A/N: I OWN NOTHING OF DREAMFALL/DREAMFALL CHAPTERS OR STAR WARS REBELS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THEIR CREATORS!
Chapter 5: Abnaxus' Abode
Ezra stepped into the city from the docks. As he began to walk, he thought, 'Now I need to find the City Green and get to Abnaxus' Abode. I have to admit, I wish Crow was here. It's a bit lonely without him around.'
Just as he got to the first stairwell heading to the City Green, he saw Crow on the wall's post. The bird exclaimed, "You're back! And your head's still on! Did you swim?"
"No, they dropped me off in a boat," Ezra explained.
"Impressive. So, what's the next step on our grand adventure? Tea and biscuits? A hardy nap, perhaps?" Crow asked.
"I need to find the City Green and the home of Abnaxus," Ezra answered.
"I visit the City Green every day to clean my feathers in the fountain. Follow me!" Crow called. They walked a bit farther before Crow stated, "I really wish you had wings."
"Same," Ezra responded. "Hey, are you… alright?"
"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" Crow replied.
"I mean… April and…" Ezra stopped.
"Of course I'm not okay, okay? But I'm okay. I'll be okay. It's okay. We're okay. Don't worry about it, okay?" Crow responded.
"Okay," Ezra agreed.
"She's not the first friend I lost, and she won't be the last. You learn to roll with the punches," Crow told him. "It's either that, or punch back. Real hard." They walked, or flew on Crow's side of things, and they stopped on the near the green area when Crow asked, "How's your memory coming along? Do you remember anything about this place now?"
"This place? Everything's back," Ezra answered. "It was winter."
"True. Winter changes everything, with the snow and the ice and all," Crow agreed.
"The city also looked… different. Smaller," Ezra added.
"Yeah, it probably has grown a bit," Crow agreed.
They walked to the stairs heading down to the Abode. That's when they noticed three men at the door. One, Ezra recognized as the discriminator he saw from when he arrived. The other two were hooded and cloaked.
"What's going on here? Are they…?" Ezra trailed off. He sighed knowing the truth. "Great," he stated sarcastically. He walked down and Crow landed on a barrel at the corner of the staircase.
"So this is it, huh? Abode of… big, ugly thing who speaks funny?" the bird asked.
"Seems so," Ezra replied.
"And there's someone else here?" Crow questioned.
"Yep," Ezra answered a bit down.
"Huh," was all Crow responded with.
Ezra walked closer and heard the man who wasn't cloaked and was obviously the leader say, "Once this unholy tree is knocked down, the electorate will take me seriously. They'll see I have the power to get things done. Maybe then I can stop licking the arses of the Azadi. 'Goddess' this and 'Goddess' that. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth, sucking up to their feminine deity. Give me a world with gods and goddesses. A world ruled by humans and true Northlanders. No magicals, no supernatural womenfolk, no superstitious invaders. A world by and for man, and woman at her rightful place. At home." The man then yelled at the one chopping at the tree, "Go on! Put your back into it, man! It's merely a tree!"
"Hey," Ezra greeted trying to be friendly.
The man turned. "Ah! A member of the voting public!" he greeted back. Onor Hileriss, esquire, at your service young man! But, I'm sure I don't need to introduce myself to you, hmm? You've seen my face in print and public appearances. You know me as an honorable and truthful fellow who stands with the common man! And woman. We shan't forget the common woman. Yes, yes. I am, of course, running for commissioner of City Watch, a position sorely and desperately in need of new blood. The Watch needs strength! It needs direction! It needs humanity! In other words, it needs me."
"Why are you trying to knock down the tree?" Ezra asked. "I… heard it was a historical landmark."
"Oh, it's not just a tree. It's an affront to common decency and humanity! This so-called domicile was the dark and dangerous den of one of the most militant of all magicals. An abominable beast that threatened our young and our women by mere existence!" Onor retorted. "Eradicating this occult stone tree from our historic green is not just my election promise to voters, but my god given responsibility as a human being!"
"Well, best of luck with everything you're going to do," Ezra responded.
"Luck is the lazy man's excuse for failure. Luck is an occult idea. I create my own destiny, young man, and so should you!" Onor retorted. "And remember, a vote for Onor is a vote for humanity!"
