Chapter 5 - Magic Dreams

I wake up confused, my head spinning. How much time has passed? My body feels better, still sore, but not as much, and if not for the acute headache I'm still feeling, I could swear I slept a whole night, if not longer than that.

I look around for clues: the same savage room, massive table, and shattered jugs on the fur-covered floor. The mountain of roasted meat is gone though, replaced by a basket full of weirdly colored fruits. This change somehow saddens me.

There's one thing, though. I'm almost naked and covered in furs inside her massive bed.

I don't dare to check, but curiosity takes hold of me. Did I.... did we....? No, nothing happened, I think, but I can't say for sure. I'm alive, my shorts are on, and there are no scratches, no fang marks; everything seems normal except for my memories... missing.

"Who' u?" A strange female voice makes me look ahead.

A sleek, beautiful, and savage young woman stares at me, confused. Strange? Her body? Or her face? I can tell she's not one of the beast's servant girls, neither a warrior of sorts. No, she's something else. Her head stands tall, her eyes intense, and black marks run across her bare chest. I've seen marks like that before! A shaman? Do they have shamans too?

"U the sick?" She points at the bed.

Yes, I'm right; she's a shaman, a healer of sorts. I guess I passed out, and a healer was called for me. Well, that's nice. I think.

"No, just drunk... gaeng?" I spew it out, still unsure about the name of that fermented juice. I remember more now. The damn drink sure took its sweet time, but once it hit, it hit so hard that it knocked me out completely. It really messed me up. And just when I was about to...

The woman smiles as she closes the door behind her. Clearly, she was expecting worse.

"U, stay now," she commands as she climbs onto the bed, pushing me down with her body.

Damn! Her toned body looks amazing, and so does her smooth sand-glowing skin. A perfect creature, almost, except for the deep marks running all over her chest. Massive cuts cross her chest, caring not for her feminine beauty but ripping through what once stood proudly. Horrible, dreaded signs crossing her bare skin from one side to the other, masked by the black paint, still visible from up close. The flesh ripped, pulled apart, stitched in places, opened wide in others. Scars, deep, aimed directly at her ribcage. Who? Who did this to her?

I stare. Her marks tell a story.

Some time ago, her chest was a battlefield; a deadly fight took place. She won, barely. The story should have ended there, with her alive yet broken, maimed, crushed, crawling, crippled, begging through the rest of her life. A pitiful and broken creature, nothing else. But her body tells a different story. Surviving was not enough; she fought, day and night, taking back what was ripped away from her. Her body, her beauty, her power. Her fate was not sealed, far from it, a battle is still raging inside her.

Behind the black paint and ugly scars, her body and spirit shine strong. She's not broken, and I start doubting she ever was. I try to look away, feeling ashamed for watching, for thinking less of her, for even dare pitying her.

My headache kicks in with a vengeance, and I feel the entire room spinning again. Wait a moment! Am I still drunk?

"U, good," she whispers, smiling, and I can feel somehow she understands my problem.

I nod from underneath her beautiful breasts, ignoring the ravages of her past, trying my best not to stare, instantly failing. Why are all these beastly women so damn hot? Am I falling for savages? Is it just something I do now? It must be that damn fruit juice, I think, not sure; it's still up for debate.

But before I can make up my mind, the strange creature leans forward and kisses me, tongue in and all!

Damn, she tastes good! Vanilla sweet with just a slight hint of bitterness, like dark chocolate of some sort. The debate is over; savage or not, I'm all in, and there's no looking back now. I'm lost, amazed, excited, eager for more!

And yet she stops, straightens herself up, staring down at me, waiting.

Waiting for what?

The pain hits like a brick! Right behind the eyes, swirling in my head, pulsating from side to side, making me lose consciousness. I'm dreaming again. I feel pulled up through the darkness into a cold cloud. It's cold; it's very cold. Colder than anything else I've ever known! My body shivers, sweat dripping. Wait, no, that's not cold! It's hot! I'm burning! Burning and sweating! My skin, my flesh, my bones, my eyes, even my mind burn away.

