Deep breath in. Hold. Slowly release. Zach listened for the sound of his own breath and heard nothing.

This silent as fuck dream again. Zach screamed just because he could and heard nothing.

Another deep breath and Zach was ready. There was a process to this dream and he was slowly working it out. Eventually it would end.

Zach’s faith in dream interpretation was extremely low. He believed in visions, though, and those were only gifted to seers. Zach wasn’t a seer. So the dream wasn’t just a dream and it wasn’t a vision. Meddling in magics he shouldn’t meant asking for help wasn’t possible. The only solution was to see the dream through to the end.

He’d searched for runerail construction sites before going to sleep. Nothing matched the land in his dreams. He’d found two in the planning stages and one under construction. The one under construction was in the city. For the other two, one was in a forest village and the other in a gorge.

If he couldn’t finish the dream, he would find the actual location and finish it there. This place that wasn’t real yet had to exist. He would find it.

He rubbed his ring and knew - somehow just knew - that the invisible something lay on the ground by the tracks. He didn’t hesitate this time to walk over to it and place his hand on its shoulder. This invisible man couldn’t lose sight of the unfinished construction or the dream would end again.

It was a ridiculous thought, but Zach wanted to find this place again. He took off his ring and put it on the stranger’s hand. Then he very carefully picked the stranger up.

Getting the stranger on the truck was slow, tricky work. Zach almost crossed the stranger’s vision several times with his hand or an arm. Securing him took walking the long way around the truck many times.

He’d tried putting the stranger in the passenger seat the first few times they’d made it this far. It ended the dream. The truck bed was the only way. Zach almost shook with the humiliation of strapping a human down like an animal. The ring with his heart gleamed in the sunlight, as if glinting with approval, and Zach scowled at it.

Zach’s body knew what to do, somehow. When Zach faltered, his hands moved with precision. While Zach’s brain fretted over how bruised and battered the person would be at the end of a very short drive, his feet took him to the driver side door and his hands pulled him inside.

Zach’s father was the brother to the king. Zach never needed to drive anywhere. He had chauffeurs and private train cars and butlers. But he climbed into the driver’s seat and his hand turned the key in the ignition. As if he were a puppet, he shifted the truck into gear and pressed on the gas pedal.

The road lay in a straight line before him. His attention split between the endless miles of dirt and dust, and the invisible man on the truckbed. The speed stayed slow to avoid jostling his cargo as much as possible, and Zach winced at every pothole and stone the truck bounced over.

But as always the world was silent. The other man could be wailing, crying, screaming in protest and Zach wouldn’t hear the smallest ounce of a tear. His heart tore in half: one side screaming to go faster and end this pointless torture sooner and the other side crying not to risk greater harm.

His heart?

He’d never seen this man. Zach’s heart was lost. How could a lost heart tear over a stranger?

Why had he given the stranger his ring? He’d wanted to find this place again, yes, but that ring was Zach’s only tie to finding his heart. He couldn’t give it up.

Stopping for it now would end the dream. Zach took a deep breath and kept driving. The ring was nothing now; a useless trinket. Ending the dream took priority.

Zach drove for hours. The road seemed smooth, and the truck never ran out of gas. The few bumps he felt were small.

He woke tired and sore, one moment driving and the next staring at his wall. The clock showed it was already seven, so he got dressed and gathered his supplies for his first classes before heading to the cafeteria for breakfast. Despite how fatigued he felt he greeted his classmates with a pleasant tone and gathered his meal together with sure hands.

Was the dream finally over?