Ezra walked back to Crow who was still on the barrel while Onor and his friends continued to try to chop down the tree that was protected by magic. "Crow, do you think you could fly onto Ono for a moment?"
"Why?" the bird asked.
"Just trust me," Ezra replied.
"Why?" the bird responded.
"Crow," Ezra called sternly.
"Alright! Pardon me for wanting to play a role in my own destiny. I'll do it!" he gave in. He landed on Onor's head before taking off exclaiming, "Geronimo!"
"A talking bird?! Filthy magic!" Onor exclaimed trying to catch him. He began to look around for Crow. "Damnation! Where did it go?" Ezra walked to the man. "That godsdamned talking bird… Magical aberration! If I get my hands on that filthy feathered thing, I'll twist its scrawny, little- Ah, language, language. What can I do for you, young man?"
"About that talking bird that's been bothering you…" Ezra began.
"Yes? What about it?" Onor asked.
"I saw it," Ezra answered bluntly.
"Where? Where?!" the man pressed. Ezra pointed towards a wagon with three stacked crates on it. "That filthy chattering fowl must be over there somewhere." He ordered the cloaked man not chopping at the tree, "Go check!"
Ezra hurried to Crow who was back at the barrel he was on before. "Can you head over there?" he asked.
"Again?! Seriously?! Ugh! Fine," Crow agreed before flying over. When Crow landed, Onor threw a stone and it hit the top barrel. The black, talking bird moved out of the way just as the barrel fell of Onor's accomplice and knocked him out.
"Soft-headed fool!" Onor exclaimed as he and his other friend with the axe walked to the passed out man. He sighed. "We'll need to carry him home to have someone look at his head. The tree will have to wait until tomorrow." He ordered his friend. "You do the carrying. I'd do it myself but someone needs to leave the way and keep an eye out for… potholes." The three men were then gone.
Ezra walked to the wagon where Crow met him and exclaimed, "That was brilliant! First I did my thing, and then goofball tried to hit me with a rock, and then stuff happened and dung-for-brains got knocked out, and then they all left! And… scene. It was almost like one of those puppet shows that wizard puts on in the square. It was hilarious!"
"I'm happy you enjoyed it," Ezra told him. "I would've used the Force. But I thought I should give you something to do."
"Yeah, that was the most fun I've had since… since…" he stopped. He then continued though, soon enough, "I don't know. I guess since I hung out with April, all those many years ago."
"I'm sure it'll be fine, Crow," Ezra told him. The bird nodded and the boy then turned. He walked to the door before using the key to enter it. It was quite a bit bigger on the inside than it seemed from when you look at it on the outside. "Okay, this is weird. I feel… dizzy." He began to think, 'There must be magic here, because this makes no sense. Things can't be bigger on the inside than on the outside. Then again, why am I surprised? I've seen things that people would see as weird. It's practically normal for me. Now… clues.' He found a round, circle book with a design on it. Ezra opened it and began to read it.
"Oh, that's interesting…" came a voice from behind him.
"Who's-?" Ezra began closing the book and flipping around. He saw a man standing there. "Karabast!"
"I must apologize, young man. I didn't mean to frighten you," the man responded. Ezra couldn't help but note something familiar about the man. The man before him suddenly seemed to realize something. "Ezra Bridger! You're the last person I expected to find here."
That's when the Padawan remembered who this man was. He was there on Ezra's last visit to Marcuria and Arcadia. "Brian, right?" Ezra responded.
"Right. Brian. Brian Westhouse," the man replied. "We spent a few days in cramped quarters on a small airship, I'd be surprised if you didn't remember me."
"It's been a confusing past year," Ezra told him. "For a while, I had completely forgotten about Arcadia. But, now I do."
"I know that feeling all too well, Mr. Bridger," Brian agreed. "So you're back in Marcuria! And this place of all places… How in the name of the Balance did you get inside? People have been trying for years, but this house has strong wards. Venar magic, the oldest there is. And now I understand why, it's a treasure trove." He noticed the book behind Ezra. "Wait, is that the Annals of Dreaming? Good God, that's a lost treasure! Only five were ever made."
"It's helpful when you have a key," Ezra replied. "I didn't know it was supposed to be as difficult to get in."
"So there was a key all this time. The door wasn't locked by a spell… I knew it! Where did you…?" he trailed off.
"A… friend. Just luck," Ezra answered the unfinished question.
