----
DRYDEN
The fact that my vision had gone completely red should have been my first clue. I could feel myself starting to slip away and clung desperately to the steering wheel. The sound of car horns and screeching tires sounded distant to me as reality began slipping away. The thought of hitting the brakes floated through my mind, and I could vaguely feel my legs moving, but I was too far gone now to tell if I had succeeded. A semi truck could trample me now, and I wouldn't have a clue.
As the red faded completely into black, I couldn't feel anything. This was always the part that scared me the most. Was this what it felt like to die? This time, would I stay here for all eternity or wake up again like usual?
But then the darkness began to fade. I wasn't awake but dreaming. It was night, and I was running through the woods, following a billowing dark blue cloak. It started pulling further ahead and, in the dim light, appeared to be merging with the night.
-
“Dryden!” my hushed voice called through the darkness.
The cloaked woman looked back and smiled. Her pale skin shone like the moon through the trees, making the markings on the side of her face stand out. “Almost there.” Even though the words were whispered, I understood perfectly. Perhaps I was reading her lips rather than hearing her, but either way the words quieted my fears. Dryden would not allow me to fall behind.
The pale woman darted up and over the boulders that cluttered the base of the cliff we had come to. I followed her silently into a hidden cave.
“Here it is,” Dryden said as she lowered her hood to release her long blond hair. “Would you like to have the honors, Rin?”
I gave her a look of surprise, but at her encouraging smile I placed my hand on the rock wall. “Guards of wind, grant my whim. Allow us haven within All Souls Tavern.”
Previously invisible symbols glowed on the wall, illuminating both of our faces. As they faded so did the wall, leaving a hole just big enough for us to pass through. Dryden entered first, and we emerged into a small tavern. There was no visible light source, yet I could see perfectly.
“Ezra,” Dryden greeted the woman behind the counter. Ezra appeared to be anything but shy as her choice of dress left little to the imagination. But, along with her attractiveness, she gave off a since of strength and intelligence. When she directed her smile toward me, I knew I was safe. Nothing would harm me while I was in her presence.
-
I woke with a gasp like I always did after these dreams, as if I had been yanked from the water just before I drowned.
“Kathrin!”
The walls around me were white. A hospital. Yanking off the blankets, I began frantically searching the room. “Where's my book?”
“It's probably still in the car.” Joshua. The hospital must have called him. “What did you think you were doing anyway?”
“I need my damn notebook!” I shouted. I never went anywhere without it for this precise reason. I write down every vision I have right away before I forget any details.
“Alright, alright.” Josh said, digging in his brief case and producing a pen and some paper. “You had another dream again?” he asked as I snatched the supplies away from him.
“I always have dreams when I black out.” I replied as I tried to get everything down onto paper.
“Dryden again?”
“Mm.” I nodded. “But there was a new girl this time.” I paused briefly, recalling her face. “Ezra. It must mean something.”
“Those dreams are nothing but good inspiration for a best selling fiction novel.” Josh stated, crossing his arms. “Which you'll need if these hospital bills keep piling up.”
I sent him a quick glare before returning to my sketch of Ezra's face. “They must have something to do with the three years I lost.”
“Do you really think you turned into a wizard for three years? That you were running around casting spells? It isn't possible, Kathrin!”
“I don't know!” I shouted back at him. “Maybe they're abstract memories or something! I couldn't have just disappeared off the face of the earth for three years! I must have been somewhere, doing something!”
“Kathrin,” he said in a voice he knew I hated. It sounded like he was talking to a stubborn child. “We've been over this before. If what happened to you was horrible enough that you've completely blocked it out, then maybe it's better you don't remember.”
I could only sit and glare at him. A few months ago I woke up in a hospital with no memory of the last three years of my life. My last memory was riding in a car with my parents on the way to our annual camping trip. There had apparently been some kind of accident on the way back which killed my parents, though I remember none of it. My body wasn't found until three years later, nowhere near where the accident took place. Josh was a shrink that had been assigned to me to help me cope. A fat lot of help he was.
“Stop glaring at me like that.” Josh demanded. “It's a mental defense mechanism. If you could handle knowing what happened, you would remember.”
“Oh just shut up already. What happened to my car?”
“It's totaled.” he sighed. “You're lucky to be alive, Kathrin, really. What were you thinking, driving when you could pass out any second? You have no license and no insurance. Thank God no one was injured.”
“I hadn't had a black out in a month.” I whispered, feeling guilty now. “Thought I could make it to the store and back without a problem.”
“Well now you're in over you're head.”
I laid back down, the familiar exhaustion from the black out coming over me. “I'm sorry I'm so much trouble.” Josh really did go above and beyond the call of duty with me. He took care of me as if we were family, but all I did was cause him more trouble.
Josh sat down at the foot of my bed and patted my leg. “Don't worry about it. Get some sleep.”
I managed to give him a small smile before allowing my drowsiness to take hold of me.
-
“Dryden,” I breathed, eyes filling with tears. “What have you done?”
That beautiful, pale face that had given me so much comfort and had taught me so much smiled. It was the same, gentle smile she always used, only now she stood over the lifeless body of another Power.
“Rin,” She said in the same voice she used when explaining the mysteries of the world to me. “We can be so much more. Don't you see?” she stepped over her victim as if the corpse meant nothing. “You and I, we can become the Ultimate.”
