Time and Again

Generally, one doesn’t wake up succeeding a night’s rest face down in the dirt and grass. It was here the first of three had been roused from their slumber, shocked to discover that they were no longer in their warm bed. Little did they know: They weren’t even on Earth anymore. Remnants of a strange dream replayed through their waking thoughts as they rose to their feet; and the title of Philosopher kept making its way into their subconscious. What could this mean… and why would it pertain to him?

Everything here looked surreal: He appeared to be in a cave of some sort, but lush flora grew abundantly despite the lack of overhead sun. Glittering copper stone walls supported a healthy sample of moss and strange crystal-like structures. They looked almost like emeralds, but emitted a dim light that was unlike any normal gemstone he had seen before. Things didn’t glow like this back on Earth… and as he looked around several other things seemed to have bioluminescent qualities too: Particularly various clusters of green fungi, and bulb plants.

He was clearly still dreaming. There was no logical explanation for any of this, and coming to this understanding served to put him at ease. Might as well enjoy this while it lasted; after all, the sights were beautiful. He moved to take his first step deeper into this cave-

“The Philosopher.” He thought he had heard someone speak. This caused him to turn around with a bit of a start.

“Who’s there-”

“You must keep your heart and mind open to change, and remember to trust in those closest to you.” The voice interrupted again. It didn’t seem to be coming from anywhere in the room. Rather, it accompanied another flash back to the strange, inky void from which he had come from before. “To you, I present the Galaxy Stone.”

He remembered the eyes, and was nearly able to see them again when he had closed his own. They were a vivid shade of scarlet, and embedded into the body of a strange serpentine creature that was concealed by the shadows. It had reached out to hand him a weird looking stone set on a hempen cord, and stated it would protect him. Oddly, he felt the weight of it suddenly hanging on his neck and instinctively reached to touch it. Sure enough; his fingers came into contact with its smooth cool surface.

With an exasperated sigh, he removed the necklace and looked at it for a brief moment before pocketing it… He wasn’t a fan of wearing jewelry. The stone was still rather pretty at least; looking like its namesake. He’d hold onto it for the duration of this dream.

Now that the strange visions had ceased, he proceeded deeper into this dream cave, taking in his surroundings with intrigue. A cobblestone path had been carved out through the grass for him to follow and as he traversed deeper, the sound of a mysterious tune slowly took hold of his attention. Though it had words they seemed to be from an unknown language; one that he had never heard before. Curious to find its origin, the human was first led to a crossroads at which he went left to follow the sound. He didn’t linger in that room for very long, despite it being slightly intriguing: Four waterfalls at each corner of the room poured into a pool of crystal clear water that flooded the chamber. A small island connected to the path he had come from, set between two wooden bridges leading to the right and left. They seemed stable enough.

Eventually the human had covered quite a distance in his quest to find the source of the mysterious melody that still echoed through the cavern. Scattered throughout he began to notice little orbs of varying colors of light that hovered around aimlessly. They landed on him occasionally, only to be shooed off moments later. To the Philosopher they were only a strange nuisance; so he continued on without giving them much thought.

His search led him to a new room; one whose entrance was concealed by hanging vines. The song definitely came from within. With no fear of the unknown, he pushed his way through the vines and into a new chamber. It was massive and brimming with even more alien flora. A shallow pond sat in the center. It was fed by a gentle waterfall pouring from another pond set higher on a rocky shelf. A tree with gnarled charcoal bark and flame colored leaves grew from the first pond towards the ceiling. Tiny glowing orbs of orange light occasionally dropped off of the branches like falling seeds before floating about the room with others of their kin.

