“How did I get tricked into this?” I wonder aloud. “No, seriously. How did I ever think this was a good idea?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJIkynoD1K
Klef shushes me. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHtlkXaJrG
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?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2cLJ5Nq49
“Yes. But this isn’t in public,” Klef reasons.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSMcXkcpjP
“I’m with Klef on this one, Reese, have some self confidence!” Geo adds.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qXMfbcJXi
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?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfJR8G2pSQ
“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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGX082k4sSP
Flo smiles, bashful. “I really wasn’t that good at finding anything to help you, but you’re welcome regardless.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyAGoCXGlK
The other werewolf clears their throat. “Am I invisible, or something?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRvU34MBTf
“Oh! Sorry, Rythe! Everyone, this is Rythe, my mate,” Flo says with a blush.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeeZb9UcPV0
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!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIKWaxI4pV
I nod. “I’m Rides. Nice to meet you.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQLvxjy9SJ
Rythe bows. “It’s an honor, my lady.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XYToogGBl
I blush and Flo whacks Rythe upside the head. “Stop, you, you’re embarrassing her!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHEcRwCnNB
Rythe grins. “But that’s what you love about me! And clearly she doesn’t see herself as some sort of royalty!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9VWylL1Xw
Flo mutters in a low voice, “She’s the Alpha’s daughter.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRLzPjnvCy
Rythe straightens. “You mean the Alpha of a rival pack or The Alpha?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXBGPjg3P7
“Try the second one,” Flo mutters, embarrassed on his behalf.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1GdeFyU8K
“Oh.” Rythe salutes me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNImQIrvLp
“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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZNwTBnzrHH
Rythe nods stiffly, setting the flower crown close to the brink of desruction, and leads us inside.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6YVWXVpRK
“Guy or girl?” Klef whispers to Geo.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14HAZgmmqi
“I...don’t know? Guy, I think?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfzh7Ftn8I
“No, I’d say girl,” Klef muses.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmi1aHvEoj
“What are you guys talking about?” I mutter.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLx1huXncQW
“Rythe. Guy or girl, do you think?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8U7AGlIcv
“Um…” I have to think about my answer. “Maybe they’re neither…”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡupsc2L6abd
“Neither? Is that possible?” Klef asks.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyD7tqD32Jz
“It would make sense,” Geo reasons.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7uyJfqCuu
“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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSOHLDbaTr
“Right, because the natural neutral pronouns are it/its, but that can be seen as degrading nowadays,” Geo says.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmTPPiBSFr
“It is grammatically correct, though,” Klef points out.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1LCz4GQPC
“I guess you have a point, but would you be okay with being called an ‘it’?” I counter.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡieeIwy33qO
“What are you guys talking about?” Flo asks.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMHLGpqn4N
“Nothing much,” Geo says. “Just things back at our branch, you know?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSFdHHfU89
Rythe coughs and mutters, “They/them,” and I grin at Klef and Geo.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fgy5e9CKf
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.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOawDXPxBXY
Rythe clears their throat. “Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, allow me to present Rides, the Oracle who will be informing us on her dreams!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuqOuKrZbY
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.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNkdJSSJ4Y
“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’.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs570vxKV8l
Everyone shifts around, suddenly on edge. “And?!” a wizard with pitch black hair shouts.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jEIn99839
“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.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzCWMx5ERd
“That we know of!” a gorgon yells. “We could be on a wild goose chase, lass!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiNIqJX6DT
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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbcc9nhx9e
The wizard who yelled out comes up to me. “Yeah, but we were expecting…”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaislMqhE1x
“More?” I supply. “Yeah, a lot of people do. Be glad I have that much, though. This is coming from 5 years of dreams.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUKtcWtGI5
“Okay. I’m Ama. A necromancer,” she introduces. “I’m going to be guarding you three for your stay.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUAWldtQXB
“Make that the two of them,” Geo corrects. “I’m no one.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtlFyatzGqs
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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXMzqT7pT5
The room is still silent, everyone anticipating my reply. “Excuse me,” I gasp, making a beeline for the room’s exit.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVmSXAP7Se
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.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOde7lowRuN
Footsteps come up to my back. Two pairs. “Ride?” Klef asks. “You okay?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw14qR7vsw9
I shake my head and close my eyes, resting my side against the wall. “Sick,” I mutter.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZrlzbMV8w
