Fever Dream

“Welcome, friend.” A voice says as Roland slowly opens his eyes. Looking around himself, he sees nothing, literally nothing. A seemingly endless expanse of white surrounds him as far as he can see. 

A small speck of darkness begins to grow as he watches it, resolving itself into a small blue elephant with a top hat and cane walking upright and heading directly toward him. 

“I do apologize. I am forever struggling with the timing of that greeting. Cannot seem to get it quite right. Now, I’m Deforest. This is the essence plane, or inner sanctum of the soul, or the chakra, or whatever you decide to call it, and I am a guide from the system of the worlds. Or the Records, if you will. You know, the things you have been completely ignoring.” 

Roland stares, shaking his head slowly at the incomprehensible sight before him. All the weirdness over the last couple of weeks has absolutely nothing on the talking apparition before him. 

“Why in the hell do you sound like Bones from Star Trek?” 

“Well, that is an interesting question. The answer is that none of this is real; it's a projection of the Fates as they attempt to explain some things to you. And to hopefully point you at what they hope for you to accomplish. You have Ajinomoto to perform. However, even that is not exactly right since the Fates have no real consciousness. You may think of it as the will of the universe attempting to prod you in the right direction,” the elephant says. 

“Okay, so I’m hallucinating. That would definitely explain the cane and top hat on an elephant.” Roland says to himself.  Turning his back to the talking manifestation of madness, Roland begins walking away, only to find himself staying in one place like walking against a moving sidewalk in an airport. Suddenly that’s exactly where he is-an airport. A deserted one but still an airport. 

“Look, do you want to keep going against the flow or listen to what I have to say?” says a high voice behind him. Turning, Roland sees a young child dressed as a hostess from IHOP. 

“What the hell is going on?!” he shouts. 

“It’s metamorphic. No, that’s not right…Metaphorical! That’s it” she says.  “Look the only way out of this is when the Fates let you out so you might as well listen up.” 

Roland now finds himself seated in a middle school desk looking forward as a teacher writes across a blackboard. 

“The Fates determine the course of events throughout the worlds which they encompass. The Records are just that, they record and advance all knowledge throughout the worlds. All events are recorded, and all events eventually reoccur. Well, all except you. It seems you exist as an anomaly within this world. See, you were never meant to be here. In order to correct this, you have a mission to accomplish. You will seek the ends of the great dungeons which reside in the heart of the world you now live in and bring the pieces of the World Tear to the shrine of the Fates. Once all the pieces have been retrieved a boon will be granted to you and you can be returned to the place from whence you came. Fail in this, and this world will cease to exist along with your own. The imbalance is far too great to continue.” 

“That is a lot of information at one go.” Roland says staring wide eyed at the now purple elephant in a commencement gown and hat. “Why me?”

“You are an aberration a bug so to speak but one that can be self-correcting. Seek out the World Tear and fix the imbalance…”

———

“WAKE UP!!!” Horn’s voice roars right next to Roland’s head. 

“What the hell?!” Roland screams. 

“Your fever broke a day ago. You should’ve come out of it already. I got tired of waiting on you.” Horn says with a shrug. 

“Thanks, your concern is overwhelming.”

“I know. I’m great, right? We finished the assignment. You should get dressed and head down to update your status. That essence overflow is your second. You may see some interesting changes. And don’t forget to update your guild card.” Horn says waving as he walks out of the bunk room. 

Roland dresses slowly, putting on his armor and other gear. If nothing else, the week on the road ingrained in him the need to be ready for anything no matter where he is. Stretching his arms out and loosening the knots in his shoulders, Roland reflects on the strange dream. 

The guild hall is similar to the one in the town where this mess started, and Roland quickly finds the main desk.

“I need to update my card please.” 

“Sure, just down the left hallway and take the first door on the right.” 

“Thanks.” 

Walking down the narrow hall, Roland makes his way to the crystal to update his guild standing. 

“Please, place your hand on the gem.” 

Status

“Well that changes things a bit”

**Mortal - average vanilla human

Ascendent - top tier human Olympic athlete

Transcendent - beyond human capacity 

??? - TBA