Crossing of the Paths

Book 1: Desert Wind - Chunk 4

The Crossing of the Paths
Second Edition
By MMM/AJ
Part I: Desert Wind

A/N: Hello again dear readers! This chunk features a big dose of the promised Lore Dumping that I mentioned earlier as a replacement for the old flavor paragraphs! But fortunately I also understand that some people find such infodumping to be more than a little boring, so I also included some proper characterization and a nice action scene to keep things spiced up. Again there is a large amount of brand new content added here that wasn't in the first edition too, including at least two new characters. While we're still very ROUGHLY sticking to the original's plot structure here, the fleshing out means this will still have plenty of surprises for new readers. I hope you all enjoy! Also, credit goes to Kidakins for the illustration of the Gaze of the Sulaaq in this chunk!

Chapter 9: Luck of the Gods

The malicious, angry red stare returned to Mewtwo's dreams again that night. He was already struggling to force himself into a diurnal sleep schedule to match the Gerudos and the Gaze wasn't exactly helping his progress. But something was different this time around. After an indeterminate length of time with Mewtwo sitting curled up in the black dream void with the eyes glaring down at him, he thought he heard something. The dreams had been deadly silent up until now so this roused Mewtwo from his terrified paralysis and made him sit up and look around for the source of the sound. He couldn't pinpoint anything in the darkness though, and the sound seemed diffuse and nonspecific as if it was coming from the air all around him. It sounded like a voice; it was very faint and muffled as if someone was speaking a great distance away. He couldn't really make anything out, save for a scant few words that overcame the auditory fuzz that was blocking them.

"What?!"

"...don't...but..."

"...fish..."

Mewtwo strained to hear more, both out of fascination and out of an eager desire to cling to anything that might distract him from the horrific eyes that were hovering in front of him. Only one other word came to him, and it was spoken in such a loud, angry tone that it shattered his sleep and shocked him awake.

"NOW!"

Mewtwo bolted upright in his bed in the tiny little adobe and sandstone house that he had been given to stay in in Ven'rakesh. His head swiveled around rapidly as he scanned his room for threats but there was no sign of any sort of source for the shout he had heard. It took a few seconds for Mewtwo to realize that the sound had been a part of the dream and calm himself down. Mewtwo was no stranger to nightmares of course, he'd had plenty of them back when he lived on Earth. But usually they were fuzzy, mishmashed clumps of existential dread related to his origins as a clone. The Gaze of the Sulaaq was so sharp and clear by comparison, and he never seemed to forget a detail about it when he woke up.

Fortunately the adrenaline began to wear off as Mewtwo climbed out of bed and walked over to grab the cloak and gear the Gerudos had given him. Today was going to be a busy day; Chief Hadara had asked him to come to her home for lessons that morning while Kalana was out there doing her double duty on patrol. Mewtwo grabbed a fistful of that foul, gamey green jerky that had been provided for his meals and then draped his patchwork leather cloak over himself before departing.

Mewtwo still felt a little nervous about being seen in public despite the legally protected acceptance that he'd fought so hard for. He could still feel the intensity of a hundred eyes staring at him as he walked through the main square of Ven'rakesh. He might have rushed through with his hood tugged down over his face and missed everything if he hadn't accidentally bumped into a small crowd gathered on the square. He looked up to see what was going on and ended up surprised by the scene in front of him.