Darkness, emptiness, nothingness. I move, no, I swim, I float!

The searing heat vanishes at once, and I find myself lying on a soft grassy surface. I feel the warm sunlight touching me, tiny lights and shadows playing across my body, grass blades brushing against my skin one after another. Leaves dance lazily above me, a gentle breeze pushing them around.

A forest surrounds me, giant trees rising sky high. Fresh mountain air fills my lungs, and a thousand new smells flood my brain. I feel the earth breathing under me, and I hear unknown birds singing in the trees. Water flows nearby, a creek. Up above, a thousand amazing birds fly through the clouds.

I've never seen anything like this. This place is beautiful beyond words. My mind goes wild, my senses overwhelmed. Every flower, every tree, every leaf is different, from the color of the leaves to the shape of the branches and stems. There isn't a single thing known to me. Even the blue sky is foreign, partly covered by a huge ringed planet that casts an eerie purple shimmer all over this insanely gorgeous world.

I am alive and yet can't move or speak. My body is heavy; my limbs seem unable to support me. I try to raise my hands, but all I manage is push them aside across the soft grass beneath me. The feeling seems familiar, yet still not the same as anything I know.

I hear a sound and turn my head. A small animal is grazing not far from me. Is it a weirdly shaped rabbit, or is it maybe a beaver? It looks at me, eyes open, multiple eyelids blinking. It twitches, suddenly scared, and hops away, holding a large seed in its paws. Its walk looks strange, but only for a short time. A few more jumps, and it takes off, its fur-covered wings spreading wide just like a bat, flying without a sound and vanishing deep into the giant forest.

"Aaggghh!!"

The pain! The pain comes back with a vengeance, and I start to panic. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing happens. There's no sound and no one around to help me! I agonize alone, my body pushed down in this alien grass, near this alien forest, looking at this alien sky.

My vision blurs, and everything fades away. I feel darkness around me. All I have left is the pain and the cold. Cold? Or maybe hot? I'm burning! I'm cold and burning at the same time!!

Shivers, I remember them, fevers, I felt them before, am I... hallucinating!?

A dream?

I want to wake up!

I must wake up! Wake the fuck up, damn it!!!

The fever stops, the fever stops, the darkness lets go.

I open my eyes.

My eyes look right at her black-painted chest. Her scared breasts dangle above my face, so close I can feel their heat. Her smell is slowly waking me up. Vanilla sweet, wild spices, and what else... grass? I stare at her skin. Strange. It looks so smooth, and yet I could swear I've seen blue-gold scales shimmering across... never mind, I'm still delirious, probably. My eyes are too busy now, chasing droplets running down her cleavage. Is she sweating? She must be; it's fucking hot in here.

"U good now," I hear her speak. Her voice is gentle and soft, just as her breast touching my forehead.

"I.... I was sick?" I ask, looking at her confused, my numb tongue just waking up. What is this taste? Did she put something in my mouth? Dark, bitter, slightly sweet. Is this the cure?

"Gaeng rot, makes babies sick." She laughs, pointing at the shattered clay pieces.

I look around, ashamed, slightly annoyed.

Did I get shitfaced by some crappy fruit juice?! Damn! How can this be? I just missed my chance to mess around with the mighty beast queen because of this thing?! And did she just say that only kids get sick from it? Fuck this shit! Not fair; I demand a refund!

"Got u hard, almost killed u," she changes her tone and shakes her head. "One more and I would be lighting ur fire, but u good now, gaeng not gonna kill u more," she continues, gesturing with her hand. Her words makes my skin crawl. Kill me? Can that tasty soft drink really do that?!

The door slams open, and in walks the savage queen looking straight at me with anger and fire in her eyes.

"He's good, Rai'Ze," the one above me speaks, moving away, freeing my body from underneath her.

