“How did I get tricked into this?” I wonder aloud. “No, seriously. How did I ever think this was a good idea?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡje3ujRTN5C
Klef shushes me. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFPFm18TRbd
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?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWb0v4vvgQz
“Yes. But this isn’t in public,” Klef reasons.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQQG8YQdTd
“I’m with Klef on this one, Reese, have some self confidence!” Geo adds.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24gM1OmIn7
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?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9B9X20kcg
“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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtlViqWMVIL
Flo smiles, bashful. “I really wasn’t that good at finding anything to help you, but you’re welcome regardless.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4kpfvJXNW
The other werewolf clears their throat. “Am I invisible, or something?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32M6PSMiCL
“Oh! Sorry, Rythe! Everyone, this is Rythe, my mate,” Flo says with a blush.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZREcx8dQs
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!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkbtc5PKia
I nod. “I’m Rides. Nice to meet you.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClZOARKEWw
Rythe bows. “It’s an honor, my lady.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1JgsdtaY4
I blush and Flo whacks Rythe upside the head. “Stop, you, you’re embarrassing her!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA4aoRLwEod
Rythe grins. “But that’s what you love about me! And clearly she doesn’t see herself as some sort of royalty!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdQA09sWSS
Flo mutters in a low voice, “She’s the Alpha’s daughter.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaO9nwtZGf
Rythe straightens. “You mean the Alpha of a rival pack or The Alpha?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHus2sloED6
“Try the second one,” Flo mutters, embarrassed on his behalf.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJtmv0T3c1
“Oh.” Rythe salutes me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYjNfGuXye
“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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2njHldhdt7
Rythe nods stiffly, setting the flower crown close to the brink of desruction, and leads us inside.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6COM7bZonX
“Guy or girl?” Klef whispers to Geo.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVsm5ZpeNa
“I...don’t know? Guy, I think?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyuZ847pwd
“No, I’d say girl,” Klef muses.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnqC2XMLMs
“What are you guys talking about?” I mutter.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVblh6NZO8n
“Rythe. Guy or girl, do you think?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NjWsTVVVH
“Um…” I have to think about my answer. “Maybe they’re neither…”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8deVxY0wl
“Neither? Is that possible?” Klef asks.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3QhCoZxh9
“It would make sense,” Geo reasons.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HUhkESEm0
“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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQo014SaAC
“Right, because the natural neutral pronouns are it/its, but that can be seen as degrading nowadays,” Geo says.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OlYy1H0jz
“It is grammatically correct, though,” Klef points out.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsR5KkjxPd
“I guess you have a point, but would you be okay with being called an ‘it’?” I counter.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eS7GPrX4R
“What are you guys talking about?” Flo asks.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxOhSJZhFf
“Nothing much,” Geo says. “Just things back at our branch, you know?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKu1UpwPCvS
Rythe coughs and mutters, “They/them,” and I grin at Klef and Geo.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaELz5vuY7
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.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmFcCnxAML
Rythe clears their throat. “Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, allow me to present Rides, the Oracle who will be informing us on her dreams!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnZM3XsIZm
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.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtWs3MqzlE
“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’.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKU6SIpe2f
Everyone shifts around, suddenly on edge. “And?!” a wizard with pitch black hair shouts.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYIHIfYknS
“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.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WE4onzpjM
“That we know of!” a gorgon yells. “We could be on a wild goose chase, lass!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInqg4Gu5pU
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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP66smjf3Hv
The wizard who yelled out comes up to me. “Yeah, but we were expecting…”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUsc6vUSyz
“More?” I supply. “Yeah, a lot of people do. Be glad I have that much, though. This is coming from 5 years of dreams.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs4naTi0i7k
“Okay. I’m Ama. A necromancer,” she introduces. “I’m going to be guarding you three for your stay.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb76W40gqFz
“Make that the two of them,” Geo corrects. “I’m no one.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdMd4c0XE2
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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxrq0ROlyI
The room is still silent, everyone anticipating my reply. “Excuse me,” I gasp, making a beeline for the room’s exit.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqfvSMqYcW
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.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDAUS6F1Sh
Footsteps come up to my back. Two pairs. “Ride?” Klef asks. “You okay?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4AOO7ZmxzS
I shake my head and close my eyes, resting my side against the wall. “Sick,” I mutter.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57RfQZLlut
