Chapter XXIX - Nightmares
and Crux ~Rainstorm
Rainy lay down again. It had been
a long day and again he was tired. As he drifted off to sleep, he got a slight
chill, and shivered.
As the haze cleared, Rainy found
himself yet again on the same field as he had before. His past still haunted
him after all of these years. The dreams plagued him night by night. He stood
inside of a small crystal-like chamber that was in the middle of the field.
Outside of this chamber was a small field of flowers. The weather was pleasant
and the sun was high in the sky. After all of these years, he was no longer
fooled by the peaceful setting, and waited for the twisted scene to begin.
Suddenly a small table appeared by the crystal, and it had another Yoshi
strapped to it. The Yoshi on the table was dressed similar to Rainy, though his
robes were of a red color, and his skin had a yellow tint. Then it began. The
wizard appeared. The wizard was also a Yoshi, but was black in color and wore
black robes to match. From the folds of his robe he produced a small mace. He
walked around the table smiling at Rainy, who was still enclosed in the small
prison. Then he began to smash the Yoshi to pieces. First the mace came down on
his hands, crushing the fingers and palm and splintering the bone beneath, then
the feet, and so on, until the Yoshi didn't resemble anything he had before.
Rainy was unable to avert his eyes just like the many times before, but only
gaped in horror as he watched the whole scene play out. These dreams had all
began some time ago...in a place where he had been, at a time when he was
younger, hidden deep in his past.
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"Hey Ravis!" shouted an exhausted Rainy as he came running down the street.
"What now?" answered Ravis, still rather puzzled.
"Today we head off to the war," Rainy replied. "They're sending new precipiwizards and everyone else they can find in two hours. The general sent me to find you, we leave soon."
Before Ravis could respond, Rainy dashed into the alley on his way to his home. With a shrug Ravis ran the opposite way and went to his house also. Two hours later, they found themselves outside of the gates preparing for teleportation. The oldest wizard in the entire city, Oglix by name, had been called forth to cast the spell, as he was the only one who knew it anyway.
"Okay then,” boomed the general. “Today you will begin your attack on the wizard's stronghold. Be brave: we will prevail!"
The other Yoshies shouted a loud cheer and then became suddenly silent. Oglix began to chant the mystical words, and a bright glow came forth from his fingers. There was a large flash of light, and suddenly they were in a forest where they had predicted they would arrive. Silently they moved out of the forest onto the large trail just outside of it. It was still midmorning, and the presence of other precipiwizards was apparent. It was snowing, hailing, sleeting, thundering, lightning, and raining all at the same time. The Yoshies charged in to help their own.
The battle raged on for days, and then weeks, and then finally a year. There had been many lost in that relatively short amount of time, but finally they had prevailed over the evil wizard’s army.
They were prepared to move in on his stronghold: they were five-hundred strong and ready to take him. With a large battering ram, they broke down the door and ran through the castle. The Yoshies were yet foolish and young though, and they hadn't thought that the wizard would have planned for this. When they entered the center chamber of the castle, all of them found themselves unable to move.
"It's a trap!" shouted Rainy, trying desperately to move.
Evil laughter echoed through the many hallways and corridors, sending a shiver down all of the five hundred spines in the area.
"Fools!” shouted a voice. “You thought you could defeat me?! Ha!"
The world began to spin and became black for all of them.
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When they had awoken, all of them found themselves strapped to a wall, except Rainy who was in a cage. The wizard removed Rainy from his cage and brought him to a table with an excess of food on it. He was ordered to eat, and he did, though he didn't feel like it.
"Now you shall see what true suffering is foolish one. You seemed to have the most spirit of them all, so I decided to let you witness this glorious scheme."
Rainy shuddered and finished eating. After he was done, he was brought into a small room with a wooden table.
"Stand over there," commanded the wizard.
He did so, and then was immediately surrounded by a glowing white ball of energy. He rammed up against it and yelled and screamed but couldn't get out. It was a see-through prison. Then he brought in Ravis.
"This is your friend right?" asked the evil one innocently.
Rainy nodded, and then realized too late his mistake. He strapped Ravis down to the table, and then killed him with a small mace while he cackled. He smashed all his limbs, and brutally mangled him. Rainy screamed out, but could do nothing to stop it. Despite his best efforts, he could not avert his eyes either.
Every night for 499 nights he watched a comrade slaughtered in one of many ways the wizard had thought of. On the 499th night, the wizard made a fatal error. He lost his concentration, and at that moment Rainy took his chance and leaped out of the way. The wizard faltered and stopped right in time to catch a scimitar between the eyes.
His eyes bulged, and with his dying breath he uttered a curse, "May you be tormented forever..."
Rainy had killed him in one blow, and then he maimed his dead body until at last he had no strength left. He wept bitterly until he was found by a scout group. They had come to rescue survivors, but to their dismay, they only found Rainy. After he had explained the horror he had experienced, he was sent home, and thus the Thunder Clap War was finished.
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This was the cause of his dreams, for the curse had assured that he would see a re-enactment of the death of one of his fellows in his dreams every night. This had all happened before his formal training, and he had been a quite accomplished precipiwizard even at that time.
One day he had sat alone under a small tree. It was sunny out, and the only sound in the air was of birds chirping. He had finally beaten his fear of leaving his home. Since that time, he had lived in his home not leaving and in bad shape for awhile. He sat there under the tree thinking for a moment, when he noticed a small creature staring at him. He was intrigued: it was a Bron. A Bron was a small rabbit-like creature with a tail similar to a tigers. They were generally yellow in color, but this one was a bright shade of royal blue. It was said they were magical, and indeed they were used many times in battles for their strong-casting abilities.
"What are you doin’ little fella?" said Rainy to the small Bron. "Are ya lost?"
The Bron turned its head to the side with a confused look, and after a moment of pondering, shook its head - Rainy guessed, indicating no. When it did this, one of its large ears flopped down over it's eye and it looked rather cute.
Rainy smiled, "Ya wanna come with me? I need a friend anyway."
The Bron hopped up beside him and made a soft cooing sound.
Rainy smiled, "I'll name you...hmm...let me think...how about Crux?"
The creature smiled and seemed to like the name.
With, "Alright, come on, Crux, let's go home," the little creature hopped up into Rainy's backpack. "No one can know about you though, you're my secret ok?"
Crux nodded.
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Rainy woke up startled from his dreams. He woke in a cold sweat, and he shivered. It was very late, it seemed. Rainy reached for his backpack and found it.
"Crux, come here buddy," he whispered, and out popped Crux.
He lay back down with Crux on his chest and smiled, and fell back asleep, glad for the fact that his nightmares were over for tonight at least. Crux curled up into a small blue ball and also fell asleep.