Chapter 14 – The Dreams
::The First Dimension Gate Chapter::
That night, he found himself alone in his dreams, missing his strange protector. He didn't know why, but he knew he wasn't there, holding him, because he was standing on his own.
Garlyle looked around. There it was, all that blue emptiness... It was expecting something, Garlyle could sense it. But what?
"Where is this, anyway?" he muttered. "What kind of world is this..."
"It's empty, unfinished" the voice was familiar. The dream man! But where was he? Garlyle looked around wildly, but couldn't figure out where the voice had come from, there was nothing.
"Unfinished?" Garlyle asked.
"It's a lonely place, isn't it, Garlyle? A world where there is nothing but what is created in people's dreams..."
"D... Dreams?" Garlyle asked.
"Yes, Dreams" the voice answered.
Things began to fade into view, and then Garlyle felt himself fading out. He looked down at his own hands, but there was nothing.
"What...?"
"I'll show you."
The scene shifted, the blue haze fading away to become a house that Garlyle recognised as being the one Jael lived in.
There was a young girl in a red beret and red dress, with white pants underneath, holding a brush and painting. She had long, beautiful blonde hair, and a petite, cute face.
"Ki... Kiana!" Garlyle's face lit up. It had been so long since he had seen Jael's daughter, the beautiful girl...
He ran towards her, to try and tap her on the shoulder, but found he couldn't touch her. He stepped backwards, simply watching.
She was painting, skilfully, as she always did. He could hear voices in the another room, that sounded familiar.
His and Taka's! They were fighting again. Garlyle strained to hear the words, but he couldn't, yet he knew what they were fighting over. Only one thing could make them truly fight like that.
Kiana set down the paintbrush, and looked towards the doorway, tears in her eyes.
Garlyle froze. He thought that she didn't mind them fighting over her, or that she enjoyed it, that was how it always seemed to him.
But she was hurt, and whispered something. "I wish you two wouldn't fight..." she muttered. "I don't like it... I really don't like the fact that my existence is splitting up two best friends..."
Garlyle's heart was touched, and he gulped. Was that truly what Kiana thought? He'd have to keep that in mind, to apologise to her for all those times they had fought. If he had've only known...
Hindsight is always 20-20, he reminded himself, though. Then, before his eyes, the image of Kiana, the sounds of the fight, everything faded out. Garlyle missed it, for some reason, it felt as if he had just left something important behind.
Then another scene faded into view.
There was a young, white haired man, who vaguely resembled the strange white-haired man that was guiding Garlyle this whole time. It was short and soft, but his skin was almost totally pale, and his body looked very frail, covered over by a white vest. Though he did look a lot like the man who had been 'protecting' Garlyle in his dreams, something told Garlyle it might not be the same man.
Oddly, all he was doing was sitting on the edge of a grassy cliff, staring out across the sea at the moon.
"Ceth?"
The man turned, and Garlyle could see the face. No, it was the man who had been protecting him... Was this who it was?
"Janine!" Ceth's face lit up, as he ran towards the woman that came into view. A young brown haired woman, no older than the man probably, came running towards him, wearing a rough brown shirt and trousers, as if she were a man. But they were in the wilds...
"Ceth, is it true? What Maline said?"
"What exactly did she tell you?" Ceth asked, as he held her close, almost desperately.
"That tomorrow morning, you... you'll... oh, Ceth! Please, tell me it can't be true!" Janine was crying her heart out, hugging him close as well, crying against his chest.
"Janine... I... I'm afraid that..."
"I knew it..." Janine looked up at him. "I don't want to lose you, Ceth... please... I... I love you, Ceth..."
Then the scene faded away from Garlyle's vision.
Whoever Ceth was, Garlyle felt as if he had known him for a while... for at least a fair portion of his life...
Then the scene faded away again, to be replaced with another dream. It felt odd for Garlyle, seeing into people's dreams. He wasn't sure if they were all happening now, right now, or if they were the dreams of people who had already had them...
