By the time Jace was well beyond the mountains, the capital of Connlaoth finally came into sight, lit in the golden sun of a dying day. This land, he knew, would be difficult to cross. Even outside of dreams, it smelled of nightmares and blood. It was perhaps fitting the winds turned colder the closer he got to his target- for the great darkness that was after the dreamer, was cold and unforgiving.
But he had to get to this dreamer first. He had to protect them. No matter the costs. So much depended on it. And he hated to admit it, but he could feel it in his bones-
He was running out of time.
He knew he was in the right place. His dreams were becoming more interactive, more vivid. Ever since he'd gotten on the trail, he'd fall asleep and find himself in some kind of swamp lands, with grey, skeletal trees deformed behind a curtain of mist.
But he could always find the same place, even if the carved path in those dreams were different. His teacher had told him, as his powers grew, and the closer he got to 'that who is the host of these dreams', that his powers would grow.
One could never prepare for what such things mean- after all, it all happened inside his head. But the more these dreams became reoccurring, and the sensations, the memories, seeped into his reality...
He knew he was on the right path- and that the dream world was growing, making him stronger..
And that of the Nightmares.
It seemed his favorite reoccurring dream spot was a rotten old log, perched upon another log. It always looked the same, no matter where or how he found it while he searched his dreams. The mouth of this rotting log was always deep, and dark- perhaps more so than it ought to have been, and as he approached, the darkness would take shape. It was said he controlled these shapes to some degree, so it was strange that the figure he was becoming quite familiar with showed himself as a strange, matted silvery slug- one that was fat and the size of a small dog. It barely fit inside the log, and always wriggled and fought to get comfortable when poking it's head outside of the log to greet Jace.
"I swear, everytime we meet, Kadiddle, you've gotten bigger." The boy smirked as he rested one arm upon the log and bent down to be at the dream creature's level.
Kadiddle, or so the dream-like slug had come to be known, chuffed as he wriggled his fat body to a more comfortable location at the end of his rotting log home, and a small pair of stumpy hands, barely noticible to most, as they were well set within the rolls of his body, clung to the bark with a slight, shaky strength.
"That is because I am, dream walker," Kadiddle replied, moving his unresting eyes to fix upon Jace as they blinked a few times to adjust to this light. The pupils were large, as were his eyes' size, nearly taking up most of Kadiddle's head. Small, thick whiskers wriggled on either side of his head before they laid back flat.
"I grew fat as the dreams grow bigger. There is much terror to eat."
"Oh.. terror? You sure you're not eating all the dream pies?" Jace joked.
Kadiddle seemed not to understand.
"It is cold."
Kadiddle's messages were always crytpic. Then again, most dreams rarely had a direct path. The mind's world was ever wandering; vast.
"I've noticed. But it's always cold here."
"Connlaoth... it is cold." Kadiddle's whiskers wriggled again as his cheeks puffed. But he continued to look at Jace.
"You said that last time."
"I do not like it here. Too many nightmares. Too much food to pick from." Kaddidle shook his head and squeezed back into his log a bit, as if to keep himself warm, but it just appeared as if he got his fat rolls stuck in the opening.
"But you eat nightmares."
"Yes."
There was a silence between them. Jace didn't always know what to say. Kadiddle was rarely very direct.
"Have you seen anything.. different?"
Kadiddle stared, then lowered his eyes to blink before looking up at Jace again. His face, Jace decided, reminded him of a pug combined with some sort of slug caterpillar. He knew no other way to describe such a creature.
"The dreams are changing faster. Much different."
Jace nodded, accepting that. Even he knew it was, even if this place that surrounded him and Kadiddle managed to remain almost the same.
"The dreams..." he went on, raking a hand through his hair as he sighed. "They're definitely getting bigger."
Kadiddle continued to look up at Jace with those big eyes, eyes that should have been more expressive than they were. The creature almost seemed as if being puppeted. Perhaps he was. Who knew what was on the other side of that log. Jace couldn't even recall if he'd ever seen Kadiddle's full body. Perhaps when the dream slug was smaller, barely a formed thought.
"Much to see," Kadiddle said. His eye lids lowered, as if tired.
"What much can you see?"
Kadiddle didn't move, nor say anything.
Jace changed the subject.
"Have you had any visitors? Last time you said-"
The creatures eyes went wild as it stiffened and let out a squirmy squeal.
"One that tried!"
Jace made a face.
"Tried?"
"I felt cold- much cold... much darkness... much over whelming need..." Kadiddle almost seemed to sweat, his form shaking. Jace figured he looked more like a pug, even then- and was that a pug like nose the creature was forming?
"Why couldn't this presence come to you?"
Kadidddle's small paws were gripping the log so tightly as his antennae, which were perked up, sagged down and clung against his rounded head.
"You."
Before Jace could ask just what that meant, something happened- some strange wave, like that from the ocean, but moved through the air like an unseen force, washed over the pair of them. It had so much feeling of power, of want.. of hunger...
Then it hit again, the entire world shaking like an awakening earth quake. Jace tumbled forward, holding onto the log to catch himself as he looked around, trying to sense from what direction this had been coming from-
But whatever world was around him.. he watched as it seemed to fall away, fall back- as if he were walking away from it...
And it turned into a fog of dark and listless shapes.
He saw trees fall, and curl, and be pulled away, as if they were being sucked into the darkness that loomed.
"It grows with more hunger!" Kadiddle squeeked. "It senses it! It senses her!"
Jace made a face, brows scrunching as he peered up at the creature to ask, "Her?"
WHen everything went to white, and Jace awokened in a sweat.
It was morning, the world was covered in a light fog, and the chill was not unwelcomed.
Jace lay there, taking a moment to let his heart calm down as he thought over the dream.
"Her."
He frowned.
"Not much to go off of Kadiddle." He pushed himself up from where he had been sleeping in a patch of decay below a large willow tree. He peered around. Not a swamp, but some areas, he supposed, could be swamp like..
Like his dream.
He chewed on his lip as he thought about it.
"So the dreamer is a she." He pushed himself to stand, cracking his neck to get the crick out as he stretched. "Guess that's a better lead than everything else I've got so far."
And just like every other day after his dreams...
he simply moved in whatever direction he felt the most pull. Occasionally he was wrong and found himself going in circles...
But as of lately..
He seemed to have some sort of intuition, and his feet always knew what direction he ought to be carried.
