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Chapter Thirty-Seven — Cult
Chapter Thirty-Seven — Cult The figure in the long cloak glanced around the cavern. Grey walls, streaked with scintillating white where cracked geodes of some crystalline rock were poking through surrounded them, lit only by the flickering red light from a few candles strategically placed around the room.The air smelled of incense, sweat, and that nervous energy that they only recalled smelling just before a big exam. It energised them, sent thrills down their spine that were only suppressed by the creeping fear that lingered in the dark.“Have all the members arrived?” they intoned, voice deep and tenebrous.There were six other figures in the room, all wearing long robes that masked their faces and made their bodies entirely indistinct. No one would be able to tell much about them other than their height and perhaps a hint of their gender in the set of their shoulders.With no reply but the bob of a few cowls, the speaker continued. “In that case, I declare the start of the sixth bimonthly meeting of the Cult of the Dreaming Hopefuls.”“Oh come on!”“That’s the worst one yet.”“Nah, that’s Marge’s idea. The Dreamy Dreamers? I still can’t get over it.”As was normal for one of their meetings, it immediately devolved into a bunch of bickering and whining. John was glad for his hood. It prevented the others from seeing his eyes roll or hear the longsuffering sigh he let out.It was an hour’s walk away from the academy to get to this cave. An hour where they had to make sure no Inquisitor was following them and where they had to carry their stuff with them. This week he was responsible for the candles and after-ceremony snacks. Those were the speaker’s job, and he took his job seriously... when it was his turn.John cleared his throat. “Regardless of what we call it,” he said. His name wasn’t that bad, was it? “The meeting has begun. First, shall any of the dreamers here express any news? New dreams to enlighten the future? New visions of our lady?”A hand raised. He thought it might be Smith. “So, I had a dream about Miss Desperau again,” he said.Everyone groaned.“Hey! It might actually have been a vision this time,” Smith said.“Was she punishing you again?” Another asked.“Well, sort of,” Smith said.There was a giggle from one of the smaller members whom John pretended not to know was Cynthia. “Did she have a cane this time? Or was it a ruler? Did she bend you over your desk?”“It wasn’t anything like that!” Smith said.“Did you wake up with some wetness around your loins?”“Okay,” John said. “Setting aside Smith’s... dream. Did anyone else have a dream or vision from our lady? A real one.”He waited a heartbeat, then was about to move on to the next part with someone coughed. Cynthia? “Um, I had a dream where the lady entered an Inquisition call box, then was whisked away. Everything in the world started to move backwards, birds flying in the wrong way, people walking backwards, leaves fell up onto trees. It was strange.”The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.John agreed, that was strange.“And you complained about my dreams,” Smith muttered.“We’ll keep an eye out for, ah, the Inquisition and any... time related things,” John said.Everyone nodded along. It was always best to be safe with these kinds of things.“That brings us to the most important part of the meeting.” The air grew a little more sombre, and it almost felt like the shadows twitched in anticipation.Two of the group members scurried off to the side and returned with a great big cast-iron bowl (Smith’s family had a lot of blacksmiths in it, and he got the bowl custom made for them. It had convenient little handles on the sides). They placed it in the middle of the cavern, where everyone could see into it.John, as the speaker for the night, bowed to the bowl first even as he reached under his robes. “I offer onto thee, our lady of dreams, this box of fine pastries.”He pulled out a box of pastries, tied with a neat bow at the top. Inside were cookies and a slice of cake, as well as a few slightly burned croissants.His sister made them.He placed it into the bowl and stepped back.The next places a large loaf of bread, then some sausages. Everyone rolled their eyes as a member added a large jug filled with expensive wine. Timothy always trying to flaunt his wealth.Finally, the bowl was filled with enough food to feed someone to bursting. John reached his hands out to the side, and they were gripped by those nearest him. The circle was formed of living bodies. “Oh, Dreamer, She who Eternally Lies. We give unto you this bounty, that you may bless us and ours so that we may feed your eternal dreams forevermore!”John loved the way his voice bounced off the walls.He paused, nervous for a moment about whether or not the lady would reply.Then the air rent, and from that rent came a flurry of tentacles that poured into the bowl like intestines falling out of a sliced gut.They rested there for a moment, then were pulled upwards, leaving the bowl entirely empty.There was a long silence, then a sigh.“That last part always makes me nervous,” Smith said.“I know,” Cynthia agreed.“Whelp, that’s it for this week’s meeting,” John said. “Did anyone bring cards?”“I did!”“Oh, I brought some cake from that little cafe, the new one? Anyone want some?”It was strange, being part of a cult. It meant that John had to spend a lot more time with some very strange people than he’d normally want, but in the end it proved to be a lot of fun. He was actually growing fond of his strange new friends.It was a small price to pay for immortality.
