Chapter 4: Be
When we approached the light we spotted in the distance, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a beacon sent by the others. I held onto the hope that the others were out there somewhere, trying to reach us. Instead, Tempora and I alighted next to a strange looking artefact, surrounded by a faint white glow. It was a tall weathered limestone, with strange tribal carvings etched into its surface. We circled around it a few times in puzzlement.
“What do you think it is?” I asked her, pondering the significance of this new development. Tempora cocked her head and studied the stone intensely.
“I’m sorry, Harmony, I don’t have a clue. Dream walking isn’t a precise art, there are many strange and out of the ordinary things in this metaphysical plane. I can’t really tell you what they mean.”
I nodded, circling the stone once again. I reached out to touch the stone, only to feel a sharp tug on my clothes. A part of my clothes were wrapped in a glowing red aura as Tempora stared me down.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to touch the strange rock. It could be dangerous.”
I threw up my hands. “I don’t know, but I don’t know what else we could do.” I flopped down on the ‘grass’. I don’t know what this dream world grass was but heck it was grass now, no one was going to dispute that. Tempora was silent for a while, finally she spoke up.
“Keep an eye out for the blue fog, Harmony. I’ll do some tests on this in the meantime.”
I nodded and walked a few steps off to the side, giving her room to circle around the glowing stone unimpeded. After a few moments of listening to Tempora grumble and grunt at the stone as spell after spell lit from her horn, I turned my gaze to horizon. To my horror, I saw a tinge of deep navy blue stain the edges of the ground far away.
“Tempora,” I called out.
“Mmm?”
“We need to hurry. What have you found out?”
“It’s a sort of egress of some kind, I’m not sure how to activate it.”
“Nevermind! Try everything, the fog is here!” I yelled in desperation, pointing at the encroaching mass. Tempora turned briefly to look at the fog. Her eyes widened and she turned back to the stone, her horn lighting brighter than ever.
“Harmony, help me,” she cried out at me, gesturing with a free hoof. “Try any spell you can think of.”
I snapped my fingers, summoning a small bolt of thaumic energy and launched the missile at the stone. The stone shook and a dull roaring bell-like sound resounded, but otherwise the rock stood unscathed and unchanged. I tried again, with different spells, I didn’t have many in my arsenal, I was only a mage-in-training but I threw everything I could think at it. Conjuration, manipulation, dissipation, adaptation, metamorphosis, binding, rooting, and even levitation. Nothing worked.
Tempora tried some advanced spells, spells that to me were like a cathedral compared to my sand castles. She closed her eyes and concentrated, the spell matrix grew up from the ground like vines, I caught some sigils and runes that indicated Time and Energy, but otherwise the patterns were too complicated for me to comprehend. The stone shook and bellowed out a loud response, but it still remained the same.
Tempora stopped suddenly and threw a hoof out to disrupt my next spell.
“Stop,” she said, eyeing the stone. “I have an idea.” She circled the stone again, thinking out loud. “We’re in the dream-plane. Everything must have a significance.”
Nervously, my eyes were drawn behind her to the blue fog coming towards us at an accelerated pace. “Tempora,” I said urgently, and the mare only grunted in reply as she touched a hoof to the stone.
A pealing boom from the stone echoed around the field but it didn’t sounded lighter than when we were throwing spells at it. It hummed low and stayed in the air longer than any sound I thought possible could. The pitch of the noise gradually rose and the stone grew brighter.
“What's happening?!” I yelled in distress. I was becoming increasingly skeptical that we would make it out of here. The blue fog rolled closer, it was now close enough for me to see the roils of smoke and wisps of vapour that made up the mysterious fog.
“Tempora!”
Tempora was looking at me blankly, wide-eyed and unseeing. I took a step back, but she lunged forward, grabbing me by the hoof and slamming my hand against the stone.
In an instant, everything went a blinding white. The shrill whining cry of the stone faded and I faded out.
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I felt a sharp pain in my side. My arm whipped out in the general direction of the annoyance. After a while it came again.
“Go away,” I moaned and I heard sharp skittering as whatever-it-was darted away.
I returned to my slumber.
Again, I felt the sharp pain. This time it was on my left shoulder. I groaned and opened my eyes. At first, all I saw was the green of the forest around me. Green trees filled with leaves, brown bark and blue sky behind it. It looked like I was back to an environment I was mainly familiar with. When I swept my gaze around I saw what looked like a large humanoid tiger. It was white with black stripes and it regarded me with a mix of caution and hostility. It held out a spear shakily in its grip, but other than the spear and the simple tan tunic it wore, it seemed bare of any other accessories.
