“How did I get tricked into this?” I wonder aloud. “No, seriously. How did I ever think this was a good idea?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJtgRTrs60
Klef shushes me. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrfQ3DcGqF
The Crusader’s base is in sight, and I’m having more than a few second thoughts about this whole experience. “Have you ever seen me try to speak in public?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTZlABzM1z
“Yes. But this isn’t in public,” Klef reasons.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlqfmAyHtZ
“I’m with Klef on this one, Reese, have some self confidence!” Geo adds.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjD8hLrpYz
As we’re walking toward the Crusader’s base, Flo walks out with a werewolf who I’m assuming is her mate. They have flowers in their short cropped hair but despite the typically “feminine” accessory has a somewhat-masculine build. Both of them walk out to greet us. “Oh, so nice to see you three! Geo, Iri, and...sorry, was it Klept?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WncE6wLY5
“Klef, nice to meet you,” Klef says, shaking Flo’s hand. “I understand you’re the one who helped me when I had food poisoning 5 years ago. Thank you for that.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JHACGXAMH
Flo smiles, bashful. “I really wasn’t that good at finding anything to help you, but you’re welcome regardless.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQABNfXwM2h
The other werewolf clears their throat. “Am I invisible, or something?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcD2mEqfZEb
“Oh! Sorry, Rythe! Everyone, this is Rythe, my mate,” Flo says with a blush.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuaBPDxKKU
Rythe shakes Klef and Geo’s hands, and then comes to me, examining my eyes. “And you must be the Oracle I’m hearing so much about!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJBt8lNdOB
I nod. “I’m Rides. Nice to meet you.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9uUH4qAYo
Rythe bows. “It’s an honor, my lady.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALLOUKa8td
I blush and Flo whacks Rythe upside the head. “Stop, you, you’re embarrassing her!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyEkg1j7IF
Rythe grins. “But that’s what you love about me! And clearly she doesn’t see herself as some sort of royalty!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHaznkxp1t
Flo mutters in a low voice, “She’s the Alpha’s daughter.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUsIGmmqFd
Rythe straightens. “You mean the Alpha of a rival pack or The Alpha?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDre2p1j4z4
“Try the second one,” Flo mutters, embarrassed on his behalf.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtgbPdJsnK
“Oh.” Rythe salutes me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxbAx4q1e2
“That’s not necessary, Rythe,” I laugh. “I’m perfectly fine with being called Rides, or even Iri, if my dad insists on calling me that all the time.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0CMWVllFM
Rythe nods stiffly, setting the flower crown close to the brink of desruction, and leads us inside.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPATBLLflqU
“Guy or girl?” Klef whispers to Geo.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsEUwBd1tp
“I...don’t know? Guy, I think?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9b8fZHYhY
“No, I’d say girl,” Klef muses.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnP7ErB7G9
“What are you guys talking about?” I mutter.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwI9RmMbAc
“Rythe. Guy or girl, do you think?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx92uOEVuBb
“Um…” I have to think about my answer. “Maybe they’re neither…”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsb9KctddSe
“Neither? Is that possible?” Klef asks.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYnuEp7l6H
“It would make sense,” Geo reasons.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HTmqQoTHI
“I’m going to stick to using first names around those two,” I say, holding to the werewolf couple holding hands. “Just to stay in the clear.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaI2145wHCh
“Right, because the natural neutral pronouns are it/its, but that can be seen as degrading nowadays,” Geo says.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMBHbEYzqO
“It is grammatically correct, though,” Klef points out.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oXKdU1Mgb
“I guess you have a point, but would you be okay with being called an ‘it’?” I counter.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4iAUrrcC1
“What are you guys talking about?” Flo asks.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJfOJUkE7A
“Nothing much,” Geo says. “Just things back at our branch, you know?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV15ZyESgaY
Rythe coughs and mutters, “They/them,” and I grin at Klef and Geo.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGybfx1ccd5
Flo ushers us into a giant room filled with desks where people are talking on phones, documenting things with pictures and surrounding a map, adjusting plastic pieces and discussing strategy. There are many species I recognize and some I don’t. This speech is not going to be easy.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhWvSaCiWp
Rythe clears their throat. “Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, allow me to present Rides, the Oracle who will be informing us on her dreams!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zBxF4XNUT
The room goes silent and every eye is on me as I take a deep breath. “Well...first of all, thanks for paying attention, I know a large room full of people who wouldn’t be willing to do that. Second of all,” I look around the room. “Why are you guys paying attention?! I have no clue what I’m doing, and I’m willing to bet every other person in this room has a better idea about how to handle this problem than I do. I am young, inexperienced, and I have recurring nightmares, so I don’t get a lot of sleep to think clearly.” Everyone looks at one another, shifting and murmuring. “My point being,” I yell over the murmuring, and everything goes dead silent again, “That no matter what you think of me, I’m like anyone else. I have my strengths and my weaknesses, just as everyone else in this room has to deal with. I’m not some super-impressive goddess who can do anything I want. I’m weak at almost everything here. I’m just Rides, the girl who dunked her boyfriend in ice cold water to try and help speed up his molting. But you need information, and fortunately, that’s one of my strengths.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeTp6bbqI9
