The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [102]
Daine whirled toward Jode. “Well, guide, what in Aureon’s name was that? And why aren’t they doing anything?”
The revelers around them continued to dance and drink, seemingly oblivious to the ruined mass of flesh on the floor.
“I told you that the locals were easy to recognize,” Jode said. “That was one of the weakest. These others, Alina … they’re just figments plucked from your memories.” He prodded the remnants of Morim’s body with a toe. “It’ll take some time for that spirit to reform, but I suggest we start moving. Give me your hand.”
Their fingers touched, and Daine staggered. Sensations poured through his mind, memories and images, just as when he’d touched Jode in the first dream they shared. Once again, he felt a sense of the world around him, and how it was no world at all—just one bubble drifting in vast darkness.
“Daine!” Lei cried.
“Let it go,” Jode said. “Don’t try to see it all. Focus on me. Follow me.”
The chaos faded, his surroundings resolving once more. Jode tugged on Daine’s hand, pulling him forward, deeper into the great hall.
“Come,” Jode said. “Tell me where we’re supposed to go.”
“Draconic … eidolon,” Daine said, still catching his breath.
“It’s supposed to be a region formed from the dreams of dead dragons,” Lei explained. “Some sort of sanctuary for their spirits.”
“Oh, certainly. I think we can find a way,” Jode said. Daine laughed, and Jode looked up at him. “What’s so funny?”
“You,” Daine said. “Leave you alone for a day, and already you know your way around.”
“I told you, it’s been much more than a day for me. And this sanctuary you’re looking for … it’s the sort of thing the locals talk about. We’re in the fringes of Dal Quor, you see, where reality is shaped by mortal dreams. The quori spirits use these realms as a hunting ground, preying on dreamers and wanderers like me. This dragon realm, well, it’s one of the only places in the fringes that the quori are afraid to go. Of course, no one else who goes there returns, so it’s not exactly a popular destination.”
Their surroundings were changing, subtly at first. The revelers slowed in their dance, and the color faded out of the glass windows. By the end of Jode’s speech, Daine saw that the people around him were no longer flesh and blood. They were statues, and the paneled floor was covered with warm sand.
“What’s going on?” he said.
“We’re moving,” Jode replied. “Leaving your memories and searching for another dream. And let me tell you, it’s far easier with you here. It would have taken me hours to get this far on my own.”
“Two souls in one body,” Lei murmured.
“I think so,” Jode said. “It’s as I said. Our spirits are merged. Honestly, I don’t know what our potential is, but touching you I can feel power within us. A fortunate thing that you drank the potion, eh?”
“No …” Daine said. “No. It wasn’t luck. She told me to do it.”
“Hmm?”
“The sphinx. Flamewind. ‘You will be asked to give away the soul of your closest friend.’ When Harmattan challenged me, I remembered those words.”
“Interesting,” Jode said. “And it was Flamewind who led me to Olalia … and to my death. So was she predicting the future, or creating it?”
“Is there a difference?” Lei said. The walls of Metrol faded away, revealing an endless desert. Stone pillars rose from around them, etched by wind and sand into shapes faintly reminiscent of the revelers they’d left behind.
The words of the Morim-creature returned to Daine’s mind. “What happens if we die here?”
Jode shrugged. “Hey, I’m already dead, remember? Normally, you’d just wake up, I think. But now … there’s something different about you. All of you. I’ve met quite a few dreamers, and you’re more real than they are. More like the archetypes. I think, somehow, you’re really here. And if that’s the case, dying seems like a bad idea.”
“Shira concurs,” Pierce said. “Death would surely be a traumatic experience. Even if we survived, we might be left comatose, wounded spirits trapped within our physical bodies.”
“Oh, right.