Chapter FIFTY: Protect and Survive-TALIA

...

The Dreamer arrived on the world after being away for so long...

..

Talia appeared out of her portal, finding she had somehow apparated a good league or two westward away from the castle. Her heart pounding as she took in the awful sight of her surroundings—her once former home. The sky was still dark, an unnatural ugly reddish cloud cover overhead, only revealing the moon. The moon, red and larger than she had ever seen it in this realm. Fires raged at a distance in the mountains. The lush Burgeon Forest was mostly charred and barren. The land, she sensed, was plagued and tainted by an unholy strength.

The soil began to shake violently. Instead, of a side-to-side or an upward-downward rattle, it felt as though the land were falling straight down. The shaking stopped, but a loud energetic blast seemed to be coming from all sides towards the ocean. Safety and hope were far from this land, she realized, longing to leave at once to the safety of the High Realm or her Shrine, but knowing there was no turning back from the task ahead.

Turning slowly around, unsure of what to aid first, Talia wondered why she had not arrived at the castle as she had intended. She suddenly felt the presence of demons near. The sensation was strong—an ability she did not have when she was only a simple mortal priestess. Horrible dog-like creatures with eye patches suddenly bursts through what was left of the forest. They ran out with large swinging daggers. A giant colorful winged snake also slithered its way towards her, flashing its demonic fangs, readying its bite. In the distance she could see giant lizard creatures, holding large hammers, slowly making their way over. They were drawn to her, she discerned right away, but also alarming her as well.

"Dreamer's Cast!" Talia yelled as she tried to purge the land first, intending to attack the evil demons with another stronger spell next. To her horror, the spell generated an amplified burst of energy that suddenly went far in all direction, obliterating all the foul creatures at once; but also leveling a huge swath of land, nearly reaching the mountains' base. The blast left a ringing in her ears. Brown rocks tumbled downward causing a roaring avalanche of rubble to fall. She had used the spell so many times in the Dream Realm—it was only meant to purify the land, not destroy it. The demons were gone, but the destruction was unthinkable.

Trembling, she stared at her staff wondering how things had turned out so wrong. She prayed there was no one living hiding in the forest as they would have been wiped away from her magic. Realizing her dream magic was unstable on the land, Talia refrained from any more unfamiliar, otherworldly spells.

"I-I should not teleport to the castle either..." she told herself, still horrified by the strength of her own magic as she started to walk onward towards Thais.

A very thick fog was setting in. The scent of fire loomed thick in the air. She knew the Demon had wreaked havoc onto Thais and the rest of the world, but was not prepared at the sight in front of her.

As she moved briskly along the path, she ran into wretched carnage she never knew possible. Citizens of every age lay dead on the sides of the path. Bodies lay motionless, some clearly having been there for some time. People murderer by every possible affliction, she noticed, as she tried to contain herself from the overwhelming emotions that shook her numb. It was as though she were walking through a graveyard and the dead were not yet buried.

"This is my fault," Talia blamed herself as usual, as she moved forward alone on the path.

Through the eerie dense fog and smoke, she could make out a large obstacle in the way, unsure if it was a tree or carriage. All of sudden she saw someone coming towards her, moving quickly along where there was once forest—a dark-haired man running.

Talia tried to push some of the fog away with her weakest raw magic, fearing she might unintentionally destroy more forest. As the man approached, she realized he was a refugee fleeing the kingdom. She decided to wait to the side of the road, until he approached, not wanting to draw more attention on herself than necessary.

...

As Tailor approached, he slowed down. He held the young princess close to his chest attempting to conceal her behind his large combat shield. He could make out a figure with long red hair in a surreal adorned white robe and lavender dress in front of him. Strange, he thought, but there was no turning back; he had no choice but to keep going towards the shores, hoping he could at least find a canoe or raft he could take to get off the miserable lands. There was no choice, but to pass the strange presence in his way.

As he got closer, she did not appear harmful—distraught and upset, perhaps beyond reason—Tailor noticed, as she stood very still waiting for them to pass. He approached cautiously, wondering if it could possibly be someone who could help them. He pulled out his sword just in case, but held the blade low, not wanting to come across as a foe.

He suddenly stopped. "Priestess!?" he exclaimed relieved but confused to see a presence of good for once. The strange young woman looked like a beautiful goddess, he noticed, bewildered by the sight of her in such a hideous place.

...

Talia looked over the dark-haired man. His sincere brown eyes caught hers. She quickly realized he was a high ranking knight based on his attire. "...Guardsman, please...I need some information about the Kin..." Talia uttered but trailed off, suddenly seeing the knight was holding a child tightly behind his shield as he walked over to her. Soft lilac hair visible from the side. Tailor loosened his hold on the baby, revealing a beautiful infant girl sleeping soundly.

