Sick. I'll keep it short and sweet. More dreams about Adonai and Lucien ... here they are ... And now here I go ... to study some more and try to get some sleep. Dream One: The first thing I remember is Adonai saying something about a life debt. “You spared our lives from the dark ones. We are in debt to you, and will remain at your side until our debt has been paid.” I remember feeling very sad then, and thinking “what happens after it’s paid?” I’d grown attached to him, to Lucien, I didn’t really want to see them go; I’d grown so accustomed to their company. Lucien was looking at me then, with this sad look on his face. For some reason, then, I was reminded of a past dream – where, when Niveus and I were children, she had been given to me as a gift. Standing in a room with several other children … and I chose her for a companion. I don’t remember how old I was, but I remember that my master had mixed feelings about my choice. I remember I wasn’t allowed to touch her, and she wasn’t allowed to touch me. Never allowed to touch – she was special; I was special; if we touched, bad things would happen … or things that my Master didn’t want. And then I had another vision, of a childhood Lucien, standing with a similar crowd of children, all in lines, and a tall white-haired man walking through these rows – these children, they’d been “programmed” to forget their pasts. Though they could still remember, they were encouraged to forget – or else … and Lucien was one of these children, dressed in large, grey clothing that seemed to hang off of him. Just as Niveus had been, Lucien was chosen by the elderly man and led by two solder-looking men to a very large, rose and tan room with high windows and strange designs painted in gold on the walls, the tile floor, the arched ceiling … He was scared. I could feel it – as though I was him. He was of the elder man’s own kind, yet Lucien had been bred for slavery and servant-hood. He lived in fear of displaying free will for if a servant showed signs of such things, it meant swift execution. In this room, he was met by a childhood Adonai. His new master, as I came to realize when the man told Adonai “Happy birthday.” And Adonai replied, clapping with delight, and hugged the man, “Thank you, thank you, uncle! He will make a perfect companion!” My eyes open/ I’m slumped over in a chair … in this moving thing … I think it’s a ship, I don’t know … a very large boat, I just feel like we’re moving. I’d been sleeping … I think … I could have been knocked out. The room is sort of a rust color, and the light is dim. I squint, and the first thing I want to know is where Cris is. “He is … strategizing.” I hear Adonai say. I lift my head, my eyes adjusting as I make out his silhouette against the wall. “He is with soldiers now, planning. It is what he does. He is a great military leader.” And I nodded. I knew this, but … did Cris? If ever someone I trusted so completely, it was Cris, despite his occasional bout with his confidence. He always seemed so strong to me … perhaps that was why I latched myself onto him as I did. My friend … Adonai kept staring at me with those grey eyes … staring at me as I thought these things about Cris. He seemed sad, a bit hurt I suppose – but I mostly got a feeling of envy from him for Cris … or perhaps it was jealousy. I couldn’t read him as well as I could others. It was then that the ship we were in stopped – I could feel it jolting to a halt, and I stood from my chair, staring across the room at what I knew to be the door. “It is time,” Adonai said. “We have much work to do.” Dream Two: I felt that I had time and time again rescued them from danger. I protected Adonai and Lucien while they worked … they would do things, create barriers around cities, heal the sick and wounded and dying … and all the while, I would be fending off people who were trying to kill them. It seemed the more we were together, the deeper their debt became – and it seemed at their rate, the debt may never be paid. Which meant they would never leave … right? I was following one of the last attackers into another dark building … this room was very tall and very open. The walls were black, the occasional accent of wood supports, rafters above my head. An auditorium perhaps, I wasn’t sure. There were seats all along a wall … on an inclined plane. Perhaps it was a meeting area. The man I’d been following had disappeared … and I just had a feeling he’d gone toward the seats. So I went there – and he jumped out at me, lashing at me with a dagger. I blocked it with a chair, throwing the chair at him and making him fly back and crash into a wall. But he just got right back up, coming at me again … and it was like … I started bouncing from foot to foot, fists lifted … but they were loose fists, actually rather open. We fought – I can’t describe it – it was like a dance. I managed to knock the dagger away from him, and he and I just kept fighting. He was a dark one … I knew. He was too powerful to be just anyone. I caught his fists in each of my hands, and he grinned this sinister grin at me and said something like “You finally figured it out, didn’t you? What you are. Why else would you be helping THEM?” And I was just outraged at this – he had said “them” in a degrading way, and I knew he was referring to Adonai and Lucien. I moved up then, doing a catwalk, flipping in his grip, my feet smashing into his face. I spun him, locking his arms behind him. “Where is she?” I asked him. And he laughed at me through his strain. “Even if I knew, why would I tell