Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 59: Almost-Dreaming

As he lay on the sofa and closed his eyes like the gamayun, Pietro, commanded he do, Them felt surprisingly tired despite sleeping well the night before. He felt safe and warm under the blanket that Pietro draped over him which made him feel relaxed and ready to sleep.

"Now, you must get to the state of almost-dreaming, and when you are in that state, you must reach out with your senses and find a trail of magic to follow. You might see a translucent, blue path, you might smell something akin to sulfur, or you might hear a ringing at an odd pitch. It is these things that you must follow in order to gain access to the dream plains. I highly suspect that you would be the Called when it comes to the dream plains and not the Caller." Pietro explained enigmatically.

"I don't unde—" Them began.

"Magic is an instinctual thing! Don't think about it too much! Don't try to understand it, instead, you must feel it!" Pietro scolded him. The bird turned to Pete. "You. Wisp. You must envelop him in magic and watch his progress. When he is in the state of almost-dreaming, you will give him a slight prompt with your magic which will encourage him to try and find an aforementioned trail of magic to follow."

Pete nodded determinedly and sat on the back of the sofa which Them lied upon. The wisp reached out with his magic and brushed his friend's mind—monitoring his level of drowsiness.

Pete knew his friend's mind well, although Them did not know that he knew it well. Pete often brushed it without Them realizing it, and the waif was none the wiser due to his lack of talent in magic.

Them's mind was the reason Pete had decided to bond with him. The day they met, the wisp felt a warm soul treading upon the holy mountain in Trella; it was a soul imbued with boundless enthusiasm, passion, and recklessness, and Pete was addicted to it.

He remembered his old life among the wisps who did not choose to bind to mortal creatures; it was passionless and aimless, similar to how Them often thought his life was, but in reality, the waif had no idea what purposeless, passionless, and aimlessness truly felt like.

But Pete knew. Pete knew it all-too-well. That was why his infatuation with Them began as partly disingenuous, and partly genuine. He wanted emotions and magic to feast upon, and he found what he wanted within the waif's mind, but he also found something unexpected; an irreplaceable friend.

And as Pete brushed his friend's mind, he enjoyed how warm and alive it felt as he always did, but that wasn't the only thing he enjoyed; he enjoyed the relaxation and peacefulness of a tired mind.

Pete closed his eyes, and even though they were closed, he could see—no, he could practically feel--the smile spreading across Them's face.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, he felt the heaviness of Them's eyelids, and then he felt the state of almost-dreaming coming on all at once.

Gently, Pete prodded his friend's mind with mgic and whispered, follow the magic.

And Them obeyed the prompt.

The waif's consciousness, through the use of magic, reached out and looked upon the many faceted surfaces of the world; his disembodied eyes were speeding over plains that were both green and luscious and brown and barren. His consciousness was searching for something, Them couldn't remember what it was, but he knew he would know it when he felt it.

The land was a blur as he sped over jagged things that might have been mountains and silvery ground that might have been snow.

Eventually, he contacted an odd smell, and then he saw a translucent path of blue magic. He followed it; he was being drawn in by something he couldn't resist.