//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Dream // Story: Ancient Wings, New Soul // by Kowlickkid //------------------------------// Dream Quickly, I conjured up some clouds, put them at a decent altitude so as to not have any unwanted encounters and fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the clouds. 'These things are really comfortable.' _____________________ I found myself standing on top of a cloud, looking down at an ugly sight. An army of black shady figures, brutally attacking anything that wasn't one of their own. A host of mixed-up figures were in their midst, fighting for their lives with grim efficiency. A griffin, a few dogs, some larger than others, a wingless black dragon, even some things extremely human. I also noticed I was holding Thunderhilt like a staff, and was surrounded by a few creatures. But when I tried to look at them, they vanished. I could barely see them out of the corner of my eye, but when I tried to see better, invisible. "We should do something.", said a slightly high-pitched, feminine voice. Probably from a young teenage girl. "We can't just leave them there like that!", concurred a young male. Several began to step forward, but Thunderhilt, with a mind of it's own, sent out an electric field surrounding all of us. Then, to my astonishment, my weapon spoke loud and clear, and not in my head. "Stop." The voice sounded heavily electronic, almost robotic. A bit garbled, but clearly understandable. "This is a test army," continued Thunderhilt. "The attack is to judge the strength of the resistance. After will come the true army, if it is big enough to do it. If we go in now, we risk an even more powerful army in the next wave. Now, we wait. The others won't be defeated. They're strong enough. We must prepare for the next attacks. We must warn others." "Aye," agreed an older male voice. A grizzled old person must have spoke it. "The inanimate object is correct. You youngsters always want to rush into battle, without thinking of the consequences. I've seen this happen a couple times before, with a different army. They definitely have a few scouts out there, takin' info on all the members of the resistance and reporting statistics. If we go out there, they'll prepare for us as well." I decided to put in my two cents. "Maybe they would even make evil clones of us." Silence. The female started to speak. "That doesn't seem very plausible. Or anything that you would s-" "It's possible.", interrupted the grizzly voice. "I've seen a lot of things happen. Nothing surprises me anymore." "Then it's settled.", said Thunderhilt. "We'll fly back and warn the others. If they're prepared, there are going to be less casualties." The whole party flew off in a different direction, me leading. Suddenly, my vision swam. The sky around me disappeared and was replaced by white. My talons landed on the ground. I knew what was going to happen now. "Alright, Chaos, start talking." A door rose up out of the white. I heard the knob click and the bottom of the door swung up like a trapdoor to give way to the old entity. "I suppose you're wondering about that back there?" "Gee, what madeja think so?" He sighed and snapped his fingers. Two chairs materialized. We both sat down. "I can't say too much. I'm treading on a bit of thin ice as it is. But what I can tell you is that that is a rough image of the future. It might happen, it might not, it might be a bit different, but there's a very high chance of that happening. And the only other thing I have to say: Beware the Endgame. Now, ta-ta! I can't risk giving away much else, unless I want to risk getting in deep trouble. You have no idea how long it could take to sort something like that out. The paperwork is tremendous, and the lectures are too long for me." He banged a staff which had come into his hand on the ground and my vision swam again, before I woke up. Okay, a bit of a short chapter here. Practically everyone is doing the vision thing and I figured, hey, why not. Thanks for reading, and keep your stick on the ice. P.S. Beware the Endgame.... *evil chuckle*