31. Upon a stormy night

Delta had sneakily managed to scan the [Lucid Dreamer] fractal a few levels down, passing the information into Bessie, while I worked on the Defragmenter for her. It allowed me to launch a far more complex version of the Lucid Dreamer spell. I had to pull Universal out of my menu to do it, resetting it to zero again, but it was definitely worth it. Dreaming with the [Lucid Dreaming LV 7] was a lot more fun, so I wasn’t too mad at her. I did very sternly tell her to stop scanning things while she healed for the next three weeks.

The improved [Lucid Dreamer] allowed me to leave the boring white room with nothing in it and let my mind write the dream around my best memories, with near-total immersion. I didn’t have absolute control over the environment yet, so it switched at random, one seamlessly blending into the other. For the most part it was a tapestry of my life - all I had to do was think of the general theme and we were suddenly there.

While the [Defragmenter LV 12] was running at full power as Delta's skill, my body slept. My relatively random, benign dreams kept Delta and I entertained.

We sat together by a campfire in the Ural mountains, watching the stars spin slowly overhead.

We took a boat along the shore of Kamchatka beneath the massive, glacier-covered volcanoes as sleet poured down onto our faces from low-flying clouds.

We hid amidst the yellow fields of grain, observing farmers as they exchanged pleasantries, heading off to work.

We joined in on the merriment of my childhood, watching my parents celebrating someone's birthday.

We casually walked down the wide avenues of 1950’s Moscow.

My dreams of Moscow were particularly special and vibrant. They showcased the brightest memories from my time as a student there, woven from endless summers of the 1950’s, filled with post-war hope for a brighter future. In them, I was young again. I was twenty! Delta looked about twenty too. She was wearing a student uniform from the Computer Engineering Institute.

The dreams of the streets and avenues weren’t perfect, they were akin to walking through painting-like, labyrinthine scenes. In places the world looked like indistinct, like smudged oil paintings.

Delta and I knew that this wasn’t reality, but we experienced, enjoyed my dreams together as if they were real. I felt that walking together with her through the streets of Moscow where I had once been alone brought us closer as soul-siblings... soul-twins? It was as if she was really there to begin with, always a big part of my life.

An enormous, noisy crowd of people suddenly emerged from the side street.

“Is that… what I think it is?” She gasped excitedly.

“May first parade demonstration,” I nodded. “International Workers' Day!”

Thousands of merry Soviet citizens, dressed in their best with happy smiles on their faces lugged huge portraits of Soviet leaders down the avenue. Workers waved banners with political slogans. Secretaries carried enormous bouquets of flowers. 

Trucks filled with far too many people decorated in red flags and colorful drawings honked their horns. People waved at the parade from the balconies. It was beautiful, inspiring pandemonium.

Delta grabbed my hand, laughing merrily as we joined in the parade.

Day flowed into night and brilliant fireworks ignited in the sky, painting Moscow in a thousand random colors.

We sat in a café. Delta was chewing a potato cake. A few people sat in front of us, enjoying their meals as well.

“This is great stuff. Your dreams are aweshwome,” Delta mumbled with her mouth full of sweets. “I can really taste this! Infoscope memory viewing was kind of garbage at tasting things, you know.”

I smiled back at her.

“Damn it, now I want to be a human just so I can eat sweets all day. Was this your evil plan? To win me over with cake? You fiend.”

“Sure, let's go with that.” I commented.

“You know, Skyisle doesn’t have nice cafes like this. I should open a café with a view of one of the waterfalls and make cakes and hot chocolate. We’d make a lot of rubles,” She drowned the rest of the cake with a large cup of hot chocolate.

“I don’t think they use rubles in Skyisle,” I noted idly, observing the fireworks suspended in the sky.

“Coppers. Whatever! We’re very poor, you know,” she mulled, stuffing another cake in her mouth. “We need money to buy nice things.”

“Things like what?” I inquired curiously.

“I don’t know. Nice things.” Delta insisted. “I’ve experienced a lot of nice things in these dreams of yours.”

“Doubt that anyone makes Soviet toys, camping supplies or tools in Novazem,” I commented.

“We’ll buy materials, build a workshop and forge the necessary tools and then make nice things then!” She waved me off. “Let me dream big, damn it.”

“You are dreaming,” I winked.

“I know and it's the best.” She smiled. “I want this to last forever.”

I nodded in agreement.

_________________________________________________________

[Kliss Eliza Cessna - Equality Acolyte, the Overseer of Skyisle]

Come to think of it, sacrificing my [Lantern] skill and then trying to get into house 117 on Longwoods Road in the dead of night was an extremely poor decision. It was hard to think clearly because of the two competing Oaths.

