(Dyn)

  Dream 4 – Hunger

  Dyn stood on the sidewalk waiting for the sign to cross. He gnced dowreet and saw traffic as it stretched on endlessly. The bakery stood just beyond the crosswalk, its window spilling golden light over rows of frosted pastries. They called to him—not with voices, but with an irresistible pull, like sugarcoated gravity reversed.

  He waited for the WALK sign. Cars streamed by in a blur, their horns silent, their engines droning like distant bees. But the sign remained bnk. His stomach twisted. He g the pastries again, and they seemed closer now, the frosting almost smearing the gss. His mouth watered, but his feet wouldn’t move.

  Minutes. Hours. Days. Time had no power here.

  The sign finally lit up. He darted forward, heart pounding, stepping in front of shadows—stopped cars that weren’t there. The bakery door loomed, but when he reached it, the word “CLOSED” gred back at him in bold, unyieldiers. He tugged on the handle, but it didn’t budge.

  Behind the gss, the pastries were gone, repced by a mirror. Dyn stared at his refle—gaunt, hollow-eyed, and wasting away. A rumbling growl rose from his stomad echoed through the void. It wasn’t fair. He’d finally made it across the street, but now he had to wake up.

  This time, it wasn’t Wedge, Ru, or the twins that woke him. It was the growling of his stomach demanding attention. He woke up clutg his middle, the ache in his gut sharper than before.

  Uo sleep any longer, he rolled out of his hammod opened his door. It was quiet, early in the m, and still dark outside—not that it mattered below deck. Hanging nterns along the walls lit up when they detected movement, though Dyn wasn’t sure if they were powered by magic or just teology, like ba Earth.

  He made his way top ded found Wedge leaning against the port-side railing, staring out in the dire the sun would rise. Dyn was lucky Mother ons spun in the same dire as Earth, so East a remained familiar cepts.

  “Greetings, Dyn. You are up early.” Wedge sounded impressed with that sed part, but didn’t turn around, keeping his eyes on the pre-dawn sky.

  Dyn found a pleasant spot of railing for himself, a few feet to the left of the big guy. “Not by choice,” he said. “It’s hard to sleep when you’re hungry.”

  Wedge was aware of Dyn’s plight but wouldn’t step in unless asked or it became too dangerous—as was his way. The sun was just starting to rise when his stomach’s loud grumbling cut through the quiet m air.

  Wedge turo Dyn, etched on his face, and asked, “How many days a human go without food?”

  Dyn’s fingers rhythmically tapped along the railing as he pohe same question. “Until I die? Three weeks, I think. Probably a bit more because I’ve got extra ste.” He gently patted his belly.

  That answer didn’t seem to be enough for Wedge. “How long until it is unsafe for you to leave the ship?”

  He was afraid that’s what the big guy meant. All of his life, he’d pyed it safe, avoiding risks, staying inside—fortable. Now he was on another world that had magic. Terrifyingly powerful magic that he was already learning to use.

  “I’ve tried fasting before a like… three days before I was too tired to get out of bed. The headaches aal fog started after two days, though.” He knew a foggy mind was just as dangerous as slow reflexes in the middle of the jungle. He wao lie, to tell Wedge he’d be fine, but it wasn’t only his life that he’d be putting at risk.

  But sihey’d forced him out of his fort zone, he’d made friends and started getting bato shape. He was on a mother fug adventure—a literal quest. He felt as if his life, his real life, had just begun, and he wasn’t about to let starvi in the way.

  An idea came to him. “If I ’t eat my calories, maybe I drink them. Do you think they have any sugar on board?”

  Wedge pushed off the railing, gng briefly at Dyn. “Let us find out.”

  Dyn followed him as they made their way to the galley. They were in luck. The lights were on, and Cook Echo was already present, preparing breakfast. He wondered if mprians ever slept, or even o rest—they were always running around and w.

  “Hey Echo,” Dyn said as a wall of savory aromas hit him at the door—warm spices mingled with the rich, buttery st of baking bread. He winced and sighed. “Why does it smell so good in here?”

  “That’s the proper smell of a galley. I’m a bit busy at the moment, so you’ll have to walk and talk with me.” Cook Echo opened and closed a et, snatg a mixing bowl in the process.

  Dyn blinked. “Wow, you’re fast.”

  “Have to be if you want everything done and ready in the proper order. What do you need?” Cook Echo didn’t stop or even slow down.

  Dyated before asking, “Do you have any sugar?”

  “What kind?”

  “The… sugary kind?” Dyn frowned, unsure if white or brown sugar would work best.

  The cook paused long enough to pce his skeletal hands on his hips and fix Dyn with an eyeless stare. “Hirious…” He briskly walked over and poio a low-hung shelf that held fe bags, each bearing a magical bel.

