Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 42: Waking Dream

-Hello! This chapter will be relatively slow-moving, but there's a big reason for that. I got quite a few comments about being confused in the last chapter, and that was intentional, but this chapter will clear up most of that confusion. There are a lot of important details in this chapter, so read carefully! 

Also, some of those details are about how my magic system works. For those of you interested in learning more about that, then this is the chapter for you. 

The next chapter might be released next Monday, or I'll have to skip a Monday again. Whether or not that happens will be determined soon, but I haven't quite figured that out yet. Now, without further ado, enjoy!

-NFD

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"Wake up already! You sleep like you're dead!"

My eyes fluttered open, met with Moon's scowl. "W-Wha...?"

"It's about time," Moon huffed, exasperated. "You've slept for long enough!"

I groggily looked around, surprised to find that we weren't at the base of the mountain anymore. "I'm... in our den?" I mumbled, puzzled. Everyone else—excluding Aurora, Myrkr, and Splinter—was awake and staring at me, their faces mixtures of worry, confusion, and fatigue. "How did I get here?"

"I took you here when you passed out," Moon answered with a roll of her eyes. "Lazybones." Wait, what...?

"Moon, shut up," Auroon cut in, pushing the deity aside with an annoyed glance. "It's confusing, but bear with me. Everyone but Moon, Shadow, Vaskr, and Nibbler was asleep. According to Moon, we had similar dreams, so we suspected it was fabricated to disable us while the Scoots invaded, which actually happened. The Soulburners defended us until the mountain 'woke up' again."

I struggled to wrap my head around that, but they didn't have any reason to lie. How much of it was a dream? And for that matter, how did all of us get put to sleep without realizing it, let alone have dreams that corresponded closely to each other? Above all else, one question felt more important. "Where are Myrkr and Aurora?" If the Scoots attacked while we were asleep, then they might be in danger.

"That's the problem," Astra interjected, visibly worried. "Parts of our dreams actually happened, but none of us saw Aurora or Myrkr. Their den is empty, so we hoped you saw them in your dream."

I jumped to my paws and made for the exit, the remnants of my unnatural dream vivid in my mind. Questions about the dreams and what, exactly, happened while we slept could be answered later. Right now, ensuring my daughter and son-in-law were safe was far more important. "Follow."

The group of dragons ascending the mountain behind me spoke in hushed voices, as if afraid that speaking too loud would disturb the mountain itself. I didn't contribute to the conversation due to Vænn occupying my mouth. They compared their dreams to create a mental picture of what would've happened if all of it had been real, using Moon's waking perspective to determine what was true, but they couldn't figure out how it happened. What caused the energy from the island to disappear? What forced all but the Soulburners into a deep slumber? Logically, the Scoots only invaded because the island's energy vanished, but did they cause the energy to disappear, or was it merely coincidence?

After listening to them for some time, I felt I could safely guess when I had fallen asleep. Moon claimed to have not seen either Aurora or Myrkr at all after Aurora jumped into solid rock, so I must've passed out after that. But that had been so seamless! How could I have passed out without realizing it?