I dreamed again, but this time it wasn’t about sharks in the water or shadows wearing masks. I dreamed about the time before the end. I dreamed I was back in a bed made of down, the pillows so thick and forgiving, I could have drowned in them. I rolled over and put my hands out. Warmth greeted my reach as fingers intertwined with mine. I nuzzled closer to the warmth beside me, kissing at His neck and breathing in His familiar scent. He always smelled like old books. I loved that smell. I could have died in that smell.348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShzvPenpOK
A smoky voice as dry as freshly fallen leaves whispered in my ear, “Morning, Ghost.” I giggled as He kissed at my ear, then down and down to the hollow of my throat. I wrapped my arms around Him, His shape forming under me as I touched him. “You’re always so willing,” He whispered. His chuckle was husky, deep down in him.348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66lZ0TBEQA
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked him, searching for His eyes.
He had none. He was just smoke.
I woke with a shout and banged my head into Djince’s nose.
He reeled back, dropping me back onto my bedroll where I curled up to nurse the black spots at the edge of my vision. Djince put a hand on my shoulder and asked nasally, “Ogay?” I looked through my fingers to see his other hand was still cupping his face and there was blood streaming from it.
“Mind my big head,” I said weakly as I got up and went for my first aid kit. Djince patiently let me tend to his nose as he sat on his saddle. “Goodness… At least I didn’t break it.”
“Id’s fine,” he said through the pinked gauze. “Been broge before.”
“I’m still sorry,” I said. He reached up and poked a finger at the bruise forming on my forehead just above my crescent shaped brand. I smacked him away with a curse of pain.
“Even,” he stated, sniffing with a wince. “Nighdmare?”
I shivered, still waking up for the most part. “You could say that.”
“You… ‘member lasd nighd?”
I busied myself by collecting my gear and let out a breath before I lied, “Uh, no… Too much wine. I didn’t do or say anything weird, did I?”
I heard Djince pick himself off his saddle. I heard his sword click onto the magnet on his back and the hiss of his helmet as it went over his head. “Nobe,” he said through his respirator. Then I heard him fidget with something before he asked tentatively, “Did… I… say anything weird?”
I turned around and forced a smile to my face. I shrugged. “Not that I can remember!” I said regretfully. “Ah… Maybe it’ll come back to us? Memories do that sometimes.”
He grunted in agreement. “You are the exberd.”348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35QkHAXIOe
I would admit it if asked. I was steamed that Djince was alright about pretending that the night before hadn’t happened. I just couldn’t tell you why I was so piping mad. In the end, I blamed my irritability on my human condition. Clearly something was defective.348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhH9wqYw4W
We rode east until about midday when we came upon another homestead. It was walled like Werin, but part of the wooden perimeter was made out of poured concrete, cracked and crumbling. I looked through my ring at it, curious, and found myself in a sprawling, metropolitan city that I didn’t recognize. I had to stop my gravbike, otherwise I would have crashed. Djince came over and parked beside me as I looked. I passed him the ring and he looked through it, but just shook his head in response.
When I took it and looked through it, it showed the same city, but I could also see explosions in the distance and people in different colored oversuits running in all directions. Djince looked over my shoulder and made a sound of surprise. He could see what I was seeing only when I held the ring.
We watched civilians being escorted by men in metal skeletons. The skeletons were escorted by Inkmen. A procession of armored gravguns make their way down the road to join them, turning toward the building, waiting. There were a series of flashes form the building then and an Inkman fell before us. I turned the ring on it, watching it touch at the black leaking out of the hole in its chest. It was shocked. It looked at us through the ring and it opened its mouth, said something, but we didn’t hear it. It’s face collapsed into anguish and it fell to the ground where it was trampled by a metal skeleton backpedaling away from something its operator was focussed on. Black ichor fanned out from beneath the great machine’s foot.348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspHvM6GTH5
There was a sudden bright light then that nearly blinded me and I dropped the ring into the grass. Djince picked it up and I rubbed at my eyes as he handed it back to me. It gave me the opportunity to wipe the tears from my face. I put the ring back on my ring finger and looked at the ruin before us--the last piece of that time before. 348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFoMtSOuNo
“People are like hermit crabs,” I said quietly. “Always crawling into vacant places… like civilization is just a bunch of empty shells, waiting at the bottom of the ocean.”
“There are ruins like this all over. Some of them empty,” Djince agreed, eying me. “Those people... were dressed like you were.”
I nodded. “Late second millennium. That’s when it happened.”
“What were those... silver people? The ones with the light painted on them? They were helping the soldiers… He had black blood.”
“Inkmen,” I said numbly, mounting my gravbike.
“Your creations.”
I was pleasantly surprised that he remembered. “Yes,” I said, starting my saddle.
Djince slowly got onto his bike. His optic hit my face as he said, “They were beautiful…” He seemed like he wanted to say more, but couldn’t find the words.
“They were,” I said tightly. “Come on… I could eat an elephant.”
“Must’ve been a big animal,” Djince guessed.
“Huge,” I agreed and gave him a small reassuring smile.348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpS9dH1xzr
