Dream World - Cypher

The world is ending, I’ll admit that much. Will it fully end, however, is the real question.

“So you, Dokyeom, and Isle all survived Trem’s attack on us thirty years ago?” Elaine asked me. It was strange to see her in this different body, with bouncy blonde hair that trailed down her back and height that was half of mine. I wonder where the mind of the other girl had gone when Elaine took her place?

“Yeah. I couldn’t manage to bring you and Delphine, so from what I know of, she’s really dead. Thankfully you managed to get Trem to spare you because otherwise, we’d really be down two ancients.” I said, fidgeting again as I struggled to find a comfortable way to sit in the hay. Eventually, my annoyance grew to a peak, and with a wave of my hand, all the dirt and hay flew off of my cosmic-blue dress as an invisible broom had swept through the air.

“What about-”

“Hoshi?” I guessed, flicking off a final speck that remained from my spell, “Who knows. I haven’t heard anything from him, and I haven’t seen Trem again since I last saw you, so he’s been labeled as missing in action.”

“Ah. That’s nice information to know, but I was going to ask-” I could feel her eyes drilling into mine even without looking at her, “What about you?”

“What about me?” I repeated, careful not to show much emotion. After all these years of missing Elaine, I had forgotten how easily she could see through me when I was distraught.

“Come on, Cypher. You’re making it too easy.” She sat down next to me, carefully avoiding the patches of mud on the floor. “I know fake joy from you when I see it. I mean, I’m sure you’re more than delighted to see me, but I can tell there’s something on your mind that’s keeping you from a real smile. So what happened?”

“You know for a toddler, you’re a real mom.”

Elaine grinned her tiny child grin, “I do hope someone took up my mantle of parenting in whatever this other dimension of yours is.”

I sighed, thinking back to our wasted time in the little sandbox I’d created for everyone. “Well, not really. I mean, I was a bodyguard of sorts to make sure Trem never found our world, and Dokyeom was kind of the annoying brother that never stopped talking.”

“So nothing changed with him? Or you?”

I gulped, trying to conjure the best lie imaginable: “No. I mean, not with him. I’ve been stressing my mind all these years with the cloak around my world for everyone to be safe in hopes we’d grow strong enough to eventually defeat Trem. Dokyeom thinks we’re ready-”

“And you really believe in Dokyeom?” Elaine said his name like it was a bad punchline. Thinking about it, we looked rather silly: locking ourselves in our own separate dimension, and our hero is frozen behind us while we’re gossiping about boys and their idiocy.

“I mean, he’s matured a little!” I protested, but Elaine couldn’t help but giggle at the idea.

“Yes, I’m sure he has,” she mocked, smiling like all other responsibilities of the world were forgotten. After a fit of giggling and knee-slapping, reality dawned on us (or maybe I willed it to do so as we were having too much fun. Get it? “Reality” dawned on us?).

“Where do you think we can find Isle?” Elaine said, wiping a tear away from her laughter.

“Elaine, I didn’t know where I could find you until you made this mirror world. I’m sure Isle knows how to stay hidden.”

“Well we can’t just let her hide away when she could be the type of firepower we need right now,” She pounded on her legs in a tantrum, “I mean, she’s the ancient mage of creation! This would be twice as easy if she was by our side!”

“I know, Elaine.”

“Then you know we can’t let her hide away like a coward! This is the key, I know it! I’ve reset the timeline too many times-” she stopped herself, but my attention was already grabbed. I jolted my head to look at her, the question slipping out of my tongue before I could process what she said.

“What do you mean, ‘too many times’? You told me...” I paused, her words beginning to dawn on me, “You told me you used that loop of yours to send everything back thirty years only two or three times. Elaine, how many times have you tried to save Milo?”