Chapter 16: Dreams of Water

Simon fell asleep not long after the itching stopped. He wasn’t in a hallway or in an old house. He was in a clearing in a forest. The ground under him had an odd pattern on it, multiple rings with seemingly random dots on each one. Teebs was on the other side of the clearing, his sword drawn and a scowl on his face.

“COME ON YOU PENDANT SPAWN!” Teebs yelled in an almost animalistic way.

Simon looked at his arms. To his surprise, they were covered in a purple-ish black substance, growing from his hands up to his shoulders.

Is this the corruption? He thought, trying to get it off.

His effort was fruitless, in fact it seemed the more he struggled, the more it spread. He looked at his surroundings and found Yuelia on the ground bleeding out, Shards by her side trying to heal her.

Did I do that? He thought.

Teebs ran towards him and swung his sword at Simon, nearly missing the top of his head. Simon tried to run away from him, but it seemed as if his feet were being held in place.

Kill….. Obliterate…. VENGEANCE!!!! Simon suddenly thought, a boiling rage filling him.

He tried shaking the thoughts away, but they wouldn’t leave his mind. Grabbing his own head, he tried forcing himself to think of something, anything other than those three words. Again, the words remained, filling Simon with the worst rage imaginable, the worst rage he had ever felt.

“GET THEM OUT!” Simon screamed, grabbing his head and falling to his knees.

“Wake up, Simon!” Endro said from nowhere.

“What?” Simon replied, scared and confused.

“WAKE UP!” Endro yelled, shaking him awake.

Simon woke up, drenched in sweat and taking deep breaths. He looked around the room, finding that he wasn’t in the woods. He rubbed his head and sat up. Endro had a worried look painted on him.

“What…. What happened?” Simon asked.

“You were screaming in your sleep,” Endro replied.

“Oh… Did I say anything?” Simon asked, walking to the window.

“‘Get them out.’ Sounded like you were having a nightmare,” Endro said, sitting at the desk.

Simon rubbed his forehead and tried to wrap his head around what had just happened.

It was just a nightmare. You didn’t really kill Yuelia, you didn’t really feel the rage, and you weren’t thinking those things. You’re okay, he thought to himself.

These calming thoughts were enough to ward off the fear in his soul for the time being. He walked over to the closet and stood there.

“Do you mind, Andy?” He said, grabbing a dry shirt.

“I’ll show myself out,” Endro said, leaving the room.

Simon changed out of the sweat drenched clothes and walked downstairs. Endro was making breakfast; waffles. Then the toaster bursted into flames.

“I got it,” Simon said calmly.

Simon stuck out a hand and the fire died within seconds.

“How did you do that?” Endor asked.

“The same way I teleport; Airgic,” Simon replied.

“Oh… Is that your original magic?” Endro said.

“Yes actually, but I only use it for traversal,” Simons replied, unplugging the fried toaster.

When he unplugged it, he saw that the cord was covered in water. Come to think of it, everything seemed to be either drenched or had a layer of water on it.

Why is everything covered with water? He thought, getting a mop.

The water seemed to rise when he started to clean it. He put the mop away and opened the door, hoping that it would help drain the house. Instead, the water seemed to rise faster.

Is there a flood or something? He thought, grabbing a bucket.

He started to bail the water out of the window, but every time he bailed, it seemed that the water rose more. When it eventually got up to his knees he stopped bailing and looked outside. The whole town was covered in water!

“What’s going on?!” Simon said.

The water started to rise higher until it was up to his neck. He looked around for Endro, but he was nowhere to be seen. The water started to rise again, faster than before. Taking in a few breaths of air before the water rose above his head, he felt like something was watching him. It felt as if they were enjoying him drown inside his own house.

Sicko…, he thought, swimming through the water.

The water started to feel cold, as if someone dumped ice in it. Then it felt like it was freezing around him. He could see little pieces of ice floating around him, growing bigger by the second. Then the walls started to close in as ice grew from their corners. Simon knew that he was going to drown, caged in ice until someone found him.

How is this even happening? Screw it, doesn’t matter, he thought, closing his eyes as he floated through the water.

Then he reopened his eyes, but he was in his bed. Everything was back to normal, there wasn’t any water in the house and the walls weren’t covered in ice. He got up and walked over to his bedroom door. Someone was down stairs. Using extreme caution, Simon tip-toed downstairs to see who it was. Peering around the corner, he saw Teebs and Shards sitting in his living room.

What are they doing here? He thought.

He took a step towards them to see if they had taken anything. They hadn’t, but that step caught Shards’s attention.

“Uh oh,” she said, tapping Teebs’s shoulder.

“Good morning,” Teebs said, looking at him.

“What are you doing here?” Simon asked.

“We’re here for you,” Shards said.

“Why?” Simon replied, walking to the kitchen.

“Multiple reasons. One of them being to apologize. Right, Teebs?” Shards said, giving Teebs a scowl.

“Yeah… Sorry about hurting Yuelia,” Teebs said.

“Wait, that was you!?” Simon said.

“Yes. I thought she’d die, but I guess Zenithans are more stubborn than I thought,” Teebs replied.

Simon had a scowl that could probably rival with Shards’s on his face. His arms started to spark, causing Teebs to reach for his sword.

“How about we just calm down for a second?” Shards said, raising her hands and looking at the both of them.

Teebs put his hands in his pockets and waited for Simon to stop sparking.

“Why did you do it?” Simon asked, still sparking.

“I thought it would somehow give us the higher ground in this dispute,” Teebs replied.

“Higher ground?” Simon said, the sparks on his arms diminishing.

“What he means is that he thought that getting rid of Yuelia would make you grief and waste a few days at home doing nothing. That would’ve been when we attacked,” Shards explained, “But that plan wasn’t shared until after he did it.”

“Again, sorry,” Teebs said.

The sparks on Simon’s arms were gone. Now he had his hand on his forehead, trying to process what he was told.

“So you thought that you would get a better chance on killing me through my grief? I guess pirates are worse than they say,” Simon said.

“At least I came back and apologized,” Teebs said, looking down.

“By force…,” Shards added.

“Just get out of my house before I loose it, okay? For your sake?” Simon said, pointing to the door.

They left in a hurry, not wanting to find out what Simon meant by ‘loose it.’ He closed the door behind them and walked back upstairs and changed his clothes. Then he returned to the kitchen and started to cook breakfast.

What’s the matter with them? He thought.