The Dream Quest

     The Lupe- Xantan- furrowed his brow. “Yes,” he said rather confusedly. “You seem quite surprised. Did you think I was someone else?”

     “Yes, I- well, kind of- it’s difficult to explain,” Solanza said.

     Eleus Batrin interrupted by jabbing Xantan with his cane. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

     Xantan blinked. “Oh, yes, please excuse me. Eleus, this is Solanza. She fell out of the sky a few moments ago and I saved her life. Solanza, this is Eleus Batrin. He’s a weaponsmith and one of the town elders.”

     “It’s nice to meet you, Eleus,” Solanza said politely.

     Eleus peered at her for long enough that she began to feel uncomfortable, as if at any moment, the Kyrii would announce that she didn’t belong in this world and start whacking her with his cane. But eventually his attention turned back to Xantan. “Fell from the sky, eh? How did you save her?”

     “I created some sort of shield before she hit the ground. I didn’t even have time to draw my wand.”

     “Hmmm.” Eleus gave him a measuring glance. “Spectral magic, eh? That’s always been your weakest area. And wandless? Very interesting.” He turned back to Solanza. “What is your story, Miss Solanza?”

     Solanza hesitated. “It’s a bit of a long story, and probably not one you’ll believe.”

     “Try me,” Eleus said rather grimly.

     Solanza looked back and forth between Eleus and Xantan and finally agreed. “All right, but this is not related to any head injury I might have gotten during that fall, okay?” When they both nodded, she took a deep breath and said, “I’m from a world like this one, but one thousand years in the future. I actually played this game- your game- yesterday. I got really into it and managed to beat it, but I think I got so absorbed by the game that it’s bleeding over into my dreams.” She frowned. “Although, come to think of it, I’ve never had a dream last this long before.”

     Xantan tilted his head in bemusement. “Excuse me, but what does it mean, to play ‘our game’?”

     “Ugh, how to describe this… Okay, picture a box with a window on the side, and you can look through the window and see what’s happening somewhere else, except that what’s happening through the window is made up. You can talk to people and do things through the window, but nothing you do matters in the real world. Your game is called NeoQuest. It’s an adventure involving magic and battling enemies. Does that make any sort of sense?”

     “Yes,” said Eleus.

     “Not at all,” said Xantan. “You’re saying that a thousand years from now, our world isn’t real any more? But you somehow travelled back a thousand years in your sleep to land in this world that doesn’t exist to you?”

     “Now you understand why I’m confused,” Solanza said. “None of this makes any logical sense to me. And even the parts of this world I should recognise are out of sorts. In the game I played, the character you look exactly like is the hero who I’m in charge of playing. Xantan is the name of a once-powerful wizard who became a pile of evil muck that tries to corrupt every creature around him.”

     “I’m a pile of evil muck?” Xantan looked distressed.

     “Yes, but you get defeated very quickly, if it’s any consolation,” Solanza said.

     “It’s really not,” Xantan said.

     Eleus tapped the ground with his cane. “Let us continue this fascinating conversation on our journey to the city. Solanza, I would like to hear more about what exactly your purpose is in the game you played.”

     They began walking, their pace slowed to accommodate Eleus’s cane. “Well, you have to defeat a bunch of other enemies in a roundabout way first, but the end goal of the game is to defeat an evil wizard named Jahbal who is responsible for unleashing all of the monsters upon the world,” Solanza said.

     “Ahhh. That part of your game remains unchanged here, I am afraid,” Eleus said. “Jahbal is indeed still responsible for the ravaging of our lands. Tell me, when you defeated him, was there peace?”

     Solanza hesitated, thinking back through the last adrenaline-filled moments. “I… think so? I don’t really remember whether I learned one way or the other. But if Jahbal is the one responsible for everything, I would assume defeating him would bring peace.”

     Eleus lapsed into a thoughtful silence. Xantan was still ruminating, and Solanza turned her attention to the world around them. The grass was tall around them, the dirt path packed firm beneath thousands of footprints. They were drawing closer to Neopia City, and Solanza could start to pick out individual buildings.

     “I’m going to take Solanza to visit Boraxis as soon as we arrive,” Xantan told Eleus, breaking the silence.

     “Once Boraxis has finished healing her, the two of you should come visit me in my house. I’d like to talk to you both some more,” Eleus said.

     “Very well,” Xantan replied, and was silent once more.

