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June 1998—July 1998
One night Calan returned to the inn, quite without warning. No one knew where he had been for the past few weeks. He, in turn, was surprised by Ariana's sudden return as well, though hers was somewhat more dramatic. Appearing in a weak flickering of dreamfire, she swayed and collapsed to the floor, weakened by her fever and the use of her magic. Calan frantically found someone to heal her, and after that good little scare, they were able to rest for a while and talk. Calan revealed his whereabouts of the past few weeks—he had been captured by Ramiel's forces. A new minion of the Lord of Nightmares, a sorceror named Brona, had been rather harsh on Calan, but the captain of the guard later escaped and made his way back to RavensDale. Ariana was upset, of course, but overcome with relief that Calan was all right.
While Calan was held prisoner and Ariana was sick, Ariana had turned nineteen. Chagrined at having missed her birthday, Calan decided to hold a belated birthday party for her. A surprising number of her friends made it to the celebration—Calan, Jessie, Flint, Isaac Draco, and even Robert, among many others. There was laughing, singing, and dancing; Ariana taught Calan how to dance to lively Celtic tunes, and he taught her to dance to the slower ones. Everyone had a wonderful time, and for a while they were able to forget the troubles of the war with the nightmares. (Near the end of the party, it sort of went into an out-of-character celebration, which was a lot of fun too. Ryan actually organized the RP to make up for not being around on my birthday in real life. *L*)
Ariana had not seen Sentressa for some time, and she soon discovered why. The DreamWarriors were not as forgiving as the Dreamworld's Guardian, and they did not accept Sentressa's repentance. Sentressa was accused of treason, was treated brutally by the DreamWarriors, and became an outcast from her people. Ariana had forgiven her, however, and she promised to do what she could to help Sentressa.
Another friend Ariana had agreed to help was Claudius. His dear friend Daenera had been kidnapped by Vassago some time back. Vassago was once Claudius' best friend, but something had happened to him, perhaps an evil spell, and he kidnapped Daenera with the intention of marrying her, then taunted Claudius and dared him to come after him. Ariana and Flint joined Claudius on the rescue mission, which took them on a boat to a nearly deserted island. First they had to fight their way to the ghostly ship, and then a mysterious storm at sea wrecked them on the island, where the three were separated. When Ariana awoke, she was shocked to find herself in what, to all appearances, was the Dreamworld.
Out of the mists came two figures, Calan and Jessie. Calan claimed that he had killed the Lord of Nightmares, and Jessie told Ariana that they had found a way to enter the Dreamworld. They could, she said, stay there together and be happy from now on. Ariana sensed that something was not right, and hesitated. Calan pleaded with her to stay there with him, and when she refused, saying she had promised to help Claudius, Calan (not the real one, of course) said that she was not worthy of his love. Then he and Jessie changed forms slightly, taking on a look of evil and then attacking Ariana. After a desperate battle, trying to fight the hallucinogenic magic that kept making her see two people dear to her, Ariana finally found the creatures' weak points and destroyed the visions. The two demons took on their true forms, then vanished, snarling.
The vision of the Dreamworld faded, leaving Ariana standing alone on a misty, deserted shore. Off in the distance she could see a dark tower looming in through the haze. After a minute, Flint and then Claudius appeared from the fog. Each of them had experienced something similar, first tantalized by suspicious visions of people and places that they loved, then a battle when they tried to break out of the spell. Each had won, however, though it was a traumatizing experience, at least for Ariana.
They made their way to the tower, where they discovered Vassago and Daenera. After a heated battle, they finally defeated the monsters that Vassago and the demon Yayasan summoned, though Claudius sacrificed his life to save the others. Knocked unconscious, Ariana, Flint, and Daenera later awoke on the shores of RavensDale's quays, with no memory of the experience. Some time later, Ariana was asleep on a couch in Rivendell, where she ended up after helping Flint take Daenera somewhere safe. Calan found her there, and not wanting to wake her, he simply sat beside her and relaxed for a while. After a while, however, Ariana suddenly awoke. Frozen where she lay, she woke from a strong nightmare, trapped in dark emotions that left her unable to move or do anything at all but stare. Lost in a web of fear, anguish, and loneliness, it was as if she were in the Lord of Nightmares' clutches.
Calan sensed that something was terribly wrong, and he gently shook Ariana, trying to wake her up. His touch brought her out of the nightmarish trance, and she started to cry. As Calan listened comfortingly, she explained what had happened, which was apparently some sort of direct, mental attack on her by the Lord of Nightmares. They talked of the war and of people who could give aid, and Calan mentioned Claudius. Suddenly the memories came crashing down on Ariana, and she began to sob again. She explained to Calan how Claudius had died in the rescue, and they both grieved; and then she told him of the false vision of him. Apparently that had severely traumatized Ariana. She had walked away from a demon posing as Calan, but she couldn't help but feel as if she had walked away from Calan.
Calan quietly explained to Ariana that while he had dreamed of her for years, it was not really her, but a dream version of her. And yet even those years of dreams could not make him love anyone but the true Ariana, and he always would. He said he knew she could see past the illusion, and she did, even though it still hurt her to think of what she had experienced on that island.
Those experiences would come back to haunt Ariana, however. Not much later, Ariana and Calan came upon an injured man in the streets of RavensDale. Ariana healed him, and then both of them recognized the man. Calan knew him because he was a member of RavensDale's Guard, in fact, a member of Calan's elite forces. The man, Ewan Rudd by name, looked familiar to Ariana, and she realized that she had seem him before, as the demon Yayasan. Apparently Ewan had been missing for some time, and during that time he had been possessed by Yayasan. After the battle on the island, however, Yayasan had left him and possessed another. (This later turned out to be Vassago. Until then Vassago had only been under Yayasan's evil influence, but now he served as a physical host of the demon.) Now Ewan was himself again, however, and he turned out to be a loyal Guardsman, with something of a hero worship for Calan. When they discovered that Vassago had been possessed by Yayasan, however, they decided to go in search of him and hopefully free him from the demon's power. Their search led them to the Quays, where they found Isaac Draco, and there they battled Vassago, who brought back the "facade" of Calan. Ariana, confused and unable to figure out which Calan was the real one, was forced to watch as the two did battle. Finally she reached out with her powerful love, to see which one returned it. Once she learned which Calan was real, she was able to aid him in destroying the fake.
Vassago retreated, and Ariana, Calan, Ewan, and Isaac were able to try to enjoy a sort of weary relief. And Ariana knew there was an even greater, more dangerous enemy looming on the horizon...
The Dreamworld Saga ©2001 by Amy Unfred