A Flutter in Time

Chapter 10 - Fever Dream

E was dreaming again. He was back in the white room, but this time he didn't fall into other worlds. He just stood, staring at the vast wooden throne in front of him. It was made of three different types of wood in layers, each layer spiking out to make the center of the throne look bigger. Behind him was a small white folding chair. He looked between it and the throne deciding he should sit. He got the feeling that the throne wasn't meant for him though, so he sat on the plastic chair.

Nothing happened for a long while. He just sat there, unable to do or say anything. That's when he noticed that his outfit seemed to be changing. It would flash between his normal outfit to a more fancy one, to a steampunk looking outfit, to a hoodie, and so on and so forth. His hair also changed. Long and short and done up. It was like he was changing between different versions of himself. That was strange. 

He looked back up and noticed that there was someone sitting on the throne, watching him. The person was unlike any person Etho had ever seen. They wore a dark black cloak with a hood that obscured their face. Little eyes were floating around them, and four large wings sprouted from their back. A glowing halo topped their head. They seemed to glow purple, the light casting small shadows against the throne. They contrasted the blank roo entirely.

Then E noticed the symbol on the clasp of the cloak. It was like two L's making a rectangle, with squares in the upper left and bottom right corners. It looked familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen it. 

Whispers filled the air despite no one else being in the room. Etho squirmed under all the eyes watching him. Then suddenly, the figure snapped their fingers, and Etho was falling again. He landed in some sort of frozen tunnel. He immediately felt the need to run, but he didn't feel scared. He felt excited. He then noticed the compass in his hand. He had a feeling it was pointing to something.

Etho heard loud stomping coming from behind him. He didn't quite know what it was, but he didn't not know what it was either. It was as if he knew, but not as himself. He ran from it regardless, laughing while turning corners. But then the ground gave out, and he was falling again.

Etho didn't fear the falls anymore, he just waited to touch down. This time he landed in a very loud place, bustling with people all wearing colorful attire. Their faces were all blurred, but something told him that they were smiling. Fireworks blared over head in a bright array, all colors of the rainbow displayed on the sky. The fireworks seemed to get closer and closer. Eventually one exploded and filled E's vision with white. Then he realized he was falling again.

The next place he landed was in a cave with two people, faces unrecognizable like all the people before. He felt like he knew them, but he didn't know how. They were laughing as they climbed ladders up to a cave ledge. Etho followed them, but fell off the ladder just before the top. He wasn't surprised when he was falling into another world again.

He fell through a blue sky and landed in a large field of dandelions. The field stretched on for what looked like miles. It felt peaceful. He walked through the field, soft white dandelion tufts floating into the air behind him. With each step he took, Etho expected to fall through to another world again. But each step, his feet met solid ground.

He walked for a long while and found nothing but dandelions. It was so different from the rest of the dream. Something in the back of his mind toyed with the idea of it not being a dream, but E quickly shoved that thought down.

Eventually, someone appeared in the distance. As Etho got closer, he recognized the man. It was the same person from his last weird dream, the one with the pand- no, cats. They were definitely giant cats. The man walked up to him, smiling brightly.

"Hey there Etho, hows life?" The man looked different from the last time Etho saw him. This time he wore a maroon tailcoat and a top hat. He tipped the hat as he greeted Etho. Etho responded cautiously.

"Good?" 

"That's good!" The man chuckled and stooped down to pick a dandelion, "I love dandelions, their great for wishing." The man blew on the dandelion, sending its puffs into the air.

"What are you wishing for?" The man shook his head and smiled. 

"Well if I tell you it won't come true!" 

"Not to be rude but, do I know you?" Etho fidgeted as he asked. The man just laughed.

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"Doesn't matter." The man smiled and tossed his empty dandelion stem back to the ground. Etho stared at him.

"Well who are you then?"

"I'm Scar." Scar. That name sounded familiar. Etho thought through his last dream when Scar had been talking about Grian. Grian. Etho remembered a conversation about pink astilbe. He remembered where he had heard the name.

"You're Grian's soulmate, aren't you?" Scar chuckled, he seemed to do that a lot.

"Correct!"

"How can you be in my dreams if I've never seen you before?" Scar shrugged and smiled.

"Don't worry about it."

"So soulmates do exist?"

"Yep. But I think you knew that." Etho nodded, pondering that. Part of him knew that this was just a dream, just his imagination. But a little sliver of him believed that maybe it wasn't. Scar watched E curiously, tilting his head and smiling innocently. He looked like he knew a lot more than he was letting on. Etho didn't like that but maybe he didn't want to know everything Scar knew.

Scar sat down on the ground, whisps of dandelions floating peacefully around him. He patted the ground next to him and Etho sat. Scar looked out over the fields, as if he could see something or someone in the distance. E tried to follow his line of vision, but only saw the gaping fields of dandelions.

"You know Etho, we're friends in all other universes. It's a shame we won't ever meet in this one."

"What?" Etho looked back to Scar, but he was gone.

The wind picked up and the dandelions swirled. They clouded E's vision until all he could see was white. He turned around and there was the throne again, the figure back on it. Back in the room again. The figure didn't speak, but Etho heard their voice nonetheless.

"Wake up. He's here."

"What?"

"Wake up."

Etho opened his eyes and bolted upright, breathing heavily. He had to remind himself that it was just a dream. He felt the flowers in his throat, threatening to spill.

He shot to his feet and grabbed a bucket, coughing up dandelions. He cursed and shoved the bucket away, sitting back down. The words from the dream echoed in his head. He's here. Who was here?

And then there was a knock. Etho's face went pale. Luckily Doc, who had been tinkering with his contraptions as always, shouted a response.

"Busy! Come back later." There was a pause, and a familiar voice called back.

"Please? I'm here to speak with Etho." Joel. How the heck was Joel here.

Etho watched as Doc begrudgingly went over and opened the door. Etho held back another wave of flowers. He hated the suspense. 

"Hey ladders, were you expecting someone?"

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Wacky "dream" am I right? 

Half happy with this chapter. Sorry it's late I got 2 musicals going on rn as well as drama comp and a job so.....

Thanks for reading! 

- Cloud

(1284 words above the line)