Nox was out later than she had expected. It wasn't a bad thing, but Elyse fell asleep waiting. She had spent the evening reading this book called The Hobbit. Elyse found herself enjoying the book and had read about half of it before falling asleep. The book sat on the table next to her bed.
Elyse knew she was in the dream. It always felt different than a normal dream. Elyse wasn't sure why she felt this way, but she was suddenly uncomfortable. She usually didn't feel this way in the dream world, but tonight she did.
Elyse stepped forward. Looking around for danger. The dream world in itself was a danger, but now it felt more ominous, but something kept her glued here. There was a reason she needed to stay.
She looked up as something flashed like lightning. There wasn't a cloud in the dream sky, but what she saw made her gasp. The sky appeared to be splitting apart. It was as if the sky was an opening curtain.
Elyse saw a torn, segmented serpent in the opening, and her hand moved reflexively to her mouth. The image faded and rematerialized into a hooded face - fiery blue eyes piercing the darkness. The face itself was shrouded. Once again the image changed - a nest of serpents slithering over tiles. Finally she saw a splash of blood and all was normal.
The environment was normal. At least it was normal for the dream would. Elyse, however, could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Her breathing was heavy, as she stared at the section of sky that had previously been torn - now healed as if nothing had happened.
Elyse's clothing changed as her thoughts flew quickly. With her fear of the Atharim, it didn't surprise her that she had dreamed of snakes, but the dream would didn't behave like this. Something was wrong.
Elyse fell to her knees, wanting to do nothing more than wake up. But feeling at the same time, she couldn't leave.
The dream world seemed normal again. Seconds seemed like hours. Whatever had happened had sunk into her mind - she doubted she would forget it. It was more disturbing than anything else.
It took her awhile to calm down enough to try to reach the wolves for questions but before she did, once more the sky turned dark. Trees around her became bare, and from a path a man approached.
Elyse's breath hitched as she took a step back. The man didn't approach. His black cloak remained motionless. His face was invisible beneath a black hood. Movement attracted her attention. A pair of serpents came from behind him, twining around him and coiled around his arms legs and chest.
Then it was gone. Everything was the same as it had been before. Elyse shook in the dream world. She reached out to the wolves, but a question wasn't there. Questions were the last thing on her mind. She sent images to the wolves in quick rapid succession. They all said one thing. "Get me out!"
Elyse was near panicking. She knew she shouldn't. This was just a dream. But she knew better. These weren't just dreams. This was the wolf dream and it was as real as the waking world. Elyse didn't like how it was behaving.
Nox was out with his friend having a drink, but she had fallen asleep reading while waiting for him to come back. She hoped he would get home soon and wake her up. At the best of times, it was difficult for her to leave the dream without guidance, but at a time like this, it was almost impossible without some sort of help. Her fears made it difficult to concentrate. Her clothing changed every few seconds to reflect this.
Silent Fang...
A wolf reached out to her called by her pleas for help. Elyse quickly sent images asking for help. She couldn't get out.
The scene shifted again bringing a nervous "No...
to her lips.
She was in a tunnel. This was extremely strange for the dream. The tunnel had animals in it. Rabbits - squirrels - even larger animals such as deer and cattle. Elyse raised an eyebrow, trying to comprehend. She attempted to slow her breathing down. Before she could, snakes appeared.
They slithered across the floor of the tunnel and she shook. Everytime they reached an animal, they swarmed over it. And they came for her too. She screamed and then it was gone - replaced once more by the woods.
A lone wolf appeared staring at her. "Silent Fang...
it sent to her.
Elyse sent pleas for help as well as the images of the dreams she had. She asked the wolf for clarification and it stared at her, tilting it's head to the side. It sent images back. Elyse closed her eyes trying to decipher the meaning.
The wolf hadn't understood what she had said. She sent images back trying to tell the wolf that the dream had changed. The wolf, he identified himself as Moon Waker, sent back that it hadn't happened.
Elyse was sure it had. It had been too real not to have happened. For some reason, the wolf wasn't aware of it.
"Get me out,"
Elyse said to the wolf, momentarily forgetting that she couldn't say it. She sent the images again. She wanted to leave.
It had been one hell of a night. What started out as a dull and boring night had turned into a grand adventure. The hunt turned into something else - she wasn't dranaika. If she was she hide it well. Nox knew she was playing him, but it hadn't mattered, Kali had showed him a good time even though sex wasn't involved.
