“How did I get tricked into this?” I wonder aloud. “No, seriously. How did I ever think this was a good idea?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAPdzOuf7U
Klef shushes me. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FE7SMLNNv
The Crusader’s base is in sight, and I’m having more than a few second thoughts about this whole experience. “Have you ever seen me try to speak in public?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwGOpGuOd8
“Yes. But this isn’t in public,” Klef reasons.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzyWRfi4eG
“I’m with Klef on this one, Reese, have some self confidence!” Geo adds.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAlGalIS7t
As we’re walking toward the Crusader’s base, Flo walks out with a werewolf who I’m assuming is her mate. They have flowers in their short cropped hair but despite the typically “feminine” accessory has a somewhat-masculine build. Both of them walk out to greet us. “Oh, so nice to see you three! Geo, Iri, and...sorry, was it Klept?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3rE8Rgg87
“Klef, nice to meet you,” Klef says, shaking Flo’s hand. “I understand you’re the one who helped me when I had food poisoning 5 years ago. Thank you for that.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlQaHXoNkF
Flo smiles, bashful. “I really wasn’t that good at finding anything to help you, but you’re welcome regardless.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFNiM59OB2
The other werewolf clears their throat. “Am I invisible, or something?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjd94z4xmPp
“Oh! Sorry, Rythe! Everyone, this is Rythe, my mate,” Flo says with a blush.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBnitV3XfL
Rythe shakes Klef and Geo’s hands, and then comes to me, examining my eyes. “And you must be the Oracle I’m hearing so much about!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIThMD7FI5F
I nod. “I’m Rides. Nice to meet you.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡziOU6n7bFs
Rythe bows. “It’s an honor, my lady.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNZ9vr3KjA
I blush and Flo whacks Rythe upside the head. “Stop, you, you’re embarrassing her!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJbJsuQCiU
Rythe grins. “But that’s what you love about me! And clearly she doesn’t see herself as some sort of royalty!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK62K7R53t7
Flo mutters in a low voice, “She’s the Alpha’s daughter.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSXQMH5LCq
Rythe straightens. “You mean the Alpha of a rival pack or The Alpha?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOszy0V2dIW
“Try the second one,” Flo mutters, embarrassed on his behalf.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu51dHyEq92
“Oh.” Rythe salutes me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCaJS6r2pk
“That’s not necessary, Rythe,” I laugh. “I’m perfectly fine with being called Rides, or even Iri, if my dad insists on calling me that all the time.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTNw8wT0yJ
Rythe nods stiffly, setting the flower crown close to the brink of desruction, and leads us inside.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UnAK6ft8p
“Guy or girl?” Klef whispers to Geo.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKPOVlqgJs
“I...don’t know? Guy, I think?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVH0z8sPckz
“No, I’d say girl,” Klef muses.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGe65kmojB
“What are you guys talking about?” I mutter.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ohjCPqIBm
“Rythe. Guy or girl, do you think?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAeB7EoZaOl
“Um…” I have to think about my answer. “Maybe they’re neither…”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBj141JWl4U
“Neither? Is that possible?” Klef asks.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9mWB5Sj3G
“It would make sense,” Geo reasons.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3oPpa9JzO
“I’m going to stick to using first names around those two,” I say, holding to the werewolf couple holding hands. “Just to stay in the clear.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYdAREKsbL
“Right, because the natural neutral pronouns are it/its, but that can be seen as degrading nowadays,” Geo says.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCqswH62cS
“It is grammatically correct, though,” Klef points out.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6nVmPH3vm
“I guess you have a point, but would you be okay with being called an ‘it’?” I counter.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADjoBqysfB
“What are you guys talking about?” Flo asks.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzIrR6D9ah
“Nothing much,” Geo says. “Just things back at our branch, you know?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRi69gtM06E
Rythe coughs and mutters, “They/them,” and I grin at Klef and Geo.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJPtSlyqAm
Flo ushers us into a giant room filled with desks where people are talking on phones, documenting things with pictures and surrounding a map, adjusting plastic pieces and discussing strategy. There are many species I recognize and some I don’t. This speech is not going to be easy.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGUuiVHphr
Rythe clears their throat. “Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, allow me to present Rides, the Oracle who will be informing us on her dreams!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMbN1IJAv3
The room goes silent and every eye is on me as I take a deep breath. “Well...first of all, thanks for paying attention, I know a large room full of people who wouldn’t be willing to do that. Second of all,” I look around the room. “Why are you guys paying attention?! I have no clue what I’m doing, and I’m willing to bet every other person in this room has a better idea about how to handle this problem than I do. I am young, inexperienced, and I have recurring nightmares, so I don’t get a lot of sleep to think clearly.” Everyone looks at one another, shifting and murmuring. “My point being,” I yell over the murmuring, and everything goes dead silent again, “That no matter what you think of me, I’m like anyone else. I have my strengths and my weaknesses, just as everyone else in this room has to deal with. I’m not some super-impressive goddess who can do anything I want. I’m weak at almost everything here. I’m just Rides, the girl who dunked her boyfriend in ice cold water to try and help speed up his molting. But you need information, and fortunately, that’s one of my strengths.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfcLxv4j6m
