Conscious, Conscientious

Here they come again, Lammy thought.

He tried to run to Zayza, but couldn’t. Once again he forgot that here, he had no body—he was only his senses.

Right—imagining only! he recalled. Zayza, behind you!

Down on the black grass flatland, Zayza aimed both hands at the ground. Green energy popped out from them, rocketing her into the air just in time. Sharp, purple memory shards zipped just underneath her at a menacing pace.

She remained floating in the air in her fancy green dress, her hands still sparkling with energy as she watched for another attack.

Thank you, came Zayza’s voice in Lammy’s mind.

With an aerial view, Lammy followed the flock of dark memories. They ascended high above Zayza, before splitting into three smaller groups. Then, they came swooping down straight for her, at opposite angles.

If Lammy had a heart here, it would have skipped. Three groups this time! Three groups! he warned frantically.

But Zayza remained stoic—after all these nights of fighting her own ominous past, Lammy noticed her grow more assured in her recently-recovered skills, and less afraid of these dark memories. By now, she was more confident here in the Dream World than out in reality.

I’ll take two groups. Can you handle one? she said.

Two at once? Lammy repeated in his mind, unsure if she heard that doubtful thought. But there was no time. On it! he confirmed.

The shards closed in, their high-pitched shrieks filling the air. With no choice but to turn her back to one of the groups, Zayza aimed two identical green blasts at the others, and fired with masterful precision.

In the same moment, Lammy imagined a giant bug net to guard Zayza’s back, once again grateful that his powers worked much more seamlessly in the Dream World.

While Zayza’s blasts sent memory shards catapulting backwards, the remaining third sunk directly into Lammy’s net. He reversed it with a mental flick, launching the shards spinning out over the horizon.

They surveyed the dark, dreamy landscape for a few moments. All the violent memories had finally retreated.

Zayza sighed. I think that’s all for tonight, she decided, descending to the ground.

Lammy kept an eye on her surroundings. Just as he was about to agree, a weak, purple light began glowing at a distance behind Zayza. His alarm faded once it finally mustered its full form: a quiet, glistening purple orb—a normal memory.

Hey…behind you, Lammy signaled.

Zayza turned to behold the orb. But the moment she did, it quivered, hopping farther back.

“Don’t be afraid,” she called to it.

She took a step closer, but frantically, the orb darted away. They watched it vanish over the distant hills.

But…that was a good memory, Lammy noticed. Why didn’t it just come to you like normal?

I’m…I’m not sure, uttered Zayza, her eyes still on the horizon where the orb had fled.

Before they could continue their conversation, Lammy felt a sinking feeling. He knew Zayza was experiencing the same thing: it was time.

Everything reversed into a calm silence and darkness.

~

Lammy’s eyes opened. He sat up slowly in the short grass, the shade of the large tree above him protecting him from the early morning sun. Zayza was stirring beside him, as well.

“I must figure out how to keep those dark memories away,” shared Zayza as she shuffled through her travel pack from Our Snowy Village. “If they keep scaring off the safe memories, I fear I’ll never get the full picture.”

Lammy nodded. “I still think you need to hear it from Kotono and Hiroko.”

“It seems they’re still avoiding it,” uttered Zayza with a tired sigh.

The last time Hiroko and Kotono reached out to them using the untraceable spell, they spent the majority of it giving detailed directions for Lammy and Zayza’s new journey towards the Fiction Country border. When Zayza tried prying at the details of her murder accusation, the couple skipped around it timidly.

“One way or another, I’ll have to find out,” Zayza added, handing Lammy one of the bread loafs Rob and Pete sent them off with.

Lammy couldn’t help but feel guilty as he ripped off a chunk and took a bite. While the father and son were understanding of their awkward explanation for quitting the Phoenix so suddenly, he wished he could elaborate. After all, without realizing it, they’d brought he and Zayza one immense step closer to salvation. Now Kotono and Hiroko had their backs, and were guiding them right to Deon.

All they had to do was keep walking. Soon, they’d find Deon. Soon, he would journey with them to Hiroko’s village. They were so close.

Lammy simply couldn’t wait to tell Deon everything. He couldn’t wait to reveal his strange new abilities, and how much stronger he’d become, and see the expression on Deon’s face.

With a vigorous push, Lammy abruptly leapt to his feet.

“Alright, we’re one day closer!” he exclaimed, his finger pointing ahead. “Let’s keep at it!”

