Dreamscape

Chapter 7 ~ That's Not my Name

Lana awoke to the sound of overjoyed cackling. Her entire body felt like she had just been crushed by a herd of wild elephants. Her vision spun, her head pounding like an earthquake. Lana reached up slowly to brush the loose strands of hair behind her ear and found that the gashes in her face had been covered by rough, dark red scabs. She suspected the same had happened to the ones on her stomach. She ran her fingers along the scabs on her face. Tracing out the gashes with her fingers as her vision realigned itself. Without warning, she felt a cold hand resting on her shoulder. Lana jumped slightly, her senses all flooding back to her at once. It cackled, taking its hand off of Lana's shoulder.

"Good. I was starting to think you had faded!" It laughed.

Lana sat up. "What's so funny?" She asked, slightly offended.

"Oh, nothing!" It snickered. "I just haven't had that much fun in a LONG time!"

"Fun!?" Lana was appalled, "How can you call almost getting torn to shreds FUN!?"

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't get even the slightest bit of exhilaration from that!"

Lana stayed silent this time. How could she answer? She didn't want to admit it, let alone to a complete and utter stranger, but she had gotten off on that. Near the end, she had found it almost enjoyable. That exhilaration. The adrenaline rushing through her. It was such a change from her normal life. All of this was. And, Lana was ashamed to say it... but, so far, she had loved every second of it. Every second of pain. Every second of adventure. Every waking moment in this new world... she loved it. Lana could almost say it was better than her life before.

"You did enjoy it, didn't you?" It asked. A wide grin spread across its face.

Lana sighed, then nodded. It threw its head back and laughed.

"KNEW IT!"

Lana smacked it across the face with the back of her hand. Lana didn't know why, but this guy was really getting on her nerves. It held the side of its face where Lana had slapped it.

"Shut up!" Lana cried. She couldn't help but she was grinning like a madman.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, then burst into laughter. Smiling and cackling together like old friends seeing each other for the first time in years. Lana clutched at her aching sides as the two lay on the ground. Laughing.

"So, how long were we falling for?" Lana asked once the two had regained their composure. "Most of it was a blur for me."

It shrugged. "No clue. Blur for me too."

"How in the world did we not die from that?"

It grinned. "Magics." It said plainly.

It held up its hand and snapped its fingers. Lana watched in awe as a small trail of glittering, black light floated up from its fingertips in a small plume.

"H-How!?" Lana asked, awe struck.

It just patted her on the shoulder. Smiling.

"All in due time."

Lana noticed it was acting much friendlier now that danger was out of the way. She smiled at it warmly. Lana looked around. Getting herself familiar to her surroundings. The sky had changed back to its original shade of beautiful, shimmering blue. To the left of the two, a large range of rolling hills leading into jagged mountains stood tall. To the right was the edge. Dropping off into oblivion.

"So... are you going to introduce yourself, or am I just going to keep referring to you as the random bystander that saved my life?"

"You first, human" It smiled. "How does the saying go? Ladies first, I believe it was?"