Chapter Fourteen

When Arric opened his eyes, he found himself standing in his dream. As he slowly turned, he took in each entity. The volcano's magma bubbled inside the large mountain, the base shrouded in thick mist and Arric had no idea how he was going to climb it even if he could reach it. The waterfall bubbled pleasantly towards him, it looked so small from this distance Arric figured if he ever got close to it, that the roaring of the falls would be deafening. The tree reached out its long, gnarled branches towards him, beckoning him to climb it. Its lush leaves seemed to shake with anticipation and the ones that floated on the air quickly turned brown before even reaching the ground. Beside the tree floated the sphere of ice. The lights inside pushed against the edges, calling to be touched, begging to be freed. As he took a step closer, the crackling of the dark sphere next to the ice caught his attention. Electricity danced over the black surface, filling the air with a static that felt suffocating. The memories of its last encounter welled up in Arric's mind and he felt himself shrink away from it, taking a few steps back. A soft song began to fill his head, filling his body with a calm, soothing warmth and Arric turned to the source. He found a thick pale pink mist, it seemed to push the fog that filled the area away from it, creating a pocket of air between itself and the rest of the white mist. The song grew louder as Arric stepped tentatively towards it. He felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness well inside him. Tears sprung to his eyes and fell down his cheeks as the song probed into his mind, willing him to it. Arric pulled himself from the pink mist, forcing himself to turn to the next entity. Its form was just a dark void, a hole that cut through the mist like a dark doorway to somewhere else. The edges shimmered with silver, swirling into small tendrils of shadow that dissolved into the air. Arric felt himself being pulled towards it, his feet began moving on their own and it took every ounce of will to tear himself away, almost falling to the ground with the force of turning away. The last entity glowed brightly before him. It looked like a small ball of light, its light pulsing in the darkness, pushing back the mist. Arric felt his confidence surge, his mind felt clear, as if everything made sense but at the same time it was failing him and everything inside him wanted to keep that clarity.

All eight entities beckoned to him, seeming to reach out to him, calling to him and Arric felt drawn to them all. He stood in the centre of them all. What did they mean? Why were they in his dream and why did each entity want him? It did not made sense. A soft touch to his shoulder made him yelp in surprise, turning to find Estella standing next to him. She looked different and Arric could not put his finger on it until he realised he could see the entities through her. Her form was transparent, like a ghost but her hand on his shoulder felt as real as if she were right there.

"Madame Estella! Where did you come from? How did you get here?"

The Espeon turned to face him, her eyes glowed a bright violet encircled with a bright white. She smiled softly, "I'm not really here at all Arric. You're asleep."

So this was her dream eating power Arric had heard of. It was unique to the Espeon and only a few were able to use it to fully put themselves into others dreams. Others could only get snippets of the dreams if they were lucky, most just a feeling of what had happened. Estella looked over the entities around them, a calm and stoic look on her face. She paused at each one, examining them, taking a few steps forward, stopping and then taking the same steps back. Her expression never changed and Arric felt himself getting nervous. What if she were not affected by them like he was? Would she even know what this all meant? Finally, Estella turned to him, a sad look in her eyes making Arric's heart sink.

"I knew you were conflicted Arric but I did not expect it to be so badly. And so close to the Evolution Ritual as well." Her soft voice echoed in the darkness around them.

"What do you mean?" Arric pleaded, "What does this all mean? Why is everything in this nightmare trying to kill me?"

"Kill you?" The Espeon shook her head, "None of this is going to harm you. It's a representation. Everything here is to show you the power we have. The more you get closer, the more your desire for it. These are meant to help you choose."

Arric crossed his arms and mumbled, "They have a funny way of showing it. How is suffocating me with this mist or encasing me in ice until I smash into a million pieces meant to convince me to choose them?"

Estella regarded him carefully, "Arric what are you talking about?"

Arric threw his arms wide in frustration, "None of these entities have given me any reason to choose them! This makes no sense! I just want to know what's going on, I want this night mare to stop!"

"Then you have to choose." Estella's voice was firm, louder than before.

"Choose what?! What does all this mean?"

Estella stared at him, her tail flickered slightly, the ball of light behind her glowed brightly and suddenly it dawned on Arric. They were all connected. Each of the entities represented them all. How could he have not realised it sooner? It was right in front of him but he was too stupid to make the connection. Arric felt sick, his stomach lurched and he felt dizzy as the pieces of the puzzle came together.

"It's rare that you would be having this dream without an influence. No one has had this type of dream for a long time. Why you?"

Estella walked up to Arric, grabbing his chin, forcing his gaze to hers, a look in her eyes that Arric could not place. She seemed to search his eyes, no, his mind. He could feel her move through his head, sifting through his thoughts.

"What makes you so special." Estella murmured, her voice so low that Arric could barely hear her.

Arric closed his hands around her arm, struggling to pull free but to no avail. The Espeon continued to probe his mind, a hot feeling spreading through his head.

"What about the creature then? What does it represent?" Arric managed to groan.

Estella's gaze flickered, "What creature?"

A deep growl answered her. Estella dropped Arric to the ground, taking a few steps back as the creature paced the edges of the mist. She glanced down at Arric felt his blood run cold. The Espeon Tribe Leader looked afraid and confused.

She doesn't know what it is.

The creature eyes the two of them warily, it's growl rumbling through its throat, growing to a roar that rang out around them. Arric covered his ears, his body shaking as he scrambled to his feet. Estella stood frozen, Arric grabbed her hand and pulled her with him as he raced away from the creature but she did not move.

"Madame Estella! We need to go!" He hissed at her.

Estella shook her head, her voice tight, "There was never a creature."

