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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Warbringer" data-source="post: 3570913" data-attributes="member: 14391">Prelude: To Sleep Perchance to DreamKateria lay awake staring at the canopy of the jungle as se had for the last three hours, unable to bring her mind to rest and enter Kal-al, dreamwalk. Around her the others slept while Tzzt remained awake on watch, the warforged the needing no sleep, nor food, nor even air. She watched the construct she had come to think of as a friend. His eyes darting back and forth chasing the burning trails of a flamemoth, his battered head bobbing in gentle rhythm to his quiet giggling. It was easy to forget that Tzzt was only six years old, birthed from in a Cannith factory near the end of the war. Still, for all his size and origin, he was still a child, and still saw the world through a child's eyes, and probably always would. He never recovered from the damage when the factory collapsed, and though Kiernna swore he was as good as new, something in him remained broken and would do until Tzzt was ready for it to be fixed, she realized.Distracted by her rambling thoughts , rest finally crept up on her, and the day faded into dream. Strange, she thought as she became her dream self, that just watching Tzzt could bring her rest.As the jungle faded, and the dreams path came to her quickly, the pale gray roads slightly luminescent against the charcoal landscape. Drifting, she let a path reach and take her.Familiar faces and events came to her, replaying the events of the day, allowing to her to review her actions and decisions; allowing her to learn from mistakes and to judge her choices. Many elves lived their lives by unspoken judgment of the Kal-al, with the knowledge that each night they would have to face their choices over and over again. But the Kal-al was more than just a revision of bad choices. Often the dream paths would not only lead through the events of the day passed, but also through the memories of the days yet to come. Kateria was still a pre-pubescent girl when she experienced the first of her kal-al-ena, her visions marking her as a sorcerer, an adept of the arts who required no teaching.Her path lead her through a world of monochrome broad leaves and ferns, the giant undergrowth of the days trek. Ahead of her, the broken ruins of the giants rose in above the shadows of the jungle, the pale stone almost indistinguishable from the gray canopy. As she walked, the path lead towards a softly glowing building that been hidden by the jungle, the brightness of the building against the shadow signaling the dream now as a memory yet to pass. A shape formed, its brightness growing intensity, growing in size, until its colossal size dwarfed Kateria. She smiled.The large silver face, smiled back at her with a mouth full of a predators teeth.'Still in my future,' Kateria said.'Apparently so,' the dragon answered.'So when will I meet you,' she pleaded.'You have,' he smiled.'You know what I mean,' she sulked in jest.The dragon turned its great head and glanced back over its shoulder, and turning, raised itself onto its back legs, flapping its great wings in challenge of some unseen enemy.Kateria tried to help, pulling her bow from her back, but was to see the enemy. She tried to conjure a spell, but the words remained unspoken. Frustrated, she cried impotently as the silver dragon tore at the unseen foe with claw and wing.Suddenly the dragon staggered, recoiling from a massive blow that drove it backwards, and toppling backwards, twisted as it fell towards the stunned elf.Kateria screamed. The left side of the dragon's face had melted, revealing white bone and teeth, beneath the remains of bubbling flesh. Its mouth opened to say something, the massive jaw dropping as the corroded muscles snapped.The dragons face continued to liquefy, staining the glowing path black where the droplets of melted flesh pooled, until nothing remained but a bleach white skull.'Run, Kateria' the dragon cried. 'Run if you can,' another voice seemed to cackle.Kateria woke, still screaming.--Kateria woke to find Mithros kneeling beside her, he hands on her shoulders.'You were lost in the Kal-al,' he said. 'You're safe now, the dream is gone.''Run, if you can' her dream whispered after her.Sitting up, Kateria paused before speaking.'The dragon died protecting me,' she stated, her voice breaking.' It died protecting me. Warning me.''How?' he asked.'I can't remember,' she replied.'Lady friend okay?' Tzzt asked, lumbering over to the where the elves sat.'Yes Tzzt,' Kateria answered, then smiled up at the concerned warforged. 'Bad dream.''....tzzzt,' the warforged sparked, his head twitching slightly.' Tzzt not have bad breams. Tzzt not have dreams.'Kateria, sore she heard longing in his voice, indicating a complexity she had not thought him capable of having.'Help me up Tzzt?' she asked, offering her hand for him to take, past Mithros who still knelt by her side.Tzzt smile broke into a beaming grin. 'Tzzt help Lady friend,' pulling her with such strength it almost lifted the elf from her feet.'So strong Tzzt,' she smiled. Tzzt, smiled back, his ruminations on his lack of dreams long forgotten.The rest of the group were already awake and breaking camp, and had been for apparently some time. They've been waiting for me, Kateria realized, embarrassed, quickly packing her kit, cramming her belongings into her enchanted haversack.</blockquote>

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