ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter 57: Dreamscape

"Hey, Kid."

"Fisher?" I said, opening my eyes slowly. "I thought you were gone for good this time."

"No, Kiddo," he stood up from a crouch and offered me his hand, "This time it's all me."

I shook my head, refusing to take his hand as I stood.

We were in a dusty brown field full of winding cracks and sparse, yellow grass. Dawn was just beginning to appear, painting the sky in orange and blue. I smiled as unfiltered sunlight warmed my face for the first time in days.

"Where are we," I said, "this doesn't feel familiar."

"Augustus, my son" he grasped me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. "You've known this place all your life. It's who you are."

I looked around at the arid desert but found nothing familiar. It was just dry, cracked ground devoid of life stretching as far as the eye could see in almost every direction. Tall mountains, blue and snowcapped, stood like giants to the west, as dark storm clouds gathered behind them.

"If this is all I am," I shook out of his grasp, "then I'm worse off than I thought. Perhaps it's all the lies I've been told. My whole life has been a lie, hasn't it? Dad. Fisher? Whoever you are."

"No," he shook his head, "not that. "Everything else was a lie, but not who you are. The power. The truth of our family, our past. We are not gods, Gus. Not like we were, like all men can be. We are merely the descendants of fools who made a poor choice in allies."

"Then tell me where we are, why any of this is happening. Tell me why a girl, a child I barely knew, had to die. My child, Dad. And tell me why the monster that killed her still lives."

"Gus ... son. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. I can't answer your questions. I am just a memory, a fragment left by a dying man. The world has become a dangerous place, but I'm afraid you will have to make your own way once you leave here."

"Then tell me just one thing, you're useless to me if you can't."

"I will, if I can."

"How," I growled, "do I kill a god?"

"The source of a god's power, son, is the Dreamscape. It is a world that binds all minds, from the lowest insect to the beings that play marbles with our universe. Perhaps even creatures greater still. The power to visit that world is what allowed my grandfather to create the first generation of 'gods'. It's a power you share."

"I don't understand. If I've had this power all my life, why have I never used it? Why did you never tell me?"

"The mantle, a shackle really, suppressed it. Recently though, you've felt it haven't you? Perhaps you've even begun constructing your own Mindspace?"

"That's ..." I thought back to my chats with the Fisher and the floating island in the middle of a black void. The creature had said it was a part of my own mind. His part.

"Maybe," I conceded, "and the Fisher, and the burning Eye?"

"Creatures of the Dreamscape, yes, but also more. Beware the temptations of Madness, Finn. It is what first gave rise to consciousness and is a powerful weapon, but it's a sword that cuts both ways."

"And I can use this place," I waved my arms in front me, "to kill Liv?"

"She is not a god," he shook his head, "not like those of us who once ruled in Midgard. The Liv you knew is long since dead, but now is not the time to mourn. Not until you face our true oppressor, and the true source of Liv's strength.

If the Founders return, I'm afraid it will be too late. That's why I'm here."

"You're here to tell me it's too late?"