The human had never had a dream as beautiful as this one: It was so tranquil here. Before he could settle into a spot on the grass for a little while, the sound of something moving caught his attention. He thought to speak up, but didn’t get to as the form of a massive creature suddenly appeared from behind the tree. It looked as if it was tending to it, as it meticulously preened and examined the branches. It appeared to resemble a Sphinx, having the body of a lion with a humanoid face, however, no visible mouth. Akin to the tree it had been tending to; its fur was colored in various fiery hues along with white. It also had about 3 sets of front arms. It’s long, lion-like tail curled up from behind it’s back; wrapped around a single, shimmering lantern. Several strands of what appeared to be a mane flowed from around its neck, and appeared to reflect not fur, but the deep void of space. For a few moments the human went unnoticed by the creature, however soon its six, orange colored eyes had fixed upon him. An expression of shock appeared in its gaze, and the creature seemed to turn to address him. It began to speak in a low, guttural tone as it approached.

“I suppose you have a riddle for me,” the man scoffed, taking another glance around the room before focusing again on this strange being. It seemed confused by his words. Before he could say more the creature brought one of its hands up to where its mouth would be- if it had one, and made a strange yet audible sound… was it clearing its throat?

“My apologies. I have not spoken in such a way in a very long while.” It explained; having quite a melodious tone as compared to before. “I never thought I would see one of your kin here.”

“A human you mean?” the young man questioned. He decided to make himself comfortable; sitting cross-legged on the soft grass below. “I loved your singing by the way.” They seemed to smile, from what he could tell, and brought one of their hands up to their chest in a gesture of endearment at the compliment.

“Why thank you! Yes, I was referring to a human. We don’t get human visitors very often... if ever!” They added, and settled into a seated posture as well. The lantern dangling from their tail jingled about slightly. “You know... I feel like you are here for something... but what was it.” They muttered, and appeared to become lost in thought.

Such a purpose, though hypothetical in the Philosopher’s mind, had not been fully discussed yet. The young man had only been given his peculiar necklace and woken up. He felt a bit special.

“I have no clue what I am here for, I’m pretty sure I’m just dreaming.” He replied. “What exactly are you anyway?” The massive being tilted their head inquisitively in response.

“Well, I’m the keeper of the many suns throughout the universe. I tend to them and make sure they are well… most mortals call me the Sunkeeper.” They introduced before carrying on. “You know. Many who come to visit me think they are dreaming as well.” They responded nonchalantly. “I know you are here for some reason… but what was it?!” This creature seemed to really be trying to remember something. It was actually quite amusing to watch. “I remember!” They exclaimed, almost causing the young man to jump. “Someone is looking for you! Three of you- and I’ve already found one.” They seemed proud. This caused the human to look rather confused.

“Wait… there are other humans here?”

“-Champion. Never doubt your own strength of will or otherwise.” An eerily familiar voice pulled the Champion into consciousness. Their eyes flew open and frantically they sat up from what had felt like a long slumber.. Bits of grass clung to her long, tangled blonde hair and her widened blue eyes reflected the slightly illuminated landscape surrounding her.

“Where am I?” She questioned aloud as she rose to her feet. “Ma!?” she shouted into the darkness, calling for someone familiar by her tone. She cautiously strode forwards, and nearly jumped out of her skin when something clattered to the ground at her feet. It must have fallen from the front pocket of her hoodie.

“To you I grant the Eye,” That voice whispered once more, causing her to jump. “It will show you what is hidden.” A flash of the scene she had come from before crept into her conscious thoughts as she gazed at the item below. The Eye, as it was called, looked strikingly similar to the others from her vision: It appeared to be a small lens cast from a silvery metal. The glass was tinted with a crimson hue, and set with a thinly cut ruby in the center. She plucked it carefully from the ground, holding it delicately for a brief moment before she decided to look through it.

Other than giving the world around her more of a maroon hue, the lens didn’t appear to do anything interesting… That is until she looked towards the ground before her. A trail of glowing red footprints made their way down the cobblestone path. Perhaps she wasn’t alone here in this cave. “I can’t be alone here- I just can’t.” She assured herself before she followed them hurriedly. They looked almost human…

The Champion diligently followed the trail through the cavern; only occasionally glancing up and around at her surroundings. Things didn’t seem to be overtly threatening here: In fact the landscape was pretty, despite it being a cave. Just like the first human who had come here before her; she too had found her way to the center of the crossroads. For a moment she was drawn to stay here in this room. Perhaps it was due to the sudden fatigue and dizziness that had crept up on her as she gazed through the lens. Whatever the cause, she knew that she had to keep going. If there was another human here they could already be gone even, and the Champion didn’t want to be alone… it frightened her. After pressing on, she soon arrived at the Sunkeeper’s chamber as well. The trail of footprints seemed to go through here, and so she decided to follow them… albeit after a long moment of hesitation.

