Futuristic

Chapter 3 - Nightmares

          The night sky began to change from black to red and red to orange. Shira began to yawn and forced her eyelids to stay open. "This planet never sleeps does it?" she yawned. "Not really no- unlike Earth, Discordia cycles through days much faster... You have 24 hours in a day, here we have about half of that 12" Crescentia shrugged and looked behind her. "Seriously! How the heck are we supposed to get any sleep" Jace grumbled. "Your not didn't, I already mention that?" Crescentia replied. Shira tried to keep up but her body was already tired from many sleepless nights aboard the ship. Crescentia paused "If you wanted to rest for a bit I suppose I know where we could go". "I don't trust your decisions fox" Jace growled. "Neonin not fox, not wolf, not any of that" Crescentia snapped back. "Could we please rest for at least a few moments?" Shira groaned. "Ugh fine but be quick about it where to?" Jace rolled his eyes. "Hmm well follow me I think it's around here somewhere" Crescentia put her snout to the ground and a trail of glowing blue led them back into the forest. "We're here" Crescentia remarked after the three of them had trudged through the forest for what felt like hours. "Where? This looks like more forest" Jace grumbled. "Oh right I forgot it was camouflaged" Crescentia walked over to a tree. Her tail got closer and some sort of blue fire lit the trunk aflame. The tree began to glow and open up. Inside the trunk was a medium sided looking burrow. It was illuminated with odd looking lanterns which held the same flame inside. The scent was sweet and the burrow looked welcoming. The two humans followed the Neonin inside to reveal more of the burrow. Cushions lined the inside and it was bigger than it first had seemed. Twinkling fairy lights lit up the middle of the room. "Well what do you think? Make yourselves at home" Crescentia remarked before sprawling out on a bright blue cushion. "What is this place?" Shira asked, looking around. "I- well I used to spend a lot of my time here that's all" Crescentia turned her snout away and curled her tail around her body. "Frankly I don't care but it'll have to do" Jace sneered sitting down. Shira gave him a look. "Is this your home?" Shira asked. "Well not exactly I used to hide here with my best friend" Crescentia frowned. "Oh and who was that?" Shira continued laying across a cushion. "She was a human like you- her name was Maddison... She landed here by mistake on a ship that was too damaged to get her back home, with all the technology around Discordia she thought she could fix it eventually. I found her and we became close allies and even close friends. She told me she would take me with her when she fixed her ship... We worked on it day after day and stayed here to rest each night. I guess I should've seen what was coming next, I watched her getting torn limb from limb and eaten. I couldn't save her. She never left- even when we fixed her ship she wanted to stay longer just a little longer on the planet that had become her home..." Crescentia breathed a sigh and turned her back again. "I- I'm so sorry I didn't realize" Shira frowned. "It's alright I have grown to appreciate humans even if they don't appreciate me I want to help you two" Crescentia sniffed. "Well- I still don't trust you but I'm willing to help you" Jace managed a smile. "Thanks sword boy you too" Crescentia smirked. Shira closed her eyes and laid down on the cushions. It was then she began to dream. "Where am I?" she looked around. Is this the ship? Did we do it? Are we getting off this planet? She thought. A low growl emerged from behind her. Shira snapped her head around to see a Discord. "You're going to taste good fleshling" it cackled. Shira stepped back in horror. "Y- you can talk" Shira stuttered. "Indeed I can we Discordians aren't too different from your little Neonin friend" it snickered. "W- where is Jace?" Shira breathed. "He tasted so good... I hope you'll be a better entree" the Discord sneered. "You killed him!" Shira screamed. "We don't kill our prey, we make use of them, you must know that" it smirked. "What do you mean!" Shira shrieked. "Come back what do you mean!" Shira looked around but the Discord had disappeared. Shira woke up sweating "Jace you're alive I was worried that-" Shira breathed running over to him. "Geez what's up with you look like you've seen a ghost" Jace frowned. "Did you have a nightmare?" Crescentia asked getting up. "How did you know?" Shira shivered. "Maddie had lots of nightmares when she slept on this planet. I assume it's for a reason" Crescentia frowned. "What happened in your dream?" Jace asked. "There was a Discord with an odd headdress and she sounded feminine- she told me that when a Discord kills someone they make use of them" Shira sat on the ground and brought her knees to her chest. "The only female Discord on the planet is the Discordian Queen" Crescentia replied. "Well it was only a dream right it doesn't mean anything in real life right?" Jace asked. "I don't know Discords can speak through certain ways like for example if one is far away from the other they can communicate using wind singles, or dreams, this is called dream eating which replaces the original dream with a message to the said Discord" Crescentia explained. "So you're saying that the queen meant for me to have that dream?" Shira shivered. "I'm not sure but it definitely means we should go somewhere else" Crescentia growled and began to walk towards the exit. "So you're saying they can turn invisible and use telepathy?" Jace asked. "No, not telepathy, something much different they can't talk using brain waves only using dreams the said person or Discord has to be sound asleep... I spent years on my own researching the ways to avoid them. I think I can help you get rid of the connection or whatever it is" Crescentia bounded up out of the burrow. "Alright can you tell me I barely got any sleep?" Shira yawned. "First off I need you to sit down on a rock or something" Crescentia began. "What's your plan?" Jace asked. "The sacred flame is something we Neonins are not all born with- only some it's one of the most unique abilities a Neonin can have" Crescentia explained, flicking her tail. A bright light came from it and blue flame flowed from the tip of her tail. "One main reason the Discords hated us is because of this ability, the only thing able to block out any of the Discords messages and able to see them even when they're invisible... I used this power to protect my kind but there's only so much I can do" Crescentia sighed. "So you're saying that blue flame is the secret to helping me?" Shira asked. "I'm not sure I know I can do something called memory sharing which allows me to project my memories to others- so I assume I can use the flame to also block out messages from others it worked on Maddie" Crescentia shrugged. "Well if it worked on another human then I suppose it's fine" Shira managed a smile. "Wait wait hold up you can't let her do whatever with a flame you're joking right Shira?" Jace crossed his arms over his chest. "Listen I told you I'm not going to hurt you so I'd be nice if you could just trust me for once I'm not gonna hurt her" Crescentia barked. Carefully the blue flame surrounded Shira's head and after a few seconds disappeared. "Did it work?" Jace asked. "Do you feel any different?" Crescentia cocked her head to one side. Shira blinked and looked at them. "I feel fine but I hope it worked..." Shira stared at Jace and frowned.