Chapter Twenty-Nine

The boy put his hand on his head dramatically, "Didn't anyone tell you to never tell someone to 'calm down? It's argument fodder 101."

The stern looks being passed between Hans and Cierra were interrupted by Nora.

"I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot here," She stepped between them, risking the wrath of Cid, "I'm Nora, this idiot is Hans, and that's Lonnie." She gestured between the three as she named them.

"I'm Cierra," She said, giving a slight wave, feeling awkward, "And this is Cid." She gestured at the tiger as he continued to stare the three newcomers down.

"Nice to finally meet you," Nora took the lead in the conversation, "You heard a lot about you from Hans, though he left out the part regarding attempted murder." She scowled at him.

"We went to Goldie once he told us about you," Lonnie cut in, "She told us to be super cautious."

"Can someone please explain Goldie to me?," Cierra asked, "What is she? Why is she named like a Golden Retriever?"

Hans' cheeks puffed out, trying to hold in a laugh unsuccessfully, "Yeah Lonnie, tell her all about naming Goldie."

Lonnie turned red, and it was his turn to look at the ground.

"Ah," Of course, Cierra thought, that made sense.

"Well," He mumbled, "When we first met Goldie, she said she didn't have a name, and it just slipped out…"

"We tried to change her name to something normal, like Candace or Joanne, but she wasn't having it," Hans interjected, laughing, "So now she's just Goldie."

Nora sighed. "You asked what Goldie is, and I'm sorry to say we're not sure either. We know she comes and goes and that she belongs here, in the dream realms. But what don't know much else about her. She just gives us information every now and then."

"Information about what?" Cierra asked.

"Like you, for example," Nora explained, "Or places that might not be safe anymore, or that could still use our help."

"So then what exactly are we?" Cierra was becoming exhausted with how many questions just kept stacking on each other, "And how can we help places?"

There was silence as the three shared a look.

"Well, we" Hans stepped in, gesturing at Nora and Lonnie, "Are guardians." He held out his hand, showing a ring of the brightest gold Cierra had ever seen. In the middle was a dime sized disc with a raised dot in the middle.

"Each of us has a relic made from the ichor, or blood, of the gods," As he finished, the other two stepped forward, showing theirs. Nora's wrapped up her finger like ivy, leaves spreading off to her knuckle while Lonnie's spread out like a spiderweb.

"But—" Cierra started, confused.

"Yeah, I noticed when I first met you," Hans interrupted, "You don't have a relic. After what happened with Menace, we weren't sure we could trust you."

Cierra arched an eyebrow, how had her interaction with the Bringer of Nightmares made her look suspicious? He had threatened to kill her and Hans was there the whole time she kept the Skogkatts alive.

"No offense," Nora said, picking up where Hans trailed off, "But with the nightmares getting stronger, it's hard to know who to trust. We checked with Goldie, but she wasn't quite sure what to make of you either. She suggested we test you, and that's where the divine artifact came in to play," She paused dramatically, "And now you say you've come back with four and a half divine artifacts?"

They were all looking at Cierra expectantly now.

"We should probably talk about that," Cierra said, trying to gather the events together logically for them, "Goldie suggested I find one of Freya's tears..."

Cierra tried her best to explain what had happened after talking to Goldie, her experience with Baaqir, Fólkvangr, and the weird tree monster.

"Wait," Nora interrupted when Cierra got to the part where she had taken the tears. "You're saying they were experimenting on the artifacts? Can I see the broken tear?"

Cierra held her braceleted arm out for Nora to look at.

"You said you can restore things back to their original form? Can you show us these tears how you found them?"

"Probably," Cierra said slowly, thinking about it, "Give me a minute."

Closing her eyes, she envisioned the tears how she originally found them in the cavern, the four gold and amber and the one drilled into and oozing black.

She knew she was successful when she heard Nora's sharp intake of breath and Lonnie's loud, "Whoa."

The four healthy tears sat straight up on the ground in front of them, while the last one laid, as though defeated.

"The tears told me that if we can get this one," Cierra pointed to the broken tear, "Back to Freya, she should be able to fix it with her power."

Even as she spoke, Cierra noticed that already though the tear looked a little better. There was no more black inking its way out of it and instead it had taken on a grey hue, similar to its bead form.

Nora nodded, "I see."

Cierra was a taken aback by how nonchalant they were that the tears had talked to her. Was it common for divine objects to talk to people?

As Lonnie reached out to touch one, Cierra reverted the tears back to beads on her bracelet. She kept her face straight but was surprised out how easy it was.

"I need more answers," She said, more forcefully than she had intended. "What am I? What are 'guardians?' What do you protect the dream realms from and why? What even are the dream realms? How did you get those rings? If they're made from the blood of gods, have you met the gods? How many of you are there?"

"Whoa, whoa," Nora held her hands up in front of her, "We'll answer your questions, but one at a time please."

Cierra thought for a moment, before choosing the most pertinent question to herself, "Do you know what I am?"

Nora frowned, shaking her head.

"We're not sure. Goldie said there used to be quite a few people like you who could just walk through the dream realms without a relic, but most of you died off or vanished."

"Did they die off," Cierra tried to search for the right wording, "Accidentally?"

"Honestly? We're not really sure." Nora answered, looking apologetic, "It's been a long time since people in general came to the realms."

"But you guys have relics, how long have you all been able to come here?" Cierra frowned.

"I've been here the longest at two and a half years." Nora answered.

Lonnie raised his hand, "Six months."

"Eleven months, almost a year," Hans added, "What about you?"

Cierra knelt down next to Cid, keeping her face towards the tiger to die her disappointment. She had been expecting to run into seasoned dream realms veterans, not people who were new to the area. Still, she thought to herself, they seem to have been more active than she was.

"I've been coming here my whole life, though, I guess I never really knew It until a few weeks ago." She said carefully, looking back up at them to gauge their reaction.

Hans and Nora were able to keep a straight face, but Lonnie's jaw visibly dropped.

"You've been here this whole time, and no one ever found you? Like Goldie or nightmares or anyone?," He asked, unbelieving.

"Yeah, I mean," Cierra tried to think back to any encounters she may have had, "There was one time when I was really young, but I just thought I was having…a nightmare."

"And no one else in your family can come here?" Nora asked, curious.

"Not that I know of," Cierra answered, "I mean, both of my parents passed when I was little, so I'm not sure about them, but no one on my mother's side has ever said anything."

"And your father's side?," Nora pressed.

Cierra tried to keep her voice even, "They didn't keep in touch after he died."

Nora's eyes grew big and she looked away.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked," She muttered.

There was a moment of silence before Hans picked up the conversation.

"You were asking about the relics, and how many of us there are," He said, tactfully turning the conversation in a new direction, "So, for me, I went to sleep one night as usual and then there was a bright light, like you know, how people talk about when they have a near death experience, but it was about a million more times intense, and when I came to, I was holding this ring, standing in a desert."

"Same for me, but minus the light," Lonnie jumped in, "Mine was like I entered this dark maze and every time I took a turn someone I couldn't see laughed at me. Eventually, I got so fed up I just started tearing through the maze trying to get to the other side. When I broke through, I was in a forest clearing, similar to this one."