Ghosts of the future

[Dreamless Realm]

Tensions were at an all time high with humanity. Messenger spirits ran through, fast as the wind would allow. The monstruous folk gathered in their forests or friendly cities, and within, the sound of hooves on the pavement was thunderous and never ending. For transport, to fend off nervousness or for pleasure. It was easy to find monsters trotting or galloping in the streets. Portals opened and closed faster than the human government could register. There had been some fights, light attrocities, but the big question was still in the air.

Interdimensional refugees, Ezra had called them. Estraven had known this wisp for some time. They carried themself with determination and fury, with an innate magnetism that drew in the curious and the damned. They had been on Earth for a couple of generations, enough for a few to love and let live. Also more than enough for tainted minds and powerful individuals to stir trouble. Ezrael was somehow in between. Estraven leaned less and less toward letting live and loving full time. And more to a middle position, his doubt and rage fueled by humanity's dying planet. By Ezrael's rallies, and his nightly whispers in his ears. It was intense, but fiery and demanding.

The next portal Estraven saw, he didn't expect. It wasn't magical, or smelled like a thunderstorm. His deer half alerted him, and he stopped in his tracks, unsheathing his lance and readying for battle. He was barely a hundred years old, with shorter hair, fur, and barely a shadow of a beard. He wore a navy corset belt around his upper waist, over a light blue shirt. On his deer half, saddlebags and other curious contraptions, plus weapons. Behind him were his sons Senda, a white deer-like monster very similar to Ezra but barely pushing 40. Very young, who wore yellow flowery fabrics. And Klaus, a human baby on a carrier on Estraven's back. But not for long, as Senda grabbed the baby in a rush. He'd seen portals before, and none were like this. Both Estraven and his direct animalistic descendant pinned their ears back. The youngest ready to run off if necessary, to scream for help and sound an alarm. Even if the people in the closest village must be on their way already.

 

[N0X]

Everything was warm. Like being huddled and wrapped up in blankets, drifting awake from a restful sleep. When Circe opened her eyes, she was baffled by what she saw. She stood in the middle of a forest trail. It was clear and bright and peaceful. Where was she? Circe snapped all the way around, searching for the portal, but it was gone. What happened to the portal? What happened to the team?

Circe whipped around at The sound of a twig snapping under a heavy weight, aiming her rifle. The moment she spots the centaur family, she stopped short and lowered it back down. Circe stepped forward to greet the familiar, friendly face, taking her helmet off so as to not spook what appeared to be…A child who Was the splitting image of Ezra? Was she dreaming, again?

“Ezra? Is this a trick? You were right behind me. How did you get here first? Where are we? And… Who are they?”

 

[Dreamless Realm]

Estraven lowered his lance once the woman's rifle was down. And he regarded her with a furrowed nose and a grimace on his face. He was positive that he had never seen her before. But she wasn't human, couldn't be. So she must be a monster. Had Ezrael, if they were even talking about the same person, ever looked like a cervitaur? Or goddess forbid... Worn one?.

"You must be mistaking me for someone else, sheea. We've never met, and my name is Estraven. I've worn it proudly since my birth. Are you a late interdimensional traveller?. We can point you to the nearest arrival processing center." Said the snowy cervitaur, still signaling to his son to stay back.

"She doesn't smell like magic, Daah." Said Senda in a whisper, nervously scratching at the ground and moving a few paces further from them.

"That is true. Who are you, sheea?" Said Estraven, whose expression had soured once again.

 

[N0X]

Circe frowned. It didn’t make any sense.

Was there a moment as they walked through the portal where they could have possibly been killed? Circe wasn’t absolutely certain she could say they had survived. She felt it in every inch of her body that she did not belong. Much like searching the memories of the All-mother, it felt as real as anything.

Circe cautiously approached. At first, Ezra looked normal. Now, he did not. As every second passed, she found more to stare at. He was missing the armor given to him by the Vanryans. His hair was shorter. His eyes were brighter, and sharper. He was definitely younger. Now, it was all she could see.