"Is she...Is the Chosen One?" Talia finally uttered. Her hand carefully reached out to the girl.

Tailor stepped back, speechless by the woman's knowledge of the princess. He held his sword higher, but then, suddenly recalled Devin describing Talia to him: Her red hair the color of red roses...Her green eyes the shade of earthy emeralds under sunlight...Her gold hooped earrings she wore everyday...Her beauty unlike any girl in all the Lands. He realized she was not just a priestess from her robes, but a druid, too.

"Talia Maurva?" Tailor managed to say. His eyes widened. Talia nodded, a little surprised the man knew her name and surname too. "But how? How are you here?...Are you not supposed to be in the Dream, Priestess?"

"Please, knight, there is no time to waste...Where are the king and queen?" Talia asked as she went towards them. Her eyes fell on the child. Her heart filled with grief and hope at the same time. A longing to hold her overwhelmed her unexpectedly.

"Alicia..." Tailor started through tear filled eyes, "Priestess Talia...there was nothing I could do!...She's gone...I was just there..." He watched the priestess' expression change to one of speechlessness, stricken with unconceivable sadness. Her deep angst was clear as she tried sorting out the meaning of what he just shared.

"What...What is your name, knight?" Talia said trying to shake off the incomprehensible news she just heard; needing to know more right away; tears from panic filling her eyes. "And...are you sure, knight?...I can go to her right now...That is why I'm here. I am here to help them."

"General Tailor Darzon, m'lady...Well, just Tailor Darzon now...I'm afraid our dear friend is gone...I'm not sure what you can do for her now," he said, shutting his eyes closed.

This was no time to grieve, but they both fell into a moment of shared silence.

"...What about the King of Thais?" Talia gasped at last, now trembling as she spoke. "Is he—"

"—I haven't seen Devin in hours. He fell somewhere in the forest from what the Queen told me," Tailor explained, wanting to be helpful. "The Queen did not know where he was...She fell during battle with the demon Ahriman not long ago."

"Alicia...battled Ahriman? Alone? With no help?" Talia repeated meekly. Tailor nodded.

"Don't feel too bad...I was not there with her either. I was in hiding with the princess...The demonic fiend was not there when it was over...She gave her life to save her daughter...To save my pathetic life," Tailor said reluctantly still trying to accept the harsh reality.

"NOOO! I cannot be too late!" Talia said mortified by the news, suddenly losing herself to the madness of it all. "I MUST try to go to her! I MUST try to find Devin!" Her eyes wide with grief and hysteria as she looked onward at the castle. She waved her staff about to open another portal. Tailor stuck his sword in the ground, and set his free hand on her shoulder. Talia looked at him again, and she knew that the child would need to come first.

"I'm sorry, m'lady, but I cannot go back. It's not safe," Tailor said as he let go of her shoulder, already taking a few steps forward where he believed the port to still be.

The Dreamer followed.

They immediately started going opposite Thais towards the ocean. Their pace hastened. Getting as far from the castle was now the difference between life and death.

The two walked beside each other, rushing to avoid any unwanted encounters with any other morbid creatures since the child was with them. Talia noticed how Tailor protectively held on to the girl. She could see why her parents chose him to be her guard.

As they went, Tailor told her in as much detail of what happened to the king and queen and how he ended up fleeing. She listened intently for any leads on where Devin could be and also trying to piece together what happened to the Ahriman. She could not feel the fiend's presence at all. She knew from what Tailor said she would need to return later to find Devin along the same path they were just on.

..

They reached the shoreline. The two stopped right at the edge. There were no boats or canoes, not even wreckage. It had all been washed away, even the port itself. What was more alarming, there was no sea. The water receded far, far way. In the horizon, a bright line of water suspended, but still moving forward.

"Any ideas, Priestess?!" Tailor asked frantically, now wishing he had gone towards the mountains, to higher ground. Talia stared at the sea, the water was being pulled by magic. Good or bad magic, she did not know.

"No...My magic is not stable here, Tailor...I'm thinking!" Talia said desperately trying to put together a plan.

"Then take her, if you cannot save me," Tailor said as he realized that perhaps his purpose was complete. He took the girl to her. "It's what they would have wanted...I have no wife...I am no father...You and the sun priest can take her far from here, can you not?"

"Oh, Tailor...The sun priest and I... It's complicated..." Talia trailed off, about to cry over her own unraveling life once more, wishing not to continue.

