Lost In The Glasslands

[Balthazar Black]

28 Cylus 720

Balthazar grinned slightly at the confidence that Devin displayed about his dreams. Balthazar had thought similar things at first but as the arcs went on more and more details of his dreams seemed to escape his memory. They were like all the other memories he had and had forgotten. Part of him hoped, for Devin's sake, that the man did forget his wings. Balthazar hoped it would help Devin forget his desire to become a mage because while it opened up many possibilities, it also brought many challenges and dangers. Prior to magehood you could predict your enemies, more or less, but after you became a mage you'd find people who didn't like you for no reason other than your skin glowed a little to bright. "Lucid, yes. And I can't use magic because your dreamscape is in Emea. When you use your ether in Emea it attracts... the wrong sort of attention." Balthazar confirmed for Devin before they arrived at the doorway. Part of Balthazar worried that by describing the Emeyan monsters as attention he might have accidentally convinced Devin it was a good idea to use magic.

Balthazar, being the more experienced navigator of dreams, wanted to go first but it was Devin who proclaimed some form of understanding. A treasure chamber? Now that was something Balthazar wanted to see. He let Devin enter first and when a shrill scream filled the air, Balthazar went in after him. He hadn't thought of the danger that could await, only the danger the bard was in. Balthazar had made Devin lucid and so he felt personally responsible for anything that might happen to Devin while he was in the dreamscape. But there was no danger- just a long slide with colors flashing by Balthazar.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, over and over and over again until suddenly Balthazar slid off the slide and crashed into a bouncy grass field that propelled him up into the air enough for him to try and right himself before landing on his feet, which he did.

"What the hell was that?" Balthazar asked in unison with Devin. "So, no treasure I take it?" Balthazar saw Devin's image flicker and wondered if the dreamer was waking. That was always the fastest way out a dream and generally the most sudden as well. "You alright?"

[Devin]

“No treasure“, the Mortalborn confirmed rather grumpily. He jumped up and down some more before he stopped and eyed the bouncy grass appraisingly. A moment later, his eyes suddenly lit up. “Unless the grass is the treasure!” he exclaimed. “There are probably people that would pay a fortune for trampoline grass! You don’t happen to have a shovel somewhere, do you?” he asked hopefully as he bent down and poked the grass tentatively, considering something. When he turned to face Balthazar again, he looked absolutely dejected though.

“I won’t be able to take the grass with me either though, will I?” he asked softly. The Mortalborn who had been so enthusiastic and exuberant, to the point of being a little annoying before, looked sad and rather somber now. Emea was absolutely exciting, but it didn’t make sense that you could go from Idalos to Emea, but not bring something from Emea to Idalos!

A moment later, that sadness made way to utter determination though.

There had to be a way, and he would find it!

“I don’t know”, he murmured as Balthazar asked him if he was alright. He looked at the other man, confused and just a little bit scared. “What happened? For a moment I was … gone”, he finished, his violet eyes wide. Since he had never had a lucid dream before, at least not to his knowledge, he didn’t know that there was a very harmless explanation for what had just happened to him. He thought that … maybe he had attracted what Balthazar had talked about, the wrong sort of attention …

A moment later, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Balthazar. “Who are you, by the way?” he asked. It had suddenly occurred to him that he didn’t know anything about his new acquaintance, apart from the fact that he was a mage, but unfortunately not the kind of mage that he needed to get his wings.

“And what is beyond this field?” he asked and shielded his eyes with a hint as he turned to look in the distance. It was his dream, but for the first time, he was at a complete and utter loss.

In the waking world, the person next to Devin woke up rather abruptly due to being punched by the sleeping Mortalborn. When Devin started to snore incredibly loudly on top of it, they turned to face him and glowered at him. A moment later, they abruptly grabbed their pillow and put it over their head as that might muffle the sound of Devin’s snoring at least a little bit.

[Balthazar Black]

28 Cylus 720

"I doubt the grass is treasure." Balthazar said before Devin came to the more depressing conclusion that he wouldn't be able to take the grass back to the waking world with him. Balthazar nodded in response when Devin asked as much and bent his knees a little to see if the grass was still going to bounce him and when he felt the floor beneath his feet stretch, he knew it would. Why? Perhaps it was part of the dreams defense mechanism to keep Devin alive if he jumped from the slide? Perhaps it was something else? Balthazar couldn't quite know for sure.