Circe faltered when realization dawned on her. This must be his memories. And they… they must be his family. He had spoken of them once in mourning. This must be before the war. Just before, judging by the menacing lance in his grip. Seeing the fearful looks on their faces; she put the rifle away and held her hands in the air.

“interdimensional traveller? Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Circe smirked, nervously swiping a hand through her hair. “My apologies. I mean you no harm. I am Hannya…. I don’t suppose you could tell me where I am… Estraven, was it? I’m… a bit lost.”

 

[Dreamless Realm]

Maybe she wasn't a willing traveller. Portals were unpredictable. Even if this portal wasn't of wisp and storm origin.

Go home and let them know I will arrive with... A guest He spoke in Tauren, a language for the monstruous. To Circe it just looked like had bleated and huffed and weirdly whispered at the young fawn. But the child nodded and like lightning, he bounced off with the human baby in his arms.

Then, Estraven turned his lance around and pointed at Circe's rifle with the dull underside of it.

"Drop that, or unload it, Hannya. And we may speak. I will be glad to offer the explanations I have. I would be happy to trust you if I could, but I'm no fool. I'd rather risk offense than die early." Even the weapon he wielded was younger and different. It was made of a silvery metal intertwined with dark wood.

 

[N0X]

Watching Ezra as a father was surreal. They hadn’t known each other for long, yet it felt like they had always known each other. Ezra was familiar. Seeing him interacting with a son she knew was meant to die tasted bittersweet. Watching them bleat and prance was amusing, however.

Ezra’s son nervously pranced away and he turned his attention on her, eyes serious. Circe didn’t like how that look was being directed at her. She much preferred being on the same team. His voice was quiet, but powerful. It was unnerving. Hopefully, she could convince him they were not enemies.

Circe removed all her weapons; the rifle, handgun, vibroblade, and the utility belt where the grenades were hidden. She tossed it all a good way in front of her, as close to him as they could get without her making any sudden movements. The last thing she needed was a spear through the torso.

“They’re energy weapons. It doesn’t have bullets,” Circe explained. “See for yourself.”

 

[Dreamless Realm]

"I couldn't operate them if I tried. But as a show of good faith, I will take your word as truth." He started collecting what the woman had dropped. He could hold them right, but he wouldn't fire a gun.

In his body language, it showed he didn't like them much. But he was very relieved Hannya had cooperated without a fuss. It made her story of not knowing what was happening more believable. It also meant less danger to his family. So what the newcomer dropped, he carefully placed in his saddlebags, and locked it inside a golden glow.

"They will be returned to you in due time. This is just a precaution" He said with a light smile, putting his lance back in a makeshift sheath he had hanging from his upper hips.

"You are on Earth. A dying planet inhabited by humanity, other natural creatures, and now monster kind. What are you? My son could be fooled, but my nose won't be. You are not magic. At least... Not our type of magic. But don't fret, there is a chance the Fae lordee may be gracious and give you a chance. Will you walk with me, peacefully?" He extended a hand to her, offering for it to be held.

 

[N0X]

“Of course,” Circe said, ignoring the knot of annoyance that formed in her chest. “I understand your reasoning for that.”

Feeling completely naked without a weapon, she had to remind herself she wasn’t completely powerless. Now that her horns had been restored along with her magic, there was so much she could do. But Ezra was smiling now. That was a good sign. Even if she was half-convinced it was a lie.

What kind of Earth was this? There had been plenty of records on the colony ship, but this Earth seemed different, and a lot more fantastical.

“Fae Lordee,” Circe chuckled. “My goodness.” Ezra held out his hand, and Circe obliged, putting her hand in his with a smirk.

“Truce. As for what I am…What am i? That’s a bit complicated. The humans on my planet were colonists from a dying Earth. The aliens that lived on the planet they crashed on, Xatti, saved them. The easy answer is some kind of half-human, half-alien mutt. There is no name for what i am. Not yet.”

