Chapter Two: The Prophetic Nightmare

As soon as the Southern sun began to rise, Rein had only just entered a deep sleep when a very stern voice boomed, "Rein Bow!" The poor pixie shot out of the charred tree and looked around to see who or what had almost given her a heart attack.

"Oh," she said. She took a deep, calming breath. "Mira, it's you."

"I thought you returned to the Maja Forest like I instructed you to," Mira said.

"Who died and made you queen?" Rein replied. "I don't wish to go back."

Mira pursed her lips. "Very well. If that's the case, tell Gerardo there are some crescents in the stream for him."

Rein paused in thought. "Currency?"

"Yes, for all three empires."

"Understood," Rein said. "I'll give him the word."

"Do not sabotage this, Rein," Mira said through clenched teeth before disappearing into the stream. Rein glowered at her.

When Gerardo awoke, he remained motionless in the dirt and pretended to still be asleep. The pounding migraine of yesterday had faded to a faint pulse thrumming against his temples. He soon felt something tug on his hair. He waved it away and covered his face.

"Gerry!" the tiny thing exclaimed. "Get up!"

A heavy sigh came from behind his arms. He sat up and squinted his eyes against the bright morning light. Eventually he managed to open them fully to see Rein.

"Ugh, I had hoped this was all a nightmare," he whined.

"It is very real, on the contrary," Rein confirmed for him. "Now we must be off, we're burning daylight."

"I have yet to eat breakfast."

"You can eat on the way. And it might be wise to change uniforms as you'll be entering enemy lines."

"Perhaps it would be wiser not to travel Noelle Territory dressed as the enemy."

"Then carry the People's uniform until we cross onto their territory."

Gerardo thought for a moment. Was he really going to attempt to break someone out of Emperor Mentir's prison? Someone who would never do the same for him? Then again, Mira's promise that it would be worth it in the end brought a new hope for a brighter future, and there was no escaping the strong instinctive feeling that he should go through with it. The same arguments he fought yesterday returned with no resulting change and once again, he decided to go ahead with the rescue.

The idea of putting on a dead man's uniform was abhorrent, though Rein was right about blending in with the enemy when on enemy territory. Gerardo managed to hike back up the hill to search for an Xer soldier who was about his size, and stripped the corpse of its uniform. The task was revolting. He held his breath so not to inhale the sour stench of rotting flesh, fearing he would end up vomiting if he had to suffer it any longer. He finally dragged the armor back down to the stream to wash the deathly fumes away and noticed an odd gleam in the water.

"What is it?" Rein asked as she watched his gaze. "Oh, of course. Mira mentioned that she had left you some crescents in the stream. Stash them in your moneybag and let's head off."

Gerardo was beginning to dislike this pixie. He sighed out loud in an attempt to keep calm, as he didn't feel like arguing. He didn't want her to come with him either, yet he felt he could use the company.

Gerardo set the armor aside and began filling his pouch with the gold coins. There were so many crescents that he was able to fill his pouch and that of the deceased soldier completely. Once he fit all that he could into the two coin pouches, he picked up the freshly cleaned armor and hiked back up the hill to where he had fought viciously a couple nights before.

                                                                ~~

Gerardo and Rein headed east through the Valley of Hills. The soldiers' bodies had already begun to decay under the heat of the autumn suns, and even covering their noses with their arms and hands did nothing to block the nauseating odor of death that lingered in the air. The simple need to breathe had quickly become a necessary evil. Luckily for Rein, she could fly over the sea of bodies, whereas Gerardo had to step over each and every one in his path.

Finally, by the time the Northern sun hovered above the horizon, they had left the battle site behind and continued on into the open fields of dark green grass. Gerardo decided to travel the nameless flat plain located in between the hills, following the stream from the Sirene River until he eventually walked beside the river itself.

The Southern sun now sat directly behind Gerardo and Rein, while the Northern sun hung above them. Gerardo found the weather much cooler than he had originally expected and took comfort in the cool breeze against his sweating face. He and Rein trekked through mustard-yellow rye strewn with leafless blackwood trees as they continued northeast. The Sirene River flowed on the right of the two travelers. After just a few more miserable days, they would follow it into the Lucierna Forest.

Neither of them had eaten all day. They only rested shortly a couple of times and filled their empty stomachs with nothing but Sirene water. There were no sea creatures besides naiads and sirens at this time on Xyntriav, so the river and the upcoming lake were void of any fish or other animals to eat. Despite the fact that it would be winter soon and the air had become unbearably cold, Gerardo sometimes took a moment to lie in the shallow, rushing waves to decrease his soaring body temperature and numb his aching muscles.

                                                                ~~

After five long days of travel without food, Gerardo and Rein were exhausted and feeble. Gerardo's head pounded like an Indian war drum once again and the muscles of Rein's wings ached from constant flight.

By nightfall on the eighth day, the two travelers entered the Lucierna Forest two days later than planned. Gerardo viewed Rein's faint glow as a gift since without it, he wouldn't have been able to see anything at all. Immediately they began to search for food. Gerardo had to follow Rein around in order to see, but she moved too fast for him to keep up and he repeatedly had to remind her to slow down. Before long they found a quince tree located right next to a boysenberry bush and they devoured all the fruit that they could handle.