you?” “For your life.” “You think I care about that if I agreed to this mission?” He paused, then glanced over his shoulder, shouting at the wall “NOW!” And another knife came flying out at me. I spun him around, the blade slamming right between his eyes. I let him fall to the ground and I just glared at the wall as another man came out. He was older, long silver hair in a braid, tight black leather. Before I knew it, two more daggers were flying at me from him – and he was running toward me. I was able to dodge the blades, but I couldn’t dodge him at the same time, so he smashed right into me. He had these … super sharp fingernails, I think they were metal. And he used them to slash into my chest … and they were deep – it didn’t hurt at first, just felt very cold … as cold as his smile. And I just grabbed his head … and twisted it … breaking his neck. He fell to the floor. It was then that Lucien came into the room. He saw me, looking down at the body, staggering back a bit. I knew … knew those nails had to be poisoned. And I gave him a sad, apologetic smile and started to back toward the chairs. “Larc, no!” he cried out, reaching out to me. And this black, inky shadow-like thing flew from the chairs, wrapping around my middle. I couldn’t breathe – I suddenly couldn’t breathe, and I looked to Lucien in fear. He rushed to me as the shadow started to pull me back to the chairs … to a black portal that was waiting. Loud cackling rang in my ears, coming from that portal. And Lucien moved to the shadow, and suddenly his hand was a bright, white light, that looked like a blade … And it sliced right through the shadow that held me. There was a haunting shriek as it fell to the ground and everything retreated back into the portal. Lucien caught me, and looked down at me, fear in his eyes … it was then that I noticed that his eyes were blue … an inhuman blue. Exotic bug blue, I think … and they were glowing – or they seemed to, reflecting light. I remembered those eyes from somewhere … but I couldn’t place them. “Larc, come, let’s go … we are finished. We are closer now.” “I can’t … feel my body …” I whispered to him. “I’m sorry … Lucien.” He then lifted me in his arms. He was so much stronger than he looked. And as he lifted me, my head brushed against his chin on accident. This caused him to freeze and look at me. He seemed afraid before he tightened his grip on me and ran out of the building. Dream Three: I heard Adonai fighting with Lucien. He was upset at the blood on his white robe, unsure if it was Lucien’s or another, and Lucien motioned to me lying on a cot nearby – we were on that ship again. “Just do not touch it. Give me your robe before you are contaminated.” And Lucien nodded, removing his robe … beneath it, he was wearing a tight white body suit, that had the same navy and gold designs embroidered on it. “Keep your gloves on.” Adonai instructed. Lucien nodded, looking to me … I was bandaged, lying there, feverish, in white, under a white blanket. I felt so cold still. They wouldn’t heal me like they healed the others … they feared touching me, I think. I would “contaminate” them. At first, I thought it was the blood being poisoned – but it was complete touch. They always wore gloves … they were ALWAYS covered, even when I wasn’t injured. I remember Lucien standing there, staring at Adonai as he was leaving, but Adonai stopped and looked back at him. “What is it, Lucien?” “Are we going to sit idly by and let him suffer and possibly die?” “I am going to the elders to find a solution. You will remain here and tend to him. Keep him company and update Cris on his status.” He turned to leave again. “My Lord,” Lucien started, pleading. “I have healed the poisoned dozens of times over, please, let me help him.” Adonai froze then, and his eyes moved to look over his shoulder, though he didn’t turn his head or look directly to Lucien. “Lucien, when did you start talking back to me like this? Is something the matter?” He was not angry, more upset and confused, I think. I think that Lucien had honestly never protested to Adonai before. “I apologize, my Lord.” It was then that Adonai turned around and looked at him with a knowing gaze. “He has contaminated you, hasn’t he?” Lucien nodded. “Why did you touch him? How?” He seemed distraught by this information. “It was an accident, my Lord. When I lifted him here, his head touched mine –” “Be wary of him, Lucien. He is a drug.” Adonai seemed hurt again, but once Lucien nodded, Adonai turned around again and started to walk out. “Help him, then. I will speak to Cris.” And the door closed behind him. Time has passed. I am lying on the cot still, a cold rag on my forehead, an oil lamp burning on the table to my right. And Lucien was bustling about this dark room, working on something … but he was humming something … a song … I knew. It was something to pass the time, and it was haunting … something I’d heard before … So my lips parted and I started whispering the words at first, then my very faint voice came. He stopped, looking at me as he removed his gloves. He seemed pleased that I knew the song … I felt like I shouldn’t … yet … I should. I stopped singing it … I couldn’t remember any more … but it was in that language – that language I tend to speak that doesn’t quite belong to anything … but it’s so beautiful. He knelt at my side, just smiling and touched my cheek lightly before moving again to place his hands on my chest … he was going to work. I knew … that this would take some time … I closed my eyes … I started to feel warm. I woke up.