“Right,” I explained to the researcher over the phone.  “The town of Iyorin.  Mostly witches, but we had several others.  I can list out the names of everyone I remember,” I suggested.

“Maybe, maybe.”  The researcher seemed intrigued with the whole idea of finding someone who had lived 400 years ago.  They’d begged me for an interview to repeat everything I could remember so they could document it for the future.  I wasn’t entirely sure about that, because I was aware that telling them what happened would implicate my coven in the mess that followed – and maybe me, too.  Sure, whatever had happened to start the earthquake occurred amongst those fighting, but the fire potions hadn’t helped anything.  Them going off was an accident, but I still shuddered a bit to think I might have been responsible for my entire town’s deaths.  Or, well, partially responsible.

“Iyorin, Iyorin,” he murmured.  “Ah, here, there’s not much about the town.”

I tried to avoid the hope that lit in my heart at the reassurance that there was something.

“There’s a paragraph talking about the town generally, how it was mostly well-known for growing certain plants that originated on the mountain.  Hmm, let’s see, let’s see – there’s a few copies of sales of goods, again mostly those plants, mostly with other witches.  There’s a mention of Iyorin in some fairy correspondence, talking about – oh, wait, that’s odd.  The fairy is talking about plants but seems quite upset.  But these were dark magic plants, no?  Fairies couldn’t even grow them.  How strange.”

I hesitated, then decided I might as well admit the truth.  Even if members of my town were still alive, ultimately some members of the coven were responsible for the war which triggered the destruction of our town.  It seemed only fair to admit that, so anyone else who wondered what happened to their family members who died there could know the truth.

As briefly as possible, I explained that there’d been a war going on the day I’d fallen asleep, that I suspected was with fairies and dryads but I’d never seen who the attackers were.  I explained how I’d been sent for supplies and came across the stolen plants right before the mountain started to tremble and then the fire potions exploded.

“Fire potions?”  The researcher sounded startled.  “Wow, I haven’t heard of those being used in – ah, well, that would make sense, this was 400 years ago.  You see,” he explained, “most larger towns these days have a supernatural council, and to enter the town, supernaturals have to agree to certain covenants.  Basically to ensure the town is a place of peace and safety.  They’re designed to protect everyone, so, say, predator shifters agree not to hunt in town, vampires agree not to drink blood without permission, and witches agree to not curse people.  Fire potions are among the things generally banned by supernatural councils – far too volatile and unstable.  I suppose in some smaller towns not controlled by councils, maybe they’re still a thing, but they’re far too dangerous for most people to bother with.  They just as often explode at random and destroy the witches who made them as they are actually used the way the witch intended.

“However,” he went on, “you shouldn’t feel responsible for the collapse of the mountain.  The records here say it was caused by a combination of dryads trying to move all the trees, some fairies using water magic to try to take out some of the witches, and the witches’ spells and potions.  I dare say the fire potions going off didn’t help, but it wouldn’t have caused the entire mountain to collapse.  Honestly, that was the fault of the people in battle being too careless and the mountain itself having several fault lines which happened to be hit by everything that was going on.”

I did feel an immense amount of relief from that.  Ever since I woke up, I’d hated the idea that I might have accidentally killed my townspeople.  Just because I didn’t appreciate the way they treated me because I was a male witch didn’t mean I wanted them dead.

“Though,” the researcher sounded thoughtful now, “I’d have expected you to die from two fire potions.”

“Three,” I corrected.  “There were three of them.”

“See?  Yeah, yeah, that’s – I mean, a dragon, a unicorn, a demon even, I’d expect to survive.  Probably, for the demon, more so for the dragon or unicorn.  But you’re talking three fire potions plus the mountain coming down on top of you.  Surviving that shouldn’t even be possible for a witch.”

I hesitated a bit, biting my lower lip.  “My doctor’s daughter suggested that maybe I’m not all witch.  My mother – she had a one-night stand, I guess?  She said she never knew who my father was.  Is there a species that could sleep for centuries like I did, and maybe that’s how I survived?”

