Patchwork, Chapter 6 - The Beginning Of The End...

       "Dude, it was real!" Mort said.
       "Come on, it was a dream. Three reasons why it can't be real, A: the Council would know and tell the rest of us, B: who in their right mind would release Opstanak, C: you were asleep, Mort, dreams happen when you're asleep." Rätsel said, sitting down on the park bench.
       Mort sighed and sat next to him. "But it's happened to me before, remember, near the end of the War. I had a dream of what Opstanak was planning and we were able to head him off at first light." He rubbed his head. "You weren't there, it just felt so real."
       "Some dreams do, you just can't help it." Rätsel said, leaning back.
       "Hang on, you control riddles..." Mort said, an idea leaping to mind.
       Rätsel looked at him from the corner of his eyes. "... Yes." he said slowly.
       "So you can tell if something is true or not." Mort said, hope filling him now.
       "That I can." Rätsel replied, nodding slowly.
       "So, if I tell you that someone's freed him, can you tell if it's true or not?" Mort was almost giddy but he kept a straight face.
       Rätsel sighed. "Go on then."
       "Opstanak is free." Mort said, slowly and clearly.
       Rätsel waited a few seconds while he mulled it over, seeing if he could tell without his Resps. Suddenly his face grew dark and his eyes widened. He turned to Mort fully. "Oh my God."
       "Exactly! So will you help me?" Mort asked.
       "Fine, but we have to go and see the Council first. I'm not going anywhere near an Instinct without backup." he said.
       "Then we'll go tomorrow, right after school." Mort said as rain started to fall. It splashed into the pond sending ripples across the surface. People started to hurry away now, seeking shelter from the rain. Mort and Rätsel got up. "I'll talk to dad too, see if he can help. He is on the Council."
       "I'll talk to mum too then. Just don't do anything stupid without me." Rätsel said with a small smile and walked out of the park and towards his house.
       Mort knew now that this was big. He knew that he had beat the Instincts before but his mortal form had been older, stronger and he had had his Resps. Now he wondered if he would be out helping to stop Opstanak at all if he told the Council. He turned in the opposite direction and started his own walk home.

***

       When he got there, Paura was already home. "Hello Mort." she said, when he walked in, his clothes soaked.
       "Hiya." he replied, ringing out his jacket. "Mum, if I told you that I had a dream that Opstanak was free, what would you do?" he asked.
       "I'd advise you to ask your father when he got home and then speak to the Council. Why?" she said, looking up from her work.
       He sat opposite her at the table. "Well, um, last night I had this dream, well, more of a vision really, that someone released Opstanak." he said, looking at the grooves in the wooden table rather than at Paura.
       Even without looking at her he felt Fear's fear. It landed on the room, dropping the temperature and the air seemed to become thick. "This happened before, I remember. Near the end of the War. What about the other Instincts? Are they back too? God knows they would come back with a vengeance." she asked.
       Mort remembered the last stretch of the War. The Emotions had yet to subdue the Instincts. Mort and Liv were at the head of the two main forces but still, people died. He remembered how Lussuria and Kutatás had sought him out and pleaded with him. They had told him how Opstanak had become obsessed with crushing everything. Rätsel had been the one to decide to trick them, he reasoned that they could not be trusted - they might just want Opstanak out or it was a trick. And so, they had lead them to the Old City where they had fooled them into the caskets then they had combined many Emotions to force them into a sleep that only Mort or Liv could awaken them from. That was how the Instincts had come to fall. That was the beginning of the end for the siblings. Lust and Exploration fell first and then, the last sibling, Survival. The caskets had locked them inside Human Nature and they had not awoken in almost twelve thousand years.
      "No, Lussuria and Kutatás are not awake. Opstanak said something about them not being trustworthy." he said, his eyes clouded and distant. He could still see the dense jungles and extreme deserts they had fought in to protect the early human race. Any evidence of battles was gone now but if you looked in certain places you could still see a few odd things that didn't belong there...
       "Well, seek the Council's permission first but I think I know what they'll say." Paura said. It wasn't very often Mort saw Paura feeling her own emotion, she was usually calm and collected but now... He could see the shadows under her eyes and she seemed as old as she really was. Just for a moment, but a moment was all it took.
       "What is it you think they'll say?" Mort asked, he had a vague idea but whether it would help or make things worse, he did not know.
       She sighed. "I think they might tell you to awake the other Instincts." she said.
       Even though Mort suspected this would be what she would say it still hit him like a blow to the gut. "But they'd hate me. I've seen their power and Lussuria had known what was coming as Kutatás went first. She would kill me." he said.
       "That's just a risk-" she was interrupted by the front door opening.
       Sinne walked in and saw us both at the table. He grunted his greeting.
       "Sinne, pull up a chair. Mort has something to tell you." Paura said.
       Sinne hesitated then sat down and arched his eyebrows. "Well?"
       "Last night I had a dream, well, a sort of vision that Opstanak was woken up and I was wondering if I could get a hearing with the Council." Mort said.
       Sinne gave a faint smile. "I know it has happened before, Mort, but maybe that was all it was, a dream. Besides, if Opstanak was back, the Council would know but we have heard nothing from the Old City." he said.
       "But I saw someone helping him and I got Rätsel to-"
       "Enough!" Sinne roared. "Opstanak is not back and there is no need to bother the Council with such petty problems."
       "But-"
       "I said enough, now get out." Sinne snapped and pointed from the room.
       Mort pushed back his chair so violently that is flew back against the wall and smashed. He stormed up the stairs. Sinne wasn't going to stop him telling the Council. There's more than one way to get to the dimension, Mort thought.




This reminded me how much fun it is to write Patchwork! Magic, mystery and loveable characters! I love it!!


Lynxia x