“Morn!” Acantha stood over her sleeping friend and shouted right in their face.
“Have you tried slapping him?” Jade suggested with a meek grin.
“You think this is funny? It has been hours after dawn, we don’t have time for this.”
Jade’s smile disappeared and she nodded.
“Want me to try and whisper to ’em?” She proposed to Acantha.
“If shouting doesn’t work–“
“No, I mean, talk into his mind. Instead of his ears. I dunno–“
Acantha made a gesture of reluctant acceptance. Jade turned to Morn and then back to Acantha.
“I told him to wake up,” Jade shrugged, “I don’t know if he heard or not.”
Acantha let out her breath in an aggravated sigh.
“Let’s start breaking down the tent and see if he wakes up then.”
***
Morn stood in a desert, the sun burned on their skin. The orc closed their eyes and summoned Turnfeather, their shadow falcon. The bird was able to provide them both with shade, but it wasn’t enough. Morn felt as if they were on fire.
“Answer me, Morn,” A disembodied voice came from every direction.
Morn kept silent and started walking. Perhaps they could find a place to shelter from the sun, they thought.
“It is not wise to ignore me, Morn, do you not know who I am? Do you not know my power?”
The path Morn was on turned into a dune, Morn was now climbing through the sand.
“Tell me, how will you prevent the sun from consuming you, like it has consumed your clan?”
Morn did not respond to the voice, the orc carried on as if the voice was not there at all.
“I warned you, Morn.”
Morn did not feel their body change, there was no warning, no transition. Morn was a boulder the size of a large orc and they were rolling down the sand dune they had been climbing.
“It is not much I ask from you, little boulder, simply answer my question and I will let you go.”
***
Acantha screamed in frustration.
“This is madness!”
“Acantha?” Jade waited for her friend to respond with a little hum before continuing, “Do you think Morn is dreaming?”
Acantha turned her head abruptly and looked at her friend with wide eyes.
“I had a dream. This guy, Morpheus, he spoke to me in my dream, I think he’s a Totem, he asked me a question.”
“He asked me a question too, he asked–” Acantha hesitated, Jade didn’t seem to notice.
“I think Morpheus has trapped Morn somehow. In his dream, I mean.”
Acantha stared at Jade, her mouth was open as she thought about what this could mean.
“If he’s trapped, how are we going to get him out?”
“I don’t know if we can.”
“How about one of us goes to sleep and tries to visit Morns dream?”
“You have that kind of power?”
“Eh–“
“I think if there’s a Totem able to keep us trapped in dreams, there’s not a chance that we can beat him while dreaming.”
“Do you have a better idea?” Acantha lied herself down next to Morn and closed her eyes.
***
Morn rolled down the dune, there was no end to it. The boulder, that had previously been an orc, became quite nauseous, but they didn’t let it bother them. There was no way Morn would let themselves be pressured into doing something they didn’t feel like doing.
“Why, Morn, are you not talking to me?”
“I have no reason to,” Morn answered. Instantly Morn turned back into an orc and stopped rolling.
“Can you not see that you will remain here, in this dream, until I decide to let you go?”
“This is my dream, get lost.”
“Dreams are my domain, when you choose to dream you tread within my borders. You owe me more than just an answer, Morn, but I am generous and I will give you back your freedom after answering my simple question. How do you plan on escaping the sun?”
“I answer to no one but Aoda.”
The sand dune disappeared. Morn opened their eyes and saw the sun high in the blue sky. The orc propped himself up onto their elbows and saw Jade sitting in the grass, watching him.
“It was about time,” the elf said.
Next to Morn, Acantha got up too, she looked as if she was going to punch them.
“What took you so long? We have places to be!”
“I was dreaming.”
“Same for us, Jade and I both were visited by this Morpheus guy, but we both woke up on time.”
Morn shrugged.
“You didn’t answer his question, did you,” Jade said, laughing.
“No, I ignored him.”
“Let me get this straight,” Acantha continued, “A Totem, strong enough to trap you inside dreams, asks you a simple question and you decide to defy him and sleep in. Were you even thinking about our mission or were you ignoring that too?”
“I don’t give out information that can betray Aoda.”
Acantha rolled her eyes.
“How loyal of you, you know that you can give people answers to questions that don’t lead to immediate betrayal, right?”
Morn grunted and got up. The camp had been broken down and they were ready to go.
“Which way?” Morn addressed Jade, who mounted her squig and led the way. They didn’t care much for bickering and in any case, they could do so while getting a move on.
It was a little past midday and they had traveled towards the far edge of the forest when Jade suddenly stopped. Morn followed her gaze and saw a tree with something on it.
“He’s dead,” Jade said in a quiet tone.
Morn looked again and saw that the something was in fact a dead body pinned to the tree. Apart from the odd position in which the body was bent, the colors were the persons most striking feature. Both their skin and clothes were swirls of all imaginable colors as if they had just climbed out of a paint mixer. On their chest was written one word: ‘impure’.
“It’s a border marker, I think–” Jade explained, “Perhaps this is a warning.”
“We ignore it,” Morn said and noticed Acantha rolling her eyes. “We should continue.”
Jade nodded and they continued through unknown territory.