Dark clouds hung over the Skyisle Valley completely obscuring the Lunar rings overhead. The stars weren’t visible either. In fact, nothing was visible.

I yelped as I stabbed my ankle on a very sharp stick. Damnation! This is what I do for friendship. Yes. Definitely friendship. I’m not committing crimes. I’m doing my job. A beautiful night out for a nice walk. Equality-damn it! Who put a rock there!

I tried my best to keep my thoughts focused on friendship, so that the Vow wouldn't gnaw at my soul.

A metal lantern, swinging ever so slightly in the wind shimmered above house number 117, lighting up the front. I sighed and circled the house. What a lovely garden my best friends have. I’m just checking it for potential dangers. That’s it. Ow! Ow! Damn it!

“Fffffff!” I hissed, hopping in place. “Accursed thorn-bush! Who put you here?!”

Circling house 117 had proven to be a difficult task. The well-decorated garden presented plentiful impediments to my progress. It took me almost half-an hour to get to the back window. Rain started to fall. In moments I became soaked. I wanted to cry. Wanted to curl up in a ball. I was cold, wet and miserable. I trudged on and finally reached the back of the house.

I grabbed at the window frame.

“Just testing this window for safety,” I told the Vow as I inserted a magisteel knife into the space between the frame and the windowsill. “See? Anyone could just get in.”

The frame wobbled. I pulled with all of my strength and the window slid up.

I listened to the quiet house. Nothing. Perfect. Perfect for being a friend. This is what friends did for friends. Definitely. Absolutely. The Master-Ward ring on my finger worked, the house treated me as a Guest. I slid inside the window. Not seeing my arms or legs was slightly unnerving. Visible water droplets rolled off my invisible arms, dripping all over the floor. So much for being completely invisible. 

A very rustic, enormous iron stove sat in the kitchen. I gave it a quick look over for reasons of friendship and went upstairs. I paused midway up the stairwell, looking into the darkness above.

No bees. Delta, the Beemancer was asleep, unaware of my presence! Perfection!

I slowly and carefully crept across the dark house, staying as quiet as possible.

“I’m just checking this stairwell for safety,” I assured the Vow. An invisible something gripped my soul tightly, ready to crush it at any moment. The friendship Vow was young and very stupid, easily derailed, not even alive yet. It didn’t even manifest a shape, it only had an extremely vague sense that tried to crush me.

“Yep, that was safe.” I whispered as I finished my ascent. There were three doors upstairs. I crept to one and listened with the [Long Ear] skill. Two adults. One snoring. Moving on.

Second door. The breath of a sleeping child. I carefully unlocked the door and crept inside. The friendship Vow squeezed my soul a lot harder. I hissed in pain.

“I’m not going to hurt anyone. I’m just checking this beautiful baby’s level. It won’t harm him,” I whimpered. “Let go of me, please! This is an act of friendship! Let me do my work!”

Step by step, slowly, wincing in pain I got to the crib. A silver-haired boy was snoozing inside.

[Identify!] I cast.

[Dante Alan Skyisle - Unassigned LV 8]

“Shhhhhttttttttt,” I gritted my teeth. The Vow knew. It knew. “You have to believe me, it’s an aberration, an enemy of the Alan family. Trust me, it will grow up to murder them first and then the rest of the village. I know it looks cute and innocent, but it’s really, truly, absolutely, evil.” I talked to myself, sounding absolutely insane. Not that anyone was awake to hear me. “It’s just pretending to be adorable, biding its time to strike, see?”

I tried to reach out for my magisteel blade on my belt. The friendship Vow wouldn't let me proceed, halted my hand, squeezed at my beating heart, snuffed out the air from my lungs. I choked, trying to inhale.

I felt my soul ripping, tearing apart as one Vow demanded I kill the aberration while the other Vow demanded that I protect the Alan boy.

[-1 in Soul] The Soul-Song resounded. Unbearable pain shot through my body.

“Aid me, please I beg of you!” I cried to the [Vow of the Overseer]. “Hold the Friendship Vow! I need to do my job! I swear upon Equality!”

A red-caped, faceless figure of an Imperial Overseer manifested in front of me. It pulled a struggling, indeterminate something out of my body. A squirmy, unclear blob. The Legionnaire nodded to me and crushed the blob. The weaker, younger Vow attempted to return into my body, but it was held back by the stronger one.

“Goodbye, aberration!” I swung the dagger at the slumbering monster's head.