Arric stared at her, eyes wide. She did not know what this was and it scared her. That terrified Arric more than anything. The creature turned its snout to the sky and howled, a loud high pitched sound that pierced into their minds. Arric screamed and covered his ears, watching as Estella reached for him only to have her form crack and shatter, pieces of her falling to the ground like shards of broken glass.

"Estella!" Arric scrambled at the shards, watching as they melted one by one into the stone beneath him. Behind him he could feel the creature watch him and as he turned to face it, he saw the blur of the creature leap towards him, jaws wide open.

Arric lurched to the side of the bed and vomited. His whole body shivered and felt hot. He fell back onto the bed and blinked, the ceiling above him swirled and twisted and refused to stop. If he moved his head, his stomach lurched again and he found himself vomiting a few more times until he succumbed back to the darkness.

The next time he woke, his throat felt dry and his head pounded. The world still spun but his stomach no longer flipped with each movement. He smacked his lips together to try and clear the dryness but it was no use. He needed water. Groaning with effort he tried to sit up, only to feel a hand at his chest, pushing him back. He had no strength to fight and fell back with a thump. He blinked, trying to focus his eyes on the figure before him. The scent of flowers filled his nose and he gagged, feeling a familiar grogginess wash over him. He struggled but his body refused to move and slowly he felt himself slip back into darkness.

"Arric." A soft voice whispered to him. "Wake up."

Arric slowly opened his eyes. Everything felt out of focus. A shadow fell over Arric and he turned his head, squinting his eyes to make out the figure in front of him. Slowly the world came into focus, the shadow morphed into a female Leafeon, her dreadlocked hair falling around her face as she leant over him. A sombre and sad look in her eyes as she dabbed Arric's forehead with a damp cloth.

"Oh Arric my dear, I'm so sorry."

She sat back as Arric pulled himself to sit up, taking in his surroundings. He was back in the infirmary. The splint had been removed from his leg and beside a small bit of stiff soreness it was almost healed. He clutched his head as blood pounded in his head. The room seemed empty, even the two Espeon infirmary staff were gone. How did he end up back here? Where was Estella? Arric turned to the Leafeon and found tribe leader Nia sitting there, fiddling with the damp cloth in her lap. Beside her was a table with a bowl full of water and small bottles with coloured liquid. Arric did not recognise any of them and was not sure if he even wanted to.

"What happened?"

Nia squirmed in her seat, avoiding Arric's gaze, she busied herself in dipping the cloth into the bowl on the table and rinsing it out. She reached out to dab Arric's forehead again and Arric welcomed it. The cool water helped with the pounding in his head, the grogginess almost fully gone. She rinsed the cloth again and reached to dab his forehead again but Arric grabbed her hand, glaring at her. Nia looked away, refusing to meet his eyes.

"It was for your own good, I promise." She whispered.

"Sure, if you call putting him in one of your poisonous comas good for anyone." A deep growl called out.

Arric turned towards the voice to find Vesper leaning against the far wall, a dark look across his face as he glared at Nia. He pushed off the wall and strode towards the bed, taking a chair next to Arric's bed. The Flareon washed his eyes over Arric, a cold expression clouded his face as he took in the frail demeanour of the Eevee before him.

"You gave him a pretty potent dose." The low growl had not left his voice.

Nia's eyes flashed in anger, "I did no such thing! Enough to keep him asleep for the next few days. I can't help if there are side effects!"

"Side effects!" Vesper roared. "You nearly killed him!"

Arric flinched, his body shivered involuntarily. Nia glared at Vesper and returned to tending to Arric's fever. "I only did as Estella told me too. She knew he could handle it."

Vesper fumed beside them but his mood softened as he watched Arric. He cleared his throat and looked away, "Lea will be happy to hear you're finally awake."

Arric smiled softly at Vesper. Even though the Flareon leader had been hard on him all those years, to see him sitting there now meant the world to him. But his questions were still left unanswered.

"What happened?" He repeated.

Nia sighed, tossing the cloth into the bowl, fiddling with one of her dreadlocks as she tried to avoid both Arric's and Vesper's questioning looks.

"I don't know what happened with you and Estella but just before I left to go to my village she called me to stay here and asked me to keep you asleep. She wouldn't explain why but she told me to give you enough to sleep for a few days. Of course I knew it would make you sick so I had you moved to the infirmary so I could keep an eye on you." She cast her head down, "She said it was to keep you safe."

Arric tried to recall his dreams and shuddered at the sight of Estella shattering and what the entities all meant. His dream was wrong. If he was meant to choose then why were they harming him? The creature was not part of it and why did it make Estella so afraid? Why was he having these dreams and not his friends? Then the Espeon leader called him to be poisoned. His hands balled into a fist, anger bubbled inside him. What gave her the right to order that? What was she so afraid of?

"So what now?" Arric asked icily, "Am I a supposed to sleep here until you figure out what to do with me?"

Nia opened her mouth to speak but said nothing, looking away. Arric nodded, tears of frustration and betrayal threatened to fall. Where were his friends? Did they know about all this and did nothing to stop this? They left him here. Arric flopped back on the bed defeated. He just wanted Nia to put him back to sleep. He did not want to wake up anymore. It hurt too much being awake. He could trust no one and still nothing made sense.

"Arric, I do believe that Estella did this to help you." Nia said softly.

Vesper grunted, "Then why has she already taken the other five already and left him here?"

Nia stood, hands on her hips. She waggled a finger at Vesper, "Vesper why are you here?"

Vesper stood and crossed his arms across his chest, a large smirk spread across his face, "I'm here to escort him to the Evolution Ritual."

Arric sprung up, eyes wide. Arric beamed down at him.

"It's time."