The Dreamer's Epilogue-Chapter 20: Tistis

Chapter 20 – Tistis

Emrys, Victoria and Old Navy sat around a table made of hard, jagged rock, inside the main building of the village tribe of the Tistis.

It was nothing grandiose. Just like anything around, it was a simple hut-like structure, the top triangular.

The structure was the same as all the others in the tribe, just bigger. There was nothing but minimal furniture to live in the Tribe.

And even that, it was dangerously lacking according to Emrys.

The three companions had wandered around the village tribe this morning, trying to get a good grasp of what they were supposed to protect.

However, they found out there was nothing, honestly nothing, to look forward to.

The Tistis’s settlement seemed to have been made in complete haste. The size of it was big enough only to hold not even forty persons inside.

There were around forty or so Tistis. In other words, many of them were cramped together in their homes like sardines in cans.

The buildings were awkward, made of stones and black wood from nearby trees.

Besides that, Emrys, Victoria and Old Navy also looked outside of the Tistis’s tribe.

Not that far away, but enough to understand their surroundings. And what they witnessed chilled their bones. At least, to Emrys. He unfortunately couldn’t see any kind of emotions on Victoria and Old Navy’s faces.

Victoria’s face was ever shy and demure, unable to hold eye contact for even a second.

Old Navy... that old bones was truly something. He never stopped for a single second talking, but all his topics were related to history.

Emrys hated it.

However, his dissatisfaction with it was drowned by the fact they were in stony plains with barely a couple of dry, withered, stooped dark trees.

And it was the same scenery as far as their eyes could perceive. Only mountains and stooped jagged hills were surrounding them from all sides.

Occasionally, they would hear distant growls of beasts. But that was all. There was not an ounce of vegetation.

Now Emrys knew why they were not offered anything for breakfast.

But wait, did this tribe even know that concept? Emrys now doubted it.

"Why are you here?" Emrys, moving constantly on his chair because of its hardness, asked the only Tistis with them. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He looked at her features.

She was tall, probably standing at 7 ft, with skin as pale as a sheet of ice. She was slender, with no fat or muscles on her, causing snake-like veins to slither across her body.

Her eyes were completely blank white, her nose small but pointed, and her ears pierced by multiple white rings.

Her hair was equally white, braided into what seemed like locks, falling over her fair face gently, like leaves.

No matter how many times Emrys saw her or the other members of the tribe; it became evident to him that these were not beings made to live in this stony rocky environment.

Something was wrong.

"I am here to participate just like all of you. We also wish to know." The girl, called Elder despite her obvious young age, said. Her voice was like icicles stabbing inside Emrys’s ear.

He suppressed a groan.

"I don’t know what happened." She added, sweeping her eyes around them, "But we all suddenly woke up here, with a set of instructions in our brain." Elder said, frowning her eyebrow-less eyes.

"And, pray tell, what were those instructions?" Old Navy asked, voice naturally gruff. The old bones was smoking again.

"To survive." Elder said, looking at them, "only that. And for that..."

She took out something from under the fold of her clothes and put it on the table with a scraping sound.

It was the key.

It was white, just like Elder’s skin, with a sigil marked on it. One of a cupped hand.

"...for that, climbers, this key must not be taken away from us. I daresay we also must gather the other ones." Elder continued, staring at them intensely, "this is our only way of knowing what’s happening with us and why we are fighting."

Emrys, Victoria and Old Navy listened to Elder, then watched the key sitting in the middle of the table.

Next they lifted their eyes, looking at each other, each one trying to understand the intent of the others through their facial expressions.

But when it came to emotions and intent, faces alone never spoke for themselves.

Except for those inexperienced like Emrys. He was read like an open book.

The tension inside the room immediately thickened, the air enough to choke out the breath of any unawakened being.

However, during their staring contest, Elder took back the key once more.

She smiled at them mirthlessly, eyes narrowing coldly.

"I will hold, if you do not mind, this key for now." She said, "Once you come to a consensus decision about the keeper, I shall give it to you."

It was evident from her voice that this was not a request. But a demand.

And that was when Emrys finally understood something.

In the same way they were here for their quest, trying to succeed and enter a new World for a new life; it was the same for this tribe.

They also wished for success, because it was their lives that were mostly on the line.

And still, for them, the key seemed to be even more primordial. Emrys, Victoria and Old Navy quietly wondered why, their curiosities prickled.

Nothing had been said about what these keys do. But at this point, they knew that nothing the System gave was useless.

They still didn’t know yet. But they would.

With that, they reluctantly agreed with Elder’s choice, each one of them deciding to keep an eye on her, in case something happened and Elder was in danger.

After that, they began to discuss how to better protect the settlement, asking Elder about the possible dangers around.

Elder started to speak. She told of the beasts the tribe encountered around, and even another tribe that was not so far away from them.

That information caused the trio to immediately adopt serious countenances.

Another tribe meant a potential enemy or ally. But, honestly, it was more likely to be enemy than friend.

They talked next about the strength of the tribe. With no surprise, all of them were either unawakened or at mortal-self rank.

There were also those who obtained a class, but they were rare. Elder was among them. She was the shaman, she said.

Just like that, time passed. They continued to talk until midday, when the hot ball of pale sun glared at the earth below, causing the air to wobble.

The tribe was still peaceful with no enemies attacking. And somehow, that was more unnerving.

But it seemed Emrys had talked too fast.

The moment those thoughts flashed through his mind, the door of the meeting cave yawned open with a fracturing bang. A tall male Tistis burst inside, his eyes darting around the room restlessly.

When they settled on Elder, he immediately dashed toward her in haste, almost falling multiple times.

Arriving before her, he kneeled, head ducked down in respect and worry.

"Elder, forgive me, by the grace of Harud’s eyes on us, for my intrusion. This nameless slave has an urgent message from Lady Healer."

The Tistis stammered, voice thick with worry and rising fear.

Instantly, Emrys, Victoria and Old Navy focused on the man, their minds thinking the worst.

"Tell me." Elder said in a soothing voice.

"It’s our children," the man said, voice rasping and on the verge of tears, "our children are drying, Elder. They can no longer hold on."

Right at that moment, Emrys, Victoria and Old Navy blinked their eyes, something flashing in front of them.

[Tribe members alive: 47 -> 42.]

Their eyes widened, yet before they could even blink,

[Tribe members alive: 42 -> 41.]

Their hearts skipped a beat.

—End of Chapter 20—