Zayza looked at him in puzzlement for a moment, before a smile spread. “You’re right—let’s save the Dream World troubles for the night,” she decided. “Your cousin must be quite remarkable—I’ve never seen you this eager.”

“You’ll see when you meet him, Zayza,” said Lammy. “No one’s going to mess with you anymore.”

After gathering their things and strapping their bags, Lammy and Zayza departed from the tree they’d stayed under for the night. It was beside a long and wide dirt road in a lightly forested area that, according to Kotono and Hiroko, was a straight shot towards the Fiction Country border.

Lammy and Zayza had taken a different transport than Rob and Pete off Gloat Center, and requested the farthest dropoff on this road (as Hiroko recommended). Now, their path waited before them. Lammy hoped the landscape would change at some point, or this would become quite a mundane week or so of travel.

Zayza felt for her earring, as she habitually did, so Lammy did the same. Further assurance swept over him: with this enchantment, their chances of finding trouble again were even slimmer.

“You know…I’ve been wondering,” thought Lammy aloud as they walked. “When Wobble escorted us to Conscious City, he still recognized us. Does he somehow know our true selves?”

“Hmm…well, Hiroko did say enchantments don’t affect certain magical creatures,” pondered Zayza. “Perhaps that’s why.”

“IT IS!!” came a high, energetic voice.

Lammy and Zayza returned their attention forward. Somehow, directly before them stood Wobble, balancing on its springy tail with a goofy smile.

The duo paused for a moment in silence.

“…Eh?” they both uttered in response.

“What?! That’s the only reaction I get when I make my surprise, grand reappearance??” he shot. “Kids these days, I swear…My heart twists as expectations of jubilance are met with sheer, despondent—”

“Good to see you, Wobble, but…what are you doing here?” Lammy asked.

“And how did you know where we are?” added Zayza.

“Wonderful questions! Basically: I don’t know!” Wobble answered cheerily with a glittery backflip. “I jest: the Sages sensed that you’re soon to travel beyond Fantasy Country, and they wanted you to know a pretty important detail about the earrings first. So I ran here!”

You…what?? Lammy’s head spun.

“You ran all the way from the Sage’s hut?!” he exclaimed. “That should take weeks!”

“I’m really fast!” Wobble explained bluntly. “I may hop on my tail usually, but when I’ve got the need for speed…you better watch out for these six stubby legs!”

Lammy and Zayza stared at it, question marks floating in their minds. They sighed, surrendering their attempt to understand this creature.

“So then…” Zayza started slowly, “…what did she want us to know about the earrings?”

“Honestly, I forget…My bad,” said Wobble.

Lammy and Zayza stared at the rainbow-furred being, their eyelids dropping halfway.

“Oh wait—that’s right!” Wobble recalled. “Where you’re going, they won’t work!”

“HUH?!” Lammy and Zayza exclaimed.

That’s kind of an important detail…thought Lammy.

“Well, allow me to clarify,” began Wobble. He shot glitter from one of his fluffy paws to his side, and pointed to it. “Here in Fantasy Country, magic thrives with ease. It’s designed for this reality. However…” he pointed to his other side, with no glitter. “Magic like, ain’t cut out for other realities. Once you peace it from Fantasy Country, the enchantment will quickly lose its strength, and then it’ll be gone. Make sense, yo?”

I’m not sure the visual aid was necessary, thought Lammy, “Yeah,” he replied.

Zayza sighed. “So people may start recognizing us once we get into Fiction Country,” she realized. “We’ll need to find Deon and Skrili as fast as possible.”

“Bingo!” Wobble confirmed.

Zayza and Lammy glanced at each other. The looming danger was now one step closer to a sinister return.

But Zayza clenched her fists. “Very well. We’ll still make it,” she assured Lammy.

“I was about to say the same thing,” he said with a courageous smile.

“I wasn’t!” Wobble chimed in.

They glared at him.

“But…that’s just because I don’t know the context,” he backtracked. “Whatever you’re trying to accomplish, I’m sure you’ll succeed!”

Zayza shook her head with a light laugh. “Wobble, you and the Sages have been so helpful to us…even when I was hurting too much to notice…and for nothing in return. Thank you.”

“It’s great to see you again,” Lammy agreed. Odd and occasionally overbearing as Wobble was in their previous travels, he knew Zayza was right.

“Actually, it’s definitely for something in return,” countered Wobble. “I can’t survive very long without friendship. Like, literally: if I’m not around or experiencing friendship for more than a couple days, I’ll straight-up die.”

“Oh goodness!” Zayza gasped.

Oh…well…that’s depressing, Lammy thought.