It felt strange sharing all this with dream-Ezra. He wasn’t real, was he? None of this was. It was all just a memory. It had to be. Why else was she here? The portal was a trap, and they were caught in some sort of mind game. Now, all she needed to do was figure out how to escape.

 

[Dreamless Realm]

They started walking, and Estraven didn't let go of her hand at all. He listened to her intently, making little noises of interest every now and then.

"You look different enough from them, that humans will bunch you with the rest of us anyway." He said with a sigh. Another monster for the lot, but the human kind.

"We can call you a hybrid? Or whatever you prefer then. I don't think we've seen anyone else like you here. So you get to take the first steps and choose." Said Estraven. Her story was very weird, unlikely, but believable. Ezra would have more questions for her, and that was his job.

The forest they were in turned darker by the minute, with little amount of sunlight that made it through the thick tree leaves at the top. The trees were thicker and older, and there was a black mist on the ground that barely reached Circe's waist. It also turned darker and less see through as they advanced.

"I know the way, but you could get hurt without knowledge of where to step. Do you want for me to carry you? It's also faster" He offered her, his head tilted lightly.

 

[N0X]

Circe realized Ezra—Estraven, was still holding her hand. What she thought was only going to be a handshake turned into him holding her hand, but she didn’t pull away, as strange as it felt. Maybe it was their custom for these fairytale woodland creatures to walk around the forest together, holding hands. Who was she to question that?

“Oh,” she said. “Yes, you are probably right. I can disguise myself as a human, if need be. Shall I show you?”

All Circe had to do was think about it. The neurólink In her suit connected to her mind simply automagically activated it with a thought. One moment, her skin was purely purple. The next, it was a dark caramel. Her eyes were no longer pink, but a golden brown. The horns had disappeared. Then, she changed back.

“it isn’t magic,” she said. “It’s a hologram. But I don’t want to hide. I would much rather be as I am. This is only for when it’s too dangerous to be myself. My mother made it for me. To protect me. She was a brilliant scientist.”

Circe wasn’t sure why she was sharing that. The amount of people who knew that.. well, there was only two. It just seemed to slip out. Somehow, she felt fine with that. Maybe it was so easy because she knew he wasn’t real, or maybe it was from the guilt of knowing the dark future that awaited dream-Ezra.

“Was that your son back there?” Circe asked, quickly changing the subject. “Cute kid. Looks just like you.”

The forest became darker and denser until it was impossible to keep walking forward, and Estraven offered to carry her. Well, it can’t possible be any worse than the first time he’d held her… Circe wished he hadn’t been carrying so much baggage on his back.

“Alright,” Circe sighted, resigned to her fate. She put a hand on her hip, the other still wrapped around her helmet. “How do we do this?”

 

[Dreamless Realm]

He saw her change before his eyes and let put a little gasp. He hadn't been expecting it, much less with no magic. As far as he knew, humanity didn't have this kind of abilities yet.

"My kind, we're doing what we can so the humans will let us be ourselves. But it gets more and more dangerous each day that passes... May the Fae protect you, so you never feel like you must wear this hologram unless you want to." He told her, before she changed the subject to his son. Then his attitude changed, and he gave her hand a squeeze.

"Senda is my son, yes. He will grow up to be an excellent warrior. Klaus is also my son, the young human you saw. But that's a story for another time. We found him and took him in, to keep it short. Now... Get on." To Circe's surprise, since Ezra had explained before he didn't like being ridden. Even that it was cultural for his people. Estraven kneeled so she could get on his back, onto something that could pass as a saddle, in the middle of the bags he was carrying.

 

[N0X]

“How very noble of you,” she said of the orphan.

Circe paused, slightly taken aback but took him up on his offer. It was surprising that dream-Ezra was allowing her to climb onto his saddle, but she would not argue against it. It was preferable to being held by a significantly large margin. Her stomach han butterflies from the last time, as it had only been several hours ago on her timeline.

“Right, then,” Circe said, clearing her throat.