“All of my dreams are pretty much the same. I’m being led to some machine of mass destruction by someone--I don’t know who. I’m on some island, or place surrounded by water, at least. There’s mermaids, fairies, zombies, ghosts, you name a species, it’s probably there, except there are never any humans. When I’m strapped to it something happens and it takes my Sight. It revs up and Klef is asking whoever the leader is why they’re doing this. To summarize, they say it’s to ‘destroy all humans’.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7vNPha9KM
Everyone shifts around, suddenly on edge. “And?!” a wizard with pitch black hair shouts.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jxTXqGfQO
“And that’s it. I can say it’s more likely that we’re on an island than a continent, and there aren’t as many islands in this world to check out…” I say.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bCEuWqQq9
“That we know of!” a gorgon yells. “We could be on a wild goose chase, lass!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRde6phs4b4
Klef bristles next to me and I hold him back with a hand. “You called me here,” I explain, “You wanted to know what I knew. There you have it.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajs25NC3nk
The wizard who yelled out comes up to me. “Yeah, but we were expecting…”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMFGkLb4ff
“More?” I supply. “Yeah, a lot of people do. Be glad I have that much, though. This is coming from 5 years of dreams.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabZ7AxcgdH
“Okay. I’m Ama. A necromancer,” she introduces. “I’m going to be guarding you three for your stay.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43JBDik3Zf
“Make that the two of them,” Geo corrects. “I’m no one.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoMvOFL4Hk
I start to protest but Ama cuts me off. “He has a good point, Oracle. You and your partner are the highest priority here. The less people to protect, the safer you’ll be.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQsMgHwJKa
The room is still silent, everyone anticipating my reply. “Excuse me,” I gasp, making a beeline for the room’s exit.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDJVNRVnAk
I wander the halls, looking for a restroom. I know I’m about to be sick. I heave in the middle of the hallway and shudder as nothing comes up but a little bile. I was too nervous to eat lunch earlier, but now I’m glad I insisted that I wasn’t hungry. After a few more dry heaves, I slide down the colorless wall to the right of me to the ground. Now that I’ve stopped puking, all I really want to do is cry. I’m really not important. They just need my gift, and anyone could get that. To say others’ lives, their family and friends, my family and friends, are nothing next to me...it has to be utterly ridiculous. There’s no way. I no more important than anyone else. No one should die on my behalf.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUEdx2I9cx
Footsteps come up to my back. Two pairs. “Ride?” Klef asks. “You okay?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4RnRCpaKq
I shake my head and close my eyes, resting my side against the wall. “Sick,” I mutter.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0n1OKjJLq
“I’m sorry if I upset you, but you need to get it into your head that you’re special,” Ama states.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SXwxBybCe
“You don’t seem to be the type to be a necromancer,” I say. “Since you seem to care about people and their health so much.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXJwLPkESc
Ama laughs. “You haven’t seen me mad.” I turn to get a good look at her. She does have a black air about her, but it’s small and watery at the moment. She has black ringlets that go below her shoulders and clear, milky skin. She also has one green and one blue eye. She notices me looking at her eyes and grins. “Yeah, I have the Sight too. It makes my magic strong enough to animate corpses. Wanna see?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQB6sopjf5t
“S-sure.” I stumble on the word, because what is the correct response to someone volunteering to reanimate a corpse for you?800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1alRcQGC0
Ama mutters something and a tiny skeleton of a rabbit forms out of bones in a pocket Ama has on her clothes. “I like bunnies,” Ama explains. “Once I made an entire fluffle of skeleton bunnies follow me.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrajr8HK8e
“Definitely not someone I’d call a necromancer,” Klef mutters.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8i0enUzzR
I still don’t turn enough to see him properly. Ama shifts so she can face me fully. “Pet the bun,” she instructs.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZMHJLOVtV
My hand reaches for the bunny with hesitation and it lifts its head up to meet my fingers, relishing every single stroke. I smile, and Ama smiles at me. The bunny falls into a pile of bones and Ama shakily returns the bones to her pockets. “Always drains me,” she admits.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYCCH6Mgmf
I put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re great at it.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJUSE4Pm24
Ama grins, a blush creeping over her from ear to ear as she stands up. “Come on. Everyone is waiting for you, to make sure you’re all right.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qrSpGBOak
I stand up, my muscles screaming at me every inch. My legs shake and my head is spinning as I finally look at Klef. His face is etched in concern and he takes the few slow steps to me as if he’s walking across a minefield. He wraps an arm around my shoulder and says, “You look like you’re about to keel over. Let me help.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJL1nU1HYr
