Nightmares haunted him with the same frequency with which air entered in his lungs or his heart beat. They were all a mess of incoherency, most were sensations of terror and confusion and liquid dense colours of pitch black or sickly fluorescent yellow flowing down his vision. Tonight, however, the scenario had forms and smells, there were no sound but the divine quietness of Nature, no conspiratorial whispers in the corner of his mind that could take out his peace. And then a harsh light came directly into his eyes and he saw himself closing them. And then with his eyes still closed, the librarian noticed : it wasn’t burning or hurting him. It was almost like a glow…
Therefore round blue eyes opened cautiously and curious. He gazed his arm where a streak of light relapsed. The glow hit his skin in an oddly cold manner, like the ray of moonlight. It wasn’t warm nor cold and then his wide puppy gaze moved slowly up and ahead. Caim couldn’t exactly see what emitted such light, or if the source of it was an object of an animal. It was too intense. Caim looked up and to the Midday Sky and realized the beams of the Sun when hitting this object-creature- reflected it’s light in his own direction, as if refracted by a mirror. And then the thing moved in his direction and Caim startled in his place. When the thing moved and the light flickered once more, a blue glow sparkled out of silver, bathing Caim’s face and arm with stripes of light and glowing back in the bottom of his wide, mesmerized eyes.
And then it fled away. Too quickly. Caim was left thunderstruck and lips agape staring at a crooked trunk of a burnt tree whose branches hung distorted to the left. Caim blinked quickly a multitude of times and having lost a few seconds to the impact of such creature he started to run further into the entrails of what it seemed a grove, to the right, to where he thought the creature entered-
Caim jumped into a sat position in his bed, streaks of sweat ran down his temples and his breathe was ragged. The peaceful sound of birds and the sunshine passing through his window, hitting the wooden rustic ground, testified that it was already daytime. And his mind was disquiet and turbulent. For some reason he had to find this place, this creature, the light, that blue silvery light it emitted, was so… pretty!
Caim was used to waking up into late hours. Now, waking up to dreams, that was new.
And then he remembered! The distorted tree!!! He knew where it was, was an old thing in the woods twenty minutes from the library where in past time witches where burnt, for what old Jenny had told him. The librarian jumped out of the bed, brushed his teeth, took a quick shower to get the sweat out of his body and not bothering to eat anything or open the library to clients he ran to the woods in the limits of Santa Carla.
After some stumbles and a couple situations of disorientation he found the old trunk. A smile opened in his lips! He found it! He beamed with the small victory.
… and now what?… What should he…do…?
He stood in the middle of the woods, in the silence of morning, without a clue of the next step he should take. And then he remembered, in the dream the creature went to the right! So he started, without a second thought, to run to the right and-
Suddenly Caim felt a strong, nauseating feeling and his head spin for a few seconds, making him halt in his trail, trying to focus on the ground under his feet.
A few seconds passed while he waited the vertigo pass and when he moved his eyes up… the crooked tree was ahead of him…?
Caim looked back, and behind him the woods were the same… that is… besides the monumental castle raising above the clouds amidst it…Perhaps a few buildings, the roller coaster of the city’s amusement park on the shore, but in Santa Carla there were no castles!
Caim didn’t had much time to freak out. In the sky up a blur passed through his vision quickly. It shone against the Sun in blue and silvery sparkles. Caim hadn’t thought further, he ran, following the direction of the creature and further and further into the, now, forest.
It was a strange sensation. Awoken from a deep sleep, it seemed to take forever for Arthur to regain his wits. He had been hidden deep within a cave on the isle of Avalon, away from the outside world and only reachable through the mist.
Light blue eyes slowly fluttered open and he took in his unfamiliar surroundings. Testing his hands, he found he could move them and pushed himself up into a seated postion. A sword clanked to the floor at this movement and he looked to the side, to find another man staring at him from across the room.
"Who are you?" He croaked, his throat scratchy from disuse. "What is this place?"
Batiatus had told him that morning that he was to be sold to the son of Belegnon. Gannicus had heard the name before, but he wasn't interested in the politics of it. What did it matter when you were like a package going from one to the other? He had just nodded and said his goodbyes to his friends in the ludus.
By nightfall he had travelled with guards provided by Belegnon's son towards a castle. He had lifted his eyebrows at the sight as they walked under the large gate. The guards escorted him to a large room where he was to wait.
Hands tied in front of him, to prevent escape he supposed, Gannicus looked about until he heard a sound. "Here he is, sir." One of the guards said as he gave Gannicus a push. The gladiator kept his footing and gave a low nod to the man in front of him.
"I'm not used to such tender moments from others." Usually it was Henri taking care of others, his soldiers, his brothers. His people. He leaned into the hand offering a smile. "I appreciate it though really."
@royal-descent
Gannicus had been one for entertainment at first, before Henri had recognised his skill with the sword and made him a soldier. "I am not used to sharing them either... not with men anyway." He admitted with a smile, but he held his hand right where it was. Fingertips delicately followed their path until he dropped his hand back into his lap.
"I... you looked like you could use some comfort." Gannicus didn't know much about it if he was honest, he was used to drinking his troubles away.
Jared normally never swam too close to the surface of the water. He knew very well how dangerous it was. Ships had become common place and there were always those who wanted something from merfolk. Their scales were highly sought after. There weren't many of the merfolk left by now.
Still, he had been taken by surprise. He let out a breathless yelp as a net closed around him. Struggling he tried to get out, only making things worse. Being hauled up, he curled in on himself.
He remembered his brother being caught like this, he had never returned.