“That’s why I help out the Sages!” finished Wobble. “And speaking of which, they’re helping another traveler right now. I’d better hurry back! Farewell, friends!”

“Alright, see you—” started Lammy.

In less than a blink, Wobble was already gone. Lammy and Zayza felt a gust rush past them, and noticed a vague trail of glitter hurrying off the path and over the horizon.

“Well…nice of him to fill us in,” Lammy said with a shrug.

Zayza let out a laugh. “Indeed. But let’s not let this new development bring us down.”

“We’ll find Deon,” added Lammy.

And we’ll find out the truth the right way…we’ll prove you’re innocent, he added in his mind.

But the dark memory shards occupied his thoughts, along with Kotono and Hiroko’s continued hesitation to explain what murder took place.

If she was truly unrelated to such a terrible crime, why were these dark memories behaving so much more aggressively than her normal memory orbs? What were they trying to reveal to her?

It had started soon after Najinzu and Fewpar’s abuse—and soon after she recovered her Dreamer Combat Training memories. Were these instances the triggers?

What if, in some way…she used to know what really happened?

Lammy scrambled his mind in a desperate attempt to ward off the idea.

No…there’s no way, he thought. Just like Hiroko and Kotono said, someone put this on her. And we’ll find out why.

Determination rekindling in his heart, Lammy took an eager step forward. Together, he and Zayza continued their journey down the long, flat trail.

~~~

In a faraway reality within Fantasy Country…

A man sipped from a steamy, pearl mug, and then immediately spat it out onto the intricate stone ground.

“Why does our kingdom have the worst bewitched coffee?” he groaned. He placed the mug to the side and repositioned his metallic head armor.

“You’ve no choice but to put up with it—who knows when we’ll open the Worldline back up,” replied a fellow guard a few steps away.

They both stared at the wide, glowing platform they were tasked with blocking off, its infinitely-colored glow illuminating the night around them. It was large enough to fit up to a hundred travelling consciousnesses at once, but for weeks now, it went completely unused.

“Bloody politics and crimes,” the first guard cursed. “Maybe I’ll let a consciousness sneak by if they agree to smuggle me back some real coffee from the Mainland. Heck—I’d do it myself, if I was a consciousness.”

“Only if coffee is worth the execution,” his coworker noted.

“It very well may be. Haven’t had a proper—”

“SH!” the other guard suddenly hushed. He placed a hand on the weapon sheathed at his waist.

“What?”

Faintly, they heard the clanking of armor crashing against the stone floor.

“That came from the other side,” the second guard noted wearily.

“So someone dropped their armor. What’s the big—”

They heard the same sound again, but this time it was closer.

Then they heard another one fall.

And another.

Exchanging wide-eyed glances, both guards unsheathed their weapons. Their bladeless swords crackled with magical blue light, ready to electrocute at a moment’s notice.

The guards looked around frantically, their breath now heavy. The longer they waited, the heavier their arms grew.

But nothing came.

“WHO’S THERE?!” the second guard finally shouted. “SHOW YOURSELF NOW! THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA!!”

The first guard’s eyes caught a blur towards another end of the Wordline.

“DOWN THERE!” he exclaimed. “HE’S—”

Armor clanked against the floor once more.

But this time, it was his own.

His body felt warm, then cold, as he noticed blood running out from under himself.

Across from him, the guard he’d been conversing with collapsed just as swiftly.

Impossibly…fast…he thought laboriously.

“I’m sorry, old comrades,” came a low and gruffly voice. “I cannot afford witnesses—not on a mission this significant.”

A pair of thin, dark boots walked past the guard’s vision noiselessly. With the only strength his body had left, the guard raised his head to witness the culprit.

His vision had faded significantly, but even still he knew the tall man who stood before them, about to trespass onto the Worldline.

“Raznizu…you fool…what are you doing?” the guard choked. “What are your allegiances?”

Raznizu stared at him for a moment, and then at the other guard across from him. He sighed: a long, tired, sorry sigh.

“That is the question I have for you,” he replied. “For all of you soldiers.”

The guard coughed harshly. He felt icy.

Raznizu shifted, and the guard noticed the abandoned coffee mug was now in his hand. Calmly, Raznizu took a sip.

“Our coffee isn’t so bad,” he said. “In fact, I quite like it the way it is.”

Raznizu stepped back, into the Worldline light.

The guard watched, unable to move, as the Worldline brightened and ascended Raznizu into the heavens.

It was the last spectacle he ever saw.