The Elementals

Oh'Rian Has A Plan

I’m beginning to hate this dumb black forest. I stomp through the silence angrily. “Who is it now?” I shout challengingly. “Am I gonna fall through the sky this time?” My patience has run out, and I’m on my last nerve. My brain needs better thoughts at night. Aggravated, I punch a tree. My hand passes right through it and I get a tingling chill down my spine.

    “Tide?” Ah, there it is.

    “What?” I snap, stubbornly staying put. It’s just a dream so nothing is real, right?

    “Where are you?” The voice sounds completely bewildered and really, really, familiar.

It sounds like Oh’Rian.

    “Over here!” I call, turning my head. “What’s wrong?”

    “Oh, I don’t know!” Yes, it’s definitely Oh’Rian. “Something is happening to me. I need help. I’m not sure what to do and-“

    “Tide?”

I jump up and smash into Caelum, and we both fall to the ground. “I was sleeping!” I snap at him.

He backs up. “Sorry. You were twitching and kind of scaring me.”

    “It’s alright.” I say, rubbing my temples.

    “Are you okay?”

    “Fine.” I say and look around. The sun is just barely rising; the sky is still relatively dark. I glance back at Caelum and see he’s looking at me with this yeah, right expression on his face. “I had a dream. That’s it.”

    “What about?”

    “Why are you so concerned?”

    “I just want to make sure you’re okay.” He says, looking down.

Well now I feel bad. He was just trying to help. “My friend. She was in trouble. She said something was wrong with her.” I proceed to tell him the details.

    “What if it’s real?” Caelum asks when I’m finished.

Oh yes, thank you, that makes me feel a whole lot better. I chide myself. It’s a legitimate question. “I guess it could be. When I went to Stella’s town, I had had a dream about it first.”

    “Yeah, but she’s magic.”

I snicker quietly. “True.”

    “Well, should we go look for her?” Caelum asks.

    “Right now?” I’m surprised he even cares. “We don’t even know if she’s here.”

    “She could be, and if your dream was right, she’s in some sort of trouble.”

My stomach twists. He’s right. Oh’Rian could be in danger. I stand up. The others, knowing them, won’t be awake for a couple hours. “Let’s go.”

We walk into the woods. It occurs to me how stupid this is. We’re just assuming that Oh’Rian is on a random mountain side exactly near where we camped. Then I start to recognize the scenery. “You’re kidding me.” I whisper to myself.

    “What?” Caelum asks.

I point to a tree ahead of us. The bark is chipped and broken. “I might’ve gotten mad and punched a tree.” I say and walk over to it. I touch the bruised wood and feel a strong static shock. For a second, everything is thrown back into the inky blackness of my dream. I hear Oh’Rian calling my name. I snap my head towards the sound.