The new dream, however, caught Garlyle by surprise. It seemed to be a strange house of some kind. It was totally empty, and Garlyle had to wait a moment before it seemed to take full shape, as somebody stepped in.
Garlyle jumped backwards a bit. It was Kozo, in something like a uniform with a black shirt and long black pants, and underneath that was a white shirt and tie, something Garlyle thought somehow would be the uniform of a student at a school, though he wasn't sure why. He placed his bag down, and Garlyle noticed the contents of it as he unzipped it were not his blades, but textbooks and papers.
"What...?"
"You came home suddenly..."
There he was, wearing a blue jacket and long blue jeans that covered up most of his body. He was barefoot, with spiky red hair, ruby eyes, and Garlyle had to admit that maybe he could see what Kozo saw in him, for this was no doubt the man that his companion was in love with, Acentine. His voice was very kind and gentle, as if he were much younger than his looks showed.
"Oh... Yeah, I'm back from school..." Kozo responded, smiling. "I'll graduate in no time, at this rate..." He didn't turn back to face the redhead, instead, he finished unpacking his bags, as Acentine walked up behind him.
"I'm real proud of you, taking all of this on..." Acentine wrapped his arms around Kozo's shoulder blades from behind, holding him close. Kozo relaxed backwards.
"I've been with you too long without putting in my half an effort, causing you too much trouble, I have to do something to repay you..." Kozo responded, blushing a tad.
"You don't have to repay me unless it's what you want, I'm happy the way we are..." the older man kissed Kozo on the ear, before backing away, the scene fading out.
Garlyle was surprised. What part of that was really what Kozo knew from experience, and what of it was his fancy? He had never mentioned going to school... did he perhaps secretly want to go?
Garlyle's mind flashed back to the day he had met Kozo, when he had told him his story. He said that things were hard, that's why he had wanted to win that job with the company, right? He really did love Acentine...
The thoughts made Garlyle flush a bit. So that's what true love was, wanting to make things as easy as possible for each other...
He remained standing in the darkness again, for a while, before his mind returned to other matters. "Were those... dreams... of the people in this world?"
"They are the dreams of your closest companions" the voice responded.
"My closest... but who was that second one?" Garlyle asked. "Who is Ceth?"
"Someday you'll understand... but for now... there are other things that you must understand..."
"Like?" Garlyle looked around him, confused.
"Like coming to understand the origins of this place..."
Garlyle felt odd. "I think... I understand... Is this place another dimension, too? Does it really exist?"
"Yes"
Garlyle awaited any expansion on that response, but gone none. He tried to understand more.
"Then, is it possible... to actually come here?"
"Yes. I did."
The man faded into view. "That's why I'm locked here."
"You're... locked here! All alone?" Garlyle ran over to the man, who quickly reached down to Garlyle's level, kneeling down. "I... I feel sorry for you, if there is anything I can do..."
"I would ask nothing more, Garlyle, then to see you doing what you are doing right now" the man smiled at him, holding the boy close.
"Please, I insist on helping! I... This place is so lonely, how long...?"
"As long as I can remember..."
"That being?"
"Over nine hundred years to this day, I stumbled upon this place..."
Garlyle held the man closer. "Are you... Ceth?"
He shook his head, then reconsidered. "Yes and no, I am 'a' Ceth, but not the one whose dreams you saw..."
Garlyle nodded. "So you became stuck here... Are you the one who's responsible for setting up all these dimensional warps?"
"Actually, I've been..." Ceth looked away. "I made things happen to do this to you..."
"What?"
"I created Rue in your universe to come after you, to force you to escape your home time and dimension, even if it meant hurting you... and then... everything after... Syiolen is just an image I created..."
"What?" Garlyle backed away, shocked. "You, the one who's been so calming..."
"I've been leading you from place to place..."
"Why?"
"I want to finish this world off"
"What?"
"This dimension has nothing in it" Ceth answered quickly. "It only has illusions of reality within it, then those fragments are gone. This place doesn't actually exist on its own... It needs something..."
