Prometheor

Dream of Grandmore

In the dream, Elliot is watching the Pelerines bury Halcyon. They have many strange customs and as a toddler, Elliot understood none.

In the dream, he watches Halcyon's face. The shamans are whistling and barking over the strange sound of the uque reeds banishing harsh spirits.

Halcyon had joined the dreamsphere now; Elliot was alone on Obos as the only human. He squinted at the two suns in the sky.

All around him the Pelerines, a race of simple tool users in their Stone Age, danced and howled. Elliot relied on their protection. He left the burial site.

He remembered Halcyon telling him he would one day rejoin mankind, but that was hard to imagine in this moment.

Halcyon could dream the future and studied Elliot's entire life. He was desperately trying to remember everything Halcyon told him. He sat in the dirt and watched the ceremony from a distance.

At first, he couldn't see; the tall grass was obscuring his view. With a little focus, Elliot was able to part the grass until he could see the Pelerines, dancing and kicking up dust.

They continued dancing for a while until they noticed what Elliot did. They stopped and stared at him.

"After I die, you'll be on your own," Halcyon told him. "The Pelerines will begin to see you as a threat."

#

One day, he found an aurorasaur hatchling. Halcyon told him about these.

He knew I would find one.

According to Halcyon, aurorasaurs were independent at birth and grew to be large, winged fire-breathing creatures.

To young Elliot's delight, the hatchling became fixated on his nipples; it clicked its beak trying to get at them. Elliot named her 'Goba' between fits of giggling.

As a boy, Elliot Grandmore was forced to navigate and survive a harsh, unforgiving world. Obos was host to a staggering variety of aggressive megafauna and avoiding them was a constant struggle. With Goba it was much more feasible.

Goba followed him everywhere, growing ever larger and consuming more and more meat. He would speak to her, if for no other reason than to exercise his vocal cords. Sometimes, she would vocalize in return.

With her, Elliot explored the jungles and grasslands. They found ancient ruins built by Obos' original inhabitants, a species of advanced tool users that created a system of artificial intelligence using plant-based technology.

At night, Elliot would search the dreamsphere for Halcyon, though he told him he would be impossible to find.

"The dreamsphere here is so wispy," he told him as a baby on his lap. "There are so few dreaming minds and so little time spent here."

Goba was large and warm and he would curl up next to her, watching the stars.

He reasoned that if Halcyon said he would one day rejoin mankind, then a starship would come to rescue him. He gazed at the night sky wondering what such a thing would look like.

#

The days and weeks became months and years. Halcyon taught him certain exercises to focus and control his lucid dreaming mind. He knew the boy would grow up to be very powerful and growing up alone may very well bring him to madness.

And so, Elliot would spend countless hours staring at an egg in his hand. He practiced not because Halcyon told him it would be good for him, but because his deep-seated need to not be alone drove him to do so.