“I’m fine,” I mutter as I lean against his shoulder.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4h743YdUE
“Of course you are, you’re great,” he snarks as he leads me back the way we came. “That’s why you puked and collapsed.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTC28PnbRm
I scoff. “Shut up, bird brain.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jbb2p0Q79
“Make me, pointy ears!” Klef challenged.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tm6CiE9ba
Ama looked between us. “You two are so dating.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBosd9wtJNf
“No we’re not!” we deny at the same time.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWdtrHdqQD
Ama laughs. “So dating.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCgA7lo2Mc
“Well don’t say anything. We want to keep it on the DL, if it’s possible,” Klef requested.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgncQzrLH6J
“Seriously? I’m willing to bet half the people here have started a pool on your relationship status!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNV0CPjOKt
I groan. “Great. Just what I need. First I’m more important than others, and now I’m going to be seen as a desperate lovestruck teenager.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgfgZrklhC
Klef raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that how you see yourself?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiAdRygEqJh
I shrug. “Well, people mix up you and I a lot.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2XP4Z3Yko
Klef lightly punches me. “There’s the Ride I know and love.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHk8AfuOlF
Ama sighs. “I ship it,” she murmurs.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFL5XffDHKS
“There’s that word again!” I exclaim. “Why would people ‘ship’ us?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEvgdoFCTG
“It’s cute!” Ama defends.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7x0SrP6IW
“It’s weird!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzCDzhWfbd
“It’s true!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQK6minE1Z6
“It’s really really funny,” Klef interjects.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpfIHJAqYBc
I elbow him. “It is not,” I sigh.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTMot4WzbF
Klef grins.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rdk0NF78y
“It’s not funny!” I exclaim.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gwsPAUAox
“Whatever you say, Ride. Whatever you say,” Klef laughs.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRRwXQ43yU
Rythe and Flo come into view outside the conference room. “You okay?” Rythe asks.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHw5HWh7bi
I nod. Klef lets go of me and I nearly topple over. “Do you mind?” I growl.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubXTt68jk9
He grins. “We’ll get you something to sit on until you feel better,” he assures.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIkzvK2P98
I mimic him. He punches me, nearly sending me careening into a wall. Rythe picks me up. “I can take you to a wheelchair, don’t worry,” they say.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfR4XeAUwn
I’m carried to a wheelchair next to a table with a globe on it. Little red flags litter the globe. “What are those flags for?” I ask.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINfVtUhSPW
“Those are possible places your dreams could have taken place. Now, the list has decreased significantly with your information,” Rythe pulled out land-based flags. “Because you said you were on a peninsula or an island. Now, in addition to the Islands of the Mermaids, there are a bunch of unmapped islands all around the globe. And there’s on in the middle of a lake in the Untamed Lands that’s suspicious.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66Ot5Rztut
I nod. “Are we sending people to check out the most probable places?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65aNUU9Hsk
“Yeah, and we’re sending you and Klef to some of the less likely ones, to deal with the messages somewhere safe.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMAX4g4hHfu
“Okay, I guess…I’d rather be out looking, though.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CWRoC4U25
“It’s for the best you don’t,” a pale human with freckles says. “Hibiscus A, they/them. Has a mild obsession with dragons.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡarYOn8rgvq
I smile. “Rides. My dad wants me to go by Iri. I’m old fashioned, I don’t like using my full name.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeK7u6wM1f
Hibiscus A nodded. “I got you. Completely got you. Nice to make your acquaintance, Rides.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkyntpWVNJ
“Likewise.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJml6sbrXhG
Klef walks in, followed by my dad. “Still hanging around this scum, Iri?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7E9O06zrWK
I laugh. “Hi, dad.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4D05eFNab
Klef looks offended. “What am I?”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0e2AV4xX2O
“Chopped liver,” I respond.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGW6Vs8QOf
Dad laughs. “Nice one!”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bPKSNvVPu
Klef holds a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Ride. You wound me.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1M8smXYvDr
“Good. I was trying to.”800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIijQbnKxA
Hibiscus A coughed. “Ship it,” they mutter.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjJaLeFhjH
I throw my hands up. “I’m done with this!” I sigh.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0N2iqexnst
Everyone laughs. “You think I’m joking?” I ask, standing up shakily. “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I exclaim, waving.800Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs4HtWht6Cs
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