May Hawaii and the Dreamhunters

–He can’t have jumped very far- Valdés said with his cuban accent.

Minerva, Valdés, and Don Gregorio were sitting on the ground around the tablet, analyzing every frame of the video where the mysterious figure’s leap from the ziggurat could be seen. Valdés was an expert in optimizing aerena, which he used, for example, to increase his physical strength in Oniria.

“From the way his body dematerializes, you can tell that the amount of aerena he used isn’t massive. If he’d covered a lot of distance, the rest of the aerena would be swirling more here. Plus, it would have left residues like this and this,” Valdés gestured with each point. “I’m almost sure he jumped to Sotopeña. The residue is too little for him not to have used a nearby antenna.”

By “antenna,” he meant the statue of Tiberius. Human settlements, as they expanded across the Sphere, needed three essential elements to function civilly. The first was an antenna to receive the jumps of onironauts, which was always integrated into a statue of Tiberius. It was depicted as a greek hoplite or a triumphant roman legionary, with his spear raised towards the sky. Onironauts would usually appear and disappear out of nowhere around the statue. The spear was the antenna. In the other hand, he held a shield. This shield was the support of the Aegis system, the second element for the dream civilization. The third was a replica of the clock from the Time Chamber in the Palace of Wishes. A magical clock that synchronized the time for all onironauts. Smaller and less precise than the original, they were kept safe in time chambers within each settlement’s council halls. Both the square where the statue stood and the council halls were always guarded by soldiers of the Triple Star, the ruling guild. These soldiers dressed like the statue of Tiberius and ensured the onironauts’ safety, sometimes overstepping their bounds.

But all of that was about to change in Sotopeña. The sound of an explosion reached the Dreamhunters’ ears from the square. Someone had just blown up the antenna and, with it, the Aegis. The most powerful kabus could now enter the square and directly attack the council hall to destroy the clock. If that happened, the dreamers’ times would fall out of sync, and chaos would ensue. Everything built in Sotopeña and Junglaverde would be lost, and they would have to start all over again. The companions exchanged glances.

“We have to go back!” Valdés said.
“And May?” Minerva replied.
“I’ll go get her. Be careful,” Don Gregorio concluded.

Don Gregorio stood up and walked down the street as if there was no rush, his hands behind his back. May put away the tablet. Valdés ran towards the square, with the young seeker following him as fast as she could.

“Don’t you have cameras in the square?”
“No! It didn’t seem like an interesting place!” she shouted.

They retraced their steps until they reached the surrounding streets, but the number of kabus that had come up from the jungle had increased. A column of smoke rose above the rooftops. Valdés entered one of the taller houses. It was already abandoned. Minerva followed him, somewhat relieved not to have to get closer to the square. From the attic of the house, they could see the state of the town center. Valdés gestured for Minerva to be quiet and peek carefully. The once-beautiful Renaissance-style square was now full of rubble. All that remained of the statue of Tiberius were the feet. The rest had been vaporized into lumps of melted bronze scattered around. There were many bodies of Triple Star soldiers that had not yet dematerialized. The number and size of the kabus had increased. Some had humanoid forms. May could see the multiforms and the cerberuses for the first time. Scarlet creatures emerged from the blood of the corpses… it was a whole spectrum of nightmares. Minerva and Valdés felt like they were about to lose lucidity or fall into the nightmare, but they applied the techniques seasoned dreamers knew to maintain sanity… just a little longer.

“The council hall is still standing,” Valdés whispered.

Minerva peeked out a bit more. Two hoplites were still guarding the door. They were keeping a group of intelidoguis that looked like foxes at bay. Behind them were tar-like beings throwing black gobs at the soldiers.

“We could try to sneak in and get the clock. At least it wouldn’t be lost.”

Valdés considered Minerva’s suggestion. The clocks that synchronized time were finely calibrated works. It was possible that just removing it from its place would cause it to malfunction. But surely that was better than letting it get destroyed.

“Let’s go,” he said.
“Wait!” Minerva almost shouted. “Isn’t that the one who came out of the ziggurat? Doesn’t he look a lot like Marcus?”

In the center of the square, near the remains of the statue, a man dressed like Indiana Jones was fanning himself with his hat. But he looked like someone in their seventies who had aged poorly. Valdés couldn’t tell if it was Marcus or not. The muscular seeker frowned when he saw him talking to someone. It was a tall man wrapped in a black cloak. His face was red, stern, and had an exaggerated nose. Was he a kabu? No… he was a dreamer wearing a Venetian mask.

“Bad news,” Valdés said. “The guy with the mask is one of the Devout.”

Minerva quickly moved away from the window. She thought he had seen her. She sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

“Damn. We’re screwed. I really hoped it was just a story in the Oniria Times.”
“This confirms the existence of the dark guilds.”
“What is Marcus doing with those guys? And why has he aged? Are they really strong enough to take on the Triple Star? None of this makes any sense!”

A couple more explosions were heard.

**

Meanwhile, May, Ember, and the young Marcus were coming out of the ziggurat, looking pretty battered. May saw the column of smoke rising above the treetops in the direction of Sotopeña and feared the worst.

“Looks like you found Marcus! Or at least a part of him!”

May turned her head toward the familiar voice of Don Gregorio. The smile froze on her face. The old man was riding a dinosaur.

“Is that a velociraptor?”
“Specifically, they’re deinonychus, a bit bigger and smarter,” replied a man she didn’t know, who was riding another of the raptors. Don Gregorio laughed.
“Let me introduce you to Rex, an old friend. He’s been raising these beauties since he moved to the jungle.”
“If it hadn’t been for Grego, I wouldn’t have been able to save them all,” Rex said.

May saw that, aside from the raptors the two men were riding, each held the reins of two more, making a total of six. All saddled. All fabulous yet somewhat terrifying specimens.

“Sorry, I didn’t know we’d have more passengers. The redhead will have to ride as a passenger,” Don Gregorio said.
“I’m not going with you,” Ember said. “This jungle is my home.”