"So, what're you looking for here? The ambassador disappeared more than ten years ago, as I'm sure you know," Brian asked.
"I was… curious," Ezra lied. "I mean, something like this is bound to have something interesting inside it."
"You know what they saw about curiosity, Mr. Bridger," Brian responded.
"It killed the cat?" Ezra guessed.
"What? No! Curiosity is the doorway to knowledge and wisdom!" Brian replied. "Looks like I picked the perfect day for a stroll in the green. I was wondering why that odorous Hileriss fellow wasn't still trying to chop this tree down. Now I know. Let's if we can find anything interesting, shall we?" Ezra moved out of the way as Brian began to look at the book that Ezra had been just moments ago.
The young Jedi apprentice began to look around when he found a note on one of the shelves. He turned to the other side of the tree and noticed a couple other notes on the ground in separate area. The last one had far more writing on it. Ezra turned to Brian finding nothing else and asked the man, "Hey, any clue on this thing?" He handed the man the first note.
"Hmm, I'm not sure there's much to learn from that one," Brian replied reading it.
"I have a couple more. What about this one?" Ezra followed bringing out the other note.
"Same thing, really," Brian answered.
"This one?" Ezra suggest handing it over.
"The First Dreamer. References in the Annal of Dreaming-" he stopped reading and exclaimed, "That's this book right here!" He then continued to read it, "And the chapter 'About the First Dream'." He looked at Ezra. "It's certainly is a starting point. Let's see what it says."
They turned to the book in front of them on the desk. "Can you read that?" Ezra asked.
"I've lived in Arcadia for decades, and there isn't much to do aside from studying ancient texts, so… yes, I can read this book," Brian explained. "Let's see… the chapter in question speaks about the Oular. They are said to be the 'Wardens of the Dreaming One', whatever that means. It's a rough translation. The English language isn't quite up to the task. The Oular and the… the Yehte? One people that split into two. That sounds familiar. It says the Yehte left the Purple Mountains to go south, to burrow into the ground. Something about a Well of Dreams. I mean, I don't know how much of this is true and how much of this is fantasy or prophecy. It's a difficult book to decipher. There's… There is also something about two Dreamers becoming one. It's vague. This is almost certainly a prophecy of some sort. The Oular live on Cloud Peak, in the mountains of Yehdra. Where's that on the map? Ah, there it is," Brian pointed to it. "Straight north, across the plains, right in the middle of the Border Mountains. This is an old book, so I don't know if they still live there. I've never heard of the Oular. They might all be dead."
Ezra took the map to borrow it until he could give it back on Cloud Peak. 'This is what I was looking for! It shows the way to the Purple Mountains!' He looked at the ground and noticed a note. 'Must've fallen out of the book when Brian turned the pages.' He picked it up and looked at the drawing of a pink stone. He read it a bit before he showed it to Brian. "This note fell out of the pages of the Annals. What's a 'soul-stone'?"
"I'm not sure," Brian answered. He then read, "The soul-stone was taken from Lux by the Warlock Klax. It must be retriev'd or the past, present, and future will cease to be."
"That doesn't sound good," Ezra commented.
"It doesn't, indeed. I don't about any soul-stone, but I'm guessing this 'Klax' fellow does," Brian responded. "I wonder if Abnaxus meant Roper Klacks." He looked at Ezra. "April told me his story. He was a two-bit wizard who resided in a floating castle up north, near the Border Mountains. April said she taught him a lesson. She didn't get into any details, but he lost his castle. Last I heard, he's doing children's theatre here in town. Reformed, apparently. If that's a thing a wizard is capable of. It sounds like this soul-stone is important."
"Alright, thanks," Ezra responded.
He began to walked out of the Abode when Brian called, "You're going. But, would you mind terribly if I stayed here to read these books?"
"Well, this is- It's private property, isn't it?" Ezra asked.
"Abnaxus isn't coming back and I've been itching for a chance to peruse his library for years now," Brian replied. "I promise, I won't remove anything or make a mess."
"Sorry, but I don't think I should let you stay in here," Ezra responded.
"I'm not sure I need your permission," Brian retorted.
"Uh…" Ezra trailed off.
Brian chuckled. "Only joking. I understand. I'll take my leave now, Mr. Bridger. I certainly hope we see each other again soon," he stated. He then walked out. Ezra soon followed.