Circe put on the helmet and opened the visor. Then she held onto some of the baggage and lithely kicked one leg over. Using Ezra’s hand as support to pull herself up, she landing successfully on his back. As Circe wondered what she could hold onto, she decided the baggage had enough rope around it to hold herself steady enough.

“You’re certainly carrying a lot of cargo,” she noted. “Is this alright?”

 

[Dreamless Realm]

"Of us, Klaus, like Senda, are children of the monsterkin. We raise them together regardless of who is responsible for their spawn."

She felt him laugh under her once she got on, his whole body quivering as he took a couple of steps forward.

"You should hold on tighter, with your extremities and your teeth... Ah, idiom. Don't be afraid to get a good grip, my shirt can handle it." With that, he started on a light trot through the dense mist. His pace was uneven, larger steps here, shorter there, a little hop in between. Somewhere nearby, water could be heard. The telltale sound of a small stream scurrying through the elements on the ground. Sometimes leaves, dirt, or rocks.

Estraven didn't say much more, humming a melody instead. It was the kind of thing you'd rather not listen to when alone, regardless of where you were. Beautifully haunting even half done and a capella. Around them, the forest was alive and breathing. Animals and other unknown things could be heard regularly. The deer man's pace was starting to pick up, faster and faster until he was bouncing through the trees. Quick enough everything around them was a blur.

 

[N0X]

Estraven suggested she held on tight. Circe. suppressed a scoff. She was perfectly capable of keeping herself from falling flat on her face. She had learned the lesson from the first ride. The wind gently swept her hair and she took a deep breath, enjoying the crisp, clean air.

The sound of stream and song was welcomed. There was no rest for the wicked dread pirate. Moments of peace and tranquility was something that had to be bought, and at a fairly high price. The last time she had known such calm was in the years of her youth. It was a peace she longed to know, again.

The small, slightly sad smile pressed to Circe’s lips was soon swiped away and slowly fell into a frown as the ride took a terribly tumultuous turn. Circe’s face drew a deeper shade of purple and she threw her arms around the cervitaur’s torso from fear of being thrown off.

 

[Dreamless Realm]

It was hard to keep track of where they were at such speed. With Estraven bouncing and prancing, like a proper deer. He could have turned right around at any moment . The smell of the forest intensified. Wet ground, trees and some other flowery aromas.

Their pace slowed down eventually, after an unknown amount of time. Estraven stopped bouncing, galloping instead. The trees were bigger and further appart. Impossibly so, the trunks thicker than a human car. But it was still, technically, evergreens. They were just bigger, stronger. The darkness, which the cervitaur could apparently see through just fine, gave way to dim cold lights. Similar to streetlights, big lanterns hung from the trees. They created a path through the forest, painted with warm shadows. Purple, pink and blue fires burned inside them.

Estraven walked under them.
"Did you get motion sickness?, Should you need to vomit I'd be glad if you didn't do it all over me." He said, sometimes gently patting the tree trunks they passed by.

 

[N0X]

“Motion sickness?” She said, clearing her throat after releasing her tight grip around his waist. “That’s laughable.”

It wasn’t the speed or the bumpiness of the ride if not the lack of control. As a pilot, at least she had a hold and say on how things would turn out, for the most part. It wouldn’t be right to call herself a proper pilot if she became ill every time she took hold of those controls.

“What is this place?” She asked, looking around with wonder in her eyes. “It feels like a dream.” The cool, vibrant hues of the forest took her breath away. It was reminiscent of the forests back home.

Circe tried to remember when the last time was that she had set foot in nature. It could have been on a mission, years ago, but she couldn’t recall. Spending so much time disconnected on a spaceship could make one forget. Time had become an endless, black void.

“I’ve never seen trees quite so large. How do they get so big?” The curious, young scientist in her was taking a hold. The apple truly never fell far. Circe gently nudged herself back to reality. This wasn’t real. This was just a memory bubble, a dream. The faster she figured out how to get out, the better. Her comrades needed her.

 

[Dreamless Realm]

Having slowed down to a trot, Ezra looked around at the spirit lit lamps and nodded at them in greeting.