She regretted her decision almost instantly; seeing the massive form of the sphinx-like creature staring down at her after she had pushed through the vines. What stopped this woman from bolting in the opposite direction was the visual confirmation of another human here in this chamber; and he wasn’t being eaten by the monstrous being she was afraid of. He nodded nonchalantly in greeting while the giant sphinx creature clapped two of its 6 hands together in excitement.

“Oh! I’ve found another one of the humans!” They exclaimed rather joyously. Though still frightened, the young woman in question would step cautiously into the chamber.

“Um… Where am I?” she spoke up hesitantly, and glanced around the room. It seemed pleasant here at least.

“You are in a land known as the Crossroads of Time.” The massive creature explained, beckoning the second human to come closer and make themselves comfortable. She would oblige, but remained standing for the moment.

“It is a land that serves as a waypoint between two worlds: Sort of like a waiting area for wandering spirits. Normally humans like you two don’t get this far up the line- but according to my friend; you were brought here for something.” They paused, glancing between the two humans before them curiously. “It sure seems important.”

Before the two could ask any questions, the soft padding of footfalls proceeded another being bursting through the viney cover of this room. They seemed to be out of breath…

“Norimi! There you are!” The creature responded excitedly, gesturing to the two humans beside them. “Look! I’ve found two of the three humans! I feel so helpful.”

“Norimi” as they were called, most closely resembled a cat-like humanoid and was covered in fur ranging in colors from warm grey to white. They also had a long tufted tail, tiny horns, and stood to be about three feet tall. Their round eyes were a salmon color, and large tufted ears certainly gave them a rather cute appearance. After a brief moment of catching their breath, this creature bounded over to them on all fours before standing upright once more. This caused the Champion to jump back slightly with a start.

“I’m so glad the two of you are here! I was beginning to get worried you wouldn’t show up- I told Anex we would find you!” They claimed, having a rather youthful sounding voice.

“Hello Norimi,” the young man spoke up first, greeting the strange little creature with a polite nod. “Are there other humans here? Like, Pa or Theo?” he asked before pausing.“What are you exactly? You look like a cat, but they don’t talk.” At his question, Norimi would simple chuckle before plopping down in the grass in front of him. Though she was quiet and still nervous, the other human had relaxed enough to settle onto the grass as well. Norimi was rather cute, and this put her at ease.

“I’m what you would call a Guardian! How I came into existence is quite a long story... I’m not sure who Pa or Theo are but they do sound lovely! There are only supposed to be three humans here to my knowledge. I’m surprised you managed to find your way to the chamber of the Sunkeeper.” They explained. “You can call me Nori by the way- What are your names?”

“My name is Cameron,” the boy answered first before turning to his companion. She seemed slightly surprised, but answered in turn.

“I’m Erin. It’s nice to meet you Nori.” She responded quietly before working up the courage to ask a question of her own. “Who is Anex? You… mentioned that name before.”

“Yeah, and what is a Guardian anyway?” Cameron added.

“Anex is my friend and partner: He and I were sent here to find you and bring you back to our home. He’s out looking for your other friend- I hope.” Nori answered, growing a bit quiet at that last part… where was the third human? Surely they’d be here with the others.

The individual in question must have taken a wrong turn somewhere… for they didn’t wake in the Crossroads as the two others had. Instead the gentle breath of a cool early morning wind woke them from their dreams- supposedly, and brought them into another. Their memory of the last dream was still vividly playing through their thoughts. She had remembered getting an awesome gift from the weird multi-eyed creature who had brought them there. After she had stood to her feet she immediately began looking around for her new friend.

