Private Tales Only For A Day

[Lyta]

Lyta gave an almost sad smile.

"I would not have it any other way."

As they hurried up the hill towards the farm Lyta kept the creatures at bay with smaller, more controlled blasts of power that also kept them lusting for more. The sounds of their odd chittering filled the night as the pair finally entered the abandoned farmhouse. This time when Lyta stepped into the farmhouse an image of the farmhouse as it stood in the dreamscape briefly crossed her mind, the two planes of existence layering over one another. She sucked in a breath to see it how the people of the town remembered it; a place of celebration. People must have used the spot to get married for it was decorated so in the Dreamscape.

"I saw someone - in the Dreamscape. There were Nightmares there too," she explained in the eerie quiet as they waited for the monsters. "But I do not think it was Agnes. Agnes was a woman of this village but whoever was in the dream... I think they knew me."

She could of course be wrong but she suspected Agnes was a mere pawn for the greater mastermind beyond.

 

[Mikko Cendrillon]

Never did Mikko think he would be worried about what conspired in dreams, as he had never had to dwell on what may lurk there. Not until working with Lyta did he realise the importance of a Guardian of Dream, and the role herself, her mother, and her mother before her, have been serving for not just Valenntenia, but the surrounds.

It stretched farther than their home, took her to places all over Arethil perhaps, but still, he worried for her.

"If not Agnes... can we trust it?" He asked in a hushed tone, looking back at the direction of the town and the distanced cries of Nightmares following. They were growing closer, and his instincts wanted him to stand before her and protect her, but Lyta had proven she had more of an affect over them than he could ever work.

 

[Lyta]

Clack, clack, clack.

Nightmarish claws crept across the charred floorboards and deteriorating roof. Enough of them that as they closed in they blotted out the stars that had been visible between the cracks of the barn. She took a deep breath and let herself begin to take on more of the runes magic. More than she ever had before.

"No," she replied softly. "If anything, I think they are more of a threat than Agnes."

Clack, clack, clack.

"Mikko, if this fails you must take the rune back to Solomon. Now I need you to wait outside."

 

[Mikko Cendrillon]

What words could he leave with her to give her strength for what was to come?

He looked to her, to the Guardian beginning to wield a power he could not begin to understand, and thought it best that he not cloud her mind with any doubts or pretty words. Mikko smiled, nodding to her, and said, "Now the biggest threat is you."

Lyta who was frail, unable to keep muscle on her being, was stronger than he was at this moment. With a shuddering breath, he listened to her instruction and made for the outside, behind where Lyta stood her ground. His dark eyes were always on her, unable to look away and leave her truly alone.

Through the burned down farmhouse, the supports that stood groaned as the Nightmares began to creep into the carcass of an old family home, and like a beacon, made for the Guardian wielding the Stone of Dreams.

 

[Lyta]

Lyta let out a relieved sigh when Mikko obeyed. Brom would have argued with her before storming out, but not before she would have had to remind him who exactly she was.

"Come out, I can sense you," she called to the Nightmares. From the shadows they emerged, hesitant but eager. Some licked their lips whilst others stared at her with unblinking red eyes. Others dragged behind limbs that the villagers had managed to hurt. They seemed emboldened now Mikko was not here with his sharp steel. Lyta plunged deeper and deeper into that well of power the rune gave her access to, drawing it up and into herself until she could feel her skin begin to itch and burn. Still the creatures drew closer until one could reach out and gently trail a small part of its pinser down her cheek.

As it did so the barn exploded with an illuminating white and gold light.

 

[Mikko Cendrillon]

Mikko threw himself to the side, startled and surprised by the burst of bright light. It was all he could do to shield himself, to not become blind to the blinding aura Lyta put out into the world.

Creatures screamed, an agony he would never forget hearing. He closed his eyes, not opening them until the screams and cries stopped, and he figured that was the last of Lyta power getting rid of them all.

"Lyta..." Mikko rubbed his eyes, got to his feet and looked into the barn. He no longer had a visual of her, and so, Mikko stepped into the barn and looked for the Guardian.

 

[Lyta]

When the light faded, Mikko would find the barn completely gone and with it the Nightmares within. As he approached he would find that it was not just the barn that had been scrubbed clean from the earth, but the odd symbol too. All that remained were a few pieces of debris and a lone figure, crumpled in the middle.

Breathing. But only just.

 

[Mikko Cendrillon]

"Lyta!"

He was at her side faster than he ever thought possible, but he propped her to lay on her back. He dropped his ear to her lips, listening for her breath and grimacing at how weak it sounded. So then he checked her pulse, two fingers finding the vein at her neck and waited for that weakened beating of her heart.

Ancients, no. She was exhausted, too tired to recover.

It was his duty to protect her, to keep her safe.

Mikko brushed her golden hair from her face, placed one hand above her sternum and the other atop of it. With measured breaths, he began to press and release, counting in his head before pausing. He repeated this, dropped his ear to listen for her lungs and her breath at her lips. It was growing stronger, but he knew Lyta was spent.

She would not die.