"This is the Rhonda forest, I call it home. And... I wouldn't know how to explain. That's just the way they have always been for me. We bring vitality and respect to these grounds." He explained, following the path of the cold lights. Subtly, clues of civilization mixed in with their surroundings. Blended in with the trees were balconies and signs. High up pathways, hanging bridges. Different ways to access the various levels. Wood, stone, moss and roots. All alive still even while they were lived in.

They advanced uphill, and a single moss stone building came into view. Along with it, the silhouette of another centaur looking creature. A sharp horn on her forehead. A unicorn woman who gazed at them with unblinking blue eyes, and wielded a sword of light. It was also blue.

Estraven lifted his head and both of his hands in greeting and smiled.

"Ziessel! I could smell you, and my eyes are blessed by the sight of you. This is Hannya. Have you come to escort us?" He asked, tilting his head.

She nodded, and dissipated the sword of light with a gesture. She had light brown skin, sharp features and black fur and hair. She was topless, her chest and shoulders covered in dark blue freckles. Her straight hair was tied back in a high ponytail. She approached Hannya and Estraven with caution.

 

[N0X]

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

It was a thriving civilization. Circe was genuinely impressed. It felt like something ancient and sacred that shouldn’t be intruded upon. As she sat on the saddle, admiring Ezra’s domain, a small thought crept into her mind.

Estraven had mentioned the world was dying. Ezra was clearly a seasoned war veteran, this dream-Ezra was clearly not. There had been tension and the sense of a conflict when she had first met Estraven.

The way he had come at her, fully prepared to spear her through, if he had to. There was clearly some type of conflict going on, and it would soon grow into full out war. A war that would take everything from him. Circe was beginning to understand the full gravity of his losses.

Circe had already attempted to focus her way out of the dream bubble multiple times. It didn’t work. She even tried pinching her cheeks. Nothing. How very strange. Even when she was trapped in a dream or memory, there was always a way to break free, and she couldn’t seem to find her way out of this one. Not good.

Circe took the opportunity to hop off the saddle and walk by Estraven’s side.


They came up to the stone house, where another creature like Ezra was waiting, with weapon drawn. But she was far too stunning. Circe removed the imposing helmet. Almost against her will, her eyes trail down to her bare chest, and she forced them away by focusing on the horn on her face. They had something in common.

“A pleasure,” Circe smiled after a slight bow. “Thanks for welcoming me to your home.”

 

[Dreamless Realm]

She regarded Circe with curiosity, her expression much harder to read than Estraven's. Ziessel, as he had called her, didn't look all that happy to see a stranger.

"I'm not. " She spoke plainly "I will, once you walk through the wall and come out unscathed." Explained the unicorn, extending her hands forward towards Circe.

"Give me your hands, and put them in mine" She demanded next, bending down a bit.

"You must enter our home a bit more restrained, I'm afraid." Said Estraven, moving away from Circe and towards the stone building. Its door was abnormally tall and wider than usual, made to be accessible for very different bodies. It had different knobs at varying heights. He hoped she wouldn't resist to the light cuffs. It was all they'd put on her, and a blindfold. But she'd be fine to walk on her own.

Ziessel watched Circe, expectant.

 

[N0X]

A nervous ripple went through her stomach as Ziessel stepped forward. They wanted to restrain her. When she looked at Circe, she felt her distrust. Circe felt her resolve wobble. The last time anyone tried to put handcuffs on her, they lived to regret it. She felt like running, and she knew she could make a clean getaway if she tried.

Then, she breathed. They didn’t mean her any harm. And what could the restraints truly do, anyway? They’d have to strip her from the exosuit to fully immobilize her. Unless they had some kind of magic that could neutralize Vanryan tech. That would be something. Circe put the helmet back on and smirked, biting her tongue to keep from nervously blurting inappropriate jokes about foreplay. Then, she placed her hands in Ziessel’s.

“Do you welcome all your guests this way?” Circe asked, bittersweetly.