“How did I get tricked into this?” I wonder aloud. “No, seriously. How did I ever think this was a good idea?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ2pZ58A7MR
Klef shushes me. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7glPpgtMa
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?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GGOUuZrEV
“Yes. But this isn’t in public,” Klef reasons.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibF8G0u1SG
“I’m with Klef on this one, Reese, have some self confidence!” Geo adds.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoD2OIyNdK
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?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡar1nPqxhUr
“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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAcHeVpNSQ
Flo smiles, bashful. “I really wasn’t that good at finding anything to help you, but you’re welcome regardless.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZ85ZKQZE7
The other werewolf clears their throat. “Am I invisible, or something?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWkmhSMikO
“Oh! Sorry, Rythe! Everyone, this is Rythe, my mate,” Flo says with a blush.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtRyLJaq2b
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!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQzikLOReQ
I nod. “I’m Rides. Nice to meet you.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kGNk17lyn
Rythe bows. “It’s an honor, my lady.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6o9wkCudYT
I blush and Flo whacks Rythe upside the head. “Stop, you, you’re embarrassing her!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3jOZXkkVv
Rythe grins. “But that’s what you love about me! And clearly she doesn’t see herself as some sort of royalty!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDhJ7Krxh3Q
Flo mutters in a low voice, “She’s the Alpha’s daughter.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8ht527Vmf
Rythe straightens. “You mean the Alpha of a rival pack or The Alpha?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIicAig89EI
“Try the second one,” Flo mutters, embarrassed on his behalf.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQfL2dSC5s
“Oh.” Rythe salutes me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrWGseJTq2
“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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAIIQcH2m2
Rythe nods stiffly, setting the flower crown close to the brink of desruction, and leads us inside.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5qX3txo2e
“Guy or girl?” Klef whispers to Geo.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEwXuBDbZps
“I...don’t know? Guy, I think?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYXquQSxVS
“No, I’d say girl,” Klef muses.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZagOg0fJ2L
“What are you guys talking about?” I mutter.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasBwl3JjIw
“Rythe. Guy or girl, do you think?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnroUl6M2p
“Um…” I have to think about my answer. “Maybe they’re neither…”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtySF2fx7c7
“Neither? Is that possible?” Klef asks.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vNefRPCFr
“It would make sense,” Geo reasons.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTpZpRBSlI
“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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡom86ZW31E8
“Right, because the natural neutral pronouns are it/its, but that can be seen as degrading nowadays,” Geo says.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO49SsiQ6LJ
“It is grammatically correct, though,” Klef points out.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvauv0U88j1
“I guess you have a point, but would you be okay with being called an ‘it’?” I counter.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPu3h4MvQ1
“What are you guys talking about?” Flo asks.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qLHPpU8eo
“Nothing much,” Geo says. “Just things back at our branch, you know?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOB5gE5V90
Rythe coughs and mutters, “They/them,” and I grin at Klef and Geo.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekI4NnatqR
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.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgibiVvfCq
Rythe clears their throat. “Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, allow me to present Rides, the Oracle who will be informing us on her dreams!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10pSneJZde
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.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnnm8BK2jQ6
“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’.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdShZ5laq0h
Everyone shifts around, suddenly on edge. “And?!” a wizard with pitch black hair shouts.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhPCaFwiru
“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.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95Y6emMkCe
“That we know of!” a gorgon yells. “We could be on a wild goose chase, lass!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqy4GE8VLqb
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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGkQaxwmef
The wizard who yelled out comes up to me. “Yeah, but we were expecting…”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2ANvEKho7
“More?” I supply. “Yeah, a lot of people do. Be glad I have that much, though. This is coming from 5 years of dreams.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwUr28R8ar
“Okay. I’m Ama. A necromancer,” she introduces. “I’m going to be guarding you three for your stay.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenSa8pY1Ch
“Make that the two of them,” Geo corrects. “I’m no one.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZaSGjoctsD
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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPntsoLEFeS
The room is still silent, everyone anticipating my reply. “Excuse me,” I gasp, making a beeline for the room’s exit.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUllfzSDRLd
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.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCdTmDtvxj
Footsteps come up to my back. Two pairs. “Ride?” Klef asks. “You okay?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFa9O7zj5J
I shake my head and close my eyes, resting my side against the wall. “Sick,” I mutter.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcsAcXBsh6