He moved his arms beneath her body, lifted her as he moved to stand and adjusted his hold on her before walking them back to the village. "Dream, Lyta. Rest. You deserve it, and you deserve to sleep in a bed." He promised her.

 

[Lyta]

It took three days before Lyta opened her eyes again.

In the meantime the town occupied Mikko or at least attempted to so he did not worry himself by her side. Bodies were burnt, wreckage cleared, and repairs began on the great swathes of damages half the town had endured. Each day though the town healed. Children began to play again in the streets, men laughed as they worked and the women sang as they washed bloodied sheets. It was to such sounds Lyta finally roused.

Sunlight streamed through the open window and she blinked the crust from her eyes with a heavy sigh. Every bone felt tired. That was not the type of power she was used to wielding. Truthfully, she barely understood it. The rune had never acted through her before. It had always nudged her how to use it, when to use it, rather than stepped in entirely. With effort she sat up in bed and rubbed at her eyes.

 

[Mikko Cendrillon]

"Good, you're awake." Came a voice that then got lost to a yawn.

In a chair right by the side of the bed that Lyta lay on, Mikko was looking worse for wear. He was dressed in clothes borrowed from the villagers, and blanket lazily draped over himself to keep him warm, but it was all in his eyes that gave away the state he was in.

He looked gaunt, unwell.

"I couldn't sleep well while you were out." He admitted, shifting in his chair. "I ended up jolting awake and... I always woke up to seeing you, lying there." And so Mikko kept watch over her. Every day he tended to her. Wiping her face with a cloth to keep her clean, had even managed to brush her soft hair.

 

[Lyta]

"Mikko?" Lyta winced at the dryness of her throat. Looking around the bed her eyes landed on a pitcher and goblet beside the bed which she helped herself to. "How long have I been out?" judging by the state of him and the pressing needs her body was beginning to make very clear it had to have been at least a day. Perhaps a little more. It was not unusual for the rune to take her away for a full day and night but for the first time in what felt like forever... Lyta did not remember dreaming.

 

[Mikko Cendrillon]

Mikko chuckled, then winced as he shifted and felt the aching in his body for sitting on the chair too long. "Ancients..." He groaned. "You've been out for three days since that night. I've been by your side for as long as I can. That first morning, some ladies insisted on getting you comfortable in a bed and took you from me but... I let them because I had to ensure the threat was gone. Even did my own investigations of the site."

And how tremendous that power was that Lyta wielded that night. She was a beacon in the dark, the Guardian of Light if he ever saw one use their Stone's magic. On his solo journey, he wondered to himself if the Stones were similar in many ways, but that was a philosophy meant for a scholar's mind. Perhaps he could pick the brain of a Somner, or perhaps the Absalon himself if he ever got granted time to see the man.

"But... all that can wait Lyta." He smiled at her. Despite the weariness he exhibited, his smile was true and softened his steely countenance. "How are you feeling? Shall I fect a healer or have some food brought up?"

 

[Lyta]

Lyta dropped the glass she was holding which shattered on the floor.

"Three days?" she repeated in a thin voice, eyes unfocusing as she absorbed the information. She didn't even seem to realise her hand was cut from the broken glass. Lyta had never been asleep for so long. Three days was closer to where her mother had been before slipping into the coma that had taken her from her family for the last ten years. She should of had more time. Was she not as strong as her mother?

If Mikko spoke to her in those moments the blood roared in her ears she did not respond. It would take a shake before her eyes refocused and she looked up at him wild-eyed.

"Did the Nightmares die, at least?"

 

[Mikko Cendrillon]

Slowly, he nodded.

"I did not sleep that first night, well, did not sleep well. I kept waking to check on the street, to press my ear at the door. In case something was not quite right..." He was in need for a good rest. "But nothing. After that first night, the townspeople celebrated with a large bonfire and party, I was sure they would rouse you from your sleep."

He smiled at her, proud of the Guardian.

 

[Lyta]

Lyta stared across at the Vanguard soldier and then slowly down at her sliced hand and the shattered glass.

"I... I am glad..."

She had done it. Vanquished the nightmares, freed the town, but at what cost? There was a niggling at the back of her mind of the voice that had confronted her in the Dreamscape, the face she could not quite see. There was something larger going on and that force had used this innocent town in its game. Shakily, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and took care to avoid the glass.

"We need to return to Valenntenia. There is something that I must discuss with Solomon."

 

[Mikko Cendrillon]

Mikko sat up straight as she began to leave the bed. Ancients, how had he not seen she had cut herself?

Feeling guilty that his current state of exhaustion had made him realise she was bleeding and that there was now shards of glass littering the wooden floor, he made a move to help pick up the Dreamer and set her out of harms way so that her feet would not bleed.

"We can do that once I see to your hand. And... can't hurt for me to try and get a few hours of sleep before we head out."

Her hand at least was easy to clean and wrap, perhaps hurting only a little when she would use her hand, but within a week it would be healed enough without worry. However, sleep was proving difficult. Mikko tried to get them both going back home after an hour of rest, but Lyta offered to help him rest some more with her Stone.

And with that gift of sleep and reset, Mikko was ready to escort the Guardian of Dreams back to Valenntenia.