The spear must have been what was causing me my earlier discomfort. Seeing me looking at it, it growled. Eyeing the spear cautiously, I made to get up, but it poked me sharply with the weapon. I stayed still. It gestured with the spear to my right side. I couldn’t comprehend what it wanted me to do, so I stayed still. With a growl it gestured to my side again. I slowly crawled over to the spot it pointed at and stayed there.
“Good,” the tiger smiled, speaking in a lilting voice. It sounded feminine with a raspy undertone that I thought suited it.
“I’m glad it’s good,” I responded wryly.
The ‘tigress’ looked at me like I suddenly grew another head. At first she backed away in surprise, then she cautiously approached. She studied me for a while, then shook her head.
“Ha ha, I must be tired, for a moment I thought I heard you speak,” she chuckled to herself. I almost laughed at that, but it was strange, why wouldn’t I be able to speak? When we made eye contact I rolled my eyes. I had to admit, it was funny seeing that gawking expression on her face.
“But you can’t talk!” she spluttered, pointing a paw at me.
“Clearly I can,” I replied, still watching the spear. If the tigress got too agitated, I might end up impaled. “Let’s all just relax, shall we?” I offered and gradually and grudgingly, the tigress loosened her stance. As she did so I also relaxed.
“So,” I said casually, still eyeing the spear in case the tigress wanted to change her mind and stab me with it. “Where are we?” The tigress tensed, but eventually unwound, pulling the spear up so the butt of the spear touched the ground.
“You are in Campus, of course,” she replied slowly, but still watched me warily, as if I was going to attack her at any moment.
I scrunched up my face. Campus? I’ve never heard of a place like that, on Earth or in any of the territories within or without Equestria. My blank look must have been enough to tip off the tigress and she wiped a paw across her muzzle.
“Really?” she asked rhetorically, in a way that suggested that I had asked what colour the sky was. “Ugh, Campus is one of the five districts within the realms, don’t you know that?”
I shook my head. “I’m new…” I said. “Don’t know my way around here.” I was struck by a thought. “Have you seen a red-maned alicorn around?”
The tigress leaned against her spear giving a shrug. “What’s an alicorn?”
“It’s a pony,” I started. “With wings and a horn…” I trailed off when the tigress simply mirrored a good likeness of my earlier blank look. “Nevermind,” I muttered with a sigh.
The tigress socked her head at me and sprung off her spear. She bowed to me.
“Nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m Kayla.”
“Hello, Kayla. I’m Harmony,” I replied. She smiled in response and picked up her spear.
“Where are you headed?” she asked me, but before I could even answer she darted into the bushes. Suddenly, she was back, but this time she had a backpack slung over her shoulder.
“Uh,” I began, but paused. I didn’t know where I wanted to go. I didn’t even know where the heck I was. Was I still in my dad’s mind? Did I really end up somewhere completely different? I frowned, trying to think of a plan. First, I needed to contact the others. Most likely case, we were all split up, for some reason. Tempora should be around somewhere close, at least I thought that was a reasonable assumption, I mean who knew how the dream world worked? It seems like some things conformed to physical principles, like my magic, breathing – my stomach growled – apparently eating too.
Kayla interrupted my train of thought.
“Come with me,” she offered, gesturing with her spear to a direction to her left. “Over in this direction is my village, you may be able to get your bearings there, if you are unsure where you are.” She nudged me in the side. “It is not as if you can get more lost if you didn’t know what Campus was,” she teased as my cheeks mantled. Well it wasn’t my fault, but she was right, I was lost pretty bad. Perhaps it was lucky that Kayla had found me. I nodded in acquiescence, though she seemed somewhat relieved that I had decided to come with her. Strange…
It wasn’t a long trip, but we trudged through the forest. I was unused to walking down unbeaten tracks. Several times, Kayla would brush through branches and brushes and I’d get caught or tangled or whipped in the face by a stray leafy branch. To say I was glad that we reached a clearing was probably the understatement of the century.
Approaching the clearing, I took a small babbling brook and a couple of smooth flat stones. It took me a while to recognise that it looked a little like Discord’s former home, before he moved in with me.
Kayla gestured at me impatiently.
“Sorry,” I said. “Just remembered something.”
“Huh,” Kayla replied, eyeing me for a moment. Her eyes slid away from mine for a moment before whipping back to me. “I have something to tell you,” she began, I waved a hand for her to continue.
