//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: The Dream // Story: Of Guns, Mechs And Magic [Being rewritten in 'A Pilot's Search'] // by Solarus44 //------------------------------// //Luna// When Sol had told her to rest, she had tried, but she had been asleep the entire time she'd been in that cell, rest was not needed. So instead she had stayed awake. Because she was awake, she heard sobbing from her left. Turning around, she saw the bipedal creature lying on the ground, with audible crying coming from him. Luna couldn't see his face, since he had his helmet on. But she saw the shivers and jerks whenever he cried. ‘What could make him cry? He killed those Knights without mercy, and without it visibly affecting him,” Although Luna had killed too, she had always hated it. So she listened and watched Sol go though his fit for a couple minutes before he went to sleep. Luna smiled, ‘Looks like he’ll get some rest after all.’ But it wasn’t long until Sol started turning in his sleep. ‘A nightmare?’ Luna was sad, but excited at the same time, ‘Should I help him? He isn't one of my subjects… but he did save my life, so I ought to repay him.’ Flaring her horn, she entered his dream. Now Luna had seen some horrifying nightmares, and done and seen horrifying acts herself. But nothing could've prepared her for this. ////\\\\ Luna found herself in a street. With giant buildings reaching to the sky around her. ‘Is this his world?’ But looking around, she found it abandoned. There was a strange and creepy silence. But this was soon broken by distant sounds. ‘That sounds like one of Sol’s weapons.’ Hearing footsteps, she turned around to find a group of five bipedal creatures exit an alleyway. These must be humans. Thinking that one of them was probably Sol, she concealed herself from view by manipulating the dream. The humans were clad in bulky armour, not like Sol’s sleek black armour. None of them had the device that had rested on real Sol’s hips either. The armour exposed some skin, which Luna observed could be be dark or light. It also covered most of their face. All of them looked cautious. “Where the hell did the pod drop us?” The lead one asked. “I don't know sir, but I bet the rookie does, his specialty is tracking,” All of them turned towards a rather tall human, but who also looked rather shy. “I checked every street sign we came across, we just need to keep walking another ten minutes sir,” That voice, Luna immediately recognised it. Although she had only just met the strange soldier, Sol’s voice was very distinct. “Alright, let’s get -’ BOOM! All of them turned to the skies, with shock on their face. Looking to the sky herself, Luna saw a fireball falling to the ground. “ENEMY TITANFALL! GET TO COVER!” The lead one screamed. All of them ran into the buildings, desperate to get away from the descending object. ‘A Titanfall? Whats a Titanfall?’ Deciding she didn’t want to be squashed by the object, she flew to an observable distance and stayed there. CRASH! Once the dust cleared, Luna could see a giant metal creature standing tall. It had the same shape as the humans, but its proportions were strange. It was bulky, and had what looked to be a giant saddlebag on its back. And it had one eye. A giant, spider like eye. ‘WHAT IN TARTARUS IS THAT!’ Suddenly, a voice boomed from it. ‘My sensors pick up some grunts. Fun,” Reaching behind its back, it pulled a giant cannon. Looking around, it stopped outside a building. “Well what do we have here?” The golem shot a yellow canister from its shoulder. It landed in the building and spread green gas in every direction. Then it took aim, and shot a ball of fire from its cannon. The ball ignited the gas, insulting the entire building in flames. “AHHHH!” A bloodcurdling scream came from within the building. Luna looked at this golem, at how destructive it was, at its power, and its little mercy, and was shocked. No, shocked wasn't enough. She was terrified. Scared. But then a barrage of explosions originated from different buildings, sending explosive balls, explosive tubes and a beam of pure light straight towards the behemoth. As each found their mark, the golem was jerked and thrown around by the weaponry. ‘Come on!’ Luna was cheering on the humans, desperate to not see another slaughter. But it would not last. The golem put its arm forward, and from its palm, a shield of flame erupted. The shield incinerated and blocked all weapons sent towards it. Slamming its hand down onto the ground, it sent a line of fire towards an opening in a building. It wasn't long until screaming was heard from there. Another barrage began, but fire ignited from the golem’s back, and it dashed to the side. Punching through a building, it pulled out a human. Luna could see he was the leader. Oddly enough, the human didn’t look scared, but looked contempt. He continued to look like this until he was turned into a red cloud from the golem’s grip. ‘What type of war is this!’ Luna was sickened to the core. The golem then ripped the roof of a small building off, exposing the two humans inside. One was Sol. “Oh I'm going to enjoy this,” The golem reached in and pulled Sol out of the building. Aiming its cannon, it incinerated the other. “I'll admit, you grunts did a beating with that first helping of AT, but it ain't enough,” Launching a canister into the building, it put down its cannon, erupted the shield and ignited the gas. Sol squirmed and tried to wiggle his way out of the giant’s grip. But it was futile. He was slowly lowered into the fire. When his back was near the flames, he screamed in agony. “AHHH!” Luna turned green at this brutality, but then she saw an object fly through the air, landing on the golem’s eye. The eye was ignited with fire, and the golem dropped Sol. But a split second after the first object had landed, another had landed away from the fire. Instead of falling into the fire, Sol was sucked in by a swirling mass of blue. The blue exploded, sending Sol flying right into the arms of a human clad in armour even bulkier than Sol’s comrades. But it did have the device that real Sol had on his hips. The fire had disappeared from the golem’s eye, and it looked at Sol and the other human. It sent a fist right their way. Sol looked away, while the other human stared straight. But then out of nowhere, the fist was stopped by another giant arm. This arm belonging to another golem. This golem had a round body, with thin legs and arms protruding from it. Grabbing the enemy golem’s other fist, the friendly golem’s face opened up, revealing a seat. The armoured human put Sol down, and climbed into the the golem. Tubes on the back of the golem pointed down, and flames spewed from them, propelling the golem up into the air. ‘WHAT!’ Luna watched this in bewilderment, but also saw Sol crawl behind a building. The flying golem pulled a long staff from its back, and when it landed, punched the enemy. The enemy golem was sent stumbling back. It righted itself, and picked its cannon up from the ground. Both behemoth’s stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. The thin golem made the first move by dashing back and aimed with its staff. The armoured golem slammed its hand into the ground, sending a line of fire towards the thin one. The thin golem flew upwards again, and with its staff glowing orange, fired. A distortion in the air flew towards the armoured golem. The distortion hit the armoured golem, hurting it badly and leaving it disoriented. The thin golem sprinted forward and launched a tube towards the ground. It dashed forward to avoid the multiple explosions. When it reached the armoured golem, it dashed to the side to avoid a punch, dashed behind it, and kicked the armoured golem onto the site of explosions. The armoured golem got back up, severely damaged now, and slammed both fists into the ground, sending a gigantic wall of flame towards the thin golem. The thin golem flew into the air, avoiding it. And once in the air, spread its arms outwards. Explosive tubes shot out from it towards the armoured golem, each sent the golem jerking and eventually, the golem exploded in a brilliant show of fire. Luna was awed at the sight. ‘What world is Sol from where these behemoths of metal, smoke and fire are made!’ The winning golem lowered its staff, and opened its chest. The armoured human jumped out, and sprinted towards Sol. When the human picked up Sol and started to look over him, the world started to fade away. Luna knew this meant Sol was waking up. ////\\\\ Luna opened her eyes to see sunlight. Looking over, she saw Sol already walking over to the lake. Looking at Sol now, Luna was saddened. ‘All I saw was one fight, not even a battle. No doubt he's fought through multiple battles in that horrific war.’ When Sol reached the lake, he sat down on a log, and pulled off his helmet. When he pulled it off, Luna saw a pale face, with brown eyes that were filled with creativity and laughter. On top of his head, there was a messy brown mane. And shaved hair lined his chin. Then he started to take off the rest of his blood stained armour. Fascinated, Luna kept looking until he took of his chest-piece. Upon seeing what was underneath, she blushed and looked away. His chest was muscular and didn't have a layer of fat anywhere. ‘How childish of me! I am no longer a filly!’ Turning back, she saw him laying his armour in a neat pile. The only clothing he had on was a pair of pants. He picked up his gauntlets, and walked into the water. When she saw his back, Luna gasped: most of his back was covered in a burn scar. Almost definitely caused by the armoured golem in his dream. He was cleaning the second gauntlet when he spoke: “So you going to stay there spying on me forever?” She was surprised that he noticed, but then blushed fiercely: No one makes a fool of Luna “I was merely observing a new species!” Luna replied. Sol turned back to look at her. “You know, I have a name for people like you: A Peeping Penelope,” Smirking, he turned back towards his cleaning. It doesn't take a genius to understand what that means. “Thou are an entirely different species! I am not attracted to you!” Sol walked out of the lake and picked up his chest-piece. “Relax, t’was a joke.” There was a moment of silence while Luna calmed down. “Ok, I am sorry for my outburst.” “It's all right, I'm used to the ladies swooning over me,” Sol smirked again while Luna was fuming, “But shall we move on to questions?” “Ok, thee mentioned coming from a different planet?” Luna had calmed down, but not completely. “Humans originated on the planet of Earth. We are a race that has no magic. But only sixty years after we invented the first machine to fly, we travelled to our moon.” Sol moved onto the leg pieces. “Six-sixty years? Just how brilliant is your species?” Luna was amazed, “But why to the moon? It is a horrid and desolate place.” Sol looked to the sky with a smile. “Because it’s there,” At seeing Luna’s confused face, he elaborated, “Humanity is blessed and cursed with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. We first conquered and learnt everything we could of our planet, and then turned to the stars. The stars were long thought to be the domain of the gods, the end of the kingdom of man. And by crossing that line, by entering the domain of gods, we took the next step as a species.” “And what step are you at now?” Luna was fascinated by these humans. “Well, we have gone further than our moon, that's for sure. Humanity has colonised countless planets since our trip to the moon.” Luna was gobsmacked, “How… how is that possible?” Sol chuckled, “We can also breathe life into machines.” “What does that mean?” “I can't really explain much in great detail, it’s best you wait until we get to my friend,” Sol had finished cleaning his armour, and was pressing multiple buttons on each piece. “There’s more of you?” Luna asked. “Just one more,” Luna was amazed by everything she had been told. Normally, she would not believe such claims. But after seeing his dream… “Where are we going anyway?” Luna realised she had no idea why Sol was helping her. “To the last Changeling city,” Sol was putting his armour back on. ‘So he's working with the Changelings… I can work with that.’ Sol got up, and started walking. Luna got up and sprinted next to him. “Well you’re eager.” Sol looked to her with that terrifying helmet and replied, “Well, we’re not getting anywhere sitting back there are we?”