Fear still coursed through his veins as he walked into Dorian's house. He'd left her at the metro platform. Her touch lingered on his arm as she told him she'd see him around. It wasn't a possibility, they hadn't exchanged contact information, but he was still flying from the adrenaline of the near death experience. Sure he had those everyday, but nearly falling to ones death was not common. And certainly not common when you are afraid of heights.
The house was quiet as he made his way to his bedroom on the second floor. The floors didn't squeak as he walked. It made him hyper aware of the silence. Anyone could sneak around and no one would know the difference. Nox almost wanted to check in on Cruz, but the man was a big boy, he could fend for himself. His father was here. At least he assumed Dorian was in his own bed sleeping.
Nox opened the door to his room and saw the large lump and a fallen book on top of it and he remembered Elyse. Fuck! He should take a shower, he probably reeked of Kali. Elyse would find out... There was a stab of guilt but Nox pushed it away. He hadn't done anything. It had been to confirm his suspicion, he hadn't intended to have fun with her. He lied to himself, but it was the story he would stick too. He had wanted Kali. Wanted her in a way Elyse wasn't going to fulfill, but then again Kali had not been what he'd wanted outright either. He pushed it all aside and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
He noticed that Elyse was restless in her sleep but he didn't think twice about it.
His mind wandered back to Kali in the shower. Her strange blue eyes and her blood red lips. He still couldn't get the feeling that she was a monster to hunt from his brain though. But she'd not tried to hurt him the entire night he'd spent with her. Hell she saved his life. He could still feel her strong fingers wrapped around his wrist. Nox had never been so wrong in his life before.
Ten minutes later Nox was crawling into his bed with Elyse - clean and only wearing a pair of boxers. He started to slip down deeper into the covers when Elyse started thrashing and mumbling louder. What the fuck! Nox wove a ball of light in the air and looked around for any nightmares but saw nothing. Kali fled his mind as his need to protect consumed him.
Nox shook Elyse gently. "Elyse. Wake up!"
The wolf gazed at her. Elyse was terrified. She could feel her heart beating. She just wanted to wake up. The wolf approached, but she felt a shaking as it did as if something was shaking her awake.
She awoke with a start, trying hard to catch her breath. She was sitting straight up in her room - it was well lit from a magical globe of light. Elyse could feel her hands shaking, her face pale in the light. Her eyes searched the room, wondering what had happened and trying to reorient herself to her surroundings. She was disoriented for a moment.
Elyse reoriented herself when she saw Nox. She was still breathing heavily. She pulled him into a hug. "Thank you for waking me."
Her breathing was starting to slow and she did some deep breathing exercises to calm down. Elyse picked up the book she had been reading, closed it, and set it on the table. With a shaking hand she took Nox's.
"The dreams never done that before."
Nox would know that she was able to enter the world of dreams.
Nox wasn't sure what to say to that. He had nightmares every night. And Every night he woke much the same way startled from his sleep at the scariest part of the memories. Always the same dreams - always haunting him. He held Elyse and laid down with her still in his arms. He only wanted to comfort her.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
he asked. It was never something someone asked him, and really there was nothing to talk about. It was the same dream every night. Always with the death and dying, the hell hounds and now Aurora's death and the impending doom that shook his world that one day he might actually have to kill Aria. He didn't think he could do it, but he'd promised. And he intended to live up to his promises. No matter what it cost him.
Which made things ironic for the night - he'd met a woman who he had every intention of killing when he'd met her, and now, now she was caught in his mind. But Kali was not a damsel in distress - Elyse was. The one need canceling the other and Nox focused on what was in front of him. Elyse... "If you don't that's okay too. Just know I'm here."
He instinctively pulled her tighter against him. Her warmth making him feel only slightly safer in his own mind. Nox wondered what it would feel like to be safe for real...He was sure he'd never find out.
Elyse concentrated on her breathing, forcing it to slow. As a result her heart quit pounding so heavily in her chest and she could no longer feel her pulse throbbing in her wrist. Her hand quit shaking as she allowed Nox to lay her down on the bed.
Nox asked her if she wanted to talk about it, and she had no problem with doing that. She waited for a moment, still catching her breath as he pulled her tighter. Elyse rested her head on his shoulder and took a deep breath.