Rai'Ze, is that the beast's name?

"Leave," she commands without turning her eyes away from me.

The young woman quickens her pace, eyes looking away, avoiding eye contact, closing the big wooden door behind her, leaving me alone with one very pissed-off beast queen.

I feel danger again.

"Death by rot, how stupid are you?!" She lashes at me, blasting the fruits with the side of her axe before half burying it into the massive wooden table. When did that fucking thing get back into her hands?!

"We got to talk. Out, now!" she speaks, pulling the damn thing out and pointing it at me before rushing out, leaving the door open for me. This isn't an invitation; it's an order, and I better fucking do as asked!

I jump out of bed and reach for my clothes. Pants, belt, t-shirt, sneakers. Done! I chase down the stone corridor, rushing ahead, not wanting to anger her further.

"You're too weak," she speaks as soon as I reach her. "You'll die before you'll find a way out."

A way out? Out of what?

"You're weak, even for a wizard. Your mind may help where your body cannot," she continues lashing out. I can barely keep up with her, let alone understand her words. What does she mean I'm weak even for a wizard, and where the hell are we going so fast? What is she so mad about? Is this about last night? Is she angry because I got shitfaced and blacked out? I kind of ruined the evening, to be honest, not that I had a choice... or did I?

Suddenly the corridor ends, and I find myself stepping outside on a large stone terrace suspended above the burning sands. The view ahead is insane. What is this place? Amazing! Why did she bring me here?

"Look!" she speaks, pointing toward the desert.

I stare at the horizon. A never-ending sea of rolling sands lies bare before my eyes. Savage, wild, untamed, deadly. I feel the scorching heat, the dust, the burning sands below; I remember memories, I remember fears. This entire fucking world lies in front of me, just as fucked up and wild as the savages that inhabit it! The memories are alive; my body remembers everything. It's been nothing but pain and misery since I set foot in it!

"You don't belong," she scorns me. "Here, the weak die!"

I look at her, slightly annoyed. I've heard those words before. It's easy for her to look down on others; she's a beast, an animal, a fucking monster! She rules these sands; she's the mighty chieftain; everything I see is hers! What the hell does she expect me to do? I just got here, for hell's sake! I have no superpowers, I got captured the moment I set foot in this world, and I barely survived the trip, not that she cares about it.

Her words suppose to hurt? Should I defend myself? Pretend she's not right?

Weak? Yes, I know! I feel it every fucking day. There's no way in hell I can ever become like her... she's the strongest creature I've ever fucking seen in my entire life. A raging lion can't match her strength, and I bet she can put down a bear with one hand tied behind her back! There's no match; there's not even a chance. I'll never be as strong as her. Also, what's with the annoyance? Why does my strength matter to her now?

She grabs my hand and pulls it to her. Fuck, that hurts. I won't become stronger if you break my arm!

"This is yours to keep, if you prove! It was given to me, it's mine to give."

Her words make no sense. Give me what?

I suddenly feel a heavy weight tightening shut around my left wrist. A shackle? She lets go, and I quickly pull my hand away. It's some kind of heavy iron bracelet. Am I chained again? It doesn't look like a shackle, though. It's wider, with beautifully carved marks all across it. Is this a gauntlet? No, wait, a bracer? No, it can't be; it's too short for that. I slowly roll my fingers across. It feels strange like it's alive somehow. Is this thing even made of metal?

I look back at her. Is this a gift or a curse? Am I chained again?!

She's grinning, eyes pinning me, tense. So, not a gift, then. Something is about to happen, but what?

I brace for pain. This world hurts; it always does. I've already learned that.

Yet... there is no pain? I'm confused... what's going on?

Suddenly, the strange bracelet comes to life. The inner part starts sliding by itself, rolling to one side and then to the other, lighting up encrusted symbols on the top, spinning faster and faster. I look at it, mesmerized. It kind of reminds me of something. Wait! I think I get it! The thing, the bracelet, it's... calibrating itself?