“The Shepherd” the words formed as if they had been spoken aloud; though this human knew they had to just be in her own head. “I grant you this…”

“Ah hah! There you are!” She exclaimed, interrupting her own thoughts to pick up the jar she had received in her dream. It was sitting in the grass nearby, and within it a crimson colored butterfly frantically bumped against the glass. This human didn’t hesitate to free it.

“There you go.” She spoke as the butterfly escaped the jar. Surprisingly, the creature didn’t fly off as soon as it was freed. It simply fluttered about before landing gently on the human’s outstretched hand.

“-It… will show you the way.” She recalled the strange creature explaining to her. This human only wondered… the way to what exactly? As if in response to the question in her head, the butterfly suddenly lifted off of her hand, and fluttered off to land on something not far from her: A strange looking stone shrine. It was egg-shaped, and had a small hole in the center of it.

While still interested in examining the shrine, this human first wanted to get her bearings. She glanced around, noticing quickly she was outside. The sky here was open, revealing a sea of glittering stars: though none she recognized. That, and the nearby alien looking foliage was a pretty clear indicator that she was no longer on Earth, even though she had fallen asleep outside many times before. Strangely, everything in the immediate area seemed to be drained of color. There were few trees, except for the massive one she woke up beneath, though all of them had few leaves of pure white. If not for the massive planetoid set far off in the horizon, this land would appear devoid of all life. The sight of it was both ominous and beautiful: as the celestial body seemed to have suffered a great deal of damage, being shattered and scarred as fragments of it littered the sky in glittering cyan debris. The young woman could gaze at it forever, but she soon remembered her butterfly friend, and returned her attention to the shrine.

“So.. what did you want me to see?” she questioned. Her new friend didn’t seem to be able to talk, but she attempted to figure out what they wanted regardless; watching them with interest. “So… can I name you? Would that be weird?” As if responding, the butterfly just slowly flapped its wings. “I’m just going to call you Red.”

Her new friend suddenly took to the air, and frantically fluttered about before hurrying off. Shocked, and completely perplexed, she called after the creature: “If you don’t like that name I can change it!” This was only moments before a sickening feeling of dread had crept up within her gut. Along with a pained, raspy moan from behind her, this sensation was so frightening; yet rather than running she slowly turned around.

Its skin was completely white, and where there once eyes black pits now remained. The decrepit humanoid form grabbed at her weakly, nearly falling over its own feet as it lurched forward. Though it was quite horrifying to behold, her eyes were strangely drawn to the black pits of its eyes. She couldn’t pull her gaze away, and as she stared into the empty sockets they seemed to pull her deeper and deeper down... the world around her had started to go dark. A sense of despair and pity overwhelmed her at what once was, and she grabbed onto this beings shoulders as tears began to well up in her eyes. Her heart was pounding in her ears.

A sudden crunch of bone and an ear piercing scream jarred her from this sensation of falling. Though something had knocked her back onto the ground below, her senses jolted back to normal, allowing her to see that a massive beast held one of the white creature’s legs clasped between its jaws and drug it away from the human before tossing it aside. For now the screaming had ceased as humanoid simply crumpled to the ground.

“D-don’t hurt it!” She called out. This drew the beast’s attention: It looked to have the body structure of a wolf… though its neck was longer and bore a thick flowing mane. Segmented horns arched back along its neck, and a thick tapered tail seemed to lash in irritation. Its indigo colored eyes burned into hers.

“Are you crazy?” It snapped gruffly. Of course it could speak… “What about that thing puts you at ease!? Do you wish to join it?” The sickening crack of joints moving unnaturally drew their attention as the pale creature rose again to its feet; completely unphased by the wound now in its leg. It lunged for the human once more, but was smacked away by a strong paw. “We need to leave… More are coming.” “What is it? It looks human...” Unnerved by the creature, as it still seemed unphased by pain, she stepped back slightly in fright. She also looked around for Red, worried for their safety more so than for her own. “And join it how? Who are you? Where is this place? How are you talking?”

