One Little Spark: Part 1

Chapter 26

"...Dreamfinder...Dreamfinder...Dreamer?"

          The infection of the Abiteth's residue has left Dreamfinder in a state of a coma for who knows how long. As it had spread, his senses had grown weaker and weaker. Thus, he fainted, for Dreamfinder is done for. If that is the case, then how come he can still hear Rachel's voice? Her sounds are murmuring and echoing towards the sick man's ears. His eyes tighten as he manages to wake up. Then Dreamfinder's eyes lids open heavily and are filled with a fuzzy blur followed by a grassy texture of his feint eyelashes.

          Through that grassy blur he finds a peachy-tan and reddish blob sitting beside him. As the blob continues to move, the Dreamfinder's vision becomes clearer. Soon the blob's figure begins to take the form of a familiar person. When the blur becomes more vivid, he soon realizes Rachel is sitting beside him. The Dreamfinder's eyes meets up with Rachel's joyous, yet calming smile, tempting him to do the same.

          His coughing, however, has gotten in the way of showing that one smile due to the pain of the freezing residue from the creature. The coldness in Dreamfinder's chest comes out in a sharp pain every time he coughs. And coughing those coughs have made his throat sore, making it hard for him to speak clearly, hack out any of the goop caught in, or even breathe. The Dreamfinder is in terrible shape at the moment.

          The last thing that happened before he fainted was that he, Rachel, Figment and Alex Wavers destroyed the Abiteth in the high noon at the desert. This place is not that place. Searching, the Dreamfinder's eyes wander about this new area. A red fabricated tarp is wrapped above him and Rachel like a tent, lit only by a single candlelight. Alex is sleeping at Dreamfinder's left side with his back against him, though he could not tell where his little purple friend is. Below him, he lays on a green satin sheet with his head on top of a round cylinder pillow with golden tassels and dark red silk filled with an aroma of sweet-smelling herbs.

"Rach... Rachel?" Dreamfinder finally speaks in his wispy voice.

          But as he looks down to see the sheet, he finds the remains of Abiteth's goop sitting on top of his torso infecting his body still. Dreamfinder's tired eyelids grow wider than before. The fearful shock of remembering what was happening to him before he fainted had revived in him. He quickly lifts his arms up in attempts to back away from the infection, but it has only been proven useless. Rachel lets go of the wash towel she has been cooling Dreamfinder's head with and grabs one of his arms to stop him. Dreamfinder turns his head quickly to Rachel's direction with a gasp in his breath.

"Calm down, Dreamer." said Rachel. "You're alright now."

"Rachel!" Dreamfinder exclaims, wheezing through his goop-infested throat. "Where are we? How long have I been out? And what is this?"

Rachel then hushes Dreamfinder saying, "Shush! Keep it down or you'll wake Figment and Alex up."

"Hmm? I see Alex, but where's Figment?"

"He's sleeping right behind you. It's been pretty busy trying to get you better the whole time."

"Figment..."

          Dreamfinder lift his arm closest to Figment to try to pet his old friend, but his hand gets swiped away by Rachel saying, "No Dreamer, don't touch him! You're still infected. Touch anyone with any part of your body smothered with that goop and you'll spread the disease."

"What's happened here?" Dreamfinder asks. "How did we get to this place?"

"Well..."

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                                              Three days ago...

          After Dreamfinder and his friends defeated the Abiteth, Dreamfinder chokes on the piece of its gargled goop that shot into his mouth while saving Rachel from being splashed with it. This had resulted to the point of getting extremely sick and fainting. The last thing Dreamfinder had seen was Figment and Alex grabbing onto his legs to carry him and the movement of Rachel's lips telling him to stay strong, but even that was not enough for him to fight against the infection.

          With their host completely blacked out, the rest of the group is left in a state of severe panic. For one thing, no one knows how to fly the Dream Machine but Dreamfinder. And second, with the oasis gone and destroyed during Abiteth's attack there is no longer any source of life in the desert. They figured it would be pointless to leave the desert world believing that there would be someone other doctor in some other realm or even Earth that would know how to cure him and without infecting anyone else. This is one situation that has left everyone stuck.

"No! Dreamfinder, wake up! Stay with us!" Rachel shouted.

"Wake up, buddy!" Figment shouted as well, as he flew on top of Dreamfinder's body. He simultaneously slapped his hands onto Dreamfinder's cheeks side-to-side and says, "You can't give up on us now."

          But as Figment slapped his hands, they suddenly ran right through Dreamfinder's cheeks. His once solid hands have become very thin and translucent. The colors are fading, he can't touch anything anymore and he's beginning to feel sicker as well. Surprised, the little dragon looked at his hands noticing what is causing this to happen.