It rolls forward, then back, and another symbol lights up. Then again, faster, one side, and again, the other. It's like a radio tuner searching for each channel frequency, saving it at soon as a signal is found and moving to the next.

One after another, the entire outer ring lights up, and then the inner ring stops. Is that all?

"Th'al-nik," I hear the beast speak.

"Th'al-nik," I repeat, staring at the now glowing artifact.

All lights flash once and fade away. The middle part starts spinning again, quickly finding its target. A single bluish symbol lights up, and thin rays of light spread out from it.

A pale glow fills the air in front of me, growing stronger and stronger before my very eyes. A hologram! The bracelet projects a hologram! My jaw drops! Symbols, signs, numbers, and letters I've never seen in my life take shape out of thin air right in front of my eyes, moving, blinking, glowing. The artifact is working! It's projecting a message!

"Here," she points up to the signs. "You're too week, see?" she whines and complains.

Weak? Where?

I puzzle over it as my eyes move across the floating signs. Too late. They all fade away, replaced by new strange images. What's this? A diagram, a body? Tall, weirdly shaped, with arms too long, head too big, eyes alien to me. Light veins spread from its center, crossing each other, critical points, limbs, organs, everything visible. The shapes move now, and the body transforms. Wait! Is this.... my body? I'm barely half the size, far thinner, stupidly unfit to even stand beside the first creature, not a single thing matching.

"Aaaagggghhhh!!!" A sharp pain moves through my arm.

I instinctively try to shake the pain away, but the hologram flushes red, warning me.

"Don't move!" the beast orders me, her eyes glowing from behind the hologram. Her tone shows no mercy. I freeze in place, trying my best to keep still for a moment, ignoring the pain, breathing.

The pain keeps growing, crosses my elbow, reaches my shoulders, and rushes toward the rest of my body. I look at the hologram, and I can see the progress. The thing... it's scanning me! There go my arms, pain, chest, tight, barely able to breathe, head hurts, eyes burn. I clench my fist, trying to stop it from shaking. Organs are next. Lungs detected, stomach... whatever the hell is there, it fucking hurts so much... just get over it already!! Fuck, is that my liver?

"Aggghhh...."

Fucking finally, the legs, still pain, far less, though.

It's over, and I'm soaked.

The hologram is updating itself. Symbols flash across my body, labels searching the proper alignment. Everything is a mess; there are errors everywhere. Too few organs, too smaller limbs, what's that? Is that all the head you've got? Pathetic! Here you go, another flashing error over that stupid inferior joke of a brain of yours! Not a single part looks good, and everything gets listed in red. A side list starts flowing, most of it in red, and it's huge.

The hologram fades off, and I can feel the grip of the bracelet weakening. The pain fades away too.

I feel relieved but somewhat worried. Was I too weak for it? Did I fail? I won't be surprised. I look at the beast, searching for answers. She doesn't seem annoyed anymore. Is this a good sign?

"Your body is weak, but you will make it." She nods, smiling.

Make it? Make it how? Make it.... alive? Wasn't that all? There will be more!?

That doesn't sound good; no, it sounds quite dreadful, to be honest. I feel afraid; what the hell is this thing? Why did she put it on me? Can I get it off?

Speaking of it, the bracelet starts spinning again. No pain, no noise, just a calm rotation of the inner ring. So smooth, so effortless, like floating inside itself. A few rotations to one side, a few to the other, then back. Wait, is this a binary code?

I count twelve; for each new circle to begin, twelve smaller ones must end. Did that giant humanoid have twelve fingers? I don't recall looking at its hands...

And then it stops again, a single symbol lighting up at the bottom. Is that the power on light or something?

I touch it. My hand jumps away; my heart is running wild. I can feel trough it! I can feel my fingers running across it, through the bracelet, like it's a part of my own body!

What the fuck is this thing?