I have to try

Ophelia has been calling out to me ever since I was a child. She has been trapped for goddess knows how long. If I only take the safe the safe way, I may never find her, let alone find her in time. If I am to save her, I will need to take every chance I can get.

I look over at Amelia and say, “Sorry, but I have to try.”

I then get up from my chair and move it over to where Livia is. I sit back down and place myself in a comfortable way. Harold, having apparently planned for this possibility, pulls out a sleeping potion for me to use. I gulp it down, then rest my head on a pillow and close my eyes.

I keep my eyes closed, waiting in darkness until I start dreaming, until suddenly I hear Livia’s voice echoing from all around me. “Alright, are you ready?”

“Wow, am I dreaming already?” I ask.

“Not quite.” Livia’s echoing voice says. “You are asleep, but in deep enough to be dreaming. We need to wait for you to fall into a deeper sleep. But I can make you relive a memory to make you more comfortable.”

Suddenly, the darkness around me seems to shimmer and take on color and shape. Before I know it, I am in my old bedroom. The one I left behind in Merton. I know this place no longer exists. I have been to Merton and have seen it after its destruction. But this is a perfect replica of it. Livia must be pretty good for being able to copy it so well.

I walk up to the door and open it to walk into the living room. The place is bright with light coming in through the windows. The table has my favorite food on it and coming from the kitchen holding a place with roasted chicken is my mother.

“Good morning, Darx.” Mom says with a big smile. “Are you hungry?”

I walk up to her and give her a hug. I know she’s just a memory created by Livia, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen her. And with all the worries I’ve had over here these last 2 weeks, I just can’t help but feel a bit emotional.

“Awww, Darxi. You are such a cutie.” Mom says. “No wonder Lilith likes you.”

Wait. My mom is not supposed to know about Lilith.

I take a step back and ask, “Are you Livia?”

My mom makes a devilish smile and says, “Got it in one. Sorry for taking on your mother’s shape, Darx. But as long as we are in your memories, I am stuck at using only what you recall. I promise to throw off her shape as soon as I can.”

“I see.” I say, feeling unsure about this woman who looks like my mother but is really a demon in disguise. “I guess we will just have to wait until I am more asleep.”

“Don’t worry, you are under the effects of a sleeping potion.” Livia says as she leans over the table and smells the food. “Alchemy can be very potent, and your potion was delivered by someone of the royal court. I have no doubt it will work. This food smells really good. Gosh, I am still hungry from the coma. Let me take a few bites here.”

Livia breaks a chicken leg from the roast and starts eating it.

“Mmmm, so this is how you recall this taste. So good.” Livia moans. “I bet I will have to wait a few days until my stomach can handle food like this again. I mean with the coma and all that. But at least here, I can at least enjoy the taste.”

When looking upon Livia like this, I suddenly notice some clear signs how she is different from my mom. The way she sits at the table, how she eats, her entire behavior is so much different than my mom’s. Though when I am trying to recollect how my mother actually eats, another version of her shimmers into view sitting opposite Livia. The behaves exactly as my mom, even when eating a chicken leg, except she completely ignores both Livia and myself.

“Ooooh, so this is how she is like.” Livia says playfully and starts copying her. “Hey, Darx. Ever wanted to have twin moms?”

Please, no. It would be like having my mom’s evil twin.

“Can’t I just go to bed in this memory and sleep over here to get into a deeper sleep.” I ask.

“Oh, if only it were as simple as to sleep yourself into a deeper sleep.” Livia says. “Although, I do believe I can make some small alterations now.”

Livia waves her hand and suddenly the roasted chicken grows new legs, gets up and starts walking around.

“There. Isn’t it grand to play around in a dream?” Livia asks.

Livia plays around a bit more, until eventually she announces that I am in a deep enough sleep.

“Alright, Darx. It seems that you are in a deep sleep now. Let’s shed this memory.” Livia says.

She stands up from her chair and makes the image of my real mother disappear. Then she changes herself until she looks like her demonic version in the real world. Not gona lie, I am going to have nightmares of watching my mother transform into a demoness. But then Livia goes all out and causes the roof of my house to shoot up and fly out of sight. Next she makes the walls fall down and suddenly I see the floor of my house is floating in midair, surrounded by a pink and light blue starry sky.

As I am studying my surroundings, Livia says “Now that we are out of the realm of pure memories, I have a lot more freedom.” From somewhere behind me. Then I hear her whisper straight into my ear, “I can make your wildest dreams come true.”

I turn around, shocked that she was able to sneak up on me so quickly. “One flick of my finger, and I can turn all of this into a nightmare. Better stay on my good side, then. Hehehe.” She finishes her sentences with another devilish smile.

“Yeah, well. You are here to study this dream I keep having.” I say, hoping to bring her back on course.

“Of course.” Livia says. “Now, I could flip through all your memories until I find the memory of your dream and then try to find that dream. But that would take a long tie and also reveal a lot of personal information to me. I think you would prefer for that not to happen. So instead, I suggest you try thinking really hard about the dream you are talking about, and then I try to make a connection to it.”

I close my eyes and try my best to think of Ophelia and only Ophelia. The last thing I want is for Livia to witness one of my other dreams. Like the one I had after escaping from the harpies. Yeah, better block that one out of my memory.

Suddenly, I get startled by the throes of passion from a female voice. I open my eyes and see Livia and myself trapped in a resplendent bedroom. A naked version of myself is tied on a bed, a naked harpy is riding me, moaning as loud as she can, and several other naked harpies surround us, caressing their pregnant bellies while smiling contently.

Livia gets a look of complete shock on her face and yells, “Darx! You little pervert!”

“No!” I yell back. “This is a nightmare!”

“Me discovering this about you is a nightmare, yeah.” Livia responds.

