The Custodian Chronicles: The Rising (Finished)

Chapter 27: Recurring Past

Screams echoed all around; the blur of colors hurt Cedrick's head. He cried loudly. A soothing hand brushed his shoulder, the hand larger than his whole arm. The shrieking pounded into Cedrick's head as if there were a million hammers. The rush of stimuli was unbearable.

Cedrick looked up to see a woman's face. Her eyes were pale green, a worried look upon her face. Cedrick cried louder. There was another eruption of fresh agonizing screams. Cedrick could hardly take the noise. It pulverized his head and made him unable to feel anything else. He had to stop it; he had to release the pain. All he saw was whiteness, and the mass of energy rapidly escape him.

Cedrick sat up with a slight scream. He was shaking and sweating. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to calm down. It was just that dream again.

"Cedrick," Elphacena's voice came from the darkness, "are you well?" Cedrick felt her arms wrap around him. He looked at her. She smiled. "It was that vision again, wasn't it?" Cedrick closed his eyes and nodded. Elphacena secured her grip and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Cedrick sighed. "I saw her face." Elphacena lifted her head. "The woman," Cedrick explained, "who was next to me. I saw her face. She...she was old and had pale green eyes. I've never seen eyes like that before, a pale shade of green." Cedrick met his wife's gaze. "I've never seen her face before. Never."

"Do you think you might know who she is?" Elphacena asked.

"No." Cedrick looked towards the wall in front of him. "No, I-I have no idea." His gaze returned to her face.

"You know you could always ask your father." She suggested, "Now we know he's alive."

Cedrick huffed. "Yeah, and you think he'd be thrilled to know that I still have nightmares."

"They're not nightmares." Elphacena sighed.

"Besides the only person who would tell me already knows about the dreams. If she knew anything, she'd have told me." Cedrick stated.

Elphacena bit her lip. "Well..." She hesitated. "Have you ever told her the specifics?"

"I think so. When I first had them, I would suppose." Cedrick said.

"But you're not sure?" Elphacena pressed. "You don't remember?"

"No," Cedrick admitted, "I don't."

"I think you should ask her." Elphacena said. "She might be able to tell you why you keep having this vision."

Cedrick sighed, and his eyes greeted the floor. "There'd be no point."

"Cedrick..." Cedrick looked at his wife. "Ask her." Elphacena repeated. "You never know. You might get somewhere."

Cedrick pondered his feet. "Alright. I'll ask her."

"Tomorrow?" Elphacena pressed.

Cedrick sighed. "Fine. I'll ask her tomorrow."

True to his word, and with Elphacena dogging him to be sure he did it, Cedrick approached Arylana, pulling her aside and looking around. "Have I... well, did I ever tell you what exactly what I saw when I had those...those nightmares?" Cedrick asked her.

Arylana made a face. "Ah..." She tried to remember. "No, no you never did."

Cedrick was surprised; he became slightly hopeful. "Maybe you can tell me something." Cedrick told Arylana everything he saw. "Do you know who the woman was?"

"I... I'm not sure." Arylana thought. "Older woman with pale green eyes... it rings a bell, but... but why?" She thought a moment. "I don't know." She shook her head. "I'll think about it and let you know."

"I was thinking it might have been some kind of nursemaid." Elphacena prompted. "I mean your father would have needed help taking care of a newborn."

Arylana made a face. "That is odd. I honestly don't remember Cedrick ever having one. In fact..." She screwed up her face. "I hardly remember Cedrick as a baby at all. I have a few memories, but it's as if pieces are missing."

"Missing?" Elphacena and Cedrick repeated.

"Yeah, that's... that's weird." Arylana confirmed. "I... I never thought about it." She looked up at the other two with a puzzled expression. "Maybe father knows."

"I'm not going to father with this." Cedrick stated firmly. "Arylana, I've said it time and time again. He'd only—"

"I'd only what?"

They all froze. Slowly, they turned to see Margorim standing over them, a very cross look on his face. "Do you mean to tell me you've been having these nightmares for years and never told me?" Margorim's voice was dangerous.

"Well no, I didn't mean to tell you at all." Cedrick said irritably. "But as you've overheard..."

"How could you not tell me about these nightmares?" Margorim demanded.

"Well, they're not nightmares; they're visions, to be fair." Elphacena said.

"They're what?" Margorim looked even more dangerous. He glared Cedrick. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked in a threatening voice.

"Well, for one, I didn't know they were visions until recently." Cedrick snapped. "And secondly, I knew you'd act like this. That you'd treat me like a child worse than ever."

"Cedrick, this is serious. How could you not tell me?" Margorim said.

"Because you never seem to care about anything, unless it gives you an excuse to scream at me." Cedrick said. "I knew you'd treat me like a weakling worse than ever."

"Cedrick, I don't think you're weak." Margorim said impatiently.

Cedrick blew air through his lips. "Oh yeah, and I'm going to believe that." Cedrick huffed. "You'd say something to the effect of you think I'm an imbecile."

"Now that's out of line." Margorim reprimanded.

"Anything you don't like is out of line." Cedrick said. "Look, you know about my visions; it's all cleared up. Now we better go, before Mercutio has to come and tell us off for fighting in plain sight again."

Cedrick stalked off. Margorim looked ready to kill but didn't budge. The expression Elphacena gave him could turn men into stone. She followed her husband.

Arylana hesitated, looking from her father to Cedrick and Elphacena leaving. "Tell me you didn't tell him anything." Margorim snarled at Arylana.

Arylana's eyebrows drew together. "Tell him anything?" She repeated. "I-I had nothing to tell him. What do you mean? What could I have told him that you don't want him to hear?" Arylana examined her father. "Are you hiding something?"

Her father didn't answer. Instead, he huffed andleft. Arylana watched him go. Something strange was going on, but what shecould not fathom.