You’re not alone.
Archer cringed at the powerful, melodic sound of the beautiful woman’s voice. This time they were separated by a wall of water. Fish and creatures that Archer had never seen before were swimming in between then.
Don’t act like you’re alone.
The words brought hot tears springing to Archer’s eyes, despite the fact that it was a dream.
He couldn’t help it. One of the hardest things about being the leader of the Kersh clan now was how few people there were. His childhood had been full of happy, loving people. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of shifters had roamed through the underground tunnels, each of them knowing him by name. He had been surrounded by extended family and people who may as well have been his aunts and uncles, cousins more than friends. And now, his life was desolate. He had made it through puberty without his parents, without any of the people he had taken for granted. Not just to make his father proud. But because he knew his people needed a leader. And the Guardians needed to die.
Archer looked through the water and into the flashing, magnetic eyes of the beautiful woman across from him. Today they looked more green than blue, sparkling with life and emotion. Her hand was so close, and he rose his own to bring it as close to hers as possible. He hadn’t realized how difficult it had been for him lately. He tried hard not to think about how much he missed his family, his friends and loved ones, but being alone in the forest looking for Tanna had brought the feelings to the surface. And for some reason, the beautiful woman seemed to know this. And she was offering him her sympathy.
“Who are you?” he tried to call out to her. But the roar of a wave drowned the question out. They were never able to speak to one another during these dreams. Only convey basic messages. He had seen her in his dreams since he was very young, when his parents had gone on to Kaldernon and left him behind. He thought it was a coping mechanism his brain had created so he wouldn’t feel so alone, but now he wasn’t so sure. Either she was real or he was crazy. And he wanted to believe that she was real. Still, the fact was that it was just a dream.
Suddenly, from the roaring waves emerged the same terrifying black figure that had haunted Archer’s dream the night before. This time he was still able to see the woman’s reaction to it. Her dazzling eyes grew round with fear and confusion, but she didn’t withdraw the hand that she held out to Archer. Instead, she pointed to the beast with her other hand and spoke quiet words despite its ferocious roar.
This is our struggle.
This is our destiny.
The words were like smoke; there but not there. Ethereal but immense. The weight seemed suddenly to crush him, and he thought he wouldn’t be able to bear it for a moment longer. That is, until she smiled at him. When he received the smile, Archer unexpectedly felt as light as air and somehow at peace with the unknown forces at work in the universe. Somehow, he knew they were there and felt guided and protected by them. Even though this beast signified real danger, the gorgeous woman’s defiant smile to him signified hope.
***
Alana woke from the dream, her heart racing in terror. Although she had seen the man in her dreams again, the beast was there again too. There was nothing she wouldn’t give to have the best Loni oracles examine the dream in depth, but she knew that she had bothered Lopu about it enough that her orders were final. Unless there was some serious cause for concern with physical proof or involving Lopu’s most trusted Loni advisers, there wouldn’t be an investigation this time.
That was all right. It felt too personal to discuss the dream aloud to anybody. She had seen this boy grow into a man with her, and the last thing she needed was Lopu teasing her about boys. And besides, it would be even more embarrassing to feel as if she was simply hallucinating the best imaginary boyfriend. A literal man of her dreams. It was just humiliating, especially the thought of having to tell anybody about it.
No, she would keep this to herself until she was absolutely sure she knew what she was dealing with. Still, she couldn’t get through any of her classes without her mind returning to the handsome man in her dreams.
His dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail when she saw him in her latest dream, and she could swear that every time she saw him he got more and more handsome. The desperation she felt to breach the barrier keeping them apart was unbelievably strong. She had never felt that way about any man she had ever met before. In fact, Alana wasn’t interested in the least in the other men on Kaldernon. The only person who had ever held her interest, besides Lopu of course, was the man in her dreams.
They had grown up together. Emotionally supported one another. Somehow, when times were tough, he was there with his stormy face calm and comforting throughout whatever situation she found herself in. He was her rock when she was down, and somehow she felt she was able to do the same. They spoke without speaking, understood each other’s emotional states without words. They were basically connected in a way that she had only heard fabled about Loni-Shifter pairings in the distant past, when the planet of Kaldernon was first becoming the mighty place it was currently. It was terrifying to consider that this immense pull that Alana felt toward the stranger who might not be real, but it was even more difficult and scary to believe that it was all somehow real.
She didn’t think she could make up a person in such immense detail, but she couldn’t look past the possibility that she was mistaken. That’s why she had told Lopu of it when she had first moved in. Lopu had listened seriously at first, but soon dismissed it as a symptom of the despair she felt after losing her parents in a tragic accident. But Alana didn’t believe there was nothing to it and felt scorned enough not to mention her experiences again.
If Lopu, leader of Kaldernon, would blow off something that felt so immense to her, then there was nothing else she was willing to say about it. That was that.