A World With/Out Home

Chapter 10: Results and Tribulations. (Part 1)

"Guaaah!" Kyle breathed in, shocked awake by the sudden end to the dream. A strange sensation lingered about his body, one that was akin to falling. In the instant he realised he was right, he hit the ground. A loud thud resounded in the dining room as Kyle's head hit the wooden floorboards with a weighty force and along with it the clatter of his knocked over chair. "Yeoooo!." He rolled on the floor letting out gibberish as he held his head in pain.

"What are you doing?" Maila stood above him as he slowly eased himself. She frowned at the sight of the fallen chair and empty cup on the table as well as the blanket now strewn on the floor, "You stayed here the entire night didn't you?"

Kyle finally stood as the pain ebbed away, "I didn't mean to. I just kind of fell asleep." He looked outside where the early morning light had barely began. His mind was still rattled by the final scene of the dream as the mass of fire and flame crushed against Estile. Everything about that dream was foreign to him and thinking back to the battlefield his stomach and head suddenly churned to nausea. In a rush he pushed past Maila to the bathroom and keeled over the toilet. What came out wasn't pretty, though it was nothing compared to the battlefield he saw in his mind. For someone who had never been in a fight before, witnessing the deaths of dozens upon dozens was too much. Estile was used to it but for Kyle, how could he not remember their dead lifeless bodies? The ones who screamed in pain and bled, all the while their emotionless enemies continued to hack at them.

"Kyle?" Maila came soon after him deeply concerned.

"I'm- I'm fine," he replied stiffly as the feeling passed.

"Maybe you should rest today. You might have a fever from sleeping outside."

"No I can't," he shook his head. For one he wasn't actually sick and the other, Lillia and Tai would hopefully return in the evening. He wanted to be there to make sure the Garden was ready to welcome them back. "I mean, I really am fine. It was just something in passing."

"If you say so, but if you want any medicine I do have some, not that the children ever get sick."

"Thank you," he straightened his body and wiped his mouth. The taste of bile still lingered on his tongue and he quickly went to wash it out. Maila let him pass as he returned to the dining room, her eyes however were locked on to him as if just waiting for him to collapse. "Um you really don't have to stare so much."

"Put yourself in my shoes. You'd be just as concerned," she looked at him wryly.

Kyle nodded after a pause, "I guess you're right but it's nothing wrong with me." Even if he wanted to explain, he wasn't sure where to start or if he could. Maila was the one who told him to keep quiet about his dreams after all.

Finally letting it go Maila and moved away, "I'll start on breakfast then. Come help when you're ready."

"Sure, I'll just wash up first." Still in the dining room he bent over to pick up the fallen chair and upon seeing the blanket he paused. When he had fallen asleep he didn't have one. Looking at it closer he realised it belonged to Mitsu. The girl must have woken up and seen him at the table. He smiled. They really were good kids.

Alone in the bathroom Kyle washed away the nights sweat and freshened himself. The dream this time had been the longest yet and not for good reasons. The constant battle continued to flash into his mind causing his body to unconsciously flinch. Although he had never seen the strange black armoured creatures before, the way they died reminded him of Jana's fight with the demon Primarch. The oozing dark substance seemed almost the same but having never actually been up close to a demon himself, he couldn't judge. What he knew however was that Estile was truly special. For someone who could look so gentle and calming, she had dominated the battlefield. A strange shudder flipped through his heart as he wondered if she had somehow survived. Unless he dreamed again, he might never know.