"What?" Alex gasped in shock.

"Figment!" Rachel screams. "What's happening to you?"

"Oh no...I'm disappearing!" Figment exclaims in a frightened tone.

"What? Why?" Alex worries in his quiver.

"It's Dreamfinder. He's beginning to fade away inside, too."

"What's that got to do with you?" Rachel shouts. "You're real, aren't you?"

"I am," said Figment, "but I'm also imaginary. And being Dreamfinder's imaginary friend, I would have to face the same fate as he does."

"What does that even mean?" Alex asks.

"It means that whatever is going on inside of Dreamfinder is killing him." Figment confirms solemnly. "So long as Dreamfinder is dying, I'm dying, too. With Dreamfinder's imagination gone, all of his hopes and dreams are fading away...including me!

"Oh no...no...no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-NO! Dreamfinder, wake up!" Rachel shouts as she tries to shape the poor man awake, but no luck came. "You've got to fight it! Fight! Wake up!"

"It's no use." Alex said in remorse. "He's far too out of his senses to sense anything."

"No! We can't give up yet!" said Figment with determination inside of...whatever there is left in him. "Without Dreamfinder or me, you two will be stuck here forever!" The dragon examines Dreamfinder carefully. A tiny curve in the man's eyes twitches on each side as well as his arms. Then Figment concludes, "There's still hope in rescuing him. Since I'm not fading as fast, Dreamfinder must be trying to fight the infection inside. I don't know how long it's going to last though."

"We've got to find help and fast!" said Alex, as she holds Dreamfinder firmly by his shoulders.

"How?" Rachel asked so abruptly. "We're in the middle of a forsaken desert, in a strange world with no source of life anywhere but right here, and that's us! And we can forget about using the oasis again now that it's been buried in the sand."

"There has to be someone out here who can help us." said Figment, trying to show a little encouragement. The heat, however, seems likely to destroy everyone's ability to budge.

"It's...it's is all my fault." Rachel whimpered with tears beginning to form in her eyes. "If I hadn't been so rude to him, we wouldn't have gone inside that thing in the first place. Not only are we going die of extreme heat and exhaustion, but I'll also be dying in shame of all the times I so wrongfully treated you all. I...I killed Dreamfinder!"

          All of the tears in Rachel's eyes are dropping down her cheeks at this moment. They each either dry up very quickly on her face or evaporate onto the sand at their first touch. Rachel then buries her head upon Dreamfinder's neck ignoring the residue forming continuously at his chest. In the midst of this, Dreamfinder's hand unexpectedly lifts and softly pets onto Rachel's laps. A very weak smile from his lips forms under the Dreamfinder's rugged mustache. His quickening cold blood is beginning to warm up out of Rachel's compassion. All he was able to let out for her is small gasp and a series of long quiet breaths.

          Figment sees all of this happen and then looks at Rachel, who is still crying. His two tiny wings, brightly orange as ever by the sunlight, flutters rapidly directing him towards Rachel. He hovers right over Dreamfinder with his crocodile nose standing out an inch away from Rachel's tear-drenched face. Holding out his fading hand to Rachel's chin, he somehow manages to turn her direction to Figment's big yellow softened eyes. The little dragon smiles at Rachel. How can a dying dragon be filled with so much hope at a time like this? It is understandable that if both he and Dreamfinder die, at least they will be together. But that cannot possibly be the reason for that smile.

"There is still hope, Rachel." said Figment calmly. "So long as Dreamfinder is still moving in the slightest, we can still save him. See?"

          The dragon points out to Rachel the Dreamfinder's hand placed above her laps, close to her knee. It slightly tickled her, but she didn't care. The small smile on Dreamfinder's face also brought encouragement into her heart again. It was enough for Rachel to smile for him inside, but the facts of being stranded in the desert and the slim chance of Dreamfinder surviving had overcome her physical expressions.

"But what can we do?" Rachel sobs, "There nothing out here that can help us."

"We do what we always do: use out imagination. If imagination has helped him and me get out of trouble in the past, I guarantee it will help us find our way to help Dreamfinder and get out of the desert. But it's not going to help us out if we just sit here and do nothing. Believe in me. Believe in Dreamfinder. But more importantly: believe in yourself."

"But...but Dreamfinder has already confirmed that I have no-"

"Forget what Dreamfinder said!" Figment interrupts. "He didn't mean it. He only said that because the heat and that icky fog were what's been going on his brain. Only don't tell him I said that." He chuckles a bit. "He knows, and I know, and I'm pretty sure Alex here should know, too, that you have an incredible imagination inside that noggin' of yours. You saved us a few times with that when we were being turned into Woosoes in Fillidore and Dreamfinder falling from the sky when we entered Iyrilia. With your imagination and ours together, we're going to find a cure for Dreamfinder."

