CONT.
- - -
At first, I see nothing but a distorted reflection of the hall. The longer I look, the more the reflection changes, swirling around sluggishly like it’s a pot of soup being stirred. I notice with a start that although the wrongness that emanates from the mirror is heavy, I no longer feel an awful thrumming in my chest. The way the reflection moves is strangely hypnotizing, and I feel myself losing track of time - it could have been seconds, or it could have been hours that I stared, transfixed, into the mirror’s depths. The surface swirls, faster and faster and faster until WHOOSH! A bright flash of light suddenly pulses outwards, the center of the mirror opening to reveal a small, uneven dirt road.
The ground is cracked and dusty, littered with an assortment of pebbles and tire tracks etched into the sandy shoulder. Next to the road, pale yellow-green strands of kangaroo grass sway in the wind. Even as I remain standing in the hallway, I can smell the dry, heavy air and hear the sound of hundreds of cicadas buzzing in the undergrowth. As I stand, swaying slightly, the distant sound of a motor captures my attention. I frown, moving to the left to try and get a better look. Seconds later, a greenish-gray Jeep lurches down the road, becoming airborne as it leaps over a small sewer pipe.
The thrumming in my chest returns. I see a tire fly off the back of the Jeep when it lands, sending up a cloud of dust in its wake. As the roar of the engine grows distant and the dust settles, I hear a small, weak yowl. Without thinking, I reach into the mirror world. My hand goes through with ease, and my body follows without much effort on my part. I tumble into the grass, rolling a few times before I pull myself to my feet.
“This is stupid. I’m going to get fucking murdered.” I say under my breath.
I take a look backwards and realize with a spark of dread that the mirror-portal bullshit is gone. Oh, I’m so fucked - my mentor is going to rip me apart when they find out what I did. In retrospect? I should have talked to them first, called out to them via my amulet when I had the chance. Here, I can’t even feel the soft, constant hum of their presence - it’s cut off, like this place is some sort of dead zone. I slow down reflexively as I near the tire, taking some time to collect myself. What I did was stupid. Incredibly so. But I can’t go back now, even if I wanted to. There’s something, someone here who needs my help.
I cautiously gather my strength and haul the tire up, pushing it aside and expecting the worst. But instead, a gasp leaves me, and I smile, “Holy shit! Kittens!” I say, stunned.
The smile melts from my face once I realize they’re hurt, and very, very badly. One barely moves, and blue ichor leaks from several of their wounds. Before I try and handle them though, I hold my hands above them, trying to discern what they are. Feeling for vibrations is usually a pretty good litmus test for what to avoid, what to offer help to, and what to ask for help from in dreams. In general, dangerous creatures have a deep, dark thrum to them, while neutral dream creatures have some variation of a staccato drumming, almost like a human’s heart. And those who are deities or worked for them? They always have a strong, soothing vibration.
But these kittens are different. They thrum, they beat, and they vibrate. I’ve never seen that before. Sure, they don’t really look like normal cats - they’re light blue with dark blue stripes and stars twinkling in their pelts - but in the dream world, everything can look like anything. I bite my lip, looking over to the more seriously injured kitten. It’s barely breathing, and several of its bones appear broken. I don’t even know if it’ll live, or if I’ll do more damage by picking it up. The other kitten seems more stable - its back right leg splays at an odd angle, but it looks pretty alert, even though it’s distressed. As I weigh my options, the weaker kitten suddenly grabs my finger. I stare in shock as it pulls my finger down and tries to nurse.
A sudden surge of fierce protectiveness fills me. It’s like a fire has been lit in my chest as I scoop up both felines and stand, cradling them close to me. Their vibrations wash over me like a tidal wave, drowning out the world around me. I’ll save them. No matter what happens here, I’ll make sure they’re okay. I’ll fight the world and anyone who comes after them. This is my duty, now… no, this is my whole purpose of being, now. I am nothing. These tiny, little lives? They are everything.
It's only the sudden return of the deep, awful thrumming that manages to break me out of being swallowed up by the kittens’ strange vibrations. I shake off the self-secrificing thoughts and look up. As I do, I feel my body grow cold - the Jeep is coming back, and it’s headed straight towards me; straight towards the kittens. I look towards where I entered this dreamscape and yet still… there’s no sign of the mirror or the strange portal that brought me here.
As fast as I can run, there’s no way I can outrun a Jeep.