"I had fallen asleep while waiting for you and I ended up in the dream world,"
she began slowly. "It's usually a weird place, but this time it was different. The sky tore and images appeared in it. A torn snake - a hooded face with fiery blue eyes. A man appeared through the dreams - in a black cloak with a shrouded face. Serpents twined around him."
she paused, remembering each image with vivid clarity.
"I called for the wolves to help me. I was having trouble leaving. Another image came. I was in a tunnel full of animals and other living things. Snakes came down the tunnel and swarmed over everything."
She paused and sighed wrapping her arms around him. "It wasn't that they were scary as much as they were disturbing and...I'm not surprised that I would dream of snakes now, but they weren't normal and in the dream world that is saying a lot. A wolf showed up to help me, but that was when you woke me up."
Elyse wrapped her arm around Nox's waist. "He couldn't see them - the wolf. Everything seemed normal to him. The images are still in my head - as vivid as I saw them before."
Elyse wasn't going crazy. She knew that. Deep down, she knew that. But she wondered why the wolf hadn't seen them. She wondered what made her different in this circumstance, and she hoped Nox didn't think she was losing it.
Nox didn't like the sound of all those serpents. The ouroborous was the Atharim symbol and that was too close to reality. He didn't like the sounds of it at all - particularly from the dream world itself. He understood fears and subconscious dreaming, but this he knew little about. He hugged Elyse and spoke quietly. "Sometimes dreamers dream of prophecy. It usually is never anything good."
He knew that wouldn't exactly help but he didn't know what else to say.
"Nothing like that has ever happened before?"
Nox wondered how communication with the wolves worked. He wondered a great many things about her ability. No one really studied them. No one really cared. Maybe it was time the Atharim started learning about the things they hunted on a more personal level. They already used Furia. Why were Sentients and Wolfkin any different. Even the reborn gods could be useful - he was living proof of that. Since he'd come into his own power he'd become a better hunter - far better than his father could have ever dreamed of.
He'd killed Oni with one shot before the power, but now it could take down waves and waves of on coming monsters. He could feel the power in that feat. He'd saved Elyse then, he'd save her now even if it ended him. Nox didn't want to make her relive the images but maybe while they were fresh it was best to at least sketch them out. "You any good at drawing? Maybe the images will mean something to someone else. Even a crude sketch could help."
Prophecy. If it was prophecy - well that was a scary thought. These visions definitely wouldn't bode well. And the last one - well if the serpents represented the Atharim, then it could easily be interpreted as the Atharim wiping out everything in their path. Elyse didn't like that train of thought.
"No,"
Elyse said after Nox's question about whether or not it had happened before. "At least never to me. I didn't think to ask the wolf about whether or not it's happened to another human before. They might know though."
Drawing - yeah she could probably draw a crude sketch, and it might help to get someone else's opinion. But not now - she just didn't want to do it right now. "I could draw something up - it's not like I'll be likely to sleep tonight anyways, but not now. I just want to relax for awhile."
Her tone warranted no sympathy, rather it was a statement of fact. Elyse knew she would likely have a hard time falling asleep.
Elyse sighed and interlaced her fingers with Nox's. "Ana thinks that I should try to contact my parents. I'm not sure about it."
She said changing the subject for a bit. It would be good to get her mind off of it.
Nox didn't think waiting was going to be a good idea. Dreams faded with time. With so many images vivid or not they were going to fade. "The longer you wait the less accurate and more faded they will become."
He knew that from personal experience. He'd tried drawing his dreams, but his drawings sucked. And the longer between them and the drawing they were not as clear, but it was her call. He wasn't going to pressure her.
She was calming down and that was a good thing. But he knew the fear of nightmares, it was why he was up at 4am without fail. Even the thought of seeing the hellhounds in his dream again gave him pause when he went to sleep.
Elyse changed the topic to her parents. Another thing Nox wasn't going to be able to offer any real solid advice. "The longer you stay in this house, the less likely your parents will understand why you are here. Staying with me brands you a traitor, Elyse. They don't have to know what you are. But they will hunt you with the rest of us. Your parents may understand if they hear it from you."
Nox could only hope that a parent's love was stronger than their love of the Atharim ideals. He wouldn't ever know - his parents were both long dead when he found out he wielded the power of the gods. He could only hope that Elyse's parents would understand.