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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 680266" data-attributes="member: 1674">The Bat and the Dream- part 3The news came as a shock to all of them. None of them doubted that Torn's dream had indeed been sent by his ancestors. For Jan and Niklas this brought up horrible memories. After their escape from their home, concentrating on learning their new professions as refugees in Durrover city, they had cradled the hope that their parents had escaped somehow as well.Many nights which they spent on hard bunks in the fortress and the monastry, as they were slowly growing from boys to men, each of them had fantasized that any time now the door of the small cell would burst open and the burly figure of their father would come in, hug them and tell them an ecxiting and unbelievable story on how he had bested the Dragoons and made it here. But with each night that the doorframe remained empty, a little bit of hope had melted away, like polar ice that had drifted too far south, and eventually, they moved on, leaving the fantasies and hope behind.But now they heard that it wasn't over yet after all! They had a chance to meet their father. No, it was more than a chance- it was their duty to safe him. They took their horses and rode south to the nearest village with an inn. There they rented a room, and impatiently waited for the sun to set and night to fall. And when it was dark, they went to their rooms and to all of them, sleep came like a drug.The next thing they knew, they were all standing in the middle of an grove of apple trees at night, and with them were two halforcs who both looked a lot like Torn. From what he had told them, they recognized them as his father and grandfather, and grandfather was the first to speak:" So, do you want to go into the realms and save the villagers.".He waited until all five of them had expressed their agreement and then continued:" Good then. Are there any questions?""Yes,", Jan answered "how can we safe our parents and the other villagers?"Torn's father answered:" There is no one single way to do anything here. This is the realm of dreams. There are no rigid rules or structures. You will have to find a way."."There is one more thing I would like to know before we move on", Niklas said."Who spoke that terrible curse?""I don't know his name, but I saw him. He was a tall and broad shouldered human, and he had a thick, red and wild beard. He wore a black fullplate like the Dragoons, and he was wieding a huge warscepter."Seeing that they had no further questions for now, Torn's father nodded and suddenly the heroes found themselves standing on a green field flooded with sunlight. Blinded by the sudden light, they shielded their eyes, and once their sight had adopted, they saw that they were standing in front of a metal gate.Everything seemed real: they felt the heat of the sunlight on their clothing, a light breeze ruffling their hair and the ground beneath them felt as real as it did outside of the dreamworld. They were all dressed and equipped like they would be in the real world, too: Jan wore his shining suit of platemail with the proud symbol of Corean on front, Niklas wore his monk's robe, and so on.Remembering that he was practically in a dream, Jan focused his mind on a horse. If he concentrated hard enough, he should be able to shape this dream according to his wishes. He closed his mind, but then, just as his mind was about to fully imagine a horse, for some reason his concentration slipped, and he thought of the duck he had for dinner before going to bed. And as he opened his eyes again, there was a living duck standing in front of him. The bird looked at him inquisitively and quacked once, as if to make a point."Now where did the duck come from?", Ben asked.Jan gestured in apology:" I wished myself a horse, but somehow my mind slipped, and now I have this duck.""Quack!", said the duck, offering it's own point of view.Immediately, the others picked up the concept, and so the following happened in quick succession: Niklas, who was annoyed by his brother's playing around in a situation like this, succeeded in making the duck agressive, and the duck, in turn, flapped it's wings and quack-quacked repeatedly and angrily at the Paladin. While Jan tried to make the duck disappear with the strength of his will, Trepat did the same thing, but his fantasy ran wild for a second, and suddenly there were twenty very upset ducks creating a pandemonium of noise and fluttering feathers.Ben stomped his foot, trying to shout over the noise of the ducks:" Could you guys please let those who have experience in mental discipline handle this? Thank you!"And then, he went into himself, forgot the noise around him, and made the ducks disappear."Now, let us please go and search the villagers. And stop that nonsense", he added.They went through the gate and now they all recognized where they were. To the west, beyond the fields they were standing in, they saw the Kelders, their peaks apparently stripped of their white cloaks by a long heatspell, and closer to them, there was a village at the foot of a hill on top of which there was a small castle. They were standing just a mile outside of Oreirover, however here, the houses were still standing, the fields weren't abandoned and the castle was no ruin: This was Oreirover the way it had been the summer of the attack, and nothing bad seemed to have ever happened to this place.The dusty road to the village lead through the fields, and after they had passed half the distance, they came upon farmer Rowan. Jan and Niklas remembered him: he was a nice guy in his fifties who had stayed unmarried throughout his life and he was taking care of some fields which belonged to the Baron. Like everything else, he too looked like he had in the Vangalot of 142 AV.Leaning on his pitchfork, he looked calmly and curiously at the visitiors, until suddenly, recognition lit his lazy eyes up a bit:"Hey Mr Elf, sir! Trepat, right?"Trepat, who suddenly realized that he was indeed the only one who pretty much looked the same as he had looked nine years ago, at least to human eyes, raised his hand in greetings:" A good day to you, too!"."It's been a while, hasn't it! Glad you found your way back here.""Good to see you, too, Rowan", Jan said cheerfully.The farmer seemed unfazed by having his name being mentioned:" Sir Paladin, I am sorry, but I don't know you. And I am sure that I would recognize you had I ever met you before, what with your shiny armor and your red beard.""But I am Jan, the smith's son!"Old Rowan scratched the dark stubbles in his face:" His son? You are here because of the son? Wait, yes, now I see. You do look alike. You must be the real father, coming here to pick him up! Well, that is news. You can be sure that the smith raised him in the ways of Corean, yes, sir, he did. Now, that is...".Jan interrupted the man:" No. Don't you understand? I AM Jan.".Rowan now looked at him without any understanding:" Good sir. Don't try to make fun of me. The two boys are with their father now.""But we were boys nine years ago, when the Dragoons attacked, don't you see?"The farmer now shook his head, reacting the way he would have reacted to an April's fool:" Ah, you shouldn't jest like that, sir. Why, the battle had been a while ago, but nine years. No. Certainly not. Else, the boys wouldn't be boys anymore, now, would they?".Before Jan could go on, Trepat and Torn tucked at his sleeves. "Ah, there is no point to that", Torn said."We should rather try our luck with your father himself".Jan agreed. There was no point in debating any longer with old Rowan. They waved goodbye to him, and he returned to his fieldwork, and then they walked into the small village square. There, in front of the smithery, they saw Harket Palek, the man who had raised them, hammering away at a plow. With him, holding the plow in position with pliers, there were the twelve and thirteen year old selves of both Jan and Niklas.</blockquote>

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