With an exasperated sigh, her savior simply leaned down to where the human could climb onto his back. It was then she noticed three large swords protruding from between his shoulder blades.

“Get on.” He ordered. “I will explain when there is no longer the risk of having our souls torn from our bodies..” Completely stunned, and confused with life at the moment, the human simply shook her head in exasperation before climbing onto his back: being careful of the swords. The wolf-life creature rose to his full height again, and said a gruff “hold on” before he bolted off towards the distant forest. A few more of the pale creatures had jumped out of nowhere, and lurched to grab onto the two. Luckily they were able to avoid them, and soon the world around them had returned to color once again. Here, the beast slowed to an even pace.

“Husks… they are called Husks.” He explained. Unable to respond to that just yet, the human instead looked to the three blades sticking up in front of her.

“Hey um… are you okay? You’ve got three guys- three swords in your back. What did you mean by having our souls ripped out? Do they- do that?” she questioned nervously, still stunned from the experience prior.

“Husks are the result of a soul being destroyed. Just the body remains. No one knows how they got here.. But they are just hollow shells trying to find what was lost.” The beast explained, his gaze focused on the path ahead. “They can’t find it though… They never will.”

“Can’t we help them?” the human asked, looking back towards the ivory landscape. It glittered from the light of that shattered planet.

“They are beyond help.” He responded. The human had nothing more to say for the moment. A confusing mix of emotions had overwhelmed her: Sadness for the pale creatures, worry for her butterfly friend that she had already lost, and overall frustration from having no idea what was happening. This wonderful dream she had been having had quickly turned into a nightmare. The two carried on in silence for awhile before arriving at the mouth of a rather large cave. After leaning down to let the human climb down from his back, the beast spoke a curt “Let’s go,” before turning to walk towards the maw of the cave.

“Wait-” the voice behind him had stopped him in his tracks, and brought his gaze back towards the human, who hadn’t moved an inch. She turned around to glance at the beautiful lush forest behind her and remembered the horrors from before. “Is this a dream? I mean I could only dream up this kind of stuff… but I can’t seem to wake up. Do you have a name? Where is Red? How did I get here?” She looked towards the certainly annoyed figure who saved her, and sighed again. “I’m immensely grateful and I trust you but....what the fuck is going on?”

After her outburst, the beast gave a heavy sigh and proceeded to explain.

“You are not dreaming. I do have a name, but it’s very long... so just call me Anex. I don’t know who Red is.” He paused for a second to take a breath, “I’m not sure how you got here, and as far as what is going on here.. I don’t know. The only thing I DO know is that my partner and I were sent to this place to pick you up, and bring you to our boss: The Seer.” The last two words were spoken with a hint of malice. “That’s all I can really tell you, as that’s all I know..”

After taking a breath, she nodded in gratitude. “Thank you. I’m just gonna roll with it.” She answered with a nervous laugh. “At least this is interesting… right?”

Anex turned back towards the human, and for the first time she heard what sounded like a chuckle. “I guess you could say that.”

“How did that even happen?!” Nori exclaimed, shocked at hearing what had happened while Anex was gone… they had assumed he just wanted to continue napping. The three humans were all finally together, and the group was back in the Sunkeeper’s chamber. Nori was relieved that their partner had saved the last human: a woman who went by the name of Maggie. She seemed to be back to her exuberant self despite the incident they had faced before. The other two humans, Cameron and Erin, simply watched the exchange between the tiny Nori, and their monstrous companion… Oddly Nori seemed to be the leader of this little duo.

“I heard someone yelling out in The Pale, and came to find this one had gotten mixed up with a Husk.” Anex responded flatly. “Not sure why she ended up out there… Surely the Seer could have briefed us on that.”

“Perhaps they didn’t know either…” Nori sighed before turning to the three. A small, relieved smile appeared on their lips. “You… probably all have a lot of questions.”