Say What

Choking on my breath, my brain raced as it became hyper aware of everything around me, and still somehow I knew that my life was changed. For better, or worse, that was a rather bloody good question if I could just get my mind to stop for a second so I could breathe. There was no way that what I was seeing was real. There was no way, that a normal, run of the mill, essentially boring, weekend camping trip had just altered my entire life.

The purr vibrating the ground under my feet rather strongly stated that it indeed had.

I don't know if it was the vibrating ground, lack of air, what I was seeing, or all of the above, but I was suddenly sprawled on the ground, a rock stabbing into my left shoulder. The sharp pain had my brain finally focusing, and I managed to draw in a strangled gasp before sitting up quickly, eyes searching. It was still there. Vivid iridescent eyes locked on my own deep blue, ears twitching at the slightest of sounds, and surely what was a bit of a smirk curling its mouth. The air of smugness was thick enough to feel even from where I was sitting, and I knew I looked like an idiot.

“I'm dreaming, I have to be. I'm back at camp, in my sleeping bag, I merely rolled onto a rock that I missed under my tent.”

“If you're dreaming, then you must have indulged quite a bit last night to ignore rolling onto a rock.”

It spoke. Admittedly in a rather smooth, obviously female voice, but it definitely spoke.

Blinking rapidly, I reached up to pinch myself, wincing at the pain, but when nothing changed, I was still out in the woods with birds trilling, and the sound of wind rushing through trees all around me.

“What in this realm are you doing?”

It spoke again.

Looking around slowly, I tried to see if I had missed someone on my hike up here, and they had decided to somehow play a trick on me. After all, cats didn't talk. It didn't matter if it was larger than a lion, a shiny black, with glowing eyes and silky looking wings. Cats. Simply. Did. Not. Talk.

I don't know why, but I felt compelled to answer the question it had asked.

“I'm trying to wake up. Normally pain of any kind will pull people out of their dreams to escape it...but then the brain will also knock people out as a coping mechanism for pain as well. Oh shit! Did I fall off a cliff? Did I break something? Have a head injury? How am I going to be found?!?!” My breath started hitching again, and I could feel the world tilting alarmingly around me as my eyes flashed everywhere but on the the cat sitting barely six feet in front of me.

Shaking it's head, the cat shifted to its feet before sauntering over to plop down next to me. Oddly it was the wings that caught my attention as the feathers gleamed with a sheen similar to its iridescent eyes. Seeing them made me think oddly of a black opal or stars against a black sky.

“How you have managed to make it as long as you have with that way of thinking I'll never understand. But that's neither here nor there. Now, I've been waiting for a long time for you to get yourself back here. Why did you take so long?” The cat huffed, stretching out to rest its head on rather large, crossed paws.

“What the hell are you talking about?! I don't know you, how do you even know me?!?” I yelped, trying to scramble away from what my brain was telling me loudly was danger, even as some deeper instinct fought against the need to flee. Ultimately I ended up not moving at all, my attention solely focused on this odd creature. It was only then that it lifted its head to look at me full on, confusion clear on its face.

“You really don't know? Your parents didn't tell you?”

“My parents are dead, have been for years, what does it matter to you?” I asked with a groan. Realizing that I wasn't going to be able to escape this crazy dream with normal means, I decided get comfortable, flopping back once more to lightly grip the grass under me. Maybe this was one of those dreams where my brain was trying to tell me something, or whatever those events were called.

There was silence for a few moments before a very put upon sigh sounded from beside me, and then the cats faced moved into my line of sight. I, admittedly, swallowed hard as I was sure I stunk of fear. I'm just glad I hadn't lost control of my bladder yet.

“Oh fo- I'm not going to eat you! I'd be in a rather lot of trouble with the others if I did that, and I'd like to keep my fur attached, thank you. Now up with you, we need to go.”

“Go? Go where? I'm not going anywhere with you, I don't even know who the hell you are!” I snapped. Again, I admit it, I was freaking out. For something that was supposed to be my dream, it seemed determined to not let me control it.