“I’m sorry if I upset you, but you need to get it into your head that you’re special,” Ama states.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpwK73GWha
“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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp86DAhIs1K
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?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwpJ4BanHU
“S-sure.” I stumble on the word, because what is the correct response to someone volunteering to reanimate a corpse for you?940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCGq55J3qA
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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3B8QeyFJLy
“Definitely not someone I’d call a necromancer,” Klef mutters.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfTDjwv4N2
I still don’t turn enough to see him properly. Ama shifts so she can face me fully. “Pet the bun,” she instructs.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6KbN6WU12
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.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡosPhl7ZAPf
I put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re great at it.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHyQMiyC6C
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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDD5mFmwWJ
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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixsApsEvxK
“I’m fine,” I mutter as I lean against his shoulder.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgD5aJjP5v
“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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqiM039imP
I scoff. “Shut up, bird brain.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZOt9RzDE3
“Make me, pointy ears!” Klef challenged.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0twwkOjDf
Ama looked between us. “You two are so dating.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNTJEz6GaV
“No we’re not!” we deny at the same time.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Zxl6fsLrM
Ama laughs. “So dating.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cAPGhHGtP
“Well don’t say anything. We want to keep it on the DL, if it’s possible,” Klef requested.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEsr1D1IFn
“Seriously? I’m willing to bet half the people here have started a pool on your relationship status!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQqBJMJjZ1
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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxiM8619lXB
Klef raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that how you see yourself?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqe6JtyW67P
I shrug. “Well, people mix up you and I a lot.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCuAttDcqB
Klef lightly punches me. “There’s the Ride I know and love.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ahkHMmwtS
Ama sighs. “I ship it,” she murmurs.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrSM6U7Squ
“There’s that word again!” I exclaim. “Why would people ‘ship’ us?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRqf0C0pNQ
“It’s cute!” Ama defends.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCDyZox0mN
“It’s weird!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndo5aZBrLB
“It’s true!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnRCfzfrkq
“It’s really really funny,” Klef interjects.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyHBrGl3Uq
I elbow him. “It is not,” I sigh.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtsDS6kFk1
Klef grins.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKufm7W3eI0
“It’s not funny!” I exclaim.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwT5JkOssJZ
“Whatever you say, Ride. Whatever you say,” Klef laughs.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwb2SObnsE
Rythe and Flo come into view outside the conference room. “You okay?” Rythe asks.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOxY5tcLnn
I nod. Klef lets go of me and I nearly topple over. “Do you mind?” I growl.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKtjH92mj9
He grins. “We’ll get you something to sit on until you feel better,” he assures.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRXrHO8MQr
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.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClpUAYJHMr
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.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVRxawUfY9
“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.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1I0jSTC51e
I nod. “Are we sending people to check out the most probable places?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKnBiGY2XEM
“Yeah, and we’re sending you and Klef to some of the less likely ones, to deal with the messages somewhere safe.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqiRdeyeYB0
“Okay, I guess…I’d rather be out looking, though.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCnc7dCmwO
“It’s for the best you don’t,” a pale human with freckles says. “Hibiscus A, they/them. Has a mild obsession with dragons.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JOUTyw024
I smile. “Rides. My dad wants me to go by Iri. I’m old fashioned, I don’t like using my full name.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡml5aReAgcF
Hibiscus A nodded. “I got you. Completely got you. Nice to make your acquaintance, Rides.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRteGRgeIqK
“Likewise.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdVw8fQVeJ
Klef walks in, followed by my dad. “Still hanging around this scum, Iri?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ubQCKSiOT
I laugh. “Hi, dad.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GXGZyvAqf
Klef looks offended. “What am I?”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhAx6T3Rgh
“Chopped liver,” I respond.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxaBNVEJIUv
Dad laughs. “Nice one!”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsydZB6rmc
Klef holds a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Ride. You wound me.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3vZbPwcDq
“Good. I was trying to.”940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnJA8gSAoj
Hibiscus A coughed. “Ship it,” they mutter.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGTugjlz4X
I throw my hands up. “I’m done with this!” I sigh.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmOpDfsk9A
Everyone laughs. “You think I’m joking?” I ask, standing up shakily. “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I exclaim, waving.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOP1IBs4bz
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