ZE - Chapter 43: Dreamer

Disclaimer:

“Dialogue”

‘Thoughts’

Author notes

Chapter 43: Dreamer

The feast lasted for hours. It was a good thing he had a good rest before coming here.

He ate meats from animals unknown to him and was given drinks that made his mind slightly numb.

But by the end of it, he was in a much better state than Seth, who had passed out just two hours in…

Guskarr turned to him. “Come, my friend. It is time for us to talk.”

Zephyr looked around... people were still dancing, playing music, and partying. “Is it okay for the leader to leave? It doesn't appear to be over.”

“Haha! Over? The feast is only over when I decide it's over. The moment I leave the plaza, the music will stop.”

“Oh… I see,” Zephyr said.

Guskarr stood up and helped his mother. “Come, follow me.”

He glanced at his side, where Seth was peacefully sleeping despite all the noise...

“I will take him to my house,” Tolfin told him. “He can rest there all he wants.”

Zephyr nodded. He had no reason to refuse, so he left Seth in Tolfin's care. The giant man had proven to be extremely gentle despite his feral outward appearance.

He then followed the tribe chief and the old lady to the house they previously visited when they arrived here.

This time, the guards were left outside.

The chief didn't seem to want others to hear this conversation.

Chief Guskarr sat on his large bone chair with the old lady at his side and indicated for Zephyr to sit in front of them.

“You asked me before if I knew you were traveling into our lands… the answer is yes.” Guskarr glanced at his mother. “But it is better if I let her explain.”

Zephyr remained in silence and let the woman speak; he was very curious about what she had to say.

The woman opened her eyes and looked directly at Zephyr.

It was the first time he had seen her open her eyes completely, and now he noticed how white they were. ‘Could she be blind?’ he thought.

“Young one, do you mind standing up and getting closer to this old lady? My eyesight is not what it used to be, and I would like to verify something.”

Zephyr did as told. He got his face closer to the sitting old lady. She extended her hands and placed them on his cheeks.

He felt a bit strange when staring into her eyes from this close. There was something peculiar in them, but he didn't know what it was.

She gave him a weary smile this time. “It is you, but... at the same time, it isn't you…”

Guskarr was surprised to hear this. “Mother, what do you mean? Isn't he the one we have been waiting for?”

The woman let him go, and Zephyr took a step back. “Waiting for me?”

“It has to be him! He is the first person to come south from the Demon Lands,” Guskarr exclaimed.

“Now, now…” The old lady brushed him off. “As I said… he is the one, but... there is something missing.”

“Something missing?” Guskarr asked.

“Can you explain what is going on? Because I’m really confused right now…” Zephyr said.

“I'm sorry, young one. Allow me to make things more clear for you.” She gestured for him to sit down again. “When I was a young girl, I discovered that I was in possession of a peculiar ability. Something that had been passed down through my family.”

“What kind of ability? Like the magic from awakened humans?” Zephyr asked.

“No… mine was different. You see… I sometimes have strange dreams. Very realistic dreams that are hard to forget after waking up.”

“Dreams?” Zephyr opened his eyes widely. He was very familiar with strange dreams.

“These dreams are very special, you see. Everything I see in these dreams… it eventually becomes real.” She revealed.

“What?!” That took him by surprise.

“It is true…” Guskarr said in a solemn tone. “My mother was blessed with the ability to have prophetic dreams. And they have always come true. Sooner or later.”

“Always?... That seems like an incredible ability! So you know the future? And you saw me in these dreams?” Zephyr was beginning to understand how they knew he was going to travel south.

“Yes, it is a powerful ability, but it has some problems. To begin with… I do not know when the dream will come true,” the old lady said.

“Ah…” Zephyr immediately realized the problem. “If you dream about something that is going to happen but you don't know when it’s going to happen, it’s very hard to take advantage of it.”

“So you understand… when I was very young, I dreamed about some dangerous savage beasts attacking our tribe. But I didn't know when… my father was the Tribe Chief at the time, and he wanted to believe in me, so he increased the security around the village for weeks... but nothing happened. Eventually, the elders started to criticize my father and believed I was making things up. They could not keep our best warriors forever inside the village. They had to go out and hunt, so my father had to let them go back to their normal duties… one year after that, the tribe was attacked by a massive horde of beasts. More than half of our tribesmen perished in that attack because most of our warriors were hunting or patrolling at that time.” She explained with a sad expression. “My mother was one of the tribesmen who died, but I never saw that in my dreams…”

Guskarr put a hand on her shoulder in a gentle manner.

After a minute of silence, Zephyr spoke again. “I understand… but then, you had a dream about me coming here? Why is this important?” Even if she had predicted it, he didn’t understand why they treated his arrival as an important event. He was welcomed by the Chief and even made a feast in his honor.

The old lady smiled. “I didn't just have one dream about you… I had many. The first one, the one where you arrived at our tribe… I had that dream twenty years ago.”