#fallonsasksss

Adlai was asleep against a tree in the middle of Khyrsalis, enjoying the small break between his and Sierra’s trek towards the mouse’s basecamp. The jungle was getting less appealing each day he spent walking, fighting, and sweating, but Sierra had promised safety at the camp she lived at, which is what Adlai wants more than anything at the moment. It had been 48 hours since the last time his eyes were allowed to close, and the moment his back hit the tree trunk, Adlai had fell into the world of dreams. 

That was until he heard a branch break beside him.

Out of reflex, Adlai shot up and pulled his wand from his jacket, pointing it at the throat of his trespasser. Breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of the now-petrified Sierra, he lowered his wand and slid back down to the forest floor. 

“What… why?” Adlai whined, his sleep-deprived mind failing to form coherent sentences. Sierra hesitated then slid down next to him. Unlike Adlai who was still dressed in his suit, she was dressed in her sweats, her long hair pinned into a ponytail. Adlai opened one of his eyes and shot a side glance, letting out a groan when he saw Sierra still sitting next to him. 

“I… I had a nightmare about you and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” Sierra whispered, refusing to look in his direction. She realized how silly she must sound; it was not like she was a psychic or anything.  

“You…. what?” Adlai asked, looking at the girl sitting beside him. She rolled her eyes and sat up straight, looking back at him. It was something Sierra always did when she got frustrated, which Aldai couldn’t comprehend why she felt that way since she was the one who woke him up.

“I had a dream where you were in a lot of trouble… it felt so real, I just needed to verify that I was dreaming,” Sierra explained. Adlai shook his head and shut his eyes again, massaging his forehead. The two sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes. Sierra started to get up to leave when Adlai spoke up again.

“So, what happened to me?” Adlai stated, grabbing her arm to stop Sierra from leaving. She slid back onto the leaves.  

“Its hard to explain,” Sierra said slowly to ensure that Adlai still wanted to listen. She took his silence as a ‘yes’. 

“You were in this throne room, it was dark and the only thing I could see was you and a little light from the windows. It was really quiet until a woman stepped out. She didn’t look quite human… but she was shrouded by shadows so I couldn’t make out her full figure. She started talking but her voice was really muffled; I could make out a few words, but her last statement was really clear: ‘what do you chose?’. A man appeared in front of her, he kind of looked like you but there was something wrong with him. She was controlling him, but you couldn’t see that from where you were standing. You started walking towards him… I tried to tell you to stop, but it was too late. Shadows overtook you and that’s when I woke up.” Sierra said quickly. She looked over at Adlai who suddenly looked very awake, his body frozen in place. 

“Does it mean anything?” Sierra asked, trying to understand why Adlai was reacting so strongly to her dream. He sat for a little while longer, not speaking a word, before he tried to relax. He managed to choke out a sentence in an attempt to mask his emotions.