“How did I get tricked into this?” I wonder aloud. “No, seriously. How did I ever think this was a good idea?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZArIb4K09Z
Klef shushes me. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2xaTuuNVg
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?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PjVJ28Zmx
“Yes. But this isn’t in public,” Klef reasons.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUreckoSGwQ
“I’m with Klef on this one, Reese, have some self confidence!” Geo adds.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsSlEuq8sJ
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?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrx4wJ2Qb2
“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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9znLXIuqHD
Flo smiles, bashful. “I really wasn’t that good at finding anything to help you, but you’re welcome regardless.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeaoO8VnSf
The other werewolf clears their throat. “Am I invisible, or something?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMzgBafofl
“Oh! Sorry, Rythe! Everyone, this is Rythe, my mate,” Flo says with a blush.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jBDGOydLX
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!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvUwJDfKCG
I nod. “I’m Rides. Nice to meet you.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66LTsbja1E
Rythe bows. “It’s an honor, my lady.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgYGOkqAF1
I blush and Flo whacks Rythe upside the head. “Stop, you, you’re embarrassing her!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tHjdd3U3Y
Rythe grins. “But that’s what you love about me! And clearly she doesn’t see herself as some sort of royalty!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49sFK81V8t
Flo mutters in a low voice, “She’s the Alpha’s daughter.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2uIBuDwtP
Rythe straightens. “You mean the Alpha of a rival pack or The Alpha?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJE9dZpqiBH
“Try the second one,” Flo mutters, embarrassed on his behalf.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5uUjAdr9X
“Oh.” Rythe salutes me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPlkmXGJfi
“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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPa1H1XF6u1
Rythe nods stiffly, setting the flower crown close to the brink of desruction, and leads us inside.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGwu4VNxiU
“Guy or girl?” Klef whispers to Geo.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJEPbbExxNx
“I...don’t know? Guy, I think?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgP25kPnrr2
“No, I’d say girl,” Klef muses.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf86ULyFXoL
“What are you guys talking about?” I mutter.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5RPnv0NJ9
“Rythe. Guy or girl, do you think?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavXbMsZacj
“Um…” I have to think about my answer. “Maybe they’re neither…”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOh8Rpck9hv
“Neither? Is that possible?” Klef asks.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAD0htjt9rH
“It would make sense,” Geo reasons.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLbskQedI3
“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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdR0UErpwt7
“Right, because the natural neutral pronouns are it/its, but that can be seen as degrading nowadays,” Geo says.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBGHSxTZaD
“It is grammatically correct, though,” Klef points out.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4XLRX23HP
“I guess you have a point, but would you be okay with being called an ‘it’?” I counter.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMIfNwVQK9
“What are you guys talking about?” Flo asks.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwgFlSbKcO
“Nothing much,” Geo says. “Just things back at our branch, you know?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCOHCMjEYj
Rythe coughs and mutters, “They/them,” and I grin at Klef and Geo.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGWXAq6vUQ
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.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6utNUn5b12
Rythe clears their throat. “Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, allow me to present Rides, the Oracle who will be informing us on her dreams!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQY2ujDCNOq
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.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38yrSCmBZG
“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’.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsm4u9wfezs
Everyone shifts around, suddenly on edge. “And?!” a wizard with pitch black hair shouts.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nVrS9eWbh
“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.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheyV262GgR
“That we know of!” a gorgon yells. “We could be on a wild goose chase, lass!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOahJFFQ8mp
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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6cQKc26pd
The wizard who yelled out comes up to me. “Yeah, but we were expecting…”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XuLvFtng2
“More?” I supply. “Yeah, a lot of people do. Be glad I have that much, though. This is coming from 5 years of dreams.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIQ37XkgSa
“Okay. I’m Ama. A necromancer,” she introduces. “I’m going to be guarding you three for your stay.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQB2N6l2Jzi
“Make that the two of them,” Geo corrects. “I’m no one.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPaqToiufgW
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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkzeCb695l2
The room is still silent, everyone anticipating my reply. “Excuse me,” I gasp, making a beeline for the room’s exit.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxih7sLbNWd
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.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IqBBIy6cU
Footsteps come up to my back. Two pairs. “Ride?” Klef asks. “You okay?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvphfVMOST
I shake my head and close my eyes, resting my side against the wall. “Sick,” I mutter.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDgSToYKv6
“I’m sorry if I upset you, but you need to get it into your head that you’re special,” Ama states.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23sKq0fgxA