“It's time to go home, now that you're here. And since it appears that there's much for you to learn, lets start with you learning my name. You may call me Aina. Also, why not go with me? If you're truly dreaming as you believe, then why not explore? Surely if anything bad happens, or something disturbs your physical self, you'll wake up easily enough. Now come along, there's much to do.” With that said, and twitch of a tail that easily expressed her aggravation, it-or Aina rather, turned and trotted away in a smooth gait.

Glancing around quickly, I noticed how everything seemed to become muted, like all the life had been taken out of the area. It left the woods silent, and suddenly I felt like I had a rather vibrant target painted on me. Scrambling to my feet, I hurried after her, not caring about the leaves and small debris that stuck to my sensible hiking clothing as I hurried past the many trees.

“Now that you've decided to listen, care to provide me your name? I know of you, but if what I suspect happened did indeed happen, then the name I know you by may not be the name you grew up with.” Aina said softly, not slowing down, but glancing back over her shoulder at me with a knowing look.

“U-um...William...but I go by Will.” I answered carefully. The cat, Aina, had been right honestly. If it was a dream I'd wake up eventually. I just had to ride this out. Taking a deep breath, I reached up to quickly tie my just long enough brown hair back as I shifted into a steady jog to keep up with her own pace.

“Will. Alright, now, would you care to tell me how it is your parents died?” Aina asked, turning her gaze back to trail that only she could see, pausing every now and then to sweep branches aside with her wings to help Will through. She kept her hearing open, to make sure he was still with her, and could hear the exertion in his breathing. So far he was doing well, and she was glad she had found him already close to where they needed to go. She could smell that they were nearly there, and the sounds of the forest increased, joy and life clear in the way the leaves danced, the animals raced along, and the birds sang.

“Car accident, was hit head on by a drunk driver, they didn't stand a chance. I'd really prefer not to talk about it thank you.” I answered, perhaps a bit sharply, but my parents had always been a sore topic for me, more so after they had died.

“Understood, I'll not bring them up again unless needed.” Aina stopped, turning slightly to look at me, bowing her head slightly in apology. I just barely managed to stop as well to keep from falling and landing across her. Lifting my head I could see the painful understanding and knew that she too had lost her own parents in some way tragic. My eyes burned for a moment at the emotions rolling through me before I nodded my head in gratitude.

Realizing she was not turning around, instead just watching me, I looked around, trying to see if I was supposed to see anything.

“Uh..Aina...why are we here? There's nothing here.” I asked, turning in place, letting my gaze run over everything around me.

“Isn't there?” The smug, knowing tone in her voice had me shooting a bemused look from the corner of my eye before turning on the spot again, this time slower. I narrowed my eyes to look over everything around, highly grateful for the extremely sharp eyes that I'd always had, able to focus on even small details.

“Aina, I don't know why you brought me here, there's really noth-wait a sec....” I trailed off, eyes catching on a pair of rocks, boulders really, pressed together at the base of a rather large sycamore tree. What I had originally thought was line of sunlight hitting the rocks, seemed to be staying in just one spot, no shadows and shifting of the line of yellow at all. It reminded me oddly of light from a bulb reaching under a door, or between some curtains. Glancing back at Aina over my shoulder, I narrowed my eyes at the innocent look she gave me as she just sat there watching. Huffing a bit, I rolled my eyes and turned back to the rocks, jerking back a bit in surprise at the markings that started appearing, glowing, along the smooth gray surface of the rocks.

By now I realized I was trembling, and with tension running through me, I eased a hand out to lightly touch the stone, gasping when the light flared, the sound of stone grating against dirt filling the air around me. Stumbling back, I felt my heel catch on something and winced when I felt my tailbone hit the ground.

“Aina! What happened?!? What did I do?!” I demanded, shoving myself as far away from the growing light as I could. Feeling strong, unforgiving legs behind me, I tipped my head back to see Aina looking down at me with a soft smile.

“Welcome, Will, to the entrance to the land of the Fae. Or, I should say, welcome home Prince Alaunus.” With that said she bent her head down, and with a push that was much stronger then expected, pushed me into the swirling light in front of me. My last thought as I heard her jump in after me, the rocks slam close behind us, and felt myself tumbling down a grassy hill, was a rather simple one.

'A camping trip was not supposed to be a life changing event!”