“I’m sorry if I upset you, but you need to get it into your head that you’re special,” Ama states.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYX6hzt6H3
“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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWSXhWA44D
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?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZUYcCyztS
“S-sure.” I stumble on the word, because what is the correct response to someone volunteering to reanimate a corpse for you?862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NmIK7hUaa
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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNl5ZxObCfC
“Definitely not someone I’d call a necromancer,” Klef mutters.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNgiD5FYX5
I still don’t turn enough to see him properly. Ama shifts so she can face me fully. “Pet the bun,” she instructs.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIsxBL0aKo
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.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0jLzb4Epo
I put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re great at it.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRhEL18DAL
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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYuvORVTJt
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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTkeFJxFsY
“I’m fine,” I mutter as I lean against his shoulder.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIF4iU0eTW
“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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSNGPhLl1x
I scoff. “Shut up, bird brain.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1QEbRYL1i
“Make me, pointy ears!” Klef challenged.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD48RqoOtjq
Ama looked between us. “You two are so dating.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnUQlvMQU0
“No we’re not!” we deny at the same time.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCGerrmLSn
Ama laughs. “So dating.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZ8cAiX66q
“Well don’t say anything. We want to keep it on the DL, if it’s possible,” Klef requested.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYElly3fsP
“Seriously? I’m willing to bet half the people here have started a pool on your relationship status!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyXnSfMWSg
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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoCQIC0qQe
Klef raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that how you see yourself?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZ5OdoHthm
I shrug. “Well, people mix up you and I a lot.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnvKUMkKjh
Klef lightly punches me. “There’s the Ride I know and love.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0H7jNhSzG
Ama sighs. “I ship it,” she murmurs.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGR2iPYgBPl
“There’s that word again!” I exclaim. “Why would people ‘ship’ us?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qmqT4Dezv
“It’s cute!” Ama defends.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFbhep44qe
“It’s weird!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAm7o78ZeeG
“It’s true!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQd2sVbskkv
“It’s really really funny,” Klef interjects.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguZV9XS0O2
I elbow him. “It is not,” I sigh.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rhOHegr6j
Klef grins.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0kV4J7hxu
“It’s not funny!” I exclaim.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45uT1zsgjX
“Whatever you say, Ride. Whatever you say,” Klef laughs.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkbCaLgugG
Rythe and Flo come into view outside the conference room. “You okay?” Rythe asks.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXqI0pvoT8
I nod. Klef lets go of me and I nearly topple over. “Do you mind?” I growl.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCqNqPFi1X
He grins. “We’ll get you something to sit on until you feel better,” he assures.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5y5fa7oJR
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.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgYw998yDN
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.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65PIBHV4iB
“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.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOYUM881Gw
I nod. “Are we sending people to check out the most probable places?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY26AdRlwTv
“Yeah, and we’re sending you and Klef to some of the less likely ones, to deal with the messages somewhere safe.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIUMTYuUIn
“Okay, I guess…I’d rather be out looking, though.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6JDTzkhIW
“It’s for the best you don’t,” a pale human with freckles says. “Hibiscus A, they/them. Has a mild obsession with dragons.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GJrQ6YHqc
I smile. “Rides. My dad wants me to go by Iri. I’m old fashioned, I don’t like using my full name.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwiH8R4ciw
Hibiscus A nodded. “I got you. Completely got you. Nice to make your acquaintance, Rides.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcQbKpvUkY
“Likewise.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1FwuTeSvk
Klef walks in, followed by my dad. “Still hanging around this scum, Iri?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvJxgtLNCY
I laugh. “Hi, dad.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVRQYIZ6qj
Klef looks offended. “What am I?”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFI7AP6Wlo
“Chopped liver,” I respond.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkGwfXf2Yv4
Dad laughs. “Nice one!”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLiXmUXUKSp
Klef holds a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Ride. You wound me.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmFkO3mGo8
“Good. I was trying to.”862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hmWxiao5l
Hibiscus A coughed. “Ship it,” they mutter.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowpU2OxQ9F
I throw my hands up. “I’m done with this!” I sigh.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrFEkDx0jw
Everyone laughs. “You think I’m joking?” I ask, standing up shakily. “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I exclaim, waving.862Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mIpKSFtlZ
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