a dream together

[Florian]

FLORIAN

Searing 56 122

He recognized the garden. The labyrinth of hedges. He had dreamt here before, and a month and a half later he had met the other dreamer in the flesh. Florian wandered for a moment, through the endless garden, high-noon sun, and blue, blue sky. The pavilion that Talon had created was unformed again, and he was nowhere to be seen — but this time, Florian dug his feet into the hedge and started to climb. Hand after foot, the hedge reached far above him.

When he reached the top of the hedge, he sat, his legs dangling off of the edge. It was wide enough to seat him, and though the weather was pleasant, the sun was bright and it was difficult to see. He had no idea of Talon would show up again, but he waited for him. He could spend the entire dream waiting for them to meet again — ever since he had ascended, ever since he had released Aoren, and Marcel, and Adrian from their collars, he had wondered if he would get a chance like this to speak to him again. They had come close, and though Florian took Talon's advice in a way that was likely both too literal and too unintentional, it had worked out to some benefit.

He had not rescued Talon, but he had rescued Aoren. Aoren could and would and was helping him understand what had changed with him and how to utilize it — as best as he knew, from watching Talon learn — and Florian was immensely grateful. Florian had begun to use his own knowledge in unraveling his own trauma and anger to assist Aoren with the pain that was holding him back. But for now, he dreamt, and it was there, perched in the endless gardens, that Florian waited for Talon.

[Talon]

Dreaming was different ever since he had ascended to the realm of divinity. While he could still dream as mortals did, he could choose to remain a simple passenger in his own dreamsphere, he did not have to. Whether it was by choice or by design, Talon found himself in the hedge maze again. He recognized the garden. He recognized the clear skies and the winding paths. Unrestrained as he was, Talon had far greater perception of the dream realm than before. He could see the edges and boundaries of this dreamer’s dream and if he looked close enough, he could see into the realm that lay beyond it. A place for spirits and gods. If he chose to, Talon could have left the mortal realm entirely and walked that place.

But even free to dream, he was not free to wander. Not endlessly.

So he focused on this dreamscape. He found the source of the dream and there he found Florian. He saw him because the light of the sky touched him and in that light, Talon saw Florian for what he truly was. What he had become. He took only a single step and between that step and the next, Talon was walking along the top of the hedge where Florian was seated. He walked calmly. Some of the melancholy that had so chained him before, it was gone. The distant fog that had so weighed him down was lifted from his mind. He could think. He could feel. He could breathe. He could remember.

It was painful to think on how beaten down he truly had become. Even as he walked toward Florian, he knew that he was not quite the same man he had been before coming to the empire. He never would be again. He did not yet know what that meant. For the moment however, he focused his sight on the fledgling demigod that was patiently waiting for him.

“This explains a great deal.” He had wondered how had Florian accomplished his feat in the Wintergatan Circle. He had run over the situation in his head multiple times. Seeing the Lysanrin in front of him, his aura aglow with power that was well beyond anything mortal, seeing the manifestation of his nimbus within his own sight, it answered many questions. It also raised a great many more.

Talon quirked his head slightly. To Florian he both would and would not be the same. As a higher being now, Talon knew that Florian would be able to see him for what he truly was. Talon was not making any attempts at masking his presence. He did not have to. At least not right then.

“Do you wish to stay in the hedge maze, Florian?” Returned to his full power as he was, Talon could take them elsewhere. He was inclined to show Florian his own slice of the Land of Nod.

[Florian]

Florian knew Talon would come. He had waited for him because the dream was the same.

"I don't like the hedge maze at all. I would love to go anywhere but here." Florian looked up at Talon. "I'm not sure what happened to me. It's like a dream of its own." It had not yet been a good dream. Once he was back in Ransera, it was painful, and overwhelming, and confusing. Aoren had started to attempt to explain to him what this meant, but he was struggling to piece it all together, and struggling to understand why it happened to him.

His mother knew something, but he couldn't ask her now. She would hold his bruised face and bloody hands and tell him that he was meant for something great, for something greater than this. He didn't understand what she meant, and he wasn't sure if he understood it still. He didn't understand why they had to stay in Zaichaer, and like a rubber band, he kept being snapped right back. Would he return to it now that he had helped to destroy it?

He rubbed his eyes and stood up. Even a bit taller, even in their dreams, Talon towered over him. "I didn't expect this either, but it was certainly an event. All of it." His ascension, Talon's display of magic, everything in between. His own memories felt muddy. He struggled to understand what was real and what wasn't — but at least he knew this was a dream. This was a dream. But Talon was real.

"Did you have somewhere else in mind?"