"You almost woke up." Balthazar replied. "Could be someone tried to wake you, could be you don't' like you dream anymore. I can never remember how my dreams end so I can't offer much help with that." Balthazar admit. He jumped, he didn't know why but he felt compelled to given that ever step he took came with a little extra bounce, and he bounded a little bit ahead of Devin before turning and bouncing back to him. It was an interesting way to move. Was this was rabbits felt like? Then Devin seemed to grow a little more serious and asked Balthazar who he was. The mage stopped bouncing around and held out his warm hand. "I'm Balthazar, and you are?" Balthazar didn't remember Devin saying his name either, but ultimately the topic would turn to what was beyond the field of grass.

"Well there is one way to find out." Balthazar paused. He looked down at the ground and then up at the sky. "Maybe two ways depending on how high we can jump?" And without waiting for a response Balthazar began to jump in place beside Devin. He didn't get all that high on the first jump, or the second, but he was getting a little higher with each one. After a few more jumps on his own though, Balthazar stopped. "Looks like a lot more grass."

[Devin]

“That’s what waking up feels like when you are lucid?” Devin asked and furrowed his brow before he nodded. It was a better explanation than attracting the attention of some kind of dream monster or whatever else Balthazar had meant when he had talked about the wrong kind of attention. It was a more pleasant explanation as well. Normally, Devin wasn’t particularly afraid of monsters – they were more predictable than humanoids in his opinion – but monsters that lived in your dreams were a different matter!

“I think I almost woke up because I don’t like this dream anymore”, he decided as the other man listed a couple of possible explanations for why he had almost disappeared. “I mean, the mirror maze and the rainbow slide were fun, but this part of the dream sucks”, he informed Balthazar in no uncertain terms, frowning a little as he wondered why he couldn’t have a dream where he found lots of shiny things for a change.

Why did the things that happened in the waking world haunt him here? He didn’t like it, and it wasn’t fair!

When Balthazar bounced ahead, the Mortalborn followed him, jumping up and down. He even tried to do a somersault once. Due to his relative lack of skill when it came to acrobatics, it ended up looking rather awkward though, so he decided to not do any more somersaults as he considered looking good (and not awkward) to be of the utmost importance.

When Balthazar told him his name, Devin didn’t reply immediately, but wondered whether he should give him a false name, the name of an important noble maybe. A moment later, he shrugged his shoulders and decided to go for more or less the truth. “I’m Devin”, he introduced himself. A moment later, a mischievous grin crossed his face. “Would you believe me if I told you that I’m a priest and a councilor and a really important member of the government of Scalvoris?” he wanted to know, still grinning.

Whether Balthazar would believe him or not was up for debate – Devin didn’t look like a priest or someone that worked for the government – he had told him the truth though. A few trials earlier, Devin had joined the council – mostly because his rival Kalortah was on the council, and he wanted to prove that he was better than that stupid Avriel.

When Balthazar began to jump in place, the Mortalborn looked at him strangely for a moment before he did the same. He jumped as high as he could. He tried to jump even higher than the white-haired mage, moving his wings to give himself a bit of extra momentum, again with mixed success as he barely knew how to use those wings of his properly.

“I can jump higher than you!” he proclaimed and laughed out loud because the grass trampoline was more fun than he had thought. He wanted to have a trampoline in the waking world as well. When Balthazar stopped, he did so as well though, frowning a little again since he had made pretty much the same observation. There was nothing but grass!

“Fek”, he muttered. “If this is my dream, why is this part here so lame?” he complained.

