Forward she went into the darkness, which was lacquered thick and heavy with the scent of flowers unseen and unknown. They were not from Earth. Alex could have identified them if they were from Earth.
Nor were they from Middang3ard. No, this was something else. It was not familiar.
Alex continued her search, her feet moving forward as if something was pulling her forward. She was a slow-moving arrow. There was a destination, and she moved toward it inevitably.
There was a crow cawing, a call that sent shivers down Alex’s spine. She knew what was coming now. This was how it always happened.
She wasn’t far from her birth canal. She could go back. It would be possible to find her way back.
Alex felt as if she always ran, no matter the reason or circumstance.
The crow stopped cawing. The air was now hot and humid, clinging like a second skin waiting to be peeled back.
The blackness sizzled and foamed above as if it were a plastic plate melting in a fire. It reeled back, and beneath was a streak of green light, filtering down like smoke, filling the sky. Every color was present, with a bright jade flame that threatened to engulf all.
Alex stood, watching the green insinuate itself into her universe. It did not care for the stars that fell like fruit once they were touched or crows whose eyes bulged like bugs when the green washed over them. The color brought silence, indifference. It made Alex’s legs buckle under the weight of her fear.
She ran in no particular direction. The green was coming down around her. It didn’t matter where she went.
And then the green began to pull back. It was running, hiding from something bright and loud down on the ground, not too far from Alex. She knew that was where she had to go. As she ran toward the sound and the light, the green pulled away.
The alien from the ship was basking in the light, its legs crossed, staring up at the green, singing loudly. It was driving the green away.
Alex stood there, watching the creature. She was very aware that she was not dreaming about the alien; it was in her dreams. “What are you doing here?”
The alien did not stop singing. It merely looked at the sky. Its eyes fastened on Alex and her brain slid out of this dream and into many others, all playing at the same time. There were many voices screaming in pain and agony, folk who looked like the alien, their bodies piled high in ditches as blood poured from the heavens in a great sheet.
Alex fell to her knees, covering her ears, trying to block the sound of so much pain. There were few words, but the ones Alex could make out were “the Dark One,” over and over.
The crow began cawing again.
Alex snapped awake, gasping for breath. She was still in the quarantine room. It was a little after eight in the morning. Her dragon anchor was peeping, a message from Myrddin. “Quarantine is officially over. You may now mix with the general population. Come to the alien’s room ASAP. He says he needs to speak with you.”
Chapter Four
Alex was met by some scientists who supplied her with a change of armor. She followed them down the halls to the room that held the alien. Myrddin and Roy were standing on the other side of the glass, waiting for her.
The alien looked at Alex when she walked in. The same deep darkness was in its eyes, but Alex didn’t feel the overwhelming sense of dread like before. Instead, she felt almost as if the eyes were inviting her to step closer, to engage in conversation. To listen and learn.
Myrddin motioned for Alex to come to his side. “He requested to speak to you by name,” Myrddin informed Alex. “He identifies as male, by the way. We can stop saying ‘it.’”
Alex wasn’t surprised he wanted to talk to her. She had just been dreaming with him, she was certain now—not dreaming of, dreaming with. “Did he happen to give you a name?”
Myrddin shook his head. “He’s refused to talk to anyone other than you. I guess he must have a different idea of ‘take me to your leader’ than we’ve seen in the movies. We’ll be out here in case you need anything.”
The glass slid open, and Alex stepped into the room. The alien stared at her but made no motion. The dragonrider took the initiative, walking over to the bench and sitting down next to him. “My name’s Alex,” she said as she extended her hand.
The alien took her hand and shook it with the familiarity of a human. “My name is Vardis. It is good to meet you properly.”
“You were in my head last night, weren’t you?”
“Yes, we found ourselves sharing the same dream. It was unexpected. Usually, my kind cannot dream with others of different realms, but with you, it was almost like your dream called out to me. I was within it before I realized.”
Alex thought the order of what Vardis had said was backward. Her recollection of her dream was a little fuzzy, but she knew Vardis had pulled her into his dream. Maybe that was what people felt like when they shared dreams. She didn’t have a context. “Why would I have done that?”
“It might have been reflexive. Perhaps being around someone you could dream with caused you to do it instinctively. But how is a more interesting question. You must have had contact with someone like me in the past, and you must have dreamed with them.”
Alex knew exactly what Vardis was talking about. She had shared a dream with the Dark One within the meteor, and gotten lost in that brain essence of hatred. She could have carried something