“Ooh, a single mother back then would have been looked down on and treated harshly by most.  Good thing she was in a supernatural community, they wouldn’t care quite as much.  But to answer your question, hmm, hmm, something that can sleep for hundreds of years, something that can put others to sleep, maybe?  Let’s see, it’s here somewhere, just give me a minute.”  I could hear what sounded like books being shoved around and pages flipped.

“Ah!  Found it!  You’re talking about a somnus.  Somni are a true hybrid descendant of dragons, just with sleep- or hypnotic-related abilities instead of fire or ice or the traditional dragon magics.  Like nightwings, they took on a form of their own and magic of their own and can reproduce as an entirely different species than their ancestors – unlike more traditional hybrids.  Say, someone with powers of both parents, they’re not a true hybrid – not a new race.  They’re just a hybrid of the two.  Somni were a new race created from dragons and shades.  Shades,” he added before I could ask, “are a type of darker magic supernaturals that could enter people’s dreams and affect them.  Spy on them, even.  They grew rampant in power around 700 years ago, give or take, to the point it became a huge issue for other supernaturals because they were being careless and, well, using their powers to terrify humans.  Humans who knew about supernaturals began to be afraid of us, all because shades were using their powers just to entertain themselves.  It’s believed that shades’ activities during that time sparked the growth of Hunters in response, but they weren’t the only reason for that, either.  There’s other reasons – the spread of information more generally, the spread of certain religions, and – oh, nevermind, that’s not the point.

“Anyway, shades were largely erased after that, by choice of the rest of the supernaturals.  They felt that if they went unchecked, shades would wreak havoc for all supernaturals.  They weren’t all killed or imprisoned after that, in fact there was a healthy number who were still law-abiding, but they became afraid of the anger of other supernaturals and started to avoid us, even if they were quite harmless.  Every now and then, someone still encounters a shade – they weren’t officially erased since some of them were still good – but for the most part, they’re an incredibly rare species.

“Which brings us back to somni.  Shades and dragons created a hybrid offspring.  It’s possible your father was born back before shades disappeared, but not necessarily – somni weren’t caught up in their ancestors’ issues, and while they’re not a super numerous supernatural race, there’s enough of them out there that it’s quite feasible that your mother encountered one without knowing it.  She might have recognized it as a supernatural of dark magic, and that’s it.”

That was kind of a lot to take in, but the main point was that he had an idea that explained why I’d slept for so long.  “And a somnus could survive the mountain collapsing like that?  And, uh, sleep for 400 years?”

“Hmm.”  The researcher paused for a bit to think.  “Well, dragons are one of their ancestors and dragons survive almost anything, in theory at least.  They can die, but it’s not usually from wartime stuff, you know?  I don’t know that somni surviving powers were ever tested – there’s nothing in these resources about that – but let’s say it’s possible in theory?  The more likely theory, though, is that somni magic essentially wrapped you in a cocoon of sleep to heal and recover, likely triggering when you almost died.  You weren’t found for 150 years, right?  So likely you recovered sometime during that time.  You couldn’t control your powers, though, so they sort of exploded on their own, which might explain why you slept for so long, past the point you needed to simply recover.  Look at it like a child trying to cast a spell and they do too much because they don’t know how to control their powers yet.  Granted, I’ve never heard of someone sleeping for that long before, but there’s a lot we don’t know about somni.”

“So what do we know?”  I asked hesitantly.  “I mean, what do somni powers do?  And does that mean I have somni magic and could learn to control it?”

“Well yes, of course, that would be the assumption – if they were what put you to sleep for that long, you definitely have somni powers.  I mean, assuming that hypothesis is correct, but I think we’re safe in that assumption, there’s not really any other options here.  But to answer the first question, a somnus can hypnotize people and send them into sleep – even for years, sometimes.  I haven’t heard of 400 years before, like I said, but a decade or two, yes.  Before medically-induced comas were a thing, somni sometimes helped people who needed to be in a coma for whatever reason.  I’ve heard of someone asking to be put to sleep indefinitely because they hoped that in the future, medicine would have a cure for their condition.  But somni can also hypnotize people into following their commands and not remembering anything that happened while they were under their control.  Not something to be used lightly, of course, but it can be a helpful thing for supernaturals.  Imagine you find a Hunter, for instance?  You could convince them to tell you about their clan members and learn how to deal with them without the Hunter ever realizing that they have revealed information to you.  Hypnotism doesn’t work quite as well on supernaturals, and some supernaturals learn ways to avoid having their minds influenced – witches and naga, for instance, plan for that as a potential method of attack and generally have defenses that don’t allow it as easily.  But it’s still a helpful ability in many instances.”