“All of my dreams are pretty much the same. I’m being led to some machine of mass destruction by someone--I don’t know who. I’m on some island, or place surrounded by water, at least. There’s mermaids, fairies, zombies, ghosts, you name a species, it’s probably there, except there are never any humans. When I’m strapped to it something happens and it takes my Sight. It revs up and Klef is asking whoever the leader is why they’re doing this. To summarize, they say it’s to ‘destroy all humans’.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArBwvkyolw
Everyone shifts around, suddenly on edge. “And?!” a wizard with pitch black hair shouts.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLt7To2adL
“And that’s it. I can say it’s more likely that we’re on an island than a continent, and there aren’t as many islands in this world to check out…” I say.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sg4QJys4n
“That we know of!” a gorgon yells. “We could be on a wild goose chase, lass!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45DOQi0L40
Klef bristles next to me and I hold him back with a hand. “You called me here,” I explain, “You wanted to know what I knew. There you have it.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYmxmSqhTd
The wizard who yelled out comes up to me. “Yeah, but we were expecting…”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnd6ZB8cCge
“More?” I supply. “Yeah, a lot of people do. Be glad I have that much, though. This is coming from 5 years of dreams.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6KNZieHF9
“Okay. I’m Ama. A necromancer,” she introduces. “I’m going to be guarding you three for your stay.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPsxAyCST6
“Make that the two of them,” Geo corrects. “I’m no one.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrd2h4RMacD
I start to protest but Ama cuts me off. “He has a good point, Oracle. You and your partner are the highest priority here. The less people to protect, the safer you’ll be.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23kNXHUwSJ
The room is still silent, everyone anticipating my reply. “Excuse me,” I gasp, making a beeline for the room’s exit.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSoJ8YstlUO
I wander the halls, looking for a restroom. I know I’m about to be sick. I heave in the middle of the hallway and shudder as nothing comes up but a little bile. I was too nervous to eat lunch earlier, but now I’m glad I insisted that I wasn’t hungry. After a few more dry heaves, I slide down the colorless wall to the right of me to the ground. Now that I’ve stopped puking, all I really want to do is cry. I’m really not important. They just need my gift, and anyone could get that. To say others’ lives, their family and friends, my family and friends, are nothing next to me...it has to be utterly ridiculous. There’s no way. I no more important than anyone else. No one should die on my behalf.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUYOKPhV2q
Footsteps come up to my back. Two pairs. “Ride?” Klef asks. “You okay?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4YRVV5LN0
I shake my head and close my eyes, resting my side against the wall. “Sick,” I mutter.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1Yi0fLh7O
“I’m sorry if I upset you, but you need to get it into your head that you’re special,” Ama states.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9COM3cjDW
“You don’t seem to be the type to be a necromancer,” I say. “Since you seem to care about people and their health so much.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UxwxxwY1N
Ama laughs. “You haven’t seen me mad.” I turn to get a good look at her. She does have a black air about her, but it’s small and watery at the moment. She has black ringlets that go below her shoulders and clear, milky skin. She also has one green and one blue eye. She notices me looking at her eyes and grins. “Yeah, I have the Sight too. It makes my magic strong enough to animate corpses. Wanna see?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOhGbS6SQV
“S-sure.” I stumble on the word, because what is the correct response to someone volunteering to reanimate a corpse for you?891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtlbs56RqGB
Ama mutters something and a tiny skeleton of a rabbit forms out of bones in a pocket Ama has on her clothes. “I like bunnies,” Ama explains. “Once I made an entire fluffle of skeleton bunnies follow me.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JqgxOYQ2E
“Definitely not someone I’d call a necromancer,” Klef mutters.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ICI7cQCam
I still don’t turn enough to see him properly. Ama shifts so she can face me fully. “Pet the bun,” she instructs.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSCiROSoRw
My hand reaches for the bunny with hesitation and it lifts its head up to meet my fingers, relishing every single stroke. I smile, and Ama smiles at me. The bunny falls into a pile of bones and Ama shakily returns the bones to her pockets. “Always drains me,” she admits.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPir9ORTVnO
I put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re great at it.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddo9nZzfaX
Ama grins, a blush creeping over her from ear to ear as she stands up. “Come on. Everyone is waiting for you, to make sure you’re all right.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLMfieZLNT
I stand up, my muscles screaming at me every inch. My legs shake and my head is spinning as I finally look at Klef. His face is etched in concern and he takes the few slow steps to me as if he’s walking across a minefield. He wraps an arm around my shoulder and says, “You look like you’re about to keel over. Let me help.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKvVxZ9Uwd
