The Dream

Chapter Five : The Meeting

Alex lay in his sleeping bag and could feel the dampness of the night surround him. He wasn't really sure if he was awake now or asleep. It seemed though that he had only just lay down and yet, somehow, it seemed strangely light out through his closed eyelids. It took him a moment to realize that Bikko was growling next to him. And then he realized that someone else was close by also making noises.

"Do you think it's him?" "He's the one?" one voice said.

"Um...I'm not really sure", said another.

Alex opened his eyes and it took a moment for the sleep to get out of them and for his eyes to focus. As he looked around him he noticed that a strange fog now engulfed him, and indeed it was all light outside. In fact the fog was sort of white. As he viewed the area around him he suddenly jumped out of his sleeping bag when he saw the source of the voices sitting there on a log next to him eating.

"Um...um,who are you?" Alex suddenly said as he jumped up and almost fell backward over the log behind him. "And what are you doing here?"

"He's a strange Youngling isn't he?" one of the three guys sitting on the log asked one of the others.

"He's alright." Said the one in the middle.

"I like his little pet?" said the one on the other end as he reached out some food in his hand towards Bikko.

Bikko had stopped growling and had lowered his ears and crept forward, smelling the food the stranger held out to him.

"Bikko stop!" Alex snapped his fingers at his dog. "You still haven't told me who you are and what you're doing here and stop messing with my dog! " He looked at them all defiantly. He quickly glanced around him to see if there were any others, but all he could see was a very thick fog that surrounded everything.

"Oh dear, where are our manners?" said Tac finally. "My name is Tac", he continued.

"And these are my two brothers Tic and Toe." He motioned towards each of them. They all stood up from the log together and that was when Alex noticed that they were all attached to one another. Alex back up again and fell right over the log behind him.

"I told you he's a strange youngling", Tic said.

"Come on let's help him back up", said Tac, as they walked over towards the log that Alex had fallen behind.

Alex immediately jumped up again and said, "I'm alright." "You just caught me off guard."

He brushed himself off and went around toward the front of the log and leaned against it taking everything in. "Wow", he thought to him self. "You guys are like brothers huh?" he finally said, looking at them. "Sort of like Siamese twins."

"Sort of like what?" asked Tic, darting a look at him.

Alex decided to side step the question and said, "Um, nothing...you guys are brothers huh?"

"Want some sweet bread" Toe offered, holding it out. "It's really good, I made it myself."

"Um...thank you." Alex took the bread because he was hungry and it smelled good and looked delicious. He meagerly took one tiny bite just in case,and to his surprise, it was actually quite nice.

As they all sat there for a moment enjoying the sweet bread, Alex looked around again and thought about the fog. He hadn't seen anything like this before, at least not this thick or this white. He was deep in thought when he realized that Tac was telling him something.

"...And so, yes, we are indeed brothers. Some call us Trimese", Tac was saying.

"Yeah, but most prefer not to call us all huh?" chuckled Toe.