  “Take your pick.” The cook resumed his relentless preparations for breakfast as Dyn crouched down to read the bels; Copper Fortified Sugar, Iron Fortified Sugar, Titanium Fortified Sugar, and Lead Fortified Sugar.

  “If it’s not on that shelf,” the cook said. “Then I apologize, but we’re out of it.”

  Dyn thought about the iron fortified one for a sed. But without Nathan’s gummies, he didn’t want to take the ce.

  He frowned, pushed himself upright, and asked, “Do you have any… non-fortified sugar?”

  Cook Echo stopped again, his growing agitation showing in the lean of his hip. “What for?” he asked. “So I fortify it myself? Does it look like I’ve got a lot of time on my hands?” He held up his flour coated, bony hands. He’d been kneading some sort of dough. “Sorry to disappoint, but you’ll have to get your fancy anibsp;sugar somewhere else.”

  Dyn was about to stand up when he spotted another bel on the floor below the shelf. It read Salt. “What’s your salt fortified with?”

  Cook Echo picked up his chef knife mid-chop and aimed the tip all around the galley. “Is this all a joke to you?”

  Stu the accusatioammered, “N-No,” raising his hands defensively.

  He looked to Wedge, who shook his head and stepped back, holding out a hand and deferring all questions back to the cook.

  “The nerve of some people…” the uttered, dig up a tuber before scooping it up and tossing it into a pot. The loud sizzle quenched shortly after the vegetable hit the hot liquid.

  Cook Echo gnced up at Dyn. “There’s no such thing as ‘fortified’ salt. Simply absurd…” He resumed w the dough with his fists, clig his ent tongue. “What …? Let me guess, there’s someone on board with a nut allergy?” he scoffed.

  “Well, not a nut allergy—” Dyated, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “Get out!” the exasperated cook snapped, cutting him off. The knife appeared in his hand, pointing directly at the door.

  “May I have some salt?” Dyn asked quickly, taking a cautious step back from the santoku-wielding mprian.

  “Take a bag, if it’ll get you out of my galley.”

  Dyn quickly bent down aed a fifty-pound bag of salt over his shoulder, grunting at the strain. Two more remained, so he didn’t feel bad taking the one. He waddled out of the galley, his steps uneven uhe weight.

  “Salt?” Wedge took the bag from Dyn after watg him struggle only a few feet.

  “Thanks, and yeah, between the salt and Ostello’s mana recharge ability, I probably go a few days without being a risk.” They tinued down the hall toward the passenger’s quarters.

  “Salt…?” the big guy repeated.

  Dyn shrugged as he went around the lithkai to get the door. “Something about electrolytes. I saw it on a YouTube video once.” He opehe door, and Wedge casually dropped the bag in the er of his room.

  ‘Thanks Past Dyn!’ he thought. Never once did he think big a bunch of survival videos might e in handy one day. Now if he could only remember how many spoonfuls it was…

  “I am not familiar with YouTube,” Wedge said.

  Dyn shook his head with a small smile. “That does not surprise me.”

  The rest of Everafter’s passengers were now up aing in the mess hall. To save time, Ru held the meeting during breakfast. Dyantly joihem in what he’d started calling the mess hell.

  She started the meeting as she stood in li the buffet. “I’ve spoken with the captain. Her crew is still w on the ship. That means we’ve got another day to figure out a distra and search for the objective.”

  Dyn’s mouth watered as he watched her step forward and skewer three green sausages onto her pte. They were plump, glistening slightly, with a vivid green g that gave off a faint herbal sheen. W’itney had told him they were tangy with a copper finish.

  “Engineer Echo and I have a pn to use explosives to distract the arc beetle,” she said, adding a fky golden-brown biscuit to her pte.

  ‘Pastries, my only weakness; along with terror tubes, puns, and lootboxes,’—his thoughts trailed off for a moment—‘Holy, this whole thing started because of a cupcake…’ The hing he saw was Ru shoveling a stack of thick, crispy strips of purple meat. He imagihey tasted like ba.

  “The engineer will prepare the explosives while we figure out how best to use them.”

  “Why don’t we just blow it up?” Athrax asked iween stuffing his mouth with his own pile of purple ‘ba’.

  Ru finished chewing one of her sausages and swallowed. “And if we don’t kill it?” she asked, sniffing her biscuit. “The st thing I want is a rampaging kaiju.”

  Ie, half the biscuit was gone. Dyn watched as crumbs fell to her pte. She washed it down with half a mug of water.

  “Any other ideas?” The eager sounds of chewing, swallowing, and pping filled the mess hell as they tinued funting their meal.

  Dyn crossed his arms, grunted, and tried to distract himself. There was a bit of dirt under his nails, even after his shower.