          Such wise words coming from a witty little dragon. Though, it did come from Dreamfinder's brain in the first place. Still, Rachel sat there and listened to those words. The look on Figment's face is sincere. His pupils quivered slightly as the purple reptile tried to contain himself from crying as well. Even in the state Figment is in, he's trying to be strong for his friends. The bond between Dreamfinder and his dragon, Rachel realizes, is by far completely unbreakable. Their faith in each other has gotten them this far in their adventures. This one, therefore, is no exception.

          So there is simply no reason for Rachel to continue drenching herself in this matter. She looks down upon Dreamfinder's defeated face in pity. Her hands pet Dreamfinder's head and run through his brown-gingery, slightly curled hair. From this, she receives another weak smile from Dreamfinder and supposed-savior for her life. After all, he and Figment got her out of the realities of Earth where she could have done something worse for herself after getting fired. The poor brilliant man is suffering through this because he cared so much about her to save her from this fate. Rachel finally understands that now. Drying her tears, she builds up her courage at last and gives in to her friend's encouragement.

"...Okay." Rachel whispers with a small smile and a nod.

"Okay!" Figment smiles back. "Now first thing's first: we've got to use our imagination to find help."

"I get it that imagination is the key to solving our problems most of the- ALL the time, Figment," Alex spoke out at last, "but what can we possibly do with it to find help?"

"Easy! Imagine some people to appear in our minds, and if we think and believe hard enough they're sure to appear."

"Does that work?" Rachel asked. "Like really work?"

"If it worked for our friend, Fye back at the Sound Acreage, it's bound to work here, too." Figment replies with a smile.

"But what kind of people do we come up?"

"Any kind! So long as we imagine them having the wisdom of curing people with whatever they've got. Imagery shouldn't matter, just so long as it gets the job done."

"Alright, let's try it." Alex said. "Everyone, think!"

          Everyone sat where they were in deep thoughts. Rachel managed to hover Dreamfinder's face so the sun doesn't burn him into crispy bacon. Fortunately, it gave her an insight of Dreamfinder's breathing pace, which was at this point incredibly low. Becoming sitting ducks with no sign of movement, however, has let the sun to allow itself to burn the others instead. The heat intensified greatly over them. It has made it become harder to think of ideal people to help cure their friend. So far, whenever their eyes looked up, all they have seen are giant pictures of ice cream, more palm trees, another oasis, and a glacier of ice: mirages. It wasn't so surprising that any of them hadn't thought of doing the thinking inside the cabin area of Dream Machine. Their brains were fried enough as it was.

          Still, it didn't stop any of them from imagining themselves some help. Rachel's mind, of course, was aimed at finding help from humans doctors, actual human doctors. With any luck, they could at least be given a nurse. Alex also tries to think of doctors, but in the image of desert related creatures such as camels or snakes that have specialized in medicine. Even a witch doctor that deals with voodoo would be helpful enough. Figment, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less whom or what this person looked like. He put all of his ideas into practice so long as these kinds of people would come out wise enough to give Dreamfinder an antidote of some kind.

          Finally, though, when everyone was about to feel their skins boiling and frying in the heat, a touch of a hand came upon Rachel's shoulder. Rachel's opens her eyes and gasps at the sight of their unexpected visitor, alarming both Figment and Alex as well.

          The person who showed up along with its clan look an awful lot more peculiar then any of Rachel, Figment and Alex had imagined. A cloaked figure came to Rachel's side with its face covered and shaded in a dark brown color by its hood. Its eyes were the only things the others could see in it as well as the other folks behind this stranger. What followed this stranger was a group of more cloaked figures like it accompanied by a herd of camels. Their cloaks are all colored in white, red or brown. It must depend on their status of authority or something.

          None of Figment or his friends could make out what these people are physically supposed to be. The one that stood next to Rachel looked down to Dreamfinder, who had been out and laying upon the girl's laps for some time now, in pity. It looked back to Rachel and then to her friends gazing at them strangely. As strange as these new people were to the three friends, they were just as strange to the cloaked desert folk, too. The stranger stared at them all observing the expressions on their faces. One carried shock, one carried fear, one carried curiosity, they all carried confusion in them. Still, the stranger knelt down beside Rachel to get a closer look at them. Of all the three persons in the group, Rachel happened to look the strangest looking to it and its group. It appears that they've never seen a human before, a female human at least. That didn't bother the stranger too much, though, for it now had finally got up to courage to speak.

