Chapter 13: Glimmer of Destiny

Fate is just a convenient phrase for fools too weak to forge their own destiny...

As I slept I heard the voice of my father echoing in my head, strange thing too, I barely even got to know him, strange that I would even hear them, I don't even remember my dad's face, or my mothrs for that matter, this as the first time anything resembling a memory of dad or mom came into my conciousness...why? It made no sense, what was the use of such a random phrase uttered by my father practically in my infancy? It was part of some poem, that much I remembered, and that was it, there was nothing else to it, there it was just floating in the ether, strange too. This was my first dreamless sleep in...ever, I knew I was asleep but I had kept myself from waking up, I like when that happens, ever had that thing where you sleep, start to dream, eventually realize its a dream, but don't wake up? I love that, suddenly its like you gain access to this whole other world... a fragment of your inner conciousness, a place where you have complete control over wha you do, and there are no consequence for right or wrong, because all your deeds are erased at the moment you awake...

But do they? Strange, Very Strange, I was not one to dwell on things, but for the first time, thanks in no small part to the influence of the Haze World, I found myself going into deeper and deeper thoughts about the nature of dreams, the worlds that existed in them, and the very world that I was pretty sure was the 'real' one. I now wondered, was there such a thing as a dream? Or are they simply a bief glimpse into another reality that our soul exists in? That seems like it might be the case I mean, while I've been able to take control of many dreams, I couldn never control the world itself, if I wanted to fly, I couldn't unless the world let me do so, if I advanced on a cetain furry lady, I could do so, but could not make the girl agree to my advances, strange... if this really were a world thought entirely up by my own mind, why then could I not control every aspect of it, it couldn't be anything other then another reality, another 'real world' where this person called Carlin the Red was but a figment of anothers imagination, a part of his or her 'dream world'.

Perhaps even, dreams were not entirely an individual exprience, could it not be influenced by the proximity of others? if conditions were right, could two people share the same dream, or rather, could one person make their reality become another persons dream? These thoughts and more came floating and fleeting drifting around and around in a great see of darkness that for some reason did not frighten me. I suppos it's because I've never had a bad experience with darkness, I've never even had what people call a nightmare, does that man that I, ha I mean Agh...

"Yo Carrrrlin Wakey Wakey! Time to get up!" Silvie was leaning over me, shaking me, annoying the hell out of me, attemtping to get me to rise from my bed.

"Argih ARGIHT! Geez let a man rest." I rose from my bed, What had I been dreaming about? I don't remember, all I remeber is that damn phrase... "AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH" I shook my head violently and ran my hands furiously through my hair, finally managing to purge the troublesome thought from my mind. I turned to see Silvie staring at me with a look that suggested great fear for my sanity. I just stared at her for a moment, then leaned in close to her. "Hey..Silvie..."

"Huh? Wh-whut?" She looked up at me, blushing furously. A look of fear, and what looked like anticipation in her eyes. I leaned even closer and-

"BOO!" Scared the living H out of her by simultaneously shouting and casting Invisible on myself. It achieved the effect I desired, she fell over out of chair with a shriek and landed on the floor, tail awitchin. After a second she leaned up and got into a sitting/pouncing position.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! CARRRLIN THAT WAS MEAN! YOURRRR GUNNA PAY!"

"Heeeheheheheeheeee... We'lll seee... if you can find meeee... OOoooohhhhoooohohoh..." What? do you have a problem with my behavior? I can act like a ghost if I want to, this was a great way to show off the skills I'd mastered the other day. By teasing the hell out of Silvie. Just for the heck of it, I aslo cast Deodorizer on myself, no sense letting her smell her way to me.

Silvie stood up but suddenly scrunched up her arms, as though suddenly afraid. "Ca-Carrrlin? Cummon, cut it out... say somethign! YOURRRR SCARRRING ME!"

"Oooooohhhh, Silvie, I'm commming forrrr youuuu!" I moaned out in my scariest ghost voice.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" She ran from the room and I chased after her with mad glee. So intent on my prey was I that I failed to notice other solid objects in the vicinity.

WHUMP

I slammed head on into a massive wall of hair, fell back on my ass, and lost my concentration, losing the effects of the two spells I'd just used.