“If you don’t know much of Campus then you probably don’t know of village Rahira.”
At my obvious confusion she continued her explanation.
“Rahira is the law of our village, criminals are judged according to Rahira, villagers all respect, and even defer to, the Rahira in matters of the heart and spirit.”
Kayla paused and looked a little uncomfortable. I was starting to get an idea of the situation.
“So something about the Rahira is preventing me from coming to the village?” I asked her.
Kayla nodded and pressed her paws together in a way that reminded me of hands clasped in prayer.
“You will have to wear this,” she said, unslinging her backpack and rummaging around. She pulled out a metal band. I shrugged, not comprehending.
“What is it?”
“You’ve never seen a collar before?”
I looked at the band in a new light, but I didn’t know how she would get the thing over my head.
“Well yes, but it doesn’t seem so bad,” I reasoned looking at the metal band. She handed it to me reluctantly as I twisted it around examining it from every angle. It was smooth, I couldn’t see a mechanism that could be used to separate the two halves or unhinge it. It was just a smooth piece of metal.
“How are you going to get it on me?” I asked, handing the metal band back to her. Kayla took it gingerly in her paws and gestured to my neck with a look of askance. I gestured my assent and she placed the ring against my neck. She muttered a few words. The metal band glowed briefly and turned into something resembling quicksilver. Soon, I couldn’t see it as it flowed from her paw to wrap itself around my neck. I felt a warm feeling, but nothing worse than a tingle.
“Hmm,” I said, feeling the band. “It seems fine, but what is it for?”
Kayla laughed nervously. “Under Rahira, it is forbidden for any animal to walk into the village without a collar.”
I got the feeling that Kayla wasn’t telling me everything.
“Is that why you were so surprised to see me talk?” I put forward. Kayla nodded. That did make sense. Was I some sort of dangerous animal in this plane?
“Well it’s a good thing I’m not an animal then,” I said, tapping the collar. “So you can take this off.”
Kayla shook her head. “I don’t think that’s wise,” she said quickly. “You should keep that on until we can gather some supplies and find out where you are from. Then, you can leave.”
It made sense, but I didn’t like walking around with a collar on. With a sigh, I finally agreed. “Okay,” I mumbled, tugging at the collar. “But this better be worth it.”
Kayla nodded. “We’ll be fine,” she assured me, leading the way through the forest again. Reluctantly, I followed her, feeling the weight of the collar pressing down on the nape of my neck.
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Outside the village, Kayla cautioned me on speaking.
“Some of us may not react as… calmly as I have when I found out you could talk. I think you should keep quiet until we leave the village.” I nodded in response, I was already committed.
“Okay,” I said simply.
Kayla lead me to the village gates. Around the village were huge wooden spikes set into the ground. They looked as if the builders had simply stripped the branches and leaves off the trunk of a tree and simply sharped out an end and planted the other in the ground. It was a crude, yet effective wall. The only thing that I could see that bound each pole together was a worn just thick rope that tied each of the huge logs together to make the combined log-wall.
The gate was made of similar material, but the logs were thinner and a tower stood on either side. It was hard to see, but there were two tiger archers stationed at each tower. They had their bows drawn with an arrow nocked and at the ready. For some reason, I felt the bows were aimed more at me than they were at us. I watched the bows warily. I didn’t know if I could die in the dream-plane, I didn’t want to take any chances. Tempora had mentioned something about mental or psychological damage, if I died would that manifest itself as a mental illness.
My eyes widened, would that mean I would slowly lose my mind if I died here? I shuddered and shook my head. I heard one of the sentries gasp and yell something to the other one. Kayla shot me a glance and I returned an apologetic look. She reminded me by placing an appendage on her thin lips. I nodded.
As Kayla approached the gate, the sentries called out towards us and I could hear them more clearly.
“Halt,” the one on the left called out, in a lighter voice than Kayla’s. The sentry shielded her eyes and peered at Kayla more closely.
“Kayla?” the sentry cried in astonishment. “Back so soon?” The sentry threw a rope ladder down the side of the tower and scrabbled down it at a lightning fast pace. I almost whistled in admiration, that was some fast climbing. Well actually, it was more leaping rather than climbing.
As the sentry approached I noticed that unlike Kayla, who dressed in a loose tan tunic, the sentry had on what looked like leather armour. It would probably be more disturbing if I grew up as a pony, but I came from Earth so it didn’t bother me too much. Of course, I hadn’t experienced nor heard about the griffon wars. I almost shuddered, there were some disturbing details.