"What does it need?" Garlyle asked. He could understand why Ceth didn't like the idea of the world he was stuck in being incomplete.
"It needs... I don't know, but you're the key. When I saw you, suddenly, it began to click... Everything just began to snap into place. Everything that you do, I watch here... I can see it all..." he smiled. "And everywhere you go, you change things, more than just in that dimension. You, Garlyle, are going to single-handily break every rule that governs these dimensions!"
"What?" Garlyle backed up, horrified.
"No, don't get me wrong!" Ceth cried out. "It's a good thing! When these dimensions were made aeons ago, this place was left out. As you complete it, slowly, I can feel the air becoming more solid, you're completing this world AND helping to complete the others!"
"Then..."
"When you saw the red moon, that night, Garlyle, it was shining brighter for you than for anybody else in the history of your world" Ceth responded. "Don't you see? Garlyle, you're responsible for this, the crossroads between the dimensions."
"Really?"
"If you can continue this, Garlyle..." Ceth smiled. "If you can do what you need to, I believe some day you'll master this place and be able to enter and exit it freely. You will control this place, this dream world..."
"This Dimension Gate."
"And then, will I finally be able to return to my home, and return Ceth to his?"
"Yes."
Garlyle's face lit up.
"So, what do I need to do here?"
"You need to start Andrew off on the path that will lead him to what he needs to discover himself. You are his teacher, you must prepare him for the battle that he will fight and he must win it, Garlyle." Ceth explained.
"What happens if he doesn't?" Garlyle asked, suddenly nervous.
Ceth's face turned serious. "If he doesn't Garlyle, he will be killed. Your ancestor will never pass on his blood. You will never be born, Garlyle, and the moment that he is killed, you will cease to exist, and so will your friends... so will your entire Dimension!"
Garlyle froze. There was a lot at stake! Could the Evil Lord truly do that? Or would the destruction of his home be caused by something else...? He didn't dare risk finding out.
"I understand" Garlyle smiled. "I promise, Ceth, I'll do my best!"
And then, suddenly, there was a loud knocking that startled Garlyle from his sleep.
::The First Dimension Gate Chapter::
That night, he found himself alone in his dreams, missing his strange protector. He didn't know why, but he knew he wasn't there, holding him, because he was standing on his own.
Garlyle looked around. There it was, all that blue emptiness... It was expecting something, Garlyle could sense it. But what?
"Where is this, anyway?" he muttered. "What kind of world is this..."
"It's empty, unfinished" the voice was familiar. The dream man! But where was he? Garlyle looked around wildly, but couldn't figure out where the voice had come from, there was nothing.
"Unfinished?" Garlyle asked.
"It's a lonely place, isn't it, Garlyle? A world where there is nothing but what is created in people's dreams..."
"D... Dreams?" Garlyle asked.
"Yes, Dreams" the voice answered.
Things began to fade into view, and then Garlyle felt himself fading out. He looked down at his own hands, but there was nothing.
"What...?"
"I'll show you."
The scene shifted, the blue haze fading away to become a house that Garlyle recognised as being the one Jael lived in.
There was a young girl in a red beret and red dress, with white pants underneath, holding a brush and painting. She had long, beautiful blonde hair, and a petite, cute face.
"Ki... Kiana!" Garlyle's face lit up. It had been so long since he had seen Jael's daughter, the beautiful girl...
He ran towards her, to try and tap her on the shoulder, but found he couldn't touch her. He stepped backwards, simply watching.
She was painting, skilfully, as she always did. He could hear voices in the another room, that sounded familiar.
His and Taka's! They were fighting again. Garlyle strained to hear the words, but he couldn't, yet he knew what they were fighting over. Only one thing could make them truly fight like that.
Kiana set down the paintbrush, and looked towards the doorway, tears in her eyes.
Garlyle froze. He thought that she didn't mind them fighting over her, or that she enjoyed it, that was how it always seemed to him.
But she was hurt, and whispered something. "I wish you two wouldn't fight..." she muttered. "I don't like it... I really don't like the fact that my existence is splitting up two best friends..."