I then have to explain to Livia that this is a nightmare I had after having gotten captured by some harpies.

“I see.” Livia says. “So they …” and she points at my crotch.

“They harvested me, yes.” I admit with embarrassment. “Please, don’t tell anyone.”

“Sure, no problem.” Livia assures me. Then she waves her hand and all the harpies, including the nude version of me on the bed disappear. “Now, try again. And this time, don’t focus on what you want to hide. Focus on what you want to show.”

Again, I close my eyes, and this time I think only of Ophelia. Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia, …

“Ok, this does feel rather ominous.” I hear Livian say.

I open my eyes and see the familiar darkness I always see in my dreams with Ophelia. And not too far from us, is Ophelia herself. Still standing and bound.

“Yeah, this is the dream.” I smile. This is the first time one of the dream mages was able to get this far. Maybe we’ll actually get somewhere.

“Not quite, this is an image you pulled from your memory.” Livia says. “But now that I know what to look for …”

Another shimmer happened and this time, Ophelia is on her knees, like last time.

“Now this is your dream.” Livia announces. She looks over to Ophelia and says, “Oooh, she looks important.”

“She is.” I answer as I start walking up to Ophelia. “She’s the reason I keep getting this dream.” When I get as close as I can I ask, “Hey, Ophelia. How are you feeling today?”

“Weak.” Ophelia says gently. “When will you find me?”

“I think I have found someone who can help me.” I turn to Livia and ask, “Ophelia is somewhere in the waking world, but I have no clue how to find her. Do you think you could figure out where she’s sending this dream from? Just a general direction would already be a lot.”

I’m not sure.” Livia says. “Let me take a closer look.”

She then walks towards Ophelia, but bumps against the invisible wall before I could warn her.

“Ok, so that’s an issue.” Livia says annoyed. “Hmm, maybe I can adjust this dream a little.”

Livia then waves her hand and suddenly a bright light appears where Ophelia is resting. In an instant, Ophelia is illuminated and for the first time I can see what she really looks like.

The first thing I notice is that her arms are raised because she has been chained up. The chains preventing her arms from going any lower. The second is that she is completely nude. Which monster would leave a woman nude while imprisoning her. That is so disgusting. Then I notice her long purple hair, and also, her horns. It could be that Ophelia is some kind of bull-type beastkind, but I have a distinct feeling that instead her horns are evidence that she is some kind of demon.

“Ophelia!” I say excitedly. “I can see you!”

Ophelia hears me and raises her head to look into my eyes.

“Darx.” She says weakly as she looks at me with her purple eyes. “Find me.”

“Livia! It worked!” I say with a smile and turn back to share the good news with her. But Livia is no longer standing. She is sitting on the ground, color has drained from here face, making her skin look pink instead of red and looks at Ophelia as if she has seen a ghost.

“Zaine.” Livia whispers. Then she fades away.

Ok, something’s got Livia spooked. Does she know Ophelia? And who is Zaine?

I look back at Ophelia, the light illuminating her already dimming, and ask, “Do you know who Zaine is?”

“No.” Ophilia answers, and then gets swallowed up by the darkness again.

Next thing I know, I am pulled out of the dream and open my eyes to Amelia shaking me.

“Darx? What happened? What’s going on?” Amelia asks.

“Mmmh, wha-what happened to Livia?” I ask.

I look over to the bed where Livia is. She is lying down again, with her eyes closed, though it is obvious she has not fallen into a coma again. She is breathing heavily and has a hand on her forehead. It looks like seeing Ophelia really shocked her. What is going on?

I end up telling everybody about what Livia did in my head. How she first made my bedroom appear from reading my memory and then we went straight towards a memory of Ophilia without ever doing a stop by at a harpy nightmare, because it is quite simply not relevant enough to be told in front of all these people, especially my 2 girlfriends. Then how we switched from a memory from the dream to the actual dream itself, and also how she illuminated Ophelia and I got to see her for the first time. While describing Ophelia, I mention the chains, the purple hair and the horns, but not the nudity. Because, you know, not relevant. Finally, I tell everyone that Livia spoke the name ‘Zaine’ before she broke contact with me.

“Who is Zaine, mom?” Lilith asks.

“She’s … someone I know.” Livia answers hesitantly. “She’s a demon. The devil type, like myself. I have no idea why she is appearing to Darx in his dreams. It looks like she’s in trouble though. Ugh, I need to rest.”

I can’t blame Livia for needing to rest. She just woke up from a multi-year coma, woke up in a stronghold of what she would expect is enemy territory, had to come to terms with how many years she has skipped, and then was asked to peer into my dreams and then discovered an old friend of hers has been in trouble since before she fell into that coma. It is a lot to take in.

It is quite frankly also time for us to go back to our guild. We have spent a lot of time at the Cathedral. Way more than we intended. And then we’ve spent basically the whole afternoon at the castle. When looking at the sky, there are parts where it is getting dark already. So we say our goodbyes and Harold lets us know that if he has something new for us, he will send another message.

As we walk back to the Dark Dragon guildhall, Amelia and Kiara both have a lot of questions. I try my best to answer them all but there are many to which I have no answer. But when we arrive at our guildhall, we get a surprise. Two of Mia’s guildmembers, Craig and Leonora are waiting for us.

When Leonora notices us, her bunny ears perk up and she comes running to us. “Darx, where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you for hours.” She says.

“Sorry, we’ve had some big things to do.” I apologize. “What are you two here for? What’s going on?”

“Well, there’s no way to say this easy.” Craig says while grimacing. “You know the pleasant owl? The inn your friend Oliver works at?”

I get a little worried and ask, “Yeah, what about it?”

“Well, it’s not around anymore.” Craig answers. “Fabe burned it. It’s gone.”