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Chapter Thirty-Eight — Solstice
Chapter Thirty-Eight — Solstice Dreamer was very excited.The cafe, and their home above, was all nice and decorated. There were more plants than usual, some of them cut up into wreaths that Abigail explained symbolised various alchemical circles that helped people in different ways. There was a thin layer of snow outside too, the crunchy kind that went ‘cruk cruk’ when people stepped on it.There were other decorations too, of course. Pam, Dreamer’s weird clone, had figured out how to make long strung out paper hangy things using long bits of folded paper. With Charlotte’s help, they’d strung those out over the doors and across the room.There was a weird plant hanging over the kitchen door called a mistletoe. Abigail had explained that when two people stood under it at the same time, they had to hug, and if they were special friends they could kiss too.For some reason she had vetoed Dreamer’s mistletacles. The mistletoe didn’t actually make people hug, it was only a traditional thing.Dreamer suspected that it was less a tradition and more an excuse that Abigail and Daphne came up with so that they could tentacle wrestle with their tongues some more.When evening of the Winter Solstice came, they closed up the cafe and all of their friends gathered upstairs in their living room. It was Dreamer and Pam, and of course Abigail. Charlotte was there with Poutine, who looked a bit nervous, and Daphne was fussing over a few pretty boxes with bows tied up above them.Dreamer was bouncing on the spot she was so excited for this part.Everyone picked out a place to sit, some of them next to piles of gifts, and Dreamer’s entire being twitched as she saw her name on some of the tags hanging from some gifts.“Alright,” Abigail said. “Who wants to start?”“Me!” Dreamer shouted.There were chuckles all around. “I would never have imagined that you wanted to go first,” Daphne said.Dreamer nodded very fast. “Yes.”Rents opened in space, and from those came her gifts. She didn’t know how wrapping worked, so she had mostly just wrapped the gifts in layers and layers of colourful wrapping paper, then there had been an incident with a roll of tape (even now, two of her tentacles kept trading the same tiny ball of tape back and forth, eternally unable to get it off without the tape sticking to the tentacle removing it from the other).Still, her gifts were all there.“Okay, okay,” Dreamer said. She grabbed her gifts and ran around the room, giving them to her friends. To Charlotte she gave a teeny tiny time travel box. That way she could put something in it if she wanted it yesterday. She gave Daphne a picture of Abigail sleeping. She got Charlotte to help her frame it. Charlotte thought that it was a very funny gift, but Dreamer didn’t get that. She just knew that Daphne liked it when Abigail slept.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.For Poutine she gave him a styrofoam cup. They didn’t even have those in this universe, so she really had to go far to get one. He seemed confused by it, but that was fine.Pam got to live, which was a great gift, Dreamer figured.And then it was time to give Abigail her gift.Abigail sat on the edge of her seat, a smile just itching to come out. “Did you get me anything special?” she asked.Dreamer nodded. “Yes,” she said. She pulled the plushie out from a rift, then held the box carefully. She had gotten help to wrap this one because it was special. “Here,” she said.Abigail took the box and carefully undid all the tape holding the paper around it in place. Dreamer bounced while she waited. Why did Abigail have to be so... Abigail about the paper?Then it was all off and folded on the side, and Abigail carefully opened the box.“Oh!” she said. She raised the plushie, then grinned at Dreamer. “It’s very cute,” she said.Dreamer nodded. It was. “Yeah, it’s a me, but small and plush. So that you have something to hug and keep you happy, even when I’m not there, which I won’t not be because you have plushie me.”“I think I get it,” Abigail said. She hugged the plushie, then patted her lap for Dreamer to sit on. “Alright, does anyone mind if I go next?”No one did, so Abigail reached behind her seat-which was tricky with Dreamer on her lap-and pulled out some gifts of her own.Most of them were nice and simple things. Socks and felt hats, and whatever it was that Daphne got, it made her blush a lot before she closed her box and hid it under her seat.“And this is yours,” Abigail said.She placed a gift box on Dreamer’s lap.Dreamer ripped the box apart, shreds of wrapping paper flying all over, soon followed by the cardboard underneath as she dug for her gift.She gasped.Carefully, Dreamer raised her gift up.It was a hat.Not just any hat though.It was a bowler hat.Only important people wore those.Hers had little felt tentacles on the brim, and on the very front, embroidered into the dome-like cap, was her name. “Dreamer.”“It’s so pretty!” Dreamer said. She wiggled it a bit and was immensely satisfied by the way the tentacles sticking out of it bounced.“I’m glad you like it,” Abigail said. “Try it on?”Dreamer did. It fit just right.“I’m going to put this at the very very top of my tower of hats,” Dreamer said. That way, any who saw it would gasp in awe, and they would know that it was the greatest of all hats.More gifts were passed around, snacks were brought out, hugs were given, the mistletoe used its strange traditional magics on Daphne and Abigail some more, awesome hats were worn, and all in all, it was the best night ever.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Nine — RacerGirl
