Anything Can Be Undone

Ah, this place again.  One of the spirits must've wanted to talk to me.  The only times I ever come to this place when dream walking is when a spirit needs me.  Spirits, as I learned since I was a kid, were pretty bad at timin'.  They're always late, even to things they want you to come to.  They drag dream walkers like me into their plain and have me sit 'ere all night, waitin'.  Waitin' for them to show their face and tell me what they wanted.  After all, dream walkers are the "vessels of spirits" or some other nonsense Orion tried to sell to me once.  I didn't buy it.

So I wandered this plain.  It looked familiar; I had been on this one before.  It was hard to tell in the Beyond.  Everything looked…hazy, kinda like it was fluctuating and changin' all the time.  Probably because it was changin' all the time.  Spirits made the Beyond, they crafted it to their needs and designs.  Dream walkers like me could just walk the paths they set, not make our own.  Though Pele told me that when a dream walker dies we become powerful spirits, usually with the ability to shape the Beyond.  I dunno if I looked forward to that or not.

There you are.

I knew that spirit's voice.  I looked up to see the shifting, shimmering, huge shape of Orion.  Big gold eyes craned down a long neck to look at me better.  Spirits could see dream walkers well in the Beyond, but Orion liked to get right up close and personal.  It used to get me steamed, it don't anymore.  I just got used to the old bag of scales.

"You called me," I shrugged.

We have done as you asked.

I had to stop and think there.  Now, I didn't go askin' things from the spirits often, but I had made some requests in the past.  Since spirits, especially flippin' old spirits like Orion, had no sense of time, he could think the request I made was yesterday when it was years ago.  It was kinda confusin' how he couldn't tell that I went from five years old to 70.  I think he didn't see mortals a lot or somethin'.

"Pardon me scaly, but which request are you referrin' to?"

Orion fluctuated for a moment.  I think he was upset that I couldn't remember the request.  The giant creature sat down, pulling his head up and far out of my reach.  Dragons were big things, and since Orion was as old as dirt he was huge.  Probably the size of a barn.  Then again, he might just look big in the Beyond.  I couldn't really tell.  Dream walking and talking to spirits was funny like that.

It was years ago.  You asked us to ensure one of your premonitions came true, Tobias.

Damn dragon always had to talk in riddles.  Any request I made of Orion and Pele had to do with my visions.

"Alright," I said, growing annoyed, "which premonition was this?"

That the three in prison would live.  You asked us this when you were younger, less round.

"Ah.  That 'un," about damn time he started talkin' sense.  "I suppose ya'll want payment now?"

We already took our payment, many years ago.  Such a task took a great deal of energy.  The blue was not keen enough to know his way out.  I had to guide him.

I nodded and turned away from Orion.  With a wave of my hand a pool appeared in the air before me.  I tapped a finger to the pool.  The silvery water within rippled, as if I had dropped a big rock in a tub, and a second later I could see a clear picture of three people sleepin'.  Two human men and one neshtan girl.  One glowed blue the other two were red.  I guess the only blue of the bunch was their leader.  Looked like a good lad to me.  Looked a lot like a guy in town too.

"Good.  They're livin'."

The red man hangs by a weak thread.

"He'll make it."

You act as though you know more than us.

"I never said that, Orion," I inspected the three in the pool.  "But I saw them make it.  You made sure they all got out of the collapse.  That has to be enough…"

Are you sure that this was the right choice to make, Tobias?

"Hah.  I got no choice anymore, do I?"  I smiled a bit remorsefully.  "S' already been done.  Ya'll already took payment.  I won't ask what it was, I got a hunch…"

You refer to your late wife and son.

"No, I refer to the fluid in my knees that makes it hard for me to sit or stand for long periods a'time."

You glibness does you no credit.

It was better not to show emotion in the Beyond.  Spirits didn't understand feelings, not the old ones like Orion at least.  Orion was better at reading emotions and feelings than Pele, though.  Pele didn't give a tick for anythin'.  What she said went.

Are you displeased with the result?

"How can I be?  S' what I wanted.  'Sides, it can't be undone now."

Anything can be undone.

I stopped looking at the three in my pool to the living realm and turned to Orion.  I squinted at the big-ass lizard.  What the hell was he talkin' about?

"What?  Like ya'll can turn the clocks back and tell me no to my request years ago?  S'at what yer are sayin'?"

Orion tilted his head at me.  He brought that big head down in front of me, giant gold eyes inspectin' me, readin' my soul and readin' my thoughts.  I hated it when he did that.  Spirits had no damn manners.

Is that what you want?

I hated it even more when Orion played with my feelins that he didn't understand.  The old dragon had no right to confuse me.  He was doing this on purpose, another lil' test of his.  I wouldn't get riled.  I used to get riled, when I was young, but I didn't now.  At least not with Orion.  Pele…she was a different story.  She was easy to get riled at and she wanted you to get riled.  It was like a game to that thing.

"…No.  I made my choice long ago.  Just hold up your end of the deal and we're good."

As you wish.  We will take our leave of you.  You are free to wander our domain for as long as you please.  Safe journeys, Tobias.

I waved the dragon off and he disappeared in a cloud of white.  A soft sigh escaped me and I turned back to my view of the living realm.

It was the right choice.  They were worth the price I paid, or so I desperately hoped.  Only time would tell if they survived to fulfill my other visions.