Dreamers 7

I woke up with a killer headache. I was in my bedroom, very unthankful of the water bed I had chosen to replace the old, mouldy mattress a few days ago. I felt seasick, or bedsick, if I could call it that, and vomited straight onto the carpet. Vulpecula must have heard me, because she and Carina came rushing in with a mop and bucket. I noticed that there was a camp bed near me, with Corvus on it, covered in blood, and severe burns to most of his body. I went all squeamish at the sight of the moist, pink skin covered in ash as black as night.  I tried to ask them one million questions, but all that came out was a low mumble. I must have gone back to sleep because when I woke up, Corvus was gone and so was the camp bed. I heard the door slam and Olivia came rushing to my side. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Alya! I shouldn’t have let you come here! I knew it would be dangerous but I didn’t think anyone would die! Everything is hell with Fornax gone and Corvus just died, and now me and Aarek have to deal with everything!” Olivia blurted out, and she sounded genuinely sorry, but her whingey, whiney tone was really annoying me, especially with my head throbbing like someone was banging it with a saucepan every nanosecond. I went through everything she said in my head again, trying to sort out what Olivia had said so quickly, but all I could remember was the part about Fornax being dead.
“Fornax is dead?” I said barely audible.
“Yeah, Alya,” Olivia was choking back tears. “ He died blowing up the Far Limbo. We just managed to get Corvus out after he shifted back, but he couldn’t hang on.” Olivia’s tone was morbid and depressed. I guess Corvus was her friend, but I didn’t get why he was there.
“Shifted?” I questioned, curiously.
“Well... Corvus was a shapeshifter. An old one at that. I think he was about 150, going by the history books. He’d met Fornax in Paris, in a secret underground society escaping the Man In Charge’s reign. He’d gained his trust, helped build the teleporter and was helping to set up the end all this time!” She rushed her words, which were full of sorrow, and left me to ponder on the past events for a while, but I heard Aarek and her’s hushed voices just outside my door.

“Did you tell her?” I heard Aarek’s voice exclaim, rather husky.
“No, like I was going to Aarek! You don’t tell people those things! And besides, she’ll figure it out soon enough anyway!” Olivia exclaimed, failing to be less than audible.
“Yeah, but the time she’s figured out she’s dying, she’ll be dead, idiot!” Aarek was clearly annoyed now.
“Shhh! At least if we don’t tell her, she won’t have to sit around waiting for the end of her bleeding life!” Olivia finalized the argument and stomped off down the hallway.

Aarek came into my room after that and squeezed my hand. Olivia eventually came in with her head down and held the other. I think they knew I knew about their conversation outside my door. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to stay with Olivia and Carina and Vulpecula and Lucy!
“So, did we do it?” I asked, barely audible.
“Yes. When Corvus died, we figured out that the computer controlling the worlds was inside him, and he was taking advantage of it. So the computer was destroyed and end of. The computer was fried like most of his body, and we just got him out alive, not knowing who he was, of course!” Aarek explained.
“Hold on, hold on, hold on! What computer?” I questioned, taken aback by this huge idea.
“Well, Alya. It’s a long story. There are the dimensions that we know, like The Metropolis and Paris, and the limbo worlds, inbetween the dimensions. But there was another one, so many miles away it’s too much to count, and it was destroyed by a supernova. It was programmed to plant itself in any human it could find, and it found Corvus. Understand?” I tried to answer, but nothing came out. At least now I knew that Fornax’s death hadn’t been for nothing, and that the world wasn’t going to end, wheather it was Paris or The Metropolis, a bad world or a good world, full of free will or labour, shops or factories, things weren’t so bad after all.

All the other Dreamers relocated to The Metropolis, and Olivia published a series of books dedicated to Alya and Fornax, about all the happenings of Limbo, Paris and their dealings with The Metropolis, start to finish. The Dreamers regularly make sure history isn’t going to repeat itself.


Well guys, that's the end of Dreamers, but keep your eyes peeled for new stories!