Library of Rain

“I’m sorry for ignoring you for so long Lon,” Rain said as she stared over the side of a bridge and down the mountain, the night breeze rippling through her hair.

 

“I know you're right, and I know that I’m a bad person, but I thought that if I ignored you, I wouldn’t have to admit it.”

 

Lon stayed silent as he leaned against the bridge railing next to her, blood from his neck pooling on the top rail. That was okay, though he didn’t need to say anymore. Rain understood.

 

“You're right. I'm a monster, and no matter how much you want me to be better, this is the only way I know how to help. So Lon, never stop hating me. After all, you’re a part of my mind, aren't you?”

 

Rain pushed off the rails and got to work. 

 

Ady had finally managed to get Commander Bartel to drink the river-blood-juice, and Rain had felt the connection form earlier today. Leaving the bridge behind, Rain returned to the small Mid Ring apartment that currently hosted the mind uffters.

 

“Goddess Goddess!” squeaked a bunch of voices in her mind. 

 

Rain smiled and sat on the floor, allowing the uffter kits to jump onto her and play around. With Estom Manor housing at least one spy, Rain didn’t want to do anything there that might raise suspicions. Plus, she enjoyed the uffters' presence. 

 

“All right, watch over me while I sleep, okay?”

 

“Okay!” 

 

Rain closed her eyes and let herself slip along the strand of thought leading to River. When she arrived, it was to find River’s dreamworld had grown again since the last time she had visited. It now contained several buildings and homes for nearly a quarter mile around River’s pub.  

 

“Rain, it's good to see you. Are you all right?”

 

The concern in River’s voice caused Rain to look down at herself. Her mind body was so blurry she could hardly make out her shape. Trying to make herself look more solid sent a spike of pain through her soul.

 

“Gah! Er ya, I’m good,” she said, keeping the pain off her face, not that it probably mattered, given that she was more of a cloud than a person right now. 

 

“All right,” River said in a tone that made it clear she didn’t believe Rain. “What can I do for you?”

 

“I’m just checking if you have any messages for me before I go get a bad guy.”

 

“Ohh, are you getting that nasty Commander poor Ady’s been having nightmares about?”

 

“She’s been having nightmares!” Now Rain really wanted to get this guy; her nightmares made her life so much worse. If she could stop Ady from having any, she would. 

 

“Wait a moment; how do you know what Ady is dreaming about?”

 

River suddenly started looking anywhere but at Rain.

 

“River, what aren’t you telling me.”

 

“Nothing, it's just, well, sometimes I get bored and watch people's dreams. I’m not touching the dreams, I promise! I just want to see them!”

 

Rain was glad she had never drank any River juice. She didn’t want people to see her dreams. She would never be able to pretend she was in control if they could see how powerless she was every night.  

 

“Whatever. Were there any other messages?”

 

“There was! Mirage wanted to let you know that he’s working hard,” a soothing pulse rippled through the dream world at the mention of Mr. Mirage, “and there’s some strange things happening on Estom Island. They don’t want to bother you and ask you what’s happening, but it’s starting to cause an increase of stressful dreams from the people I’m connected to there.”

 

Rain nodded. She had no idea what Mr. Mirage was working on that he felt a needed to report to her, but that was fine. The bit about trouble on Estom Island, though, she would need to look into that. There was no way she would rescue all those people only to leave them abandoned on a dead island. 

 

“Thanks, Ms. River. Have you looked at Commander Bartel’s dreams yet?”

 

“No, I thought you would come tonight, and we could maybe take a look at them together.”

 

That sounded like a lot more fun than doing this alone, so Rain readily agreed. 

 

“Let me go first, so I'm not in your dream world when it collapses.”

 

“Oh, don’t worry about that. My world is far too stable to collapse when I leave it now.” Ms. River said with a face that glowed with pride.

 

What Ms. River could do with her copied skill really shouldn’t be shocking, but Rain still managed to be surprised when she revealed just how much more her copie was compared to Rain’s. If Ms. River could grow a copied skill this much, then how much could Rain grow her own skills with time and effort? How would she even try to grow some of her skills?

 

“Then I guess we can just go see Bartel’s dreams.” Rain said before pulling herself out on the strand connecting her to Commander Bartel.

 

When the dream solidified around Rain, it left her confused. In the past, every dream she had visited made sense; it would be a scene of the dreamer doing something they enjoyed or being tormented by their fears. Whatever it was, it was at least somewhat realistic. Commander Bartel’s dream felt random. 

 

Rain stood on the wall of an island fort. All around the island, different types of fish danced on the beach using their tails like legs. Ash was raining down from the clear blue sky, and a tasty smell was wafting all around. 

 

Before Rain could try to find where Commander Bartel was in all the chaos, Ms. River appeared next to her and looked around.

 

“I see, so he’s a type four dreamer,” she said with a matter-of-fact nod, like dancing fish and impossible weather were totally normal. 

 

If there was a type four, then did that mean there were types one through three? And who was classifying them? Rain wondered.

 

“Do you know where Commander Bartel  is?” 

 

Rain figured the question was worth a shot since Ms. River seemed to know so much about dreams.

 

“Hmm, he should be somewhere over there,” Ms. River said, pointing toward the center of the fort.

 

Rain floated that way with Ms. River right behind her. The two of them passed through a few walls before appearing in a large courtyard with a cage of majestic predators. Rain recognized the wolf in the cage, and her past self’s memories said that the big one was a bear. 

 

Standing outside was a man Rain assumed was Commander Bartel, who was using a sword to fend off the fish that were trying to hop into the cage to eat the predators inside. 

 

Rain watched as he fought. Every slain Fish puffed into delicious-smelling smoke before the next fish tried to get past Bartel and eat the helpless savage animals inside. 

 

“Ms. River. Do you have any clue what's going on down there?”

 

“No, but this dream doesn’t feel like it's from an awful person.”

 

Ms. River was the expert when it came to dreams, and there was no way Rain was going to try to talk with Bartel during this chaos. 

 

“Do you think you can control this dream?” Rain asked. She knew it was possible to change others' dreams. She had done it to Ms. River once, but that had done Rain some serious damage. Ms. River, however, had shown herself to be more competent with the skill than Rain ever had, so it was worth asking.

 

“That won't be hard. What do you want me to turn it into?”

 

Rain smiled at that. Sure, she was here to help Ady get revenge and maybe pick up a new minion, but that didn’t mean she couldn't have fun - or test the man a little beforehand.