Especially not one like this. The grill on the vehicle’s front is not a grill at all, but rather several rows of sharp, gnashing teeth. Its headlights glow red, and a shrill scream comes from what I can only assume is its throat. In the driver’s seat, I see nothing. It’s alive, and it wants me dead. Looking back on this, years from now, I might laugh at the memory of a killer Jeep rolling towards me at top speeds. But right now? I’m fucking terrified.
The great, mechanical mass of the car draws closer. I shuffle the kittens into my non-dominant arm, causing them to mewl loudly in protest. I give them an apologetic forehead kiss as I grasp the amulet on the side of my belt. It’s white, shining with green and pink fragments that dance in the light. When I touch it, a soothing vibration thrums through my body. As the Jeep roars down the road, I tense, preparing myself to fight.
Though, is it really a fight if you only have one move?
The Jeep’s grill snaps wildly, and when I feel my skin tingle with the burning heat of the car’s engine and the thrum in my bones threatening to tear me apart, I speak.
“Oparu ke burumi!”
A cold fire envelopes my body. My skin tingles as power surges through me, and the kittens’ yowl as they are soaked in soulfire. My chest burns - there’s a good reason why dreamscapers don’t use their amulets often. The pain of having a minute part of your soul burned off is almost unbearable to the waking human, and leaves the unconscious user incredibly sore for days. The last time I used this power, I was bedridden for weeks. But I was inexperienced then. This time, I only draw a little bit of fire out from my soul, and clamp the figurative power valve shut as soon as I feel the Jeep’s vibrations level out.
When the bluish-white fire fades, I stumble, narrowly avoiding collapsing to the ground. The Jeep is gone, a pile of gray ash in its place and scorch marks littering the grass. I can smell the remnants of fire in the air, and some strands of grass still burn like embers before they too, peter out. I fall to my knees, then roll onto my back, keeping the kittens clutched tightly to my chest. My body feels like goo, and the only thing keeping me conscious at this point is my fear of the Jeep returning.
A heavy thrum runs through the air. It’s similar to the kittens’, but so much more powerful. I instinctively clutch the kittens closer, turning over and curling myself around their tiny, warm bodies. I can’t do anything else. I’m so, so tired. As I feel the entity drawing closer and my eyes falling shut, I pray to whatever luck deity is lurking in this dreamscape that at the very least, the kittens are spared.
---
I wake up to the sound of purring.
My eyes open, and I blink a couple times as the morning sun floods into the room. Immediately, I can tell I’m not in my room. The curtains hanging above me on what I assume is a bedframe glow with constellations that blink in and out of existence. The mattress below me is soft, and the sheets cradling my body are silky smooth. If I wasn’t so damn out of sorts, I’d have fallen right back asleep. But the fact that I am in a new place, still dreaming, and somehow not dead is enough to keep me conscious.
That, and the presence of two kittens curled up on my chest.
I can sense from their vibrations that they are the two I saved earlier. They’re totally conked out, but their external injuries seem to have healed, for the most part. A smile forms on my face, and I muster up enough strength to gather the kittens up in my arms and give them a hug. They respond by cuddling up closer to me, snuffling into my neck. I let my eyes fall shut as the kittens purr, and wait for sleep to take me once more.
Sleep doesn’t come soon enough. I’m jolted back to reality when I feel a hand touch my forehead. My eyes shoot open, and the hand is immediately retracted. When I look up, I’m awestruck. Above me stands a tall, anthropomorphic cat with no less than five pairs of arms. The creature is dressed in a long, wispy shawl and pleated skirt. Its fur is colored incredibly similar to the kittens, and its eyes look like galaxies.
Yet… its energy is still strange. I narrow my eyes, shield the kittens as much as I can from the entity, “Don’t… you can’t hurt them.”
My voice sounds awful, and the act of speaking is just as unbearable. I cough violently, tears springing from the corners of my eyes. The kittens mewl, sneezing and stretching before settling back down. The feline above me, however, merely chuckles softly, crossing its arms over its torso, “Mortal, you still protect these kittens despite the ruined state of your body? You are truly something else.”
Its voice is airy and I don’t recognize its accent. I stare warily at the entity, still not entirely convinced it's not here to hurt me or the kittens. As I do, I hear a far away door open, and a soothing wave of energy washes over my body. My eyes widen, and I strain to force my ruined body to sit up. Before I can hurt myself more though, the door to the room I’m in opens, and a fluffy, yellow ball of feathers comes barrelling in.
- - -
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