The Things Dreams are Made of, Part 66

The terror in his eyes was short lived, mostly because I didn't give him much more time to think about it. My power was even larger now, larger than I thought possible, but the acquirement of the spear seemed to grant me much more control, as well. I lunged at him, stabbing out with the trident. He barely had time to dodge, but I'd been expecting that. I brought the blades sideways and sliced along his leg. He fell to the ground and clutched his wound, growling. But he wasn't done yet. He reached out with one terrible hand, but I swatted it away easily. Already he seemed on the ropes, for I was far to fast and too strong, but something happened then that I did not expect--the purple bastard's body fell to the ground, limp and lifeless.

"This can't be good," I said.

And then I felt the most pain I'd ever felt. It was like someone had broken open my skull with a tack hammer and was now blending the contents mixer. There was noise and darkness and then there was nothing at all.

After was seemed like a lifetime there came a flash of color to my left. What was it? There was darkness still. I couldn't see my hands in front of my face but perhaps it was because I had no hands. Was there even a floor beneath me? As I thought it it became so, but the ground below was not cold like the ice where I should have been. Instead it was the tile of my kitchen, back at home. I thought about how dark it was and then lights appeared, and sure enough I was back at home.

"Oh!" I cried. "It was all a dream!" But as I said it I knew it to be false. I looked down at my hands, at my whole body. It was just me. No armor. No bulked up muscles. I was exactly how I had been not too long ago. How I was supposed to be.

Then a man walked in who was taller than me but not much more muscular. He had a black jaw line beard and thin hair. I knew immediately that it was Rakasha.

"So here we are," he said. "Your mind is nothing like your uncle's."

"Don't you talk about my uncle, or about me," I said. Seeing him like this reminded me how much I hated him. He'd taken Adrienne from me, and who was I kidding? He'd taken everything from me.

"Oh, my. Quite the temper we have."

I felt so weak here. I wondered where we were. But just then something seemed to whip my legs out from under me and I felt hard on my face, shattering my nose. Then I got thrown into the fridge, which exploded on impact, sending old food everywhere. Everything in me felt broken, but it didn't stop there. I had no power here, and Rakasha had all the power in the world. He tossed me back and forth like a rag doll. I couldn't last much longer, not like this.

But then there was a light from the back of the room. There was the image of my uncle from the dream so long ago. How long? Years? Millennia? He leaned down to talk to my motionless frame.

“We are in your mind, Ramsey,” he said, but it was my voice which issued from his mouth. “You have all the power here.” And I knew it was true, but I wasn’t sure how to conjure it, how to use it. I felt so weak, so broken, and yet if this was true I should be able to just heal myself—and all my bones were fixed, my injuries cured. I stood, not as just me but as my fully powered self, though no armor adorned my flesh. He tried his mind tricks again, but to no avail.

“Learned a new trick, have we?” he said, though he looked nervous.

“Yeah,” I said. And with a small amount of concentration he exploded.

I awoke on the ice, my body sore and my nose bleeding badly. My trident was next to me. My whole body was covered in armor.

“This is not over,” a voice said in my ear. And I knew Rakasha had retreated, beaten, at least for now. But he was right, this wasn’t over, not even close. I took the swords from the tip of the spear and replaced them in the X on my back. I hung the spear head-up in there as well, and it extended up over my head awkwardly. That wouldn’t work. I called for Harx to come over and I stuck it in a slot on his armored saddle. I stroked his head and neck.

“What now?” I asked. He looked at me nervously, like he didn’t want to know. “Yeah, me either.” I said, and together we flew off into the sunset.