"hal 'ant aldhy astadeana?" said the stranger in its feminine voice.

          For once, the newest person they meet had spoken a different language. No one could understand what this stranger was saying. That is, at least most of them couldn't. Somehow, Rachel had understood that language. All she was able to understand was "Are you the one who has summoned us?" Not sure how she was able to interpret that, she still bothered to reply to this new stranger.

"Yes, I believe we are." Rachel said.

          The stranger looked back down at the dying Dreamfinder, whose face is almost entirely being covered up by the goop's infection. It places the back of its hand, revealing it as a darkened claw of some sort, onto Dreamfinder's forehead. It could feel the hot and cold flashes rushing back and forth through the man's skin. Then Dreamfinder cringed at the sudden touch. His teeth clenched a bit as did his eyelids squeezed tightly shut. His arms shook and had immediately been covered with raging goosebumps popping up every second. His breaths gasped coldly and quickly from that touch. The only thing that kept him warm was Rachel's lap against his back. That was the only redeeming feature of this sudden event.

          Seeing that Dreamfinder was in an extreme state of this disease, the stranger snapped it fingers to its group saying in its own language, "hadha alrajul marid jadaa! 'iiedad alkhayam. waealayna 'an nuealijah." In English it said, "This man is very sick! Set up the tents. We must cure him." The stranger looked back at these new people with its eyes not blinking even once. It speaks once again.

"ma asmak?" the stranger asked.

"...I'm...I'm Rachel." Rachel shyly replies. "This is Figment, Alex Wavers, and the one that's sick right here is called Dreamfinder."

"min ayi balad hadaratak?"

"We're...from another dimension. The three of us are from a place called Earth, while Alex is from another place called Iyrilia."

"hal 'ant alalahat?"

"No. We're not gods. We're just...we're just us. What are you going to do with us?"

"la tuqliq. Hadha hu eamal 'abith alshariru, lakunina naerif alealaja. Wanahn sawf takhudh alrieayat minkum jamyeaan."

"Rachel, you can understand all that?" Figment exclaims. "What's she saying?"

"She...she says not to worry about Dreamfinder. They know the antidote to cure Dreamfinder from the creature's, or Abiteth as they called it, disease. They're going to help us."

"Really? That's great! Did you hear that Dreamfinder, ol' buddy? You'll be good as new again!"

"Can you really help him?" Rachel asks the stranger.

"kam min alwaqt kan mithl hdha?" the stranger replied back with a question of her own.

"About a half hour. He's been sick like this for a half hour. Though by the looks of it now, I think he's getting worse."

"thuma kunaa 'afdal musaeidatah ealaa alfawr. hdha almarad sawf tazdad su'ana fi kli daqiqatin."

"What did she say?" Alex asked.

"She says that the disease gets worse every minute that passes, so we'd better help cure Dreamfinder immediately." Rachel replied in English.

"tati. yjb 'an nasriea." The stranger said. In English she would say it like "Come. We must hurry."

          The stranger stands back up and heads back to her group. Her distinctive voices commanding her people to hustle faster to put the tent up becomes more feint to hear the farther she walked away from Rachel, Alex and Figment. None of the three friends could make out what had just happened. Their only explanation was that the power of imagination had once again saved them from seclusion in the desert, but their thanks to the new strangers are on hold until Dreamfinder is cured. But what had bewildered them most was how Rachel was able to understand what the stranger's foreign language. It all sounded like gibberish to Figment and Alex, but crystal clear to the girl.

"Wow, Rachel!" said Figment with excitement. "I didn't know you could speak Arabic!"

"I...I don't. I never did." Rachel said in confusion.

"But you just spoke their language in their dialect so fluently!" Alex said.

"Their language? I was speaking English!"

"That's not what we heard." said Figment. "What we heard was...uh...asi-gabi-something-something-something-muka. Or something like that."

"What? I said that?" Rachel realized.

"Yeah. As clear as this blue sky." Alex confirms.

"Weird." Rachel said to herself. "I don't remember saying it all like that."

"mahla! hal 'ant qadm?" the stranger called out to them from the finished tent and waving her arms.

"Oh! Coming!" Rachel shouted. "Guys, give me a hand with Dreamfinder."

"Okay." Both Figment and Alex exclaim in agreement.

          They each took a leg while Rachel took Dreamfinder's topside and carried him all the way into the tent with the Dream Machine parked outside. Dreamfinder had let out a couple short breaths due to his sickness that flew down to his torso.

"Don't worry, Dreamfinder..." Rachel grunted at his weight. "You'll be better soon."