No rest for the weary – 0.6
Sleep did not come easily for Rain the rest of the
night. It started with the recurring
thought that he had missed something.
Something back at the accident, something about the car… something about
the driver… his mind could not lock on whatever it was. He replayed the entire encounter over and
over in his mind. Then, when sleep finally did over take him, his dreams kept
him from getting any real rest.
The first dream was of a luminescent bear. It sat on its haunches as it overlooked the
wreck site he had been at earlier. Only
now, the full moon shone brightly down on the scene. Off to the east in the distance, was a pair
of tail lights of an unidentified car.
To the south, a trail of a whirling dust cloud connecting to the tail
light of a motor cycle. The bear glanced
between the two vehicles, and then let out a low growling roar. Its howl shook the heavens. After the third outcry, a wispy, white shape
began to form in the sky above, and slowly descend to the bear. When it finished taking shape, it was that of
a tall muscular man, a face like a lightning bolt, fierce flaming eyes, arms
and legs that gleamed like polished chrome, and a voice like that of thunder. When the two beings began to speak to one
another, Rain felt it reverberate throughout his entire being, but could not
understand what they were discussing. It
was so vivid, that when he jolted awake, he looked around, fully expecting the
creatures to be standing over his bed.
His heart pounded in his chest, and echoed in his ears, but he felt
drained and weak. After a few minutes,
he was able to coax himself back to sleep.
When sleep finally did return, his second dream
began. This time, he was standing within
his foster parent’s center room. It was
vaguely familiar. ‘Grandfather’ was kneeling,
seated back on his own heels, among a circle of a dozen other tribal
elders. He could hear that they were
talking, but again, not what they were saying.
He watched respectfully as they conducted their business, when it was interrupted
with the unannounced arrival of… himself!
When he went to move, Rain realized that he was not shackled, but nor
could he move a muscle. He watched
himself disappear into the bathroom, and close the door behind him. The older men continued to converse, when one
caught the attention of all the others, and performed a ritual which Rain had
not seen before. When he was done, the
form of a man stood in midair, in the middle of the group. None of the shamans seemed alarmed in the
least. It was when Rain saw himself reemerge
from the bathroom that the scene ‘clicked’, but he was helpless to alter the
outcome. He watched himself become
consumed with fear and aggression and launch himself at the floating
image. Forty years later, and it still
made him wince when the thing landed a solid backhanded slap to the young man,
sending him skidding across the floor.
He slid to a stop at the feet of ‘mother’s’ shrine for her
ancestors. A suit of ancient samurai
armor, perfectly preserved, and mounted in a kneeling position, to the
immediate left of the statue were her ancestral swords. Rain wanted to scream caution to his younger
self, but nothing came from his vocal cords.
He was powerless to stop the image of his former self, now totally
consumed with rage for the ethereal guest.
Without a thought, Rain saw the lad grab the long sword from its resting
place, but he never had the chance to draw it.
“Mother’ was at his side with blinding speed, and without any outward
effort, she grabbed his free wrist with one hand, and her family’s heirloom
with the other. She shifted her feet
ever so slightly, perfectly using the out of control man’s aggression, to
launch him against the adjacent wall. It
was only by the slimmest of margins that the man was able to get himself to
take the landing across both shoulder blades, and thus avoiding serious
injury. Still, when he flight was
concluded, he was upside down, with his waist and legs extending comically up
the wall. Rain’s disenchanted form
glanced to ‘mother’. Her, he heard
perfectly. She slowly stood upright and
said, “Your time with us has come to an end Erurainon.” The disembodied form looked to Grandfather
who only nodded his acknowledgement.
This time, Rain awoke with a deep sense of regret, and pain.
His final vision for the night had him riding the ‘Growler’
on an unfamiliar highway. He was
following closely behind a fierce storm, not unlike the one he had enjoyed
earlier. It was then he realized that
the boke was accelerating uncontrollably.
The landscape became a blur as he raced headlong towards the storm. Just as he was sure that he was going to
crash, he instinctively recoiled, throwing his hands and arms in front of his
face, and he clenched his eyes shut… but then nothing. When he reopened his eyes he was completely
disoriented. Nothing seemed
familiar. Before him lay a large
mountain range, but something was very wrong about it. As he concentrated, abrupt angles, ridges,
and peaks, made of metal and glass came into focus. It made him uncomfortable to contemplate such
a thing. His eyes wandered over the
mountain range. It went on for several
kilometers in both directions. As he tried
to makes sense of it all, swarms of… of… something like fireflies began to
flutter in and around the monstrosity. Just
a few, here and there, but the numbers kept growing at an exponential rate
until they engulfed the entire mountain, but they didn’t stop. Finally, the swarm exploded like a shockwave,
and overtook him before he could consider a reaction. This time he awoke, drenched in sweat.
Rain got on his knees and repeated, “Atkuku ki Wakan Tanka, canl waste yuha onsi la akaya misnala (1)” until his
breathing and heart rate returned to a normal range.
Still shaking slightly, his Commlink chimed. Pulling it from his pack, it showed an
incoming call from his foster parents.
“Hau?” Rain answered.
“Your patient is asking for you Erurainon.” The man’s voice on the other end said
matter-of-factly.
“I… I’ll… I’ll be right there”, was all he could manage
to stammer.
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(1)
(ah-dkue-kue kee)(wah-kahn dahn-kah)(chanl
wah-shday)(yue-hah)(ohn-shee lah)(ah-kahn-yahn)(mee-shnah-lah) // Father God, please have mercy upon me.
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