“Naila!” Kayla shouted warmly, wrapping the figure in a hug. Naila was shorter and more stocky than Kayla, she had an aura of domineering strength that made it hard to make eye contact. She was also golden brown with black stripes, unlike Kayla. In fact, the more I looked at Naila, the more I was struck by the differences in bearings between them. I watched in a mixture of bemusement and a tinge of loneliness as they greeted each other warmly. I sighed inwardly, I really needed to find the others. Naila seemed to collect herself, spotting me. At first she narrowed her eyes, focusing on me more intently, then her eyes widened and she whispered something I couldn’t hear. Instantly Naila let loose a menacing growl and tensed. She tugged Kayla back behind her and nocked an arrow.
“Kayla, you brought a Nanu’wan here?!” she yelled, pulling the bow to full draw. I took half a step back and shot Kayla a desperate look.
Kayla waved her hand urgently in front of Naila. “Stop!” she shouted, stepping between me and the bow. I heaved a private sigh of relief. “See?” she attested, yanking on my collar so I was brought forward a couple of steps. I felt a twinge of annoyance, but I played along. “It's collared.”
I would have bristled at being called an ‘it’ but I held my peace, mainly because I didn’t want to be made a pincushion of these arrows.
Kayla held her hands out in a peace-keeping gesture. “Naila,” she said gently and drew her to the side. I couldn’t hear what the two of them were whispering, but Naila made some sounds of anger, then sounds of curiosity, which then ended with what sounded like admiration. Well, at least that’s what I thought she was saying. My gaze drifted to the other sentry that was stationed at the tower. The sentry looked a lot more relaxed, but I could see that the bow was still at half draw and still aimed somewhat in my direction.
What was Naila talking about? What were Nanu’wans? It was pretty obvious she was referring to me. A pit formed in my stomach as I mulled this situation over. I was getting a bad feeling about this situation with every passing second. What was I thinking, following a complete stranger through a forest I just woke up in? Stupid!
Kayla apparently finished conversing with Naila and they broke apart in smiles. I was glad because that probably meant that I just narrowly escaped death. As Naila surged to the front to lead us both, I leaned in to Kayla and whispered a quick thanks. When I spotted a quick flash of guilt before breaking into a smile, I felt the pit in my stomach grow bigger.
Kayla, what are you up to?
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Upon entering the village, I was surrounded by adoring fans. Okay, it was more like Kayla was surrounded by adoring fans. All around her, small cute little ‘cubs’ fawned around, chattering excitedly in their speedy one hundred miles per hour speech, asking Kayla about her trip into the forest, what she did there, why she would bring a ’Nanu’wan’ into the village and various other things that I eventually tuned out as I examined the rest of the village curiously.
It looked like I stepped back into the past, further than even Equestria, at least at a technological standpoint. Around me were huts of all different shapes and sizes, they were made from simple timber and had thatching mainly for their roofs. I saw elder tigers laying around contentedly outside their houses, it looked like they were napping. As we passed by, some of them opened a lazy eye and took interest, but the majority went straight back to snoozing.
Along the sides were some scattered fires and what looked like things hanging from a spit-roast. Unused to the smell, being on a mainly vegetarian diet since arriving in Equestria, I found it both intensely heavy and oily, but also a little tantalising in its allure. With difficulty I pulled myself away from the flames and the scent of meat and focused on other things.
Most tigers around here wore some sort of flowing robe made of colours ranging from deep brown to light tan. Some of the elder ones had white flowing robes and I wondered at the significance. Around Kayla, the cubs wore greys and deep browns and I was suddenly struck that Kayla was the exception rather than the rule when it came to her coat colour. All the tigers I had so far seen were golden brown, perhaps darker or lighter, but always a shade of brown. Kayla was the only white tiger in this village.
I felt a trickle of unease collect in the growing abyss centred in my abdominal region. Did her coat colour matter here? Did it hold some significance? I mentally shrugged. There was no use worrying about it now, I would find out sooner or later.
We passed a band of archers as they towed along quivers and arrows. Most of them gave Kayla and Naila a smile as they passed and mainly gave me looks ranging from curiosity to a guarded expression. When they saw my collar they seemed to relax, and I mentally thanked Kayla. Looks like she was right about Rahira, with this collar they seemed to relax around me.