Chapter Thirty-Nine — RacerGirl “Uh?” Diana said. She looked around the interior of... a cafe? A weird one, with wood and stuff all over. It looked like a place that was decorated to look like it was around a long time ago.She jumped up and down on the spot a few times.More or less Earth-normal gravity, she judged. No connections on any of her augs either.“Are you okay?” There was a young-human?-woman by some counters up a little set of stairs.“Yeah, give me a minute?”“Sure?” the woman said.Diana tried to connect with ChaOS, but that gave her a lot of nothing. “Hey, which planet am I on?”“Oh, you’re not from this dimension,” the waitress said.Diana blinked. “Wow, I must have been going really fast there. I’ve never dimension travelled before. Sorry, if I’m a bit lost.”“It’s fine,” the woman said. “You’ll probably make it back to your own dimension just fine once you’re done here. That’s how it works out.”“Here!”Diana blinked. She hadn’t noticed the little girl sitting in one corner of the cafe until the girl slid off her chair and pattered over on bare feet. She lifted something up for Diana to take, a piece of... paper (really, paper?) pinched between little chubby fingers.“Thanks,” Diana said as she took the paper. It was a pamphlet, folded carefully and with a colourful crayon drawing on the front of a stick figure falling into a portal, their head surrounded by moving questions marks. So You’re In Another Dimension: Now What? A guide by Pam.Diana flicked it open, eyebrows rising as she took in the simple instructions. They were mostly about breathing carefully, letting go of stress, not thinking too much about it, and there were some instructions about things not to do when in another world.“Who’s Abigail, and why shouldn’t I ask her for any sort of physical affection?” Diana asked.The waitress sighed. “I’m Abigail, and that’s just Dreamer and Pam being jealous.”“Okay,” Diana said. She held the pamphlet for a moment, then with a shrug, tucked it away in a pocket on the side of her jumpsuit. The pocket sized itself to fit the pamphlet just right. “Well, this is interesting. I kind of expected any place I dimension-hopped to to be more... high tech, you know? Are those gas lanterns?”“They are?” the waitress said, or asked, she didn’t seem entirely certain about the question.“Wild,” Diana said. “Yeah, if you accept Federation board credits, Core Bones, or like, gold, I’ll have whatever you can fab.”The waitress grabbed a menu from next to the cash register (which Diana only recognized from some classic video games) and handed it over. “Pick whatever you want. We’re usually pretty generous with whatever currency a dimensional traveller has.”“That’s neat,” Diana said. “Huh, the menu cover is made of paper too. How many trees died to make this place?”“I don’t know?” Abigail asked.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.“Bet some ecologist sorts would be freaking out right about now. Don’t really care that much myself,” Diana said. She tapped a few items on the menu, only taking a split second to figure it out. “That’s what I’ll have.”“Oh, uh, I’ll deliver it to your seat,” Abigail said. “Sit wherever.”“Thanks!” Diana said. She glanced over to the girl-Pam?-who had given her the bit of advertising and found her sitting in the corner again, head bobbing left and right as she drew something. “So, what’re you doing?” Diana asked.“I’m making a pamphlet to replace the one I gave you,” Pam said.“Oh, did you want it back?”“No,” Pam said.“Alrighty then,” Diana said. “You make all the pamphlets here?”“That’s what I’m for,” Pam said.“Neat. You know, I’m somewhat familiar with advertising myself,” Diana said. “Mostly when it comes to racing-related stuff, and sponsorship deals, but its all linked.”“Advertising?” Pam asked. “I’m making pamphlets.”Diana nodded. “Aren’t pamphlets a form of advertising, though? Like, what’s the purpose of a pamphlet?”“I ask myself that every day,” the girl said in a tone that didn’t fit her age at all.“Uh,” Diana said. “Well, that was somewhat rhetorical. I mostly meant to say that the goal is to tell people something, right? It’s like a glimpse of information on a subject. Not the whole story, but enough to tell people what they need to know and why they might want to learn more.”“Yes,” Pam said. “Pamphlets have great limitations. It’s part of their form. They tell you only a little bit of stuff. It’s hard to fit all the things I want to say in them sometimes, but I think that that’s the way a lot of things in life are.”“What do you mean?”“It’s shorter than you want it to be, and you can only fit so much into it,” Pam said. She didn’t look up from the pamphlet she was colouring in as she spoke. “You can put some big things in, but then you won’t have space for as many smaller things. And if it’s all smaller things, then it’s all... weird and broken up. You need to be real clever, pick the right words, and know how to say the big things the right way so that they all fit.”“I feel like this has somehow turned into a weird analogy for something,” Diana said. “Uh, I’m just a simple person, you know. I’m not fit for introspection or anything like that.”Pam glanced up at her. “Maybe you’re not,” she said. “But maybe that doesn’t matter. The folds on a pamphlet don’t know that they’re folds, but they’re still there.”“I genuinely don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but it sounded real deep.”Abigail appeared over her shoulder, a tray in hand from which she grabbed and placed Diana’s order before her. “Pam’s like that. She means well though.”Diana shrugged. “Hey, we all need a hobby.”“Hobbies are one of the things that can either give you meaning, or becoming the meaning for why you are,” Pam said. “Mine’s pamphlets. What’s yours?”Diana chuckled. “I guess... going fast.”
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