Dark Warlord Chronicles

Deception of the Soul

Part 4
"The Dream"

Dais collapsed on the bed. His bicolor green body armor sank comfortably into the mattress. How he managed to win that race earlier was a complete mystery to him. The training afterwards was just as much a workout. Dais closed his eye and relaxed. Now, however, he was at Unacera's home in the mortal world. He had a room to himself. It wasn't very large, but it was not exactly small either. Dais yawned as he listened to the sounds of the night outside his window. Finally he could rest for a while and this aching pain in his muscles would go away. As Dais started to doze off, he could have sworn that he heard the beautiful sound of a flute filling the room.
The sun was hanging high in the strange colored sky. The sky was mostly light green. Near the horizon it turned light blue and then fine small line of purple on the lowest point. On either side of the dirt road were beautiful trees that seemed ages old. The leaves on the trees were also strange. One tree had light pink leaves, another dark blue leaves. Each tree's leaves were a different color of the spectrum. Of course their were the obvious copy cats. There are only so many colors and their subtle shades. The trees swayed in the refreshing breeze and a few leaves fell and drifted onto the path. Yet the trees seemed far from barren of their beautiful leaves. The breeze also seemed to carry a strange, yet wonderful musical sound over the land.
Dais just stood in silent awe, as he had every night he came here. These dreams were recent. In fact, they started when he was knocked unconscious after creating that Inferno armor for Ryo. How his armor accomplished such a feat was still beyond his understanding.
As Dais walked up the path, he shook off such thoughts. It was easy to forget your troubles in this beautiful land. Also, in some strange way, Dais felt like he had actually been here long ago. The feeling was pure instinct rather than a memory.
The path eventually lead to a circular pond. The path split in two around it and reconnected on the other side. More trees lined the outside of the pond, close to the path. Dais knelt down and cupped his hands to get some water. As he drank and looked at his reflection, he felt something. He looked up to see what he saw here every night.
A beautiful woman was levitating over the center of the pond. The suns rays were in the way of Dais' sight, denying him the chance to view the face clearly. The rest of her, though, he could make out. She wore a long gown that was the color of his Illusion armor. Her shoes and sleeves were dark blue, and the edges of the sleeves were designed with gold thread. The top of her sleeves were separate, tied off to give a puff look to where her arms met her shoulders. That separate part of her dress was dark green.
Then Dais squinted as he tried to look at her face. He could see her long light green hair flowing occasionally in the breeze. Silver highlights added an even more beautiful look to that hair of hers. The rest however, as always, was denied to his eye.
"Welcome again Dais of Illusion." She spoke softly.
The former Warlord walked into the pond a few steps, hoping to see her better. "Who are you and why do you always bring me here? This is a dream is it not?"
"I have need of your help Dais, even though I hoped before that I would help you. I believe that you are the only one that can do this. I do not have time to explain fully now. They know that we have been meeting here like this. I'm afraid I might not have the chance to do this again. Next time for sure they will trap us."
"Who are you talking about? What wants to trap you? How am I supposed to believe any of this?!"
"Oh Dais." She sighed as she lowered herself to just above the water's height.
This never happened in the dream before. She always before spoke of another meeting. The dream has changed. It always ended after her plead for help. Dais thought as he looked upon her.
Dais walked up to her carefully, fearing that with every step he would awake from this dream. Though he secretly hoped that he would finally see her face. When her features came to view, Dais was shocked and awe struck at it. Her eyes were silver, like those highlights in her hair. Her face was not plump, rather beautifully defined. Her nose and lips seemed to compliment the shape of that face. As Dais followed her features, something shocked him completely. Her ears! Her ears were pointed! She was an elf!
The elf smiled as she gently took Dais' chin in her right hand. "Take this and use it. Play it at the shores of China. Go to where people in the past have searched for mysterious places in that water. There you will find the gate to my realm. It will appear after the song of my flute is played. Use your armor to open the gates and make your way down this path. It will lead to a castle carved in the mountains. I will meet you there Dais of Illusion."
Dais felt the elf place something in his right hand as she gently let go of his chin. He saw her image fading away.
"Wait! Who are you? No!" With that last word, Dais woke up in his bed. It was eight in the morning by the clock. Dais sat up in his bed, wondering if it was merely a dream, but it seemed very real. Then half hoping, half fearing, he searched the bed near his right hand. There, under one of the covers that Dais had thrown off himself, was a silver flute. A golden loop of thread was placed through the two holes on each side of the bottom of the flute. This allowed someone to wear the silver flute around their neck. Then he saw a beautiful multi gem figurine of a phoenix hanging on the thread.
Dais held the silver flute in his hands, and up to the little light that filtered through the window's shade. "The dream. It was real!"

To Be Continued...