Garret - Village Sleep
Garret's sleep is light and fitful, as it has been ever since the attack on Carseld. Still, this night is different, every time he splutters awake, he is left with a rapidly receding memory of the same repeating dream. By morning, he feels more drained than when he first tried to sleep, but the images are burned into his memory.
A massive volcano, at least as tall as any of the peaks near Carseld, dominates his dreams. Fire and smoke are belching from the crater, rivers of molten rock flowing down all sides, and the stench of rotten eggs filling the air. Garret has always known that the creation legends of the halflings of Carseld talked of Karmana bringing forth the land from mountains of fire but he'd never imagined something so terrifying, let alone seen one active. Awestruck by the forces emanating from the heart of the volcano, Garret is drawn to move closer, compelled to seek out the cradling nurturing embrace of the fire. The sense of unbridled power radiating from the fiery mountain is almost overwhelming. Still, unable to resist, he is drawn even closer to the glorious fire, his dream sight swooping in towards the heart of the volcano as though borne on mighty wings that can ride the fierce thermals undamaged by the intense heat.
Diving headfirst into the bubbling mass of molten rock spewing forth from the volcano, his vision fades again, and he finds himself walking the surface of a lush volcanic island. The island is teeming with life of all kinds and yet it is clear from the pure white smoke emanating from the mouth of the crater that the volcano is still active. Garret immediately recognises flora and fauna native to Carseld, as well as many more that he has never seen before. His heart soars when he happens on a family of Elvrahüm, the first he has seen since his family and friends were slaughtered. Unable to tear himself away, he watches as countless infants emerge from the life-giving soil of Karmana. The myths and legends of Carseld speak of a time when Halflings were born this way but Garret has always regarded those as nothing more than fanciful stories. The few families he knew to have been blessed with a child carried them to term and gave birth in the normal way. Almost immediately, the infant halflings are tottering unsteadily on their feet, the joy in their laughter bringing tears to his eyes even while he dreams. He is loosely aware that the scene is being repeated for other species across the island but his gaze remains fixed on the infant Halflings.
Even while the bright Spring sun is only halfway across the sky, the temperature begins to drop rapidly and Garret can sense a storm coming, a violent one from his lifetime experience of the local weather. Sensing the danger before he sees it, Garret whips round to see a toxic fog, darker than the deepest shade of a moonless night, rolling across the island, closing in rapidly from the suddenly tumultuous sea. In its wake, everything that was living dies instantly. The birds in the skies drop like stones to a lifeless wasteland below. Panicked, afraid not for his own life but for the reborn Halflings all around him, he scoops up two in each arm, sobbing at his inability to save more, and races towards the centre of the island, instinctively seeking the sanctuary of the volcano. Behind him, plants wither and die as the soil itself is poisoned.
Running as fast as he dares while cradling his precious cargo, he dextrously climbs the sharp rocks that form the steep sides of the still active volcano, drawing on all his skills to stay on his feet and stay ahead of the fog whose touch would bring certain death. Reaching the top of the crater mere seconds before the approaching clouds of smoke, he leaps from the edge and is carried aloft by the intense heat rising from the bubbling magma below, mighty wings once again riding the life-giving heat from below. Now able to see clearly into the centre of the crater he watches intently as the smoke crests the sharp lip and drops into the void below, the magma instantly solidifying wherever the two opposing forces make contact, until all that is left is a stone plug and a lifeless volcano in the centre of a dead rock surrounded by a storm-lashed sea.
Horrified yet fascinated, Garret watches intently as the clouds and fog instantly recede, racing back towards the ocean, separating into six storm clouds, lightning arcing down all around the island, battering the scarred surface below. By the time the storms reach the shore, he can clearly discern six individual elements, fire crackling at the heart of one as blue lightning dominates another; sickly yellow droplets descending from a third just as malevolent orange eyes fills another. The eyes are almost hypnotic and Garret finds himself drifting slowly towards them even as they bore into his soul. Lightning leaps from the eyes and he flinches, twitching violently even in his sleep, but the lightning grounds harmlessly on the rocks far below him. Even as the eyes release their hold him, Garret can feel the mocking laughter of the intelligence behind them.
Fresh black smoke billows from the scarred ground below, seeping from the cracks where the Lightning had struck; a seventh cloud takes form on the island beneath him, drawing life from the ground to feed the darkness. As smoke pours into its dark heart, Garret stares in horror at the wraith-like figure now racing up towards him, outstretched arms seeking to draw Garret into their deadly embrace. Furiously beating his huge wings, desperately seeking the safety of height even as the air itself is working against him, forcing him lower and lower towards the now monstrously huge wraith rising towards him.
Hands the size of storm clouds grasp him firmly and Garret can feel the life being drained from his body, trapped, helpless, unable to flee. He draws the infants close to his chest, trying without any real hope in his heart to shield them from the evil below. As his dream vision fades, the last thing he sees is the six storm wraiths now far out to sea, rushing back to encircling islands that only now draw Garret's eye. Could one of those be Carseld?
He wakes in a panic, his sleep-addled mind desperate to save his people from the nameless horror racing towards them, his empty arms clutched tightly to his chest, his cheeks streaked with salty tears.