“I’m sorry if I upset you, but you need to get it into your head that you’re special,” Ama states.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbutdYyhEY0
“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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfI5WM27Bb
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?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcp4ygwk0fI
“S-sure.” I stumble on the word, because what is the correct response to someone volunteering to reanimate a corpse for you?550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYbcqWjgFL
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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUd2IzfFXv8
“Definitely not someone I’d call a necromancer,” Klef mutters.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76QNIxajgA
I still don’t turn enough to see him properly. Ama shifts so she can face me fully. “Pet the bun,” she instructs.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYQsJHq7Gr
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.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5l3WYGKYxW
I put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re great at it.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvWySmxAPq
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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3PdTGqa4I
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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1f3psLtP3x
“I’m fine,” I mutter as I lean against his shoulder.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjFDwjEcr7
“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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLccpAbVVaU
I scoff. “Shut up, bird brain.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQq07HNyRL8
“Make me, pointy ears!” Klef challenged.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMueIw6eQwj
Ama looked between us. “You two are so dating.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22NEj9GZeq
“No we’re not!” we deny at the same time.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKB1Ng5g0co
Ama laughs. “So dating.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiM0K7gYN3n
“Well don’t say anything. We want to keep it on the DL, if it’s possible,” Klef requested.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJCzqVJTnW
“Seriously? I’m willing to bet half the people here have started a pool on your relationship status!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFczHVxULu
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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8p0FMNGNuM
Klef raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that how you see yourself?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjBpNrI0Gk
I shrug. “Well, people mix up you and I a lot.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdsygHKPmK
Klef lightly punches me. “There’s the Ride I know and love.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4HPJ1vNKu
Ama sighs. “I ship it,” she murmurs.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIV1lfEQub
“There’s that word again!” I exclaim. “Why would people ‘ship’ us?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rmcxphXUr
“It’s cute!” Ama defends.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQto4vBi4Ul
“It’s weird!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEqzIzLbpj
“It’s true!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbGJPERYJu
“It’s really really funny,” Klef interjects.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBWrs4tg8N
I elbow him. “It is not,” I sigh.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJzkSXtRGV
Klef grins.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7e9mUaLiy9
“It’s not funny!” I exclaim.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpYXLgngYQ
“Whatever you say, Ride. Whatever you say,” Klef laughs.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwp0ZjoxVCG
Rythe and Flo come into view outside the conference room. “You okay?” Rythe asks.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKRjCESIyR
I nod. Klef lets go of me and I nearly topple over. “Do you mind?” I growl.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeWB06v4oA
He grins. “We’ll get you something to sit on until you feel better,” he assures.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2w88hnCPf
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.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ410KbZeygF
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.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjFtpyivtC
“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.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndMjhwuA1n
I nod. “Are we sending people to check out the most probable places?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexzypK9Fup
“Yeah, and we’re sending you and Klef to some of the less likely ones, to deal with the messages somewhere safe.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlo9zbJHe9B
“Okay, I guess…I’d rather be out looking, though.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIrtpJU2hX
“It’s for the best you don’t,” a pale human with freckles says. “Hibiscus A, they/them. Has a mild obsession with dragons.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAii57Zu5q
I smile. “Rides. My dad wants me to go by Iri. I’m old fashioned, I don’t like using my full name.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVNau7zKfR
Hibiscus A nodded. “I got you. Completely got you. Nice to make your acquaintance, Rides.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQTeZtCRB0
“Likewise.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDlLRppSbiX
Klef walks in, followed by my dad. “Still hanging around this scum, Iri?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMF0pnsaNt
I laugh. “Hi, dad.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIZT1XQX9G
Klef looks offended. “What am I?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9KTdFQ2tA
“Chopped liver,” I respond.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8du5EV3da
Dad laughs. “Nice one!”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tL8VF4z7w
Klef holds a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Ride. You wound me.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7Dzrd9ESr
“Good. I was trying to.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH4BbL9NAL
Hibiscus A coughed. “Ship it,” they mutter.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcW88uBgSg
I throw my hands up. “I’m done with this!” I sigh.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUkYAbvnsF
Everyone laughs. “You think I’m joking?” I ask, standing up shakily. “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I exclaim, waving.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLY3hg8putE
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