Screams.

Blood.

Fear.

Rael ran about in a panicked frenzy, but no matter how much they ran, they moved as if through water. Rael ignored the expressions of pain on the faces of friend and foe, focused entirely on the narrowing gap between the two decks.

A splintering crash. The mast behind Rael finally gave way, the upper deck collapsing on the lower. The shouting behind them was cut short.

They lunged, the jaws of the breaking ship snapping shut behind them. Ten meters below them was the canopy. A long and painful fall awaited them.

It never came.

“How nice of you to join me.” The youthful Norn laughed as Rael was frozen mid-jump from the Bergin warship.

Rael blinked. ‘I was dreaming?’ They shook their head to try and shake the wooziness. That was the wrong thing to do. ‘Focus.’ It was too easy to be sucked back in the dream. Rael blinked a few more times until they got their bearings. They were mid-jump from the collapsing airship. Gouts of flame were frozen in place all over the ship, magic arced from both decks, and limp bodies stuck in the air.

“Dreams are fascinating.” Astrid rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “They can be nonsensical messes, full of obtuse symbolism, or even replay memories in stunning detail.”

“How…” Rael’s awareness began to pull away the image of the dream.

“Keep the image in your mind.” Astrid snapped her fingers. “You remember more than you think.”

“What does that mea-Ow!” Astrid flicked Rael in the glabella. It didn’t hurt, but the phantom sensation was surprising enough to jar Rael’s mind into focus.

The fading dream jumped back into vivid detail. The forest breaking under the hull of the crashing ship, the assorted pieces of the soon-to-be wreck splintering in every direction, ripped canvas igniting…all of it and more appeared more clearly than Rael remembered. Slower than a snail, time began to move again. Rael, or at least a version of them, kept flying into the swamp. But the present Rael, the dreaming one, watched on in confusion. The fog that clung to the canopy of the Faulkie Jarldoms dissipated until Rael saw the starry sky from the ground for the first time in months.

It was comforting, even if it wasn’t real.

“You used to look up at the nighttime tapestry every time you had an argument with your family.” Astrid said as Rael shifted uncomfortably. “You would climb up the cobblestone walls of your house and lay on the thatch roof to count the stars until you fell asleep. When your habit became predictable to them, you climbed taller and taller trees. It’s how you got to be such a good climber.”

It wasn’t the first time Astrid had alluded to a past Rael never talked about. The youth knew the Norn was trying to goad them into talking. But those wounds were still raw. And Rael was very stubborn. Normally, Astrid would let Rael sulk and try to wait them out. Apparently, she decided to change tactics.

“Your entire life was unfolded before our eyes, child.” Astrid clicked her tongue. “I should have known how patient you could be. How much you could bear. No matter. Come with me.”

She turned around and walked towards the crashing ship. Rael was reluctant to follow, until an invisible tether pulled them along by the chest. Rael stumbled and followed, going from startled to grumpy in less than a second. Astrid walked up the side of the vertical hull, refusing to be constrained by gravity. When she turned around and gave a smug grin, Rael set their jaw and tried to do the same. They could float themselves up after her, but it wouldn’t be the same.

‘It’s just a memory. A memory of gravity.’ Rael put their foot on the hull and began walking up after Astrid. They smiled and looked behind them to look at the ground—And they fell flat on their back. The Norn cackled as Rael grit their teeth. ‘Right. There is no ground. Just me.’ Rael shook the mud from their back and tried again. Astrid nodded when Rael managed to walk to her side.

“Do we have time for this?” The Dragonward huffed.

“If I wanted, I could have us spend years here.” Astrid stretched like a cat comfortable in its territory. “Just as [Dreamweaving] is an evolution of [Dreamwalking], [Dreamtime] is a fourth circle evolution of [Dreamweaving]. With it, the principles that we think govern everything become meaningless. But…” She focused her gaze on the youth. Rael shivered as they looked into Astrid’s ice-blue eyes. For the first time, Rael got the sense that Astrid was much older than she seemed. Countless lives flashed through her eyes, the weight of her experiences crushing the youth’s will. Just as Rael faltered, the Norn flipped around and relaxed, reappearing to be as young as Azmond. “I would not recommend it. Many have become lost in the eddies of the dream realm. They became so tempted, so entrenched that they refused to wake, dying in their sleep to become subsumed by the collective dreams of humanity.”

Rael was silent as they kept walking up the hull. When they reached the top deck, Rael spoke.

“I’m not sure I want to keep using this spell…” Rael looked down.

‘Below’ them, the deck was slick with the blood of legionnaires as they fought off the Faulk raiders. Expressions of dismay and rage frozen still as they struggled to mount a resistance against the raiders and momentum itself as they were pulled to the bow. A few had already been flung off their feet and into the air, overboard, and even into the sails. The Faulk fared better, having been prepared for the crash in their own ways: many had tied themselves to lines or stuck themselves to the deck with spells. A few even took advantage of the crash to land devastating blows on their opponents. Captain Kip was soaring through the air with a wide smile, his feet folding the back of some unfortunate commander. Beyond them was a vertical canopy of trees, Grand Mangroves blocking the stars on the horizon far below.

“You have nothing to fear.” Astrid stepped down and immediately oriented herself back on the deck. Rael tried the same, their heart jumping in the chest as they fell for a brief moment. They landed on their butt, the momentum of their fall pulling them forward as ‘gravity’ became normal again. “You take to spells like a fish does to water. I suspect more so to strange spells like [Dreamwalking] and [Synthesis].”