I stepped back as she reached a hand out to touch me. “No one is meant to be Ultimate,” I whispered.
“Those are Ezra's words.” Dryden spat, face taking on a crazed look more fitting for the situation.
“Those are the words of the Order!” I cried, tears slipping down my cheeks. “No one can handle being Ultimate! That's why there are Powers in the first place!”
“Together we can destroy the Powers!” Dryden exclaimed, light blue eyes flashing. “Combined, we will have the power to achieve anything! Can you fathom the things we could do, Rin?”
“We can't,” I breathed, slowly shaking my head. “We can't! It would destroy everything!”
“We will rebuild it! Everything to our requirements! It will be a perfect world, governed by us!”
“No! Have you gone mad, Dryden? What have you become?!”
“Do you defy me?” Dryden asked, voice taking on a deadly tone. “I, who have taught you all that you know? Do you defy me?”
Swiping away my tears, I stood a bit straighter, raising my chin in false confidence. “Yes.” I replied firmly.
Dryden's body glowed dark blue as her powerful magical aura engulfed her. She let out a scream as she sent a spell flying toward me. Everything went red, and I barely had time to recognize the spell as a Memory Bind before I was gone.
-
'RIN!'
I woke with Ezra's voice ringing in my ears. My head pounded as memories flooded my mind. I had abandoned my parents in the woods, choosing to follow the Power Dryden and become her apprentice. She had taught me everything there was to know about magic and the Powers. The more I learned, the stronger I had become. But she betrayed the Powers, and I betrayed her, choosing to stay loyal to the Order. But . . . then what?
I still wasn't sure if all of these memories were real or not, but if Ezra existed, I knew I had to go to her. She was calling to me. The cliff from my recent blackout was one near our family's camp ground. If I could just get there. . . Scrambling out of bed as quietly as possible, I looked over at Josh, asleep in a chair.
I felt bad, running away like this. And if I was wrong, he'd probably have me committed. I doubt that I'd blame him, either. But right now I had to know. Were all of these memories real? Could I really have magical powers? Or was I simply going crazy? Those weren't answers I was going to find here.
With my car totaled, I had no way to get out to the campgrounds. It was too far to walk, and I had no money for a bus or cab. Joshua always kept his car keys in his jacket pocket. . . I chewed my lip with indecision as I got dressed. There was no way I could convince him to take me, but stealing his car? Did I really have any other choice? If I was wrong, I was totally going to jail. Or the loony bin. Most likely the latter.
Creeping closer to my sleeping shrink, I slowly reached into his pocket. My fingers wrapped around the cold metal keys, and I began to pull away when his hand suddenly shot up to grab my wrist.
“What are you doing, Kathrin?”
“Josh!” I gasped. “Y-You're awake!”
He frowned, looking me up and down. “She got to you, didn't she?”
“What?” I asked, utterly confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Ezra!” He growled, grip tightening painfully around my wrist. “She finally broke through Mistress Dryden's spell, hasn't she?!”
“Mistress. . .? Ah! Stop it, you're hurting me!”
“She refused to kill you when you defied her.” Josh continued, standing and twisting my arm in one movement, I cried out again in pain but was ignored. “She bound your memories and left you with me, saying she'd return for you once she had secured her position as Ultimate. Why? Why would she choose someone like you over me!” He threw me against the wall with surprising strength, his body beginning to glow just as Dryden's had.
“You're a Power?” I asked in shock, pressed up against the wall. Was this another bizarre dream?
“Of course I'm a Power!” He spat. “How do you think I managed to keep that witch Ezra away from you this long?” He stepped closer to me, aura growing until it was pressing against my chest and making it hard for me to breathe. “Why would you refuse her? I would die for an offer like that from the Mistress.”
“Dryden's insane!” I coughed through his choking aura. “She wants to destroy everything!”
“To rebuild it!” Josh replied, a mad look in his eye.
“Why does it need to be rebuilt?!”
“Will you join her?” He demanded, aura thickening around me.
“Never,” I gasped.
“Then you must die. Mistress will not be pleased, but it is better for you to die then to defy her further.”
Pain suddenly seared through my body. I don't know what spell
he was using, but I knew that it hurt and would inevitably kill me. What happened next was nothing short of a defensive reflex. Even if I hadn't been attempting to deal with fantasy becoming reality, a flipped out shrink, and the memories of a betraying mentor, I was still in no state of mind to return fire at the moment. Nonetheless, a purple glow surrounded me, and suddenly Joshua was flying through the window on the opposite wall.
The pain disappeared immediately, and I fell against the wall with a gasp. Once my lungs had taken in a few gulps of blessed air, I ran to the window. I was terrified I was about to see his body splattered on the ground three floors below, but instead I was met with his vicious glare as he vanished into the darkness.
“About time you woke up.”
I whirled around to find Ezra standing in the hospital room door, looking just the way I remembered her.
“I've only been calling to you for months,” she said, walking over to look out the broken window with me. “He wasn't the most powerful bugger in the world, but he was strong enough to keep me from coming to you.” She gave me one of those trademark smiles. “Ready to go home? I'm sure your head is still a bit fuzzy from the Memory Bind , but you'll feel better once you've had a few drinks at the Tavern. Shall we?”
My head was spinning from everything that had just happened, but All Souls brought back memories of safety and comfort. “Yeah,” I nodded. “Let's go.”