  “No? Good. Thanks to P’reslen and Eury, we have a sed pair of echo locators.” She pushed her pte away, shooting Athrax a disapproving look.

  The old soldier, feeling the judgmental gaze of his peers, stopped lig his pte . “What…?”

  She ignored him and tihe meeting. “Now we cover mround by separating into two groups—”

  “What if we enter the arc beetle? Wouldn’t it be better if we’re together?” W’itney asked.

  “Even as a group, we don’t survive that enter,” Dyn said offhandedly. The room got quiet. He stopped pig his nails, gng up at the sileo find everyoaring at him. He narrowed his eyes at them. “I said that part out loud, didn’t I?”

  Ostello raised an eyebrow, and said, “That’s dark…”

  “It paio say, but Dyn’s right. We’ve no ce against an unon-ranked kaiju. The safest pn is to avoid it. Which is why we’re trag it,” Ru said.

  Dyn saw all the unfinished food on their ptes and sighed. His stomach ched in protest, and he forced himself to look away.

  “I will take Tome & Key and search closer to the arc beetle, while Wedge leads the initiates to search the areas further from it. Questions?”

  There were none. Both groups geared up, the air filling with the quiet cheg of buckles, belts, and pouches. Tome & Key was going to meet up with Quinten and relieve him from trag the arc beetle. Ostello would take his pce.

  Wedge let the initiates decide on who got to hold the echo locator. W’itney felt bad for their prank on Dyerday. Eury had no desire to py unications officer. Hay’len, meanwhile, noticed the joy Dyn had for new experiences. In the end, Dyn got to be in charge of the ‘rockie-talkie.’

  Both groups struck out together as they approached the arc beetle’s area. It began to rain just as they reached their first destination aheir separate ways. The two drai and Wedge appeared unfazed by the frequent showers. However, Dyn found Eury to be especially short-tempered when she was soaki. Her cloak was another casualty of the crash nding.

  Dyn’s cloak prevehe rain from getting in, but did nothing to help with his stant sweating. He was in the middle of a hot and humid jungle, wearing a cloak. So he was just hot, sort of dry, and very hungry.

  The gray skies lit up with a silent fsh of lightning. Dyn ted to seven before the crack of thunder followed. He khe storm was about one and a half miles away. Those YouTube videos were really paying off.

  The rain tio pour down on them, and Dyn couldn’t help but wonder if Perun was doing it on purpose. That question would pgue him every time it rained now that he’d met the god. erun the god of storms on Mother ons alone, or did his domaiend everywhere? His questions were like hydras—answering one only brought up two more.

  Thirty mier and the storm had finally passed. Wedge paused for a moment and tilted his head before pulling out both shields. With a metallic scrape, he spun on his heels and took off, his heavy boots spshing them as he ran past.

  “Stay behind me,” Wedge said, his shields raised as he surged forward toward the tree lihis time, he didn’t stop to apply an orbiting shield around Dyn. He would need both for what came .

  There rimal roar that sounded more like a man than a beast. Two young trees were pushed apart as a rge, hairless, scaly goril barreled through them. It stopped, reared ba its hind legs, a its thick, muscur chest.

  Brown, pted scales covered its body, and horned growths lis joints and spine. Dual, thick bck horns sloped off its skull.

  Its face resembled that of a dragon or dinosaur. A thick tail followed behind it, giving it bance as it moved—a drai version of a goril.

  “What the fuck is that?” Dyn slowly turned his head toward Hay’len.

  “That’s a… a…” Hay’len stuttered, their hand trembling as they pointed a shaky cwed finger.

  “A goreasaur…” Eury whispered.

  pared to Dyn, Wedge was huge, standing at least seven and a half feet tall. The gore-zil, or whatever they called it, dwarfed the big guy. It stood over niall, much longer if measured from head to tail.

  Dyn caught himself reag for his shotgun, but thought better of it, remembering what happehe st time he tried ‘helping’. But this time, he didn’t have a meo patch him back up.

  W’itney paheir eyes wide, and said, “Run—”

  “Do not run!” Wedge yelled back at them. He didn’t take his attention from the t mohat was the first time Dyn had ever heard him raise his voice.

  Eury grabbed the twins by their arms to make sure they all stayed together.

  “It—”

  Wedge stopped talking to raise a shield, the metallig eg as the monster’s swipe smmed into it. The force of the blow made him grunt, but he held his ground.

  “If you run, it’ll chase after you,” Hay’len said, their voice trembling as they gestured toward the monster.

  W’itney covered their eyes and looked away. “I ’t watch.”

  The monster roared again, stepping forward, its cws tearing into the wet earth with a slurping scrape. The ground quaked beh its massive weight as it prepared to charge.