21
21. the one where you can talk to your soulmate in dreams.
Aedan is twelve when it first happens, not that he has ever really felt the age he actually was. He doesnât even realize itâs a dream. Heâs looking out a window of a place heâs never been before, and he can hear someone crying softly. It takes him a few seconds to pull his eyes away from the window. On the corner of his vision is something, someone, he just canât see and heâs not ready to give up trying to spot them.Â
Finally, he turns to see a small dark-haired child with his face in his knees. For a second, he wonders if heâs looking at himself, but no, this is someone else.Â
âWhy are you crying?âÂ
The boy looks up at him surprised, shocked someone else is here. His eyes are a color that Aedan cannot recognize and for some reason, the thought of that doesnât unnerve him.
It takes a long time for him to answer, but he does finally.Â
âM-my sister- s-she,â His lip quivers a bit, âA-and,âÂ
Hot tears started to well up in his eyes, and so Aedan slides down to sit next to him after stepping closer to him.Â
âClose families always seem to fight the hardest. Whatever happened hurt you, but know that these things heal and our bonds grow stronger because of it.â Aedan doesnât even know if the words really get through to him, but he seems to settle down a bit after that. Â
He canât remember quite how it happens, but the boyâs head ends up in Aedan lap Aedan humming one of the songs he remembered his mother sang him once.Â
In the morning, Aedan mistakes the dream for a memory.Â
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Itâs years, a decade or more before he has another dream like that. The world is dying around him, around everyone. So, he did what he thought was best. He took a ship to get out. Aedan had seen no reason to stay and fight for a world that had no place for him.Â
He only remembers the air in the ship being charged with fear, before them so dark itâs like the void canât hold the Darkness. Itâs only fitting the dream starts in that same inky darkness.
âMara!â He hears a voice that is familiar and different cry out. Itâs too loud, and for some reason, he knows whoever theyâre looking for isnât here. Or are they? It feels like there is someone else. That other presence same as before.Â
God, everything is too loud, too awful, too much pain and fear. His skin feels like itâs burning, his bones breaking, but nothing hurts as much as his head does. The more the voice yells the more it feels like nails being driven into his eyes. Aedan covers his eyes as if to try and buffer the pain and itâs almost like he can see light coming from then behind his eyelids which only serves to make everything worst.Â
In the back of his mind, the childish wish that he was at home, sitting on the rooftop of his building with the sound of the neighbor a few doors down from him playing the old grand piano in her apartment. Then, suddenly, he is. A bright orange sunset in the distance that turns the whole sky different colored shades of orange and pink. Aedan canât help but stare at it in awe.Â
A wave exhaustion hits him, and Aedan has to fight to stay standing. He doesnât even notice the younger man in front of him at first.Â
âWhere am I?â Itâs that same voice that demands his attention. Aedan doesnât give him the satisfaction. Heâs tired. He wants to rest.Â
âI said-â
Aedan lets out a curse under his breath finally looking up at the other. Itâs that same childâŚWell, older now, almost a man. Only, changed, different, He hardly remembered his eyes being such a bright shade of orange, or maybe they always are and Aedan didnât notice before.Â
âYouâŚâ He starts again but falls short as if he recognizes Aedan as well.Â
âGive it a rest, your sister isnât here obviously.â He waves off to the sun setting in the horizon. He feints the intelligence as if he knows for sure she isnât, but who could say. Aedan could feel another, maybe he could too.Â
âTell me your name.â Another demand. This child really didnât know how to ask for anything, did he?Â
âItâs polite manners to give your own name before asking for anotherâs.â
He stares at Aedan with a rage Aedan can relate too. They stay like that staring at each other in a silent battle of wills. Eventually, the younger finally caves in.Â
âUldren.â Â
He nearly wants to ask Uldren to âask for his name nicely nowâ but he gets the feeling that would only end in a fight.Â
âAnd mine is Aedan.â
The sky is already starting to dim, and in the light, Uldrenâs skin looks more and more gray. Maybe itâs odd, but Aedan doesnât find it strange. It suits him with his strong jawline and royal features. It strikes him that Uldren is actually quite beautiful. Everything about him seems sharp and unrefined in a youthful way, like an arrow waiting to be shot from a bow.Â
Aedan glances back at the sunset before looking back only to find that he is alone.Â
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They spend a few dreams talking circle around each other. With Uldren, everything is a fight everything is a battle of will that he has to win. Aedan too wrathful, too prideful, to just let him do so. Itâs months before they actually talk.Â
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âShe doesnât listen! Why doesnât she listen?!â Uldren huffs, all of his body language is filled with frustration. He doesnât even say who she is, not that Aedan needs too.Â
Aedan has already put together who Uldren is. Who Mara is. They might be living on a large ship, but he is not foolish.Â
âI canât claim to know.â Aedan plays the fool of course. Heâs learned that you never show the cards you have in your hand.Â
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[Iâm going to post this now as is but I want to continue it. This one isâŚ.a lot longer than I thought it would be, and itâs late and I need sleep.]
