Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 421

Chapter 421: Reaching the center
Trace gulped. He could feel the drain on his magic growing, and they hadn’t yet reached the dreamer.

The grotesque, terrifying dreamer.

Trace dove deeper through the unappealing crowds, dodging monsters and subtly pushing things out of the way. The dreamer was almost always near the center of the dream…

But with a dream so large as this one, in a mind so elaborate and labyrinthine, finding the center was a challenge.

One he wasn’t sure he could conquer.

“Hold on,” He told Anaisa and Ben, pulling them along. The two, thankfully, were adept thus far at keeping pace with him, and he needed relatively little attention to anchor them here.

He didn’t want to lose either of them.

Carefully, almost surgically, he pulled apart the scene that stood in their way. The dream wavered in protest, and Trace paused his magical interference but not his pace.

The trio were at nearly a dead run now.

It might have drawn attention by the edges, but in this part of the city the chaos was so complete that running humans were fairly commonplace. Either running from danger or towards treasure, the unflattering parodies of humanity were locked in frenzy.

As the morass of lawlessness thickened, Trace concentrated. The buildings were tall here, out of proportion with the size of the humans; an easy oversight for a dreamer to adjust things to their own needs.

He must be close.

Trace finally felt it. The presence of the source. It was so strong it nearly bowled him over when he was hit with it, but coming around the corner, he finally saw him.

The Emperor.

A giant, by any standards. Laying down in the bed, he was already unaccountably enormous. Standing… Trace began to wonder whether the dream had exaggerated even that being’s already great height.

“Could he even hear us from down here?” Anaisa voiced the thought with worry, but Trace had more immediate concerns.

Such as the boulders being flung from the Emperor’s hands, squashing the people nearest to them as he rampaged through the city like a child kicking an anthill.

In response, the human insects swarmed, frantically attacking the Emperor, uncoordinated and individualistic, to absolutely no avail.

Trace’s magic was running low, but they were so close now that he didn’t dare turn back and give up.

Spying a rooftop that was about waist-height for the Emperor, Trace led the little group towards it with all haste.

It was against the tide of roving humanity, but carefully, he cleared a path.

When they reached the base of the tower, he conjured a staircase of moving steps, pulling Anaisa and Ben along with him to the roof.

“Do you want to talk first, or would you rather I begin?” Anaisa spoke quietly to Ben. “Shall I introduce you?”

“I’m not sure how well an introduction will go, but it’s worth a try,” Ben frowned. “The normal diplomatic protocols aren’t really applicable here, are they?”

“I should say not,” Anaisa’s mouth twitched, and Trace threw her a mild glance. His wife could find a place for amusement in a situation as serious as this one?

“I’ll try to magnify your voices to reach him,” Trace offered, but he wouldn’t last long.

They walked to the edge of the roof and looked out over the chaos and carnage. Monsters of all kinds ran amok in the streets.

None of it was real, but the images were shocking nonetheless. That the Emperor wished this on humanity was a sobering thought.

Anaisa cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders. A chill wind whipped her hair back from her face, and Trace briefly marveled at the fierceness of his wife. She was something formidable and deep.

He hoped it would be enough to settle the Emperor’s rage.

“Your Majesty, Emperor of the Wights,” She began, projecting her voice with Trace’s augmentation. “We greet you on behalf of the human race, and urge our desire for peace and tranquility between our world and yours. I present to you Prince Ben, envoy of King Harold.”

The words echoed eerily around the group and across the city. The dream seemed to come to a standstill, and yet, it wasn’t broken.

Trace would have felt the breaking.

No, it was almost frozen, with the only motion being the slow turning of the Emperor’s head until he settled his weighty gaze on the human who had dared speak to him.

Who had presumed to be worthy of addressing him inside his own dream.

“Brigands,” The word hissed through the air, heating it with rage, and then chilling it with the ice in the Emperor’s tone.

“There is no human alive today who took part in the thievery and betrayal you suffered,” Ben stepped forward and bowed. “Your anger, though understandable, should not be leveled against those innocent of the crime.”

Trace grimaced as the dream rippled and destabilized.

“We need to get out,” He told them. “We’ve given him something to think about, now we have to run.”

Grabbing their hands, he pulled both people back with startling speed just before the roof they were standing on was crushed under the Emperor’s fist.

Thankfully, it was far quicker to flee a dream than to infiltrate one, and Trace had Anaisa and Ben pulled to the edge in a matter of moments, ready to get them out and back to their own places.

Unfortunately, the Emperor was not an average dreamer, and he did not have average dreams. He kept pace with the humans, pursuing and crushing everything in his path, leaving dust in his wake.

“Blast,” Trace murmured as he watched the nebulous edge of the dream world thicken. Could the Emperor trap them here as easily as he could send things out to escape?

“What is it?” Anaisa turned wide eyes on him, and he searched them for half a second.

“Wake up. Now. You know how. I’ll get Ben out and see you there.” He commanded. She opened her mouth to argue, but snapped it shut and nodded before replying.

Closing her eyes, Anaisa visibly concentrated, disappearing as she urged herself to wakefulness, as he’d trained her to do years ago.

Ben, on the other hand, did not have the benefit of previous dreaming experience anything like this.

“Hold on,” Trace told the man. “This will probably hurt.”