since I was ten, yes.”
“Maybe there’s been some mistake, then. This only started–”
Shit, when did it start? Hehashad some pretty weird dreams recently. Airess mentioned voices, seeing flashes of images. Taryn realized when it began for him. “It started the night I saved you after the caravan explosion. I found myself in this dreamworld you speak of…”
Taryn trailed off, not wanting to sound absolutely ludicrous.
“You can speak plainly to me. I’m not one to judge,” Airess lightly encouraged, nudging his side lightly with her elbow. Her voice was laced with a soft tone of acceptance. Taryn felt the icy fortress encasing his heart soften ever so slightly.
Has anyone besides his grandmother ever spoken to him with such a welcoming energy? Being a Fae in Elven lands, it was a rarity. Taryn averted his gaze to the watery expanse.
“I was on the cliffside. The same dream you appeared in, only it wasn’t you standing there, but another female – or woman – I couldn’t see her ears to tell what she was. One moment she was there, another moment she had disappeared.”
“What did she look like?”
“It was hard to tell. I only saw her back, but she had red hair and wore purple robes.”
“Redhair,” Airess repeated, the words sounding more like a question. With the sun peaking overhead, Taryn remembered himself, and how they were both on a time crunch to make it out of this country.
“You can bathe first,” Taryn said as he stood and turned to leave, giving her privacy. “I have a lot of questions to ask you about thisdreamwalkingyou speak of, but if we want to travel in a timely manner, we need to leave soon.”
Airess nodded as he turned and stalked into the woods. He walked far enough to be out of sight, but close enough that he was in earshot in case anything came near. He reached his hand out to the saddle –
Taryn stifled a groan as he fell to his knees. The Oathmark flared, searing the skin on his arm. The Oathmark’s Magick began to infiltrate his body and mind. He ripped his tunic by the collar to view the mark, its black glow intensifying with the pain. Darkness closed in, Taryn no longer able to hear and see his surroundings as he collapsed entirely.
BOOM!
He heard men screaming around him as he fell to the ground. Taryn’s heart pounded in his chest as he watched a Runean soldier get cut down by a Lucien soldier, his head decapitated. The gore splattered onto Taryn as he lay in the mud after being blasted backwards by Shadow Magick. The soldier ripped his sword out of the body, a sound Taryn might not ever forget.
His eyes widened as the Lucien soldier transfixed his gaze on Taryn next, stalking towards him with his blade. He remembered to move, to act. Taryn gripped his bow, trembling fingers fumbling to grasp onto the arrow now that his fingers were soaked in blood.
“No!” Taryn screamed as the Lucien’s soldier brought the sword down –
Taryn was suddenly thrust back into reality, the pain from the Oathmark receding. The glow faded, leaving the tattooed ink back to its original red. Panic set in, rooting deep in his stomach and creeping up until his throat tightened. He loathed that Eryx could bring him directly back into his most traumatic memories, even from afar.
Taryn didn’t realize he had fallen flat on the ground, but he heaved as he regained his focus, pulling his tunic upright on his shoulders. He wiped the sweat that beaded on his brow as he stood up.Shit. Eryx had called on his Oathmark sooner than expected. Of course, he knew it would happen eventually.