We slowed down as Kayla and I approached a fairly large structure and the fluffy balls of fur dispersed, going back towards the main village. For a moment, I thought it was another wall, but then I realised that it was the side of a building that dominated the the surrounds by its sheer size. The wooden walls were huge and imposing and I took a moment to gather myself, taking in the large wooden conglomerate.
Naila gave Kayla another warm hug.
“Congratulations, Kayla,” she said, smiling widely. She patted the tigress on the back. “I will see you later at the feasts. This is a good day!”
Kayla nodded and smiled, then she turned to me and beckoned me as she stepped through the archway that comprised the main building. Inside, I realised that the wooden walls that made this building were merely a decoration. The inside walls were made of cut block stone, similar in style to the main castle back in Equestria. The tigers inside were all dressed in a loose yellow tunic and they darted around, looking awfully busy. I blinked in surprise when some of them bowed to Kayla as she passed them by.
Some of the tiger ‘servants’ gasped when they spotted me, but they quickly realised I was wearing the collar and they relaxed immediately. My hand shot to the collar as soon as we were out of sight, climbing one of the winding stairs that lead to an upper floor. What was this collar and why was it such a big deal?
Kayla lead me through a few side halls and then stood nervously in front of a couple of huge double doors. She paused, looking uncertain. Kayla glanced back at me. Her mouth opened in preparation to say something but she was interrupted when a small side door that had gone previously unnoticed by me opened and a small, but proud-looking tiger stalked out. His tunic was a paler yellow than the servants and there was a stripe of white on his left sleeve. He spotted Kayla and raised an eyebrow.
“Princess Kayla,” the tiger greeted with a bow. “Do you wish to see your father?”
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I was still reeling from that little bombshell when we were all but ushered in by what seemed to be the royal chamberlain. Well, he sort of fit the description of a royal chamberlain by the way he acted and announced us and it was similar to the one back in Equestria, but I wasn’t really paying attention to him so much as Princess Kayla.
Oh by the Stars and Beyond I would have some choice words for that tigress when we’re alone.
Inside, the vaulted ceiling and the clear glass windows stood in stark contrast to the simplistic architecture of the outlying village huts. I would have expected more stone and and mortar for the surrounding huts when architectural feats like these were accomplished, but I guess that would be a question that would have to wait.
As soon as we had stepped in there was some mumbling that echoed throughout the room. I cast my eyes about and took in ranks upon ranks of tigers lining the sides of the court. They all wore a shade of orange, with generally the lighter shades at the front, near the dais and the darker shades fading towards the back. My eyes shot ahead when I heard a yellow-tunic announcer bellow out our arrival for the second time.
“Announcing Princess Kayla!” he yelled to the assembled tigers. The mumbling died down instantly as a shadowy figure rose from the throne and came out to the light cast by one of the windows on the right.
The massive bulky tiger, half a height more taller than myself (Kayla was only a few inches shorter than I was), approached us. He was an intimidating figure with the presence of a coiled spring, ready to explosively launch into action at a moment’s notice. I tensed as he drew nearer, eyeing us both with an aged yellow eye.
I noticed his fur colour was a light golden-brown but not anywhere near the whiteness that Kayla had.
“My daughter,” he greeted warmly, wrapping Kayla in a bear hug. “You have succeeded in your quest. I could not be more proud.”
Kayla smiled back and hugged her father tightly.
“My liege,” she growled teasingly, and the tiger chuckled heartily, I swore I felt the room shake.
“Kayla, you have done it, I am so glad to see that you have tamed a spirit guide. A Nanu’wan no less! I thought they were dangerous beasts in the annals of myths but for you to bring back one, it leaves me speechless!”
He called out to the court.
“Fair citizens of Campus, the Tiger Nation has been graced by a most auspicious event, ever since the conquering of the Hippo tribes almost five hundred years ago. My daughter, the Princess of Campus, the Tiger Nation and all that dwell within it, has achieved the miraculous feat of taming a spirit guide to serving her for life. Not only that, it was no less than the mythical Nanu’wan, a creature famed for its bloodthirsty violence and invincibility!” At this there were cheers. “We will feast and celebrate tonight!”
After that, the court cheered with roars from the throats of every tiger within the room. The roar came at me like a physical force, shaking the panes of the windows and rumbling through the stone floor. Several tigers stomped their pawed legs, creating a patting sound on the ground that reminded me of rain. Right now though, I wasn’t concentrating on the assembled tigers or the rest of the cheers and celebratory sounds. Right now I stared at Kayla as she smiled and hugged her father gleefully.
For life, I thought darkly. That’s not going to happen.