Garlyle's heart was touched, and he gulped. Was that truly what Kiana thought? He'd have to keep that in mind, to apologise to her for all those times they had fought. If he had've only known...
Hindsight is always 20-20, he reminded himself, though. Then, before his eyes, the image of Kiana, the sounds of the fight, everything faded out. Garlyle missed it, for some reason, it felt as if he had just left something important behind.
Then another scene faded into view.
There was a young, white haired man, who vaguely resembled the strange white-haired man that was guiding Garlyle this whole time. It was short and soft, but his skin was almost totally pale, and his body looked very frail, covered over by a white vest. Though he did look a lot like the man who had been 'protecting' Garlyle in his dreams, something told Garlyle it might not be the same man.
Oddly, all he was doing was sitting on the edge of a grassy cliff, staring out across the sea at the moon.
"Ceth?"
The man turned, and Garlyle could see the face. No, it was the man who had been protecting him... Was this who it was?
"Janine!" Ceth's face lit up, as he ran towards the woman that came into view. A young brown haired woman, no older than the man probably, came running towards him, wearing a rough brown shirt and trousers, as if she were a man. But they were in the wilds...
"Ceth, is it true? What Maline said?"
"What exactly did she tell you?" Ceth asked, as he held her close, almost desperately.
"That tomorrow morning, you... you'll... oh, Ceth! Please, tell me it can't be true!" Janine was crying her heart out, hugging him close as well, crying against his chest.
"Janine... I... I'm afraid that..."
"I knew it..." Janine looked up at him. "I don't want to lose you, Ceth... please... I... I love you, Ceth..."
Then the scene faded away from Garlyle's vision.
Whoever Ceth was, Garlyle felt as if he had known him for a while... for at least a fair portion of his life...
Then the scene faded away again, to be replaced with another dream. It felt odd for Garlyle, seeing into people's dreams. He wasn't sure if they were all happening now, right now, or if they were the dreams of people who had already had them...
The new dream, however, caught Garlyle by surprise. It seemed to be a strange house of some kind. It was totally empty, and Garlyle had to wait a moment before it seemed to take full shape, as somebody stepped in.
Garlyle jumped backwards a bit. It was Kozo, in something like a uniform with a black shirt and long black pants, and underneath that was a white shirt and tie, something Garlyle thought somehow would be the uniform of a student at a school, though he wasn't sure why. He placed his bag down, and Garlyle noticed the contents of it as he unzipped it were not his blades, but textbooks and papers.
"What...?"
"You came home suddenly..."
There he was, wearing a blue jacket and long blue jeans that covered up most of his body. He was barefoot, with spiky red hair, ruby eyes, and Garlyle had to admit that maybe he could see what Kozo saw in him, for this was no doubt the man that his companion was in love with, Acentine. His voice was very kind and gentle, as if he were much younger than his looks showed.
"Oh... Yeah, I'm back from school..." Kozo responded, smiling. "I'll graduate in no time, at this rate..." He didn't turn back to face the redhead, instead, he finished unpacking his bags, as Acentine walked up behind him.
"I'm real proud of you, taking all of this on..." Acentine wrapped his arms around Kozo's shoulder blades from behind, holding him close. Kozo relaxed backwards.
"I've been with you too long without putting in my half an effort, causing you too much trouble, I have to do something to repay you..." Kozo responded, blushing a tad.
"You don't have to repay me unless it's what you want, I'm happy the way we are..." the older man kissed Kozo on the ear, before backing away, the scene fading out.
Garlyle was surprised. What part of that was really what Kozo knew from experience, and what of it was his fancy? He had never mentioned going to school... did he perhaps secretly want to go?
Garlyle's mind flashed back to the day he had met Kozo, when he had told him his story. He said that things were hard, that's why he had wanted to win that job with the company, right? He really did love Acentine...
The thoughts made Garlyle flush a bit. So that's what true love was, wanting to make things as easy as possible for each other...
He remained standing in the darkness again, for a while, before his mind returned to other matters. "Were those... dreams... of the people in this world?"