     They split up once they entered the city, with Eleus heading to the centre of town and Xantan guiding Solanza to the northwest corner. As the pair walked, they were greeted warmly by other Neopians at every step. Xantan was evidently universally beloved and had a kind word for everyone who stopped him, even though he seemed exhausted. Solanza was an object of fascination to many of the townspeople, who stared at her Eventide fur and occasionally even asked to touch it.

     Boraxis turned out to be a Jubjub with bushy eyebrows who didn’t waste words on idle chatter. He glanced over Solanza for any obvious injuries, cast a healing spell on her to cover his bases, and sent them on their way. After spending so much energy trying to project normalcy, it was almost relaxing to be ignored.

     Xantan stuck to the side streets on their way to Eleus’s house, which shortened their travel time considerably. He still hadn’t said much to Solanza other than muttered directions, but she had to give him a little grace. He was probably just as bewildered as she was.

     Eleus greeted them at the door and ushered them inside. Solanza blinked hard as her eyes adjusted to the gloom, lit only by a fireplace at the other end of the room. “How do you feel, Solanza?” Eleus asked as he gestured for them to take seats by the fire. “Was the healing adequate?”

     “I feel pretty much the same as I did before,” Solanza admitted. “A few scratches and bruises are gone, but otherwise not much has changed.”

     Eleus didn’t seem surprised. “Xantan, my boy, you seem distracted.”

     Xantan startled and tore his gaze from the fireplace. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just been a very odd day.”

     Eleus leaned back in his seat and rested his cane against the armrest. “I asked the two of you to visit me so we could discuss everything that has happened. Are you both in the right frame of mind for that? Or we can postpone this discussion until you have had a night to sleep.”

     Xantan drew himself up in his chair and looked more alert. “I’m all right.” He looked at Solanza, who nodded in agreement.

     “Good,” Eleus said, looking at them both with great focus. “This is a rare opportunity we have before us, and we must seize it while it lasts. It is unclear how long Solanza will remain in this land before she returns to her home, so we must take advantage of her knowledge while she is with us.”

     “Knowledge of what?” Xantan asked. Solanza felt like she should be a little insulted, but she couldn’t help but silently agree.

     “Knowledge of how to safely traverse this land and locate and defeat Jahbal. She has accomplished it before, albeit with a few minor differences. I believe that together, you can do so again.”

     “Eleus, setting aside for the moment whether Solanza’s knowledge of a false version of this world would be of any benefit in the real world, the more striking weakness of this plan is that I am not ready to face Jahbal,” Xantan said, sounding agitated. “I am a wizard in training! I am certainly not powerful enough now to fight Jahbal, and even if I had a hundred years to prepare, I might never become as strong as he is. This is foolish.”

     Eleus did not respond immediately, instead slowly standing from his chair. He hobbled over to the fireplace and hunched over. Solanza suddenly noticed he was wearing a pair of thick leather gloves that looked like they had been taken from a forge. When he stood back up, there was a chunk of burning wood in his hand.

     Solanza opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, and without warning, Eleus flung the flaming piece of wood directly at her face. Before she could even flinch, the wood struck an invisible barrier and bounced off. Solanza gaped wide-eyed at the wood burning a hole through the carpet, then at Eleus. “What is your problem?” she snapped. “You could have seriously injured me!” She looked at Xantan for backup.

     But Xantan wasn’t looking at her, or the charred rug, or Eleus. He was looking at his paws. His empty paws.

     “You understand now, don’t you?” Eleus said. “Wandless Spectral magic. Something you could never have hoped to master without decades of study. And now you wield it instinctively. What about you has changed? Nothing that I can see. The only change is her.”

     “What does it mean?” Xantan whispered. His eyes found Solanza’s, strange and bright in the firelight.

     “Solanza, from what I can understand, is from a different reality from ours. Her presence here is altering the fabric of our reality. I believe she is the source of your newfound power.” With difficulty, Eleus tugged the gloves off of his arthritic hands and hung them next to the fireplace, then retook his seat. “If the two of you go on a quest to defeat Jahbal, I believe that together you will be strong enough. Defeat him, and you will restore peace to our land.”

     “What do you think?” Xantan asked Solanza quietly. “I promise I will not be offended if you choose not to go. It is extremely dangerous and we are unlikely to survive.” Despite his words, there was a spark inside of him now, a newfound determination that told her he would go off to fight Jahbal with or without her help.

     What did she have to lose? She might as well see this dream through to the end. “I’ll help you,” Solanza said. “This may not be my Neopia, but I will still fight to save it.”

     Xantan gave her a fierce grin, and they shook paws.

     “Excellent,” said Eleus. “Now, get some rest tonight. Tomorrow, your quest begins.”

To be continued…