[Balthazar Black]

28 Cylus 720

"I'm not sure," Balthazar admit to Devin. "As I said, I never really remember the waking up part." He bounced a few more times while he thought on what Devin had said about his dissatisfaction with the dream. Balthazar was content to bounce but nothing the dreamer had said so far lead Balthazar to think that Devin would have accepted anything less than a shiny trinket to enjoy. "You could be right about that. But just remember, even if it sucks, it's still your dream. You can probably end it whenever you want if you concentrate hard enough." Hollow advice given that Balthazar had no expertise in the area beyond his own ability to walk through dreams. The trouble then was that while he knew how he'd found Devin's dream, no immediate method of escape came to mind. Perhaps he just had to concentrate as well?

Balthazar considered what Devin had said about being a priest and an important member of the Scalvoris government. Balthazar wasn't sure that was a good mix. All of the deeply religious people Balthazar had encountered tended to have biases based around the will of the immortals and Balthazar found it hard to trust people dedicated to immortals. They always had some higher calling to betray you to. At least it made them somewhat more predictable. "Does it matter if I believe you?" Balthazar asked frankly as he bounced small bounces. He enjoyed the bouncing floor more than Devin did it seemed.

When they were jumping together Balthazar began to feel the difference in jumps. It was almost as if the force Devin put on the ground was transferring to Balthazar in some way to help the mage bounce higher, however it also seemed that more of the energy went to Devin who seemed to ascend higher than Balthazar. With the crude understanding of physics, Balthazar did not know the various forces at work but he knew one thing, when he jumped nearer to Devin, when the ground was compressed somewhat already, it made him go higher into the air. Eventually they cycled back to Devin asking why this part of the dream was so boring and Balthazar shrugged. "Maybe you're not as creative as you'd hoped." Balthazar said passively before adding "If you don't like it, why not wake up?"

[Devin]

When Balthazar told him that it was his dream and that he could probably end it whenever he wanted if he only concentrated hard enough, the Mortalborn looked at him doubtfully before he scrunched up his face and furrowed his brow deeply. A moment later, he stopped again abruptly and complained, “It’s not working! Fek!” Unlike most of his colleagues, the priest of Delroth used swearwords quite frequently (and he also had a couple of other bad habits that a religious official really shouldn’t have).

And unlike Balthazar, he didn’t concern himself with physics and wonder what made him jump higher. Physics were science, and science was boring and superfluous; and the only thing that mattered was that he was enjoying himself anyway, at least until he realized that his dream didn’t have anything more to offer - just grass, grass and more grass!

“I’m very creative!” he disagreed, eyes ablaze, as Balthazar mused why his dream sucked so much. “In fact, I’m one of the most creative men in all of Scalvoris! Maybe my mind isn’t working properly when I’m asleep though?” he wondered, frowning deeply. Not as creative as he’d hoped? Bah! He was an extraordinarily creative conman, a bard, and a doctor – even his medical treatments were creative! There was not a single thing about him that was not creative!

“I tried to”, he informed the other man as he suggested that he wake up. “It’s not working though!” He closed his eyes and tried to breathe slowly and steadily – his roommate Aidan had told him that meditation helped you focus – but that didn’t have any effect either.

“See?” he asked. ”Nothing!”

In the waking world, Devin’s bedmate still couldn’t sleep. They put the pillow away again and began to nudge the Mortalborn and poke him so that he would finally wake up – and stop snoring.

In Emea, the Mortalborn was just about to close his mouth and try to wake up even harder when he … abruptly disappeared.

A moment later, he suddenly found himself in his own bed.

He glowered at his bedmate before he complained, “You interrupted me! I was just trying to wake up!”

Having said that, he abruptly touched his back and asked, a slightly panicked look on his face, "Where are my wings?!"

His bedmate just looked at him strangely because his words didn’t make any sense to them.

[Kasoria]

Review Rewards

Name: BALT

Points awarded: 15

Knowledge:
Acrobatics x 4
Endurance x 2
Detection x 4
Physics x 3

Name: DEV

Points awarded: 15

Knowledge:
Acrobatics x10
Flying x2
Meditation x1

Skill Review: All Skills were played within acceptable levels

Notes:
Wow. I initially thought Dev was overselling all those Acro Knowledges but YEP, he earned 'em! Fun and kinda breezy, actually, quite original compared to most pieces I read here. There was solid pacing and decent to and from between characters. Love to see where this ends up.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns in regards to this review, feel free to PM.