Dreams aren’t always good. They don’t have to be nightmares either to do things to one’s mind that can ruin it. They could be a memory or a vision of a happy time in a place you know or a place you wish to know… Those dreams are the ones that hurt the most.

The sun was shining brightly down on a little cottage just outside of the reaches of Sularia. In the middle of the jungle where the sun had a hard time reaching. Osiria woke up almost in a startle and looked to her side. It should have alarmed her when she saw Rhenakos there curled up by her but it didn’t. Instead, his eyes popped open and looked up at her lazily. “Why the fuck are you up so early?” He stretched and grabbed her pulling her back down.

“Just had a dream I guess,” her voice was timid as she put her head back into his chest.

“Well stop having loud dreams you’ll wake the damn baby Osiria.” Rhenakos gave her a smile she wasn’t used to. Osiria in her mind was taken back. They didn’t have a baby!

“Yeah… Right. It took us forever even to get her to sleep.” Osiria chuckled and was about to close her eyes when the crying started. “Not it. I was it last night after you pushed me out of bed with your foot!” Osiria, in turn, pushed him with her legs until he rolled out of bed.

“Whatever…” He went and brought back a bundle. Osiria’s mental heart started rapidly beating as her physical form took hold of the red haired child. “Your mom is evil.” Rhen rolled back on the bed and put his back to the half phoenix with a smirk.

“And still I gotta stay up with the baby… I’ll remember this asshole.” She chuckled as she bounced the little one in her arms. Little orange eyes stared up at her in a fuss. “Daddy is a jerk.” Everything seemed so happy and so normal… and…

Osiria shot up from the dream in a bed that she didn’t know. She was screaming in agony as the entire room around her started to go up in flames. She was panicking. “RHENAKOS,” she grasped at her heart as she screeched his name several times. There should have been a scar but her phoenix blood was strong as she clawed her way through the fire to the door. There were tears as her phoenix form faded away and she collapsed to the ground. She didn’t have enough energy. The fire in the room died out at a rapid pace. She had been asleep for a week without even realizing it. “Rhen…” She cried as she balled up on the ground.

Did she even care where she was?

Drake was wondering when she would wake up. Ever since finding her half dead in the Dragon’s Hoard, his group had been watching over her in turns to see when, or if, she would regain consciousness. It had only been an hour in for Drake’s watch when he felt a magical presence flare up, and immediately he jumped up from the chair and makeshift table that they had made in the caves around Jayou.

He made his way to the door, and as he touched the handle, recoiled in surprise. It was hot to the touch, though nothing that his draconic blood couldn’t handle. Slowly, he cracked the door. “Hey…I’m coming in,” he warned. His silver green eyes scanned the room, noticing the woman close to the door, despair written across her face.

As he had noted when they changed out her clothes, she was a gorgeous woman with barely any physical flaws. Her dark hair, though, now needed work, and the clothes that they had lent her were scorched from her outburst, revealing a decent amount of skin. Drake blushed, but didn’t glance away. Now was not the time for such trivial matters.

“Hey,” he said, walking to her and kneeling down. “You were with that man…the one eyed crazy hunter, right?” He was fairly certain he knew what happened, but he had to hear it from her. “What’s your name? Do you know what happened?”

Normally, he would have taken her to an actual healer, but due to the connections that a certain assassin’s guild held, the trio of Drake, Danwe, and Xeik were very untrusting of those who weren’t related to the small circle of friends they knew, and had to hide themselves away as a precaution while Xeik vetted Jayou. He had wanted to call Magnus, but decided against it. He had already borrowed the old spirit’s aide earlier, and since the woman had recovered physically, he figured it would have only been a matter of time before she woke up.

Still, had it gone on much longer, Drake would have called in for help. But now, she was awake. Now it was just figuring out what she knew.

Osiria laid there on the floor for a little bit after Drake had come in. His smell hit her first but everything was overloading her senses in that moment. The half-phoenix jerked back and up as she sat there on the floor staring into Drake’s eyes. Her eyes were half red and half orange at that moment from her outburst. Like leaking liquid slowly the red appeared to drain out leaving only the orange behind. “Osiria Rose.” She perched her hands in between her legs as she folded them off behind her on the sides instead of under her like most would. Her fingers scraped against the ground as they clenched once she thought about how much this man must have known already.

“Rhen and I were hunting down the demon who tormented him.” Her voice was quiet as she paced her blinks as if not to cry. “I had told myself it was dangerous to get close to him but…” There was a hiccup as she tried to balance her emotions and she fought everything back like the strong half-Rosenite she was.

“We did get close… I know why he is crazed. I knew why and I was already sure what he would do if he got half the chance.” Her eyes lightly teared up. “The lengths he would go to get what he wanted scared me and yet I couldn’t just abandon him.” There was a sniffle here or there but she otherwise kept herself together as she thought about it. “The demon wanted me and the dragon in exchange for giving Rhen information on the demon he was hunting.” She put a hand to her head as she thought. “It’s blurry but I do remember him saying he couldn’t have me and then he put Inima through me and the demon. The demon had drained too much of the dragon for my fire to affect it so I was in the way but also Rhen is selfish. He probably didn't think two steps farther about how to end the demon and did the first thing that crossed his mind so he could get to Zets'Ki as quickly as possible.”

She didn’t blame Rhenakos and it was clear on her face that she didn’t. “He doesn’t fully understand what he did. He doesn’t realize how much he’s lost to get this far. You have to find him.” She choked it out now as she started to cry fully now. Her hands came up as she tried to clear her tears. “Tell him he’s a fucking idiot and that if he hasn’t beaten that stupid fucking demon I will torch him myself.”

Bloodshot orange eyes stared at Drake now as she hyperventilated softly into her tears. “He probably is too stupid to realize what it means to be a phoenix so I know he will beat himself up among all the other things he’s done with his life. Please find him. Mostly so I can punch him in the face but also so he knows I’m not really dead.”

Drake crossed his arms as Osiria spoke. He had only ever met Rhenakos once, but that one time was more than time enough for Drake to realize the man had a screw loose. Still, that didn’t stop her from ranting and raving about how he needed her, and that he would need help. I’m not sure he’s the one that needs the help, though…you’re the one stark raving mad. He frowned.

“You’re insane. You know that, right? The signs were as obvious at day what he was, and yet you still try to defend him?” the draconian asked. He was all about forgiveness, but he was also going along the rational thought that some people were beyond saving. Drake shuddered as he remembered a few recent encounters.

“Right now, there’s nothing we can do. You’re far too injured to do anything, and we’re being chased by an angry group of assassins. It’d be best to just lay low for awhile.” He pointed at the door. “This thing here has some magic runes carved into it. If you get too close to breaking it down, they’ll activate and nullify all magic. Our resident thief found this little hidey hole for us…probably used by smugglers or something to hide magical goods. In the meantime, though, I can’t trust you to walk around free…so we’ll be locking you in here for the time until we know it’s safe.”

Drake sighed, shaking his head. “I can’t promise anything, but if things die down enough, we can think about looking for that asshole.” He turned away, and walked towards the door. “Oh. One more thing. We’ll have blankets and other amenities shortly. My other resident thief is working on that….”