The Legend of Lost Aulta

9. The Second Dream

FELIKS

In the dark hours of the late night, laying under a twisted tree, Tsarevich Feliks had another dream.

The ground was giving way beneath him.

On all sides, he was surrounded by water. Water thick with slime and kelp, surrounding him. He was pulled further and further down, thrashing to escape. He didn't.

A sudden lightness filled him. He was running through a forest, his feet small and slight, almost suspended above the ground. He ran and he ran, the world a colourful kaleidoscope around him.

Hunger filled him. Something strong, insatiable. He turned and peered back through the forest, where a village lay sleeping. Accompanied by others dressed in hazy white, he sprinted back through the woodland and to the water. That huge, awful lake, and there he waited.

His hair was curled and dark, reaching down to his waist. He combed it carefully as a boy approached, calling out.

"Ty prekrasna!" You are beautiful.

His hunger overcame him. He pulled the boy towards him, and extracted something from within him- a soul, something young and beautiful, something that hadn't had enough time, just the same as his.

He spent hours waiting by the lake. Hours waiting and waiting as his hunger returned. But nobody came, and the boy was unable to do so. His hunger burned within him, and yet- no-one came. No-one came.

Tsarevich Feliks woke up with a start. The awful, gaping carven in his stomach seemed to lessen the more awake he became. He touched a hand to his hair- it was short, white blonde. He was not the girl he had became in his dream, but yet, he could still feel her.

"Feliks, are you alright?" Feliks looked up to see Ronyk, who seemed to be cleaning his hands with the sweat from the back of his neck. Feliks stared at him for a moment, "don't worry, I dreamt of the Orcish soldiers too. It will stop eventually, if you give it time."

"I didn't..." Feliks began, but he was interrupted by Yulia, who laughed joyously, slinging an arm around his shaking shoulder.

"Look at the flowers, Feliks!" She cried, and she pointed to the graves they lay beside. Sure enough, dark green sprouts were beginning to shoot out of the ground around where the guards were buried.

"We have planted a garden in dead land, isn't that beautiful?" She exclaimed, and her eyes sparkled, "I wonder if Kosma has arrived at the farm yet."

"It is not too far," shrugged Ronyk, "I only hope my mama is being kind to him. As you can probably tell, she doesn't take too kindly to strangers on her land."

The two of them laughed, and upon noticing Feliks' silence, Yulia turned to him, her brow knitted.

"Solnishka?" She said, "are you okay? Did you dream of the Olossians?"

Pushing himself upwards, Feliks shuddered, "I dreamt... of a lake." The awful feeling of his lungs being consumed by water filled him again. He trembled, his chest aching. Quickly, Yulia discarded her cape and draped it around his shoulders.

"What of the lake?" She asked.

"A girl," he said, "she... she drowned."

Yulia's eyes widened, "oh no! I... what does that mean for us?"

"I think the girl we're looking for may be.. well... a demon," said Feliks. It was the only rational explanation. People who died and came back to life, feeding from the souls of others, were demons. Some demons were born that way, but most were once humans, or elves. And the demon girl was hungry- hungry for another soul to feed from. Feliks shuddered.