The researcher paused just long enough to take a breath.  “As far as learning how, well, I don’t have the answer for that.  Books in the library rarely explain the how of different magics.  Like, we have records of hundreds of witch spells, but witches don’t generally explain how their magic works to us or let it be written down at all.  Too dangerous for them, which I can understand.  And it’s that way for other species, too – they don’t want to explain things that can put them at risk.  I mean, we do have parts of the library that are highly restricted so not just everyone has access to them, you know?  But still, people are hesitant to write stuff down.  Anyway, point is, I can tell you what kind of magic a somnus has, but I can’t tell you how to figure out how to use it.  However, I can tell you,” I heard him move around a bit, rifling through some papers from the sound of it, “where another somnus is.  Maybe they can teach you.”

I felt a bit of hope rise in my heart.  I wasn’t sure I was ready to leave the hospital, but I wanted to understand this side of me I’d never known had existed until I woke up here.  Whatever this was, I needed to know.  I needed to understand what I could do.

“He’s in a city called Avenglade,” the researcher informed me before I could ask.  “His name is Henry.  I don’t have an address or a last name for him, but the supernatural council will know where to find him – they’ll keep track of rare supernaturals like that.  If you can’t find him there, let me know.  There’s a couple others I can probably track down, but Henry’s the easiest.”

As I hung up after finishing talking to the researcher, I tried not to let that hope get too big as I went to find Dana and Lola and report on my findings.

Lola was delighted for me to find out what I was – other than a male witch – but then immediately dismayed to find out that the other somnus wasn’t anywhere close by.  “What?  You’d have to leave?  No!”  She whined.  “That’s no fair!”

“Nicolas needs to understand this side of him and he’s capable of surviving out there now,” Dana immediately informed her, but her expression wasn’t entirely happy, either.  “We’ll miss you a lot,” she told me.  “We’re happy that you found some answers, but it’s kind of unfortunate that the help you need isn’t close.  It’s not going to change our family status,” she added swiftly, “but it can make it harder.”

I fidgeted with my bracelet, feeling the delicate charms while trying to figure out how to word this.  “What if you, um, took a break?  From work.  Since, you know, you don’t love it?  You could take some time off to do something else for a bit and come with me, and then when I’ve learned what I need to, we could come back.  Unless you didn’t want to come back, then we could do something else.”  I felt like I was asking quite a bit of them – asking them to temporarily move with me – but I also wanted to at least give it a shot.  I’d regret going by myself if I never asked.  If they didn’t want to come, that would be one thing, but I’d really prefer it if they came with me.  Not just because they were kind of my security blanket, explaining how the world worked nowadays, but also just because they understood and accepted me.  They were family.

Lola brightened up at my suggestion.  “Ooh, let’s do it, Mama!  We can go and see this city, meet the other somnus guy, and be there for Nicky!  We haven’t taken a trip in ages, it would be fun!”

Dana looked thoughtful.  “It might be nice to take a sabbatical,” she admitted.  “Maybe consider whether I still want to be a doctor.”

“So you’ll do it?”  Lola asked hopefully.  “Please?  Please, Mama?”

Dana looked at me and when our eyes met, we both burst out laughing at Lola’s expression.

Dana threw her hands up in surrender.  “Fine, let’s do it.  Let’s move to Avenglade with Nicolas and just see how things go.  Who knows, maybe we’ll like it there and decide to become permanent residents?”

I didn’t know about that, but I did know that I was immensely relieved that I’d have them with me while I took this new step.

Together, we’d be fine.  I was sure of it.