"They are the dreams of your closest companions" the voice responded.
"My closest... but who was that second one?" Garlyle asked. "Who is Ceth?"
"Someday you'll understand... but for now... there are other things that you must understand..."
"Like?" Garlyle looked around him, confused.
"Like coming to understand the origins of this place..."
Garlyle felt odd. "I think... I understand... Is this place another dimension, too? Does it really exist?"
"Yes"
Garlyle awaited any expansion on that response, but gone none. He tried to understand more.
"Then, is it possible... to actually come here?"
"Yes. I did."
The man faded into view. "That's why I'm locked here."
"You're... locked here! All alone?" Garlyle ran over to the man, who quickly reached down to Garlyle's level, kneeling down. "I... I feel sorry for you, if there is anything I can do..."
"I would ask nothing more, Garlyle, then to see you doing what you are doing right now" the man smiled at him, holding the boy close.
"Please, I insist on helping! I... This place is so lonely, how long...?"
"As long as I can remember..."
"That being?"
"Over nine hundred years to this day, I stumbled upon this place..."
Garlyle held the man closer. "Are you... Ceth?"
He shook his head, then reconsidered. "Yes and no, I am 'a' Ceth, but not the one whose dreams you saw..."
Garlyle nodded. "So you became stuck here... Are you the one who's responsible for setting up all these dimensional warps?"
"Actually, I've been..." Ceth looked away. "I made things happen to do this to you..."
"What?"
"I created Rue in your universe to come after you, to force you to escape your home time and dimension, even if it meant hurting you... and then... everything after... Syiolen is just an image I created..."
"What?" Garlyle backed away, shocked. "You, the one who's been so calming..."
"I've been leading you from place to place..."
"Why?"
"I want to finish this world off"
"What?"
"This dimension has nothing in it" Ceth answered quickly. "It only has illusions of reality within it, then those fragments are gone. This place doesn't actually exist on its own... It needs something..."
"What does it need?" Garlyle asked. He could understand why Ceth didn't like the idea of the world he was stuck in being incomplete.
"It needs... I don't know, but you're the key. When I saw you, suddenly, it began to click... Everything just began to snap into place. Everything that you do, I watch here... I can see it all..." he smiled. "And everywhere you go, you change things, more than just in that dimension. You, Garlyle, are going to single-handily break every rule that governs these dimensions!"
"What?" Garlyle backed up, horrified.
"No, don't get me wrong!" Ceth cried out. "It's a good thing! When these dimensions were made aeons ago, this place was left out. As you complete it, slowly, I can feel the air becoming more solid, you're completing this world AND helping to complete the others!"
"Then..."
"When you saw the red moon, that night, Garlyle, it was shining brighter for you than for anybody else in the history of your world" Ceth responded. "Don't you see? Garlyle, you're responsible for this, the crossroads between the dimensions."
"Really?"
"If you can continue this, Garlyle..." Ceth smiled. "If you can do what you need to, I believe some day you'll master this place and be able to enter and exit it freely. You will control this place, this dream world..."
"This Dimension Gate."
"And then, will I finally be able to return to my home, and return Ceth to his?"
"Yes."
Garlyle's face lit up.
"So, what do I need to do here?"
"You need to start Andrew off on the path that will lead him to what he needs to discover himself. You are his teacher, you must prepare him for the battle that he will fight and he must win it, Garlyle." Ceth explained.
"What happens if he doesn't?" Garlyle asked, suddenly nervous.
Ceth's face turned serious. "If he doesn't Garlyle, he will be killed. Your ancestor will never pass on his blood. You will never be born, Garlyle, and the moment that he is killed, you will cease to exist, and so will your friends... so will your entire Dimension!"
Garlyle froze. There was a lot at stake! Could the Evil Lord truly do that? Or would the destruction of his home be caused by something else...? He didn't dare risk finding out.
"I understand" Garlyle smiled. "I promise, Ceth, I'll do my best!"
And then, suddenly, there was a loud knocking that startled Garlyle from his sleep.