“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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl59qOnZbo4
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?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaz7OyxAIc9
“S-sure.” I stumble on the word, because what is the correct response to someone volunteering to reanimate a corpse for you?905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtj5APkrXR5
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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85LDJbR7Aj
“Definitely not someone I’d call a necromancer,” Klef mutters.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADGYShqGPo
I still don’t turn enough to see him properly. Ama shifts so she can face me fully. “Pet the bun,” she instructs.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjCNxU0td5
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.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmky24erRdg
I put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re great at it.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaadjXxNSlB
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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1arrfXNM9
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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzxcDWPSsG
“I’m fine,” I mutter as I lean against his shoulder.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6DYWdtEvo
“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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBS7Pqew6Sj
I scoff. “Shut up, bird brain.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJ6JCJg4MC
“Make me, pointy ears!” Klef challenged.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fTGIASMod
Ama looked between us. “You two are so dating.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWXwusrMTU
“No we’re not!” we deny at the same time.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDXoTQWI6P
Ama laughs. “So dating.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJohdBtiBex
“Well don’t say anything. We want to keep it on the DL, if it’s possible,” Klef requested.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrdMJKwaweX
“Seriously? I’m willing to bet half the people here have started a pool on your relationship status!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrruHE6EAa5
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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlT9l2oPpTs
Klef raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that how you see yourself?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX30Z6SvnUK
I shrug. “Well, people mix up you and I a lot.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbgEoLy6LL
Klef lightly punches me. “There’s the Ride I know and love.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZnA5kns9m
Ama sighs. “I ship it,” she murmurs.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24q9PdxiPa
“There’s that word again!” I exclaim. “Why would people ‘ship’ us?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1hVgcGv73
“It’s cute!” Ama defends.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGQAUeipaN
“It’s weird!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aws8SYlkW
“It’s true!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1vFFRRtdh
“It’s really really funny,” Klef interjects.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrn3YIDkODo
I elbow him. “It is not,” I sigh.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfR6enuQjl
Klef grins.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzh1mu0g05h
“It’s not funny!” I exclaim.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtN89F1MBfp
“Whatever you say, Ride. Whatever you say,” Klef laughs.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsoLXjR987
Rythe and Flo come into view outside the conference room. “You okay?” Rythe asks.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotAzemilM4
I nod. Klef lets go of me and I nearly topple over. “Do you mind?” I growl.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3bQmhktdh
He grins. “We’ll get you something to sit on until you feel better,” he assures.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDU1pZXzWBl
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.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4ixAuy6YU
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.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZwT14ZGYK
“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.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllFtlIJYh5
I nod. “Are we sending people to check out the most probable places?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOFB44eZph
“Yeah, and we’re sending you and Klef to some of the less likely ones, to deal with the messages somewhere safe.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoCKO6NUPr
“Okay, I guess…I’d rather be out looking, though.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZlpPcz8v8
“It’s for the best you don’t,” a pale human with freckles says. “Hibiscus A, they/them. Has a mild obsession with dragons.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCw6YMQVAlF
I smile. “Rides. My dad wants me to go by Iri. I’m old fashioned, I don’t like using my full name.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFoBHCi3Z9
Hibiscus A nodded. “I got you. Completely got you. Nice to make your acquaintance, Rides.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMKerzcpm8
“Likewise.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBf5BDSKOg
Klef walks in, followed by my dad. “Still hanging around this scum, Iri?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT30MlMXMxT
I laugh. “Hi, dad.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvW28FSDt4p
Klef looks offended. “What am I?”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2I4AOYvZV
“Chopped liver,” I respond.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvvDqg8Lmj
Dad laughs. “Nice one!”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBD008gPrEo
Klef holds a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Ride. You wound me.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy96RukzZlJ
“Good. I was trying to.”905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnoOwZQkcKF
Hibiscus A coughed. “Ship it,” they mutter.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFU4M5dO1X
I throw my hands up. “I’m done with this!” I sigh.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzEyFLppMn
Everyone laughs. “You think I’m joking?” I ask, standing up shakily. “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I exclaim, waving.905Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡua9f1tclEC
8964 copyright protection901ＰＥＮＡＮＡWig2U05Zp8 維尼

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