"Oh, great, Red-boy's learned some new tricks, this outta be good. Ben wonderin why ya haven't used that ablity before... Most teenage guys who learn the Invisibility and Sound Silencind Spells... well, you can prolly guess What I'm OWW OWOO OWWW HEY DAMN YOU INFERNAL WOMAN CUT THAT OUT!" Lauria had silnced Murris with a barrage of Stone spell while I remained on the ground, laughing my ass off. hile Silvie hid behind Muris and looked at me with a cross betweeen what seemed like a desire to kill me or head for the hills and never look back.

"Yourrr such an imaturrrre JERRRRK!" She stuck her tounge out at me.

"So Carlin, when did you learn these new spells?" asked Laurtia in a casual offhand way.

"UWuh?" Oh crap, I just realized...

"Err uhmmm ahh..."

"You got out of bed yesterday didn't you?"

"Uhhhh"

"How would it be if you'd collapsed again in the middle of a crowded morning market and none of us had been there to pick you up?"

"Uhmmmmm..."

"You know what? Forget it. Let's just get going, we have to get on with finding that Dark Knight and reporting him or turning him in to the authorities."

Damn that woman, how could she make me feel guilty without adding any more emotion to her words then those you'd find in a casual persons voice?

"HWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" A loud yawn from Murris acted as the signal to end the pointless(i.e. non-pointy) argument. "YAH, Lets get outta here, aint nuthin to it but to do it as they say."

"Hey wait a mintue..." Silvie turned to me. "Carrrrlin, you rrrrememberrrr what werrre doing and why we'rrreee doin it... rrright?" I could only stare at her like she was some kind of moron. What the hell was she on about? OF COURSE I knew what we we're going out to do, we had to find that red haired Dark Knight? how did I know he was Red haired? Because the Dark Knight is the thief we had encountered earlier, why am I SAYING THAT! WHEN YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS FROM READING THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS? WHY AM I REPAEATING IT? THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE!

IDONTKNOW!

So uhmm... yeah back to the story...

We headed out down to the Bastok Markets to start questioning people and finding some information.

xex

"Well, that was... helpful... I think..." I said expaseratedly as the five of us sat in the cafeteria. Yes there are fiv of us... did you forget who the fifth person was? Well that's not so bad you'll remember in a minute.

"RESPECTARU FIND OUT WHAT-TARU I WANT FROM YOU-TARU UHUH! UHUH!" Curru busied himself by singing wild and slurred melodies while dancing on the counter of the bar. Clearly making a great effort top make up for the lack of attention he'd been recieving lately...(I have no idea why that is, for some reason he seems like he's here, then not coughidiotauthorcough ).

"So, we've managed to gleen that there've been several Dark Knight sightings around here recently-" Began Lauria.

"Which is utterly worthless information, as this is a hot spot for Dark Knight's for whatever reason anyway OW! DAAMN YOU INFERNAL WOMAN!"... I don't think I need to tell you what happened...do I?

"We've found out that at least one of them MATCHES THE DESCRIPTION of the theif we encountered earlier, and that he was travelling with a girl who appeared to be a white mage she had long silky black hair, green eyes, and lightly tanned skin." As Lauria spoke the descripttion suddenly clicked in my conciousness. "Siiera!" I stood bolt upright. I felt a surge of... some kind of feeling... coursing through me.

"Uhmmm... what?" asked Lauria."

S-Siiera... that description... it sounds like... my sister." I said quietly, realizing I sounded like an idiot, it couldn't be my sister, she was... wait a minute... I didn't have a damn clue WHAT condition she was in, for all I knew-

"WHOA!" that was from everyone... even Curru slid off the counter.

"Since when do you have a sisterrrr, geezz just when you think you know a guy!" Silvie complained in shock.

"Uhb Erb, Uhh, wha?" I had been preapred to launch off into a state of internalized thought, so their sudden reaction left me without the ability for proper speech function.

"Uhmmmm, well, mayb if that's the case we should keep our minds focused. From What I heard this pair as last seen heading North to some Mountains neighboring Bastok, nobody knows where they intend to go though. They Probably want to use the mine route though, those mountains have gotten vicious of late. So I think we should head there. Uhmmmm... Helllo? Is anyone lsitneing... Ohhhh..." Lauria's words were lost on the rest of us as I tried to fend off Silvie's rather aggressive interrogation, while Murris egged her on, and Curru... Curru was just Curru...

end chptr 13