                                                                ~~

That night, Rein experienced a nightmare. She was flying through a valley when she came upon a small, chaotic town. She found that the buildings here were made of ash and the townsfolk were running around fighting, arguing, and looting. However, what Rein found most strange was that everyone was aflame, yet this factor seemed to remain completely unnoticed to anyone. After observing this oddity, Rein felt her survival instincts kick in. She began to flutter away as fast as she could to get to the next town, but somehow flight was a struggle and she was incapable of moving quickly.

Then Rein involuntarily stopped on a road where to her right she spotted a poison shop. In the window hung a handful of silhouettes, looming in the white light that shined behind them. Though she couldn't tell what they were exactly, something inside her confirmed that they had previously lived, but had now been killed in a variety of ways; closed up in jars, squashed, thrown against walls, poisoned, sliced in half, chopped into tiny pieces, and every other way one could easily kill an insect. A chill tickled her spine and Rein forced herself to move on.

As she continued to cautiously fly down the road, she came upon a larger window. She focused on what appeared similar to a jail cell shared by three melancholy prisoners. The faces of two were blurred and unrecognizable to Rein, but the third resembled Gerardo who was in physically worse condition than his prison mates. Rein leaned closer in an attempt to get a better look at the situation before her, but then a loud crash sounded from behind, followed by a few grunts. Rein spun around to see Gerardo sword-fighting four guards or soldiers simultaneously. Gerardo's opponents fought with weapons that appeared flimsy as the blades swayed with every thrust. Somehow, Rein wished to rush over and help Gerardo, but her dream forced her to reluctantly fly further down the road.

The next shop she came across was silver and empty until Emperor Mentir emerged from the bright light which filled the room. Slowly he crept towards her and Rein found herself completely unable to move from her current spot. The mere sight of the emperor caused an immense pang to stab through the muscles of her wings. She squeezed her eyes shut and the pain vanished as quickly as it came. When she opened them again, Emperor Mentir stood directly in front of her, too close for comfort and she darted away in terror.

Ahead Rein noticed a large keyhole replacing a door in one of the ashen buildings. She didn't hesitate to shoot through it to escape the emperor's threat. However, when she turned around, the keyhole had vanished and she immediately realized that she'd left Gerardo behind in the middle of a sword-fight to fend for himself. Though she couldn't understand why, guilt smothered her fear and she searched around for any way to go back to help him.

A glowing white light shown from behind Rein and caused her to surrender her fight for a way back. She turned around to view a glowing cloud depicting a scene that showed Gerardo talking to the emperor of Bonn, and the conversation didn't seem to be going very well. Horror showed in Gerardo's expression and tears pooled in his eyes. Rein sensed a threat to his life and she helplessly watched him bolt out of the scene. Why did she suddenly care so much? She hated Gerardo as much as everyone else in the world.

All of the strangeness, confusion, guilt, and horror became overwhelming for Rein and she blindly burst straight through the shining cloud to make everything disappear. She halted in mid-flight when she found herself in a small, lavish, royal sitting room. The entire area was flooded to the ceiling with water, but Rein retained the capability to breathe nonetheless. The platinum-trimmed furniture was upholstered in silk, and everything that was crafted from wood was intricately carved with floral designs. Even though everything was submerged in the water, the quality remained flawless. But among all of the lovely artwork in this room, a body hung from the center of the ceiling by a rope around its neck. Its back faced Rein, but slowly it rotated in her direction to reveal its identity to her: Gerardo of Liko. His lifeless body swayed in short, subtle lilts – the only movement it made.

Rein's heart desperately fought to break out of her ribcage and her chest ached from its efforts. Tears burned her eyes despite the fact that she was still underwater, and bile rose into her throat. Her surprisingly cloudy breath told her that the temperature around her was frigid, but the blood shooting through her veins kept her evilly hot. She didn't notice how desperately she was wheezing until her head started to spin and her sight blurred. Finally, Rein passed out, and awoke from her nightmare.

                                                                     ~~

Right when Rein awoke, she shot up in the air and almost hit the branch of the tree above where she and Gerardo slept. The next thing she thought to do was to fly straight forward, but she ended up flying into someone's hand.

"Rein?" asked the owner of the hand.

Rein realized it was Gerardo's hand she flew into, and that he was alive. She backed into the tree in reflex, panting madly because she couldn't scream.

"Rein! Are you well?" Gerardo asked. "You had a terrible nightmare; your whimpering woke me up."

Rein still couldn't control her lungs, thereby rendering her speechless. She slid down the tree trunk and started to bawl, hugging herself tight. Gerardo didn't know whether to leave her alone or to comfort her. He thought about if he had a nightmare, would he want someone to comfort him or leave him alone? Actually, no one ever comforted Gerardo, so it would be a strange experience for him. Gerardo tried it anyway. He crawled over to Rein and lay on his stomach in front of her.

"Rein," he said. "Would you like to talk about it?"

Rein didn't answer, couldn't answer. Gerardo was the last person she wanted comfort from, so she only continued to cry. Gerardo scooped her up and returned to where he had been sleeping. Rein didn't fight it. He covered her up in her leaf blanket and allowed her to sleep in his hand for the remainder of the chilly night.

                                                                    ~~

Morning came like a hammer to the head for Rein, but she hid it well. Gerardo dressed himself in the People's uniform and armor, then they both got breakfast from an apple tree before they continued on their way to Cair; their destination in the People's Empire.

The entire walk through the Lucierna Forest was quiet. Both Gerardo and Rein knew that it would take a couple of weeks to walk to the other side of the forest and then a couple more days to make it to the palace. Eventually, after twenty-three long and torturous days, the two travelers finally arrived in Cair.