Brilliant light of the Eastern Woods and his revelations through dreams

Light sat in the back of the caravan, seeing it as his time of rest, though he barely slept since that night fire, metal and death had rained from the skies of his home, the screams stayed with him and his promise to take vengeance still burned white hot. The encounter with the priest had left him angry, memories of his family and friends resurfaced and he blinked away tears of sadness and rage. “I won’t let you down…” he whispered to himself as he closed his eyes and laid back against some of the goods they had obtained, he’d have felt bad about it if the man they took it off hadn’t been a slaver himself.

As Light sat there, staring up at the ceiling of the cart, listening to the voices of the others outside on watch or keeping the horses on track, his companions of chance more than choice. First impressions had been poor of most, even someone from his childhood home, though her nobility annoyed Light more than anything and her unwillingness to see justice done. Then Dorn, the hulking barbaric fool, more of a liability than anything, especially after killing his friend. The others seemed alright for now, though Echo was a little too quiet and it made him feel uneasy at times.

He sighed loudly and shifted about a bit, his eyes flickering slightly before closing and a smile crossed his lips for the first time since that night, “finally, sleep” he thought. His dreams were vivid, more so than anything he had ever felt before, flashes of a life, a woman he didn’t recognise though she felt oddly familiar to him, like an old friend. He watched her casting spells the like of which he’d never seen, using weapons and machines that were far beyond his wildest imaginings.

She was tall and her dark skin seemed to bristle with a barely contained energy, she was walking through a desert at the head of an army, standing proud at the forefront of the shimmering ranks of armed men and women. A man approached her and bowed before speaking a language Light didn’t understand but the woman smiled and gave him a nod as he ran back to a different unit.

The dream flickered and went white before another image appeared, the woman again, sitting at the head of a table, armoured men surrounding it also, all speaking in the same tongue he’d heard before. Then she raised her hand and all went silent, then she spoke and light understood every word, unlike the others her voice almost seemed to speak to him personally “We will march here, this will be the best position to launch the attack from. I shall take my guard and we shall enter the front gate and you shall follow” She pointed to a few of the gathered men “The rest will take the rear gate and we shall make sure to crush them in the vice of our forces” she smiled as the men nodded in agreement.

Again the dream went pure white as the images changed, again they stood in the desert, the woman at the forefront of an army.  She motioned silently and her forces started to march towards the giant towering city walls, arrows started to fly towards them and she made a motion and voiced something too fast for light to even see and the arrows seemingly shattered harmlessly in front of the army, then they retaliated, arrows flew towards the walls striking true against many targets as they desperately tried to reload and loose another volley. With a bellowing creak the front gates started to open, men pouring out before lining up in front of the walls in shimmering rows of a metal Light didn’t recognise, the first rank fell to their knees and lowered a strange long barrelled implement at the charging forces and the second did the same. The woman leading the army made several more gestures just in time to stop a black, flame from consuming her and everyone around her, though many further away were not quite as lucky, screams filled the air and Light could smell burning flesh as the black fire burnt straight through metal and bone alike.

Another flash and the woman stood inside the broken gates, her small unit of blood drenched soldiers beside her, she raised her hand and a lance appeared, burning with the fire and light of the sun. A man clad in armour of bone marched towards her, blasting a black flame from a staff, similar to the ones the barrelled things had been firing out in the previous vision, once more the smell of burning flesh saturated the air as soldiers fell, screaming as the skin was burnt from them. “Enough, we shall settle this now!” her soldiers parted and she stepped forward, whispering in an ancient tongue and making gestures faster than Light thought possible her body was suddenly clad in brilliant light as plate covered her strong frame.

She lowered the lance in a defensive position and smiled, the man opposite threw his hand forward and a the black fire arced forwards towards her, she smiled still then jumped and flipped over it at the last moment “You’ll have to try better than that” her smile turning into a grin. He continued walking towards her clicking his fingers as he passed bodies of the slain from both sides and they twitched into life again, clutching at wounds and weapons as they dragged themselves up and marched towards her. Still she smiled as she brought the lance to bear, shattering the creatures with ease as they came into range of her attacks. She jabbed the lance into one as it got close and muttered a few words as her hair flapped in a wind that hadn’t been there mere moments before, this Light recognised as the spell he’d used to dispatch the creature in the tunnels and he felt himself smiling, waiting for the man to be cut to ribbons.

The glass butterflies streamed forward, shredding everything in their path, then they stopped and the bone clad man continued to march unscathed towards her, Light felt his smile disappear as the figure continued to click his fingers and more dead rose to fight once more.  She sighed “Fine, if you want to make this more difficult then so be it” she started making gestures and speaking words that burned deep into Light’s mind as she wove her essence about her and time almost seemed to stop as she did, her eyes closed but her lips and hands moving with purpose, then her eyes shot open and time seemed back to normal as a spiked chain appeared behind her, Light tried to call out to warn her but she simply smiled almost as though she knew he was trying to warn her, then the chain flew forward towards the figure clasping perfectly round his neck and tightening.

His eyes widened as the spikes and blades of the chain cut deeper into his throat as he tried desperately to pry it off. Then with a snap and a brief spurt of blood the chain tightened again and he fell to the ground and his head rolled towards her, eyes still bulging in their sockets as she rested her foot on it. The c
reatures turned to dust in the wake of their master’s demise and she smiled “Amateurs shouldn’t try opposing the might of the sun” She turned to face her troop who were cheering “Sound the call of victory, this battle is over!” she cried as she retrieved her lance from the ground.

Then everything went white again and there stood the woman from the dream, facing him with a smile “I impart this knowledge to you, use it wisely and together we can reclaim the world” Another bright flash and Light sat up back in the cart, he panted heavily and his brow was wet with sweat. He took a moment to gather himself before lying back, his heart still pounding in his chest though this time he lay there with a knowing smile at what was to come.