What Dreamwalkers do: Story Beta: ''Merely Humans''

What Dreamwalkers do:

Story Beta

The moon’s rays were falling on the huge palace, Chuwe Tair, in the capital city of Zeuxendom. The massive roof, a huge complex of long, wingless, Dragon statues made of gold was shining. In the center of the gorgeous cone-shaped roof there was a tall pole, on which the flag of Zeuxendom hung.

Near the base of the pole, a huge man waited.

He held a gigantic Axe, with engraved symbols on its broad blades. The full length of the two blades was as big as his torso, and the stick on which they were attached was made of wooden beast figures.

His black leather outfit made contrast with the shiny roof.

A hazy figure suddenly appeared by his side.

“Dox, it’s going to rain. Soon. Aren’t you supposed to be on a mission?”

The bizarre blur that surrounded the newcomer disappeared. He was dressed in white and gray clothes, while his face was completely pale, as if there was no blood running through his veins.

“Dox!” yelled Farnaq. “Aren’t you supposed to be in a mission?” he repeated.

“I know that!”

“So? What the hell are you doing up here?”

“I can’t do…it.”

Farnaq’s colorless eyes grew wider.

“Excuse me?”

Dox looked at his friend as if he held a gun. He had seen what Farnaq could do with just a touch. He knew that the Order didn’t appreciate disloyalty, let alone the treachery of a high-ranked member.

“The target…is a 12 year old boy.” He whispered.

Farnaq’s magic flow faded away. He stood still for a few seconds, thinking.

Dox, unsure of the way his friend would react, stepped back.

“Like your little brother?” asked Farnaq, being now extremely calm.

A raindrop fell on his face. Until Dox’es response, the rain became heavier.

“Farnaq, I…I’ve been doing this damn job since…”

“Shut up…”

“I never lost my nerve for that…but I, I can’t…”

“Shut up!” growled Farnaq. “I’ll do it this time, but only if you never back out again! You know how dangerous this is, don’t you?”

The huge rooftop had turned into a waterfall. The rain poured down and created a constant sound that was altered by the gold statues.

Farnaq said nothing and turned towards the stairwell’s entrance. Magic symbols and a white flame encircled his hand. Dox watched him disappear into the palace, where the next victim slept, unaware of the silent death that would embrace him.

Farnaq came out of the stairwell a few moments later. The magically created flame was still burning on his hand, which was now decorated with blood.

“Don’t you dare…don’t…if you ever do something like that again…”

Dox smiled.

“I won’t Farnaq. I promise you I won’t do that again.”

“What the hell…what got wrong?”

“Nothing. Just a memory…you don’t have to listen…”

“Unfortunately…I have to listen to your problem. We are brothers…you and I. I may not trust anyone else in that bloody Order…but I know you will never let me down.”

“Right. You have to know when I won’t be able to get something done.”

“Exactly. Now, let’s get to that café and see what your demons are.”

The small coffee shop named ‘Chuwe Tar Loo’ , meaning ‘Palace of Peace’ was facing the gigantic, metallic entrance of the palace’s garden. The two friends could see the front side of the stunning palace, which was wholly built by dragon-like statues.

Once had they ordered their drinks in Zeuxis, Farnaq gave Dox an angry look.

“Now…what was all that fuss out there?”

“I had planned…to enter the palace and kill the target, who I had never seen before. It was not me or you who gave him a Sphere, but Booleaz. So, I didn’t know what to expect. I got in his room silently, using a few spells that you taught me to stay unnoticed. Like the circles of silence and the triangles of disappearing symbols.”

“And why didn’t you crush his head with ‘Terrabreaker’?”.

He meant the unbearable axe his friend possessed, whose symbols made it astonishingly heavy for everyone other than Dox, as well as able to cut or at least smash any material.

“Well…” he uttered. “I saw his face. His body size. Farnaq, my friend…he was just like my brother!”

Now the man’s voice became weaker and a tears begun to appear in his eyes.

“I…just froze. I couldn’t move a muscle.”

Watching such a gigantic person trembling was strange.

Farnaq remained speechless.

Dox continued.

“See…you know why I got involved….why I joined the Order of Dreamwalkers. To protect. To become enough powerful to protect…just to know that if anything like what happened to my brother I would be able to protect him.”

“But what happened to your brother, Dox?”

“He worked as a mechanical. He liked those ancient trains they excavated a decade ago. When they built Urial’s train station he jumped on the chance and found a job there. Though we didn’t even know how they worked back then, he learned so fast…but…those train-pirates killed him on ‘The Dragon’.”

Farnaq remembered that the Order was responsible for that piracy, but didn’t say a word. If Dox learned it, he would try to take revenge. He would die after hours of torture. Their Boss had a very specific way to stop rebellions.

But Dox was weak and scared like a bird in the mouth of a dragon.

“Dox, my friend…” he said as coldly as he could. “…Let bygones be bygones. Forget your brother. You know as well as I do that there is nothing worse than wasting your life for something lost.”

He smiled encouragingly.

“Take Razen as an example. Or any of our victims. Of all time. Why were their lives an everlasting torture? Because they kept thinking about their past.”

“Right. But I wonder…what would happen if we were in the position of our victims?”