"That would answer why he is not here with you..." Tailor said, realizing she was deeply afflicted by the Sun Druid. He suddenly recalled how Devin did not like him. "Erm...you know the King wasn't too fond of him either. I suppose the King may have been right then..." he trailed off as he noticed Talia remained silent now, but reaching for the princess.

Her hand moved over the baby's hair and warm cheeks. She smiled at the girl with motherly warmth. With Talia's arm beginning to hold the baby's weight in arms and giving Tailor a much needed break from having carried her for so long. The girl yawned as though almost ready to wake up.

The sky began to lighten slightly.

Talia lowered herself on a tiny patch of grass that remained on the barren land, exhausted suddenly, and still broken by everything her world had become. The girl cooed slightly on her lap. Her soft light violet hair blew gently with the sea breeze. All hope rested on the girl. The disbelief that such a small child carried such a huge burden seemed impossible and unfair. She would not let anything bad ever happen to her again, if she could help it.

The girl's eyes opened slightly then closed. The baby had Alicia's eyes, Talia noticed; however, she also realized that she could have easily been her second born by age and by father had her path been different, and she had not become the Dreamer all those years ago.

Tailor stared at them, content that things would fall into place, even if he was not part of the plan.

Talia stroked the girl's soft cheek again. Thinking desperately about where to go. She no longer knew where safetywas on the Isles. Then she remembered Druid Armaiti mentioning that the Western Isle had been mostly unaffected. It was so safe, Dameon was surely sleeping in the Druid's temple at this very moment waiting for his father to come get him.

The Dreamer knew she would take Tailor there. She just needed to be careful with her teleporting magic and not try to end up in the middle of nowhere or somewhere just as dangerous. Perhaps, her magic would get them to the temple or close enough, she wondered.

"Well, if the Sun Priest is no longer around...you can just stay here...with me," Tailor offered half-jokingly, half-serious, breaking the silence as the large wave drew closer. He scratched the back of his head while grinning sheepishly. He wondered how Devin could have been such a fool to ever let her go. Devin surely would have nudged him hard in the chest to the point of pain had he been standing beside him for being so bold.

Talia managed to laugh a bit along with Tailor, despite all the gloom. Another man trying to make her happy...Another brave friend, she thought, relieved she was in good company. She could see why the knight had been so liked by the Pendragons.

The wind began to propel harder from the ocean. The water was starting to fill the ocean bed again. The seas were rising, becoming choppy and impossible for any vessel to ever navigate through.

"We need to go, Tailor. I will try to take you to the Western Isle. It's safe there...My son, Dameon, he is there as well with the Agriculture Druid Armaiti the Green," Talia assured him as she got up readying to use her staff to create a portal; beginning to concentrate, trying to minimize her magic as much as possible.

As she got up, Tailor grabbed the girl quickly out of her arms.

" Priestess Talia...," he gasped. Her complexion was quickly changing. She looked inexplicably brighter as though an aura of light were falling over her. "Something's wrong!"

Talia looked over her hands. Her staff was solid, but her hands were starting to fade. Suddenly, she felt as though she were in two different places at the same time. She closed her eyes and opened them. Everything was covered in white snow—the ocean, the mountains, Thais in the distance—all she could see was snow. She blinked again and she was back on the ruined lands beside the violent ocean. She panicked, hoping she was still not holding the child as she would surely gone right through her.

"NOO! I'm—I'm waking..." Talia revealed. "I CANNOT wake yet! We need to leave NOW!" terror filled her voice. There were so many nightmares in the Dreamworld now from all the horrors people had been endured, it would be another awful calamity to wake now. Not to mention, she had not really been watching the Dream well for weeks, and it was already being overrun with nightmares she had failed to kill.

Talia felt foolish for having nearly forgotten that she could wake up for simply coming to the world. Aydan warned her. She suddenly thought of him, her heart heavy with fresh disappointment, but she felt grateful that he helped her get this far. Now she just needed to stay long enough to save them all. Wondering at the same time too, if the sun priest had made it to Armaiti to get their son by now, and regret also set in: if she had allowed Aydan to go with her, he could have helped her now with his magic.

Realizing there was no more time to spare, with the ocean quickly coming in with a huge tidal surging, the water starting to swell and spray upward right at the land's edge, and her time being limited on how long she could stay in this realm, the Dreamer summoned a portal. The familiar translucent radiant butterfly appeared and took off fast going far west.

Moments later, the portal flashed ready for them to step on. Talia carefully went to it first with Tailor now holding the child tightly behind. Hurriedly, they stepped forward as a wave crashed down.