41 *Dreamscape* 6

Chapter 41 *Dreamscape* 6

Flange Orphanage, City: Three Prongs Fork, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat, the Year 2022, Planet: Grimoire

Black thunderous clouds and torrential downpours alerted Grifton to yet another potentially bleak future, or so he thought. Oh, good grief what was in store for him now? He observed the scenery with some dismay.

A high mountain range dominated the area where there wasn't dense forest foliage covering everything in dark shadows. Ah, this place was familiar. He'd been here before.

Now though the atmosphere was chilling. Something that was an ancient evil was running amuck without restraint. Where though was it located? Grifton flew through the air because urgency made him realize he might be able to change something if he was in time.

He briefly paused when he saw a meadow. Once it was a beautiful sight. Now it was torn to pieces and turned into a muddle sinkhole. Tears streamed down Grifton's face when he looked at it. Yes, this was where he'd first encountered Harper, Anara, and Sherpa with their mother. He hadn't met the younger five though. That was the anomaly bothering him right now. What happened there?

It was oddly quiet despite the thunder rumbling. That's when it dawned on him, no lightning flared close by. Well, that was a relief.

Usually, such nasty weather portended an unpleasant scenario about to erupt. In this case, he wasn't sure what to expect since Grifton hadn't yet found any signs of what happened to his cousins.

Now that he thought about it. Each dream always began with seeing his blood-related siblings and then another one showed him mingling with his cousins. If this followed that pattern, then maybe Grifton would see his cousins in better shape.

For now, he had to unravel the potential of horrible misfortune or the possibility of averting one. Grifton would prefer the latter because it meant he wasn't entirely worthless an existence even in astral form. A sigh escaped him. I'm becoming too morbid, depressed, and pessimistic. I suppose that is normal because of all the horrid imagery I've been served with so far.

After the first five dreams he witnessed, Grifton was rather exhausted as far as acknowledging the hardship he and the younger siblings faced. Yes, he accepted for now that they were siblings. Though it seemed odd to view them as younger.

Grifton shook his head in confusion. When it felt as if they'd been born in roughly the same year he'd been. It was too complicated for him to figure out what was happening right now. Whatever, it could be a matter of what seasons their mothers had birthed them.

Well for now he would observe everything going on and determine his next move once he understood what he dealt with.

As far as he was concerned, getting involved with those siblings, Harper, Anara, and Sherpa had seemed more trouble than it was worth. That was until he jumped to another dreamscape. That time he witnessed a most horrific sight.

A girl, seemingly bound in chains had noticed him nearby and looked panicked. {Go away! Go away from here. You'll get caught in a horrible demon's soul trap!}

With every word screamed at him, Grifton heeded the warning and fled to a small niche that wasn't laden with weird traps. There he settled and observed what was going on. His skin crawled.

The woman, someone of clear power, but more inclined to abuse the hell out of it was wandering around the room collecting various items and ingredients.

"...Woman may have escaped through death. I can still grab those newborn brats..."

Grifton shuddered despite his best efforts to remain still. So, she was a body jumper, eh? He grimaced because everything was making too much sense to him. Blech, what a nasty piece of work. Now pieces to a shattered puzzle were beginning to drop into place.

Hmm, seems Davina had reason to be worried about her kids' future, Grifton acknowledged rather wryly. Even though she'd looked surprised as all hell when he popped into sight that one time, she'd looked resigned and then concerned. Grifton watched the old hag with a scowl. Could she be related to his younger siblings? If so, what he witnessed in other dreams made chilling sense as to what caused all kinds of catastrophic weather patterns elsewhere.

"...I will ensure they never learn what true happiness is. I will also murder any brats related in blood to them with this latest bit of spell work..." The old hag cackled harshly.

The girl writhed in agony. A single scream escaped before being cut off in a gurgle as blood spewed from a slit throat.

A bright light exploded.

The old hag was no more.

The girl was limp and then the body stirred.

"Hmm, this is so much better. I can move easily. I should've done this earlier." It was that hag's voice but now sounded youthful.

So, this is what would've happened to Davina had she had less powerful inner strength. Grifton grimaced as he watched the scene. Yeah, she'd managed the transfer, but he thought something was off about the process. An unpleasantly familiar stench assailed his nose, and he wrinkled it in disgust. There were undeniable signs of decay. Someone had meddled with the ingredients if he wasn't mistaken. Hah, that old hag had rebelled in her minions.

He unfortunately witnessed two more unpleasant dispatches of failed minions. Could the others have become my cousins by mistake? What got Grifton's attention was that the timing was far too close to when he'd wound up in that infant's body. I don't recognize any of these people, so this confirms my suspicions of having come from another system entirely.

Grifton was rather relieved with the discovery he'd just made. So, what happened to all the others who'd been killed by that hag. Were their souls stored somewhere? He looked around carefully and spotted some vile-looking murky bottles. Ah hah, there they were. They appear to have some seriously nasty seals placed on them to keep the souls within. Their power is slowly being siphoned straight to old hag, so that's how she'd stayed so powerful this long.