Unity of Dreams
Sapphire River at Midnight was the first to mention it. "There's something wrong here."
The four stood in the shifting gray sands of their combined subconscious in the immeasurable plain of the possible, gathered by an unknown impetus. Above them a layer of purple mist alternately concealed and revealed the dancing, multicolor stars. Their forms were idealized, shifting slightly as their moods changed and necessitated certain shifts in identity. They stood in a line facing the center direction, for they could each sense an absence mirrored by a simultaneous presence, something "other" in a place that was designed to unify all things into one.
A swirl of gray sand shaped itself into the height of a man, slowly shifting into blue smoke that in turn changed into a hundred lavender moths. As one they lifted their wings and took flight, revealing the form of the sorcerer, Rivers Between Us. He turned to face them, but as he did something changed. For an instant he was drained of all color, and then he flickered out of existence all together. A moment later he returned, saying "...little disturbing but..." and he blinked out once more. Ten seconds later he was back, but seemed frozen in place.
Sapphire passed an elongated hand with jewels inset in each knuckle before her eyes. She said, "Oh dear."
"It's a little disturbing, but I think I can handle it." Seated in an ivory pavilion in the depths of the night sky, Rivers gathered his presence of mind about himself and focused his mind on the moment. Opposite him, the Seven Season's Widow was seated with her legs crossed on the floor, looking at him with more than a little concern.
"Are you certain this is a good idea? Maybe we should forget about this and just dispell..."
"No. Hang on a second." He closed his eyes and frowned, but when he opened them again they had changed to pinholes of white light. "There, now I'm in both dreamscapes at once."
"You're scaring me a little now."
"Hold on a moment. I promise this will be worth it. It will take some getting used to..." as he spoke, his eyes began to spread apart, floating off his face and leaving smooth, blank skin. Each eye burst in a flash and became a replica of Rivers.
The three spoke as one. "Okay, so I need some practice."
"Okay, so I need some practice."
Storm of Amber sighed as he faced the suddenly animate youth. "I can't believe you did this. If Sapphire River at Midnight has guessed correctly, then this is an incredibly bad idea."
Rivers lifted one finger. "Hold on a second, I'm going to try to split my personal essence into two pools and deliver each to separate virtual consciousness. I'll just catch up with myself in the morning."
Storm's face turned a deathly shade of gray. "Bad. Idea."
"I wasn't talking to you. Look, Storm, I know what I can handle much better than the four of you seem to think. Sorcery is my provenance. Mostly. Sorry Sapphire, you're really good too."
"Gee, thanks."
"Did I just tell you that you're really good too?" Rivers had managed to destroy his duplicates by inhaling them in one long breath.
"No... did you intend to? That would definitely be strange, considering..."
"Oh good." He breathed a sigh of relief, and a small cup of tea appeared in his hand. He took a long sip. "It seems to have worked for the moment, but I'll probably pay for it in the morning when I try to shift back into a single personhood."
She leaned forward an placed a hand over his own. The cup in the youth’s hand shattered and dissipated. "Seriously, Rivers, I don't want you to injure yourself more than you already have on my behalf."
He looked at her seriously as he passed her a new cup of tea, spun from the fabric of dreams issuing a faintly luminescent steam. "I can’t live halfway, and I won't be deterred by peril until I’ve tried my hardest. The sun didn't choose me for my caution or my trepidation. I was chosen to defy fate and force the impossible into reality, to save all humanity and restore creation to its full glory. Try the tea."
She sipped from her cup, then opened her eyes with surprise. "There's no... no consequences here. They can't see me..." She drank again. "It's been so long..."
Rivers nodded his head. "Now do you understand why I had to bring you here? Together, if only for the night, we can defy fate. You have only taken the first few steps in the waking world, but already in your dreams you have completed your journey."
Nameless Ravine frowned as he looked at his circlemate. “But are you in pain?”
“No, it’s surprisingly easy.” He gestured vaguely, and a mountain of mirrors rose from the sand behind him, each shard no larger than a hand, and each of the mirrors reflecting a small portion of Ravine’s body back at him. Eyes winked from the corners and half mouths seemed to twist in defiance of the original image. Rivers continued.
“Have you ever seen yourself in a dream? Suppose that instead of following yourself and trying helplessly to assist or advise this second dream self, you turned and walked away. It’s like that.”
“But which one are you?”
“I don’t know yet. I don’t even know what I’m doing right now... except it’s probably something rash.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because it always is.”