“Gee, thanks.” Rael stood up and walked around the deck. They ducked beneath the ethereal ax Derrol’s tome swung towards the unprotected neck of a legionnaire. “It would have been nice to be given a choice.”

“Choice is a luxury that must be fought for.” Astrid chided. “And sometimes, there are no choices. You did not choose to be born. You did not choose your blood. You did not choose to be Meta.”

“This again.” Rael rolled their eyes. “I’m not—”

“You will listen.” Astrid’s voice thrummed throughout their body.

The world shivered under the sternness of the Norn’s voice, white cracks fissuring reality around them. Whether they were in a sphere that was falling apart into a world of white, or the rest of the dream was breaking, Rael did not know. What they did know was that they had to do what they were told. Their desire to leave was crushed, and Rael was compelled to listen.

“I say this because I understand you, Rael. I know how you were born, I know the difficulties of your childhood, and I know how you struggled to survive. I know, just as I know the sun will rise in the morning, just as I know the stars will shine at night. I know you are Meta. I know you are loved.” The sternness in her voice faded into a comforting whisper, and the cracks in reality sealed themselves shut. “Azmond. Gault. Sherra. Oro. Bak, Derrol, Kip, Ulric. Youngest, Middlest, and Oldest. Even Feldon and Edith are fond of you.”

“…My family was supposed to be fond of me.” Rael managed to say softly. “Some of them were.”

“Humanity was supposed to follow the Dragons into greatness. The Klamfik Empire was supposed to last for a millennium. I was supposed to have boar liver for dinner.” The Norn shrugged. “Gods and men make plans, but fate laughs. Yannis wakes, an orphan curses, and a swamp cat steals prey. We can cry, or we can make do.”

Rael nodded numbly.

“Now say it.” Rael raised their head curiously. “Say you are Meta.”

They were trapped. They couldn’t leave. If Astrid desired, she could compel Rael to say it. But she wouldn’t do that. She needed Rael to say it.

“This is unfair.” Rael hissed.

“Then become stronger. Make it fair.” Norn Astrid’s voice gained a steel edge.

“I can’t.”

“Why?” Astrid pressed. “No more running. No more hiding. Face your problems as you face your enemies: head on.”

“It’s impossible.” Rael slipped into a whine, shrinking back from her glare.

“Says who? Your family? Your people? The kings, the emperors, the historians? The Spellmasters, the Norns, the Dragons?” Astrid’s tone dipped into a cold whisper. “Or just you?”

“Yes…no…I don’t…” Rael blubbered, their body shaking as it phased in and out of the dream.

“Azmond thinks you can. I think you can. Wollow thought you could. Are they wrong?”

“I…”

“What. Are. You?!” Astrid’s voice buffeted against Rael like a storm. “Are you what everyone who thought ill of you to be? A slave, a burden, a bastard?”

“No…” Rael pursed their lips.

“Are you weak? Dumb? Dense?”

“No.” Rael grit their teeth.

“Are you unworthy? Another victim to be trod upon and cast aside? A cripple?”

“No!” Rael stepped forward to meet the Norn’s tempestuous glare.

“Are you Raela Greenthistle, the girl who was sold for three gold pieces? Or are you Rael Dragonward, Demonslayer, who survived the ire of Yannis?!”

“My name is Rael!” The Dragonward yelled.

“What are you, Rael?!” Astrid floated closer to them until their faces were but centimeters apart, her wild red hair whipping about like a wildfire.

“I’m a fighter! I’m a survivor! I’m the fucking Dragonward!” Their scream echoed through the dream with such intensity they pushed the Norn away.

“And?!” She zoomed back into Rael’s face.

“And I’m a Meta, damn it!” Rael stomped their feet and roared to the heavens. Their breath was pulled from their lungs and they fell to their knees. “I’m a Meta.”

The dream distorted like a pebble thrown in a pond, ripples emanating from the pair as Rael caught their breath.

“And there is nothing wrong with that.” Astrid sat by Rael, her belligerence gone. “To improve, we must admit our strengths and our weaknesses. Meta are only known for their weaknesses. Labels you’ve always wanted to avoid. But you’ve touched upon some of your strengths.”

“Sure.” Rael scoffed softly. “I can cast a spell from any Circle…but I can only learn ten spells. Very useful for someone who only realizes they’re Meta after they use up nine of their slots.”

“Nope.” Astrid giggled and poked the youth in the face. Rael scrunched their nose. “It’s more than that.”

“Can’t you just tell me?” Rael sat up. “Just avoid all the cryptic wisewoman stuff and tell me how I’m messing up?”

“No more than I can tell a fish how to swim. You’ve been given the tools to succeed, you just need to learn how to use them.” She brought a finger to her lips and tapped it. “Though if I had to give you a hint…when you use [Synthesis] on your spells, try to think of it as evolving a spell to the next Circle. They need to be component parts for how you want a spell to work. Otherwise, you’ll suffer from rebound again.”

Rael opened their mouth. Then closed it.

“I honestly expected more riddles.” They ran their hand through their hair. “Thank you. That’s actually helpful.”

“See how much easier everything is when everyone is honest and straightforward?” Astrid steepled her fingers together with a smile. Before Rael had a chance to comment, the Norn swiveled around and clapped her hands together, the dream fading away. “Now, let’s go see Jarl Feldon.”