“I’m fine,” I mutter as I lean against his shoulder.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtKHHz1Z6W
“Of course you are, you’re great,” he snarks as he leads me back the way we came. “That’s why you puked and collapsed.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLy1ujY4Z9s
I scoff. “Shut up, bird brain.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLdPGftcL3
“Make me, pointy ears!” Klef challenged.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGNjrv7G1r
Ama looked between us. “You two are so dating.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8nk3y1vwu
“No we’re not!” we deny at the same time.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwwZarrX0C
Ama laughs. “So dating.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdnMdUATO9
“Well don’t say anything. We want to keep it on the DL, if it’s possible,” Klef requested.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNWFB862gX
“Seriously? I’m willing to bet half the people here have started a pool on your relationship status!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoo7He3hZKr
I groan. “Great. Just what I need. First I’m more important than others, and now I’m going to be seen as a desperate lovestruck teenager.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9uBYOWA6k
Klef raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that how you see yourself?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIcWaVjDey
I shrug. “Well, people mix up you and I a lot.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56sKSoss8b
Klef lightly punches me. “There’s the Ride I know and love.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcvqdvgdte
Ama sighs. “I ship it,” she murmurs.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsb0EzOTuSE
“There’s that word again!” I exclaim. “Why would people ‘ship’ us?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM06I0vWORB
“It’s cute!” Ama defends.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgDfBnvB6a
“It’s weird!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPZCk4QiRK
“It’s true!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiY1Sw4CRBH
“It’s really really funny,” Klef interjects.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZ8WxgGbik
I elbow him. “It is not,” I sigh.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWgcnEAfzO
Klef grins.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64iaQDiqzb
“It’s not funny!” I exclaim.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGQkA1h7ZU
“Whatever you say, Ride. Whatever you say,” Klef laughs.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiPAn7LFF1
Rythe and Flo come into view outside the conference room. “You okay?” Rythe asks.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuc5H5LHQoP
I nod. Klef lets go of me and I nearly topple over. “Do you mind?” I growl.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdY4xmGuot
He grins. “We’ll get you something to sit on until you feel better,” he assures.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqCYmAcplI
I mimic him. He punches me, nearly sending me careening into a wall. Rythe picks me up. “I can take you to a wheelchair, don’t worry,” they say.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yhXSddumw
I’m carried to a wheelchair next to a table with a globe on it. Little red flags litter the globe. “What are those flags for?” I ask.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngEHGrnsqL
“Those are possible places your dreams could have taken place. Now, the list has decreased significantly with your information,” Rythe pulled out land-based flags. “Because you said you were on a peninsula or an island. Now, in addition to the Islands of the Mermaids, there are a bunch of unmapped islands all around the globe. And there’s on in the middle of a lake in the Untamed Lands that’s suspicious.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PrHqnaF5v
I nod. “Are we sending people to check out the most probable places?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrOkhCxTZ4
“Yeah, and we’re sending you and Klef to some of the less likely ones, to deal with the messages somewhere safe.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPXUtrdB5W
“Okay, I guess…I’d rather be out looking, though.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAG9yMnWvz3
“It’s for the best you don’t,” a pale human with freckles says. “Hibiscus A, they/them. Has a mild obsession with dragons.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2hl6BK12x
I smile. “Rides. My dad wants me to go by Iri. I’m old fashioned, I don’t like using my full name.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RoKXMw16a
Hibiscus A nodded. “I got you. Completely got you. Nice to make your acquaintance, Rides.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MiG43mdCQ
“Likewise.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aJbPVUubT
Klef walks in, followed by my dad. “Still hanging around this scum, Iri?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBmGlEYcSM
I laugh. “Hi, dad.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBr8LYHi5S
Klef looks offended. “What am I?”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdeoEDw7ETD
“Chopped liver,” I respond.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wu2iI8K8W
Dad laughs. “Nice one!”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQPZmce4Za
Klef holds a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Ride. You wound me.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuMJXJ7mfG
“Good. I was trying to.”891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmgMtiNI4H
Hibiscus A coughed. “Ship it,” they mutter.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaX4f45irO
I throw my hands up. “I’m done with this!” I sigh.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BpcosphTo
Everyone laughs. “You think I’m joking?” I ask, standing up shakily. “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I exclaim, waving.891Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ro0keGog2
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