“I might be hallucinating or I have discovered a new world, Brum.”

  Aacek and Amuna sat on a fading, white, leather, two-seater sofa. Brum and Bisena sat next to them on a three seater; the two sofas arranged in an L shape. Aacek and Amuna had arrived early for the weekly meeting, which was scheduled to be held in Brum’s house that week.

  “How can you be sure it’s not one of those dreams again, Aacek? It could very well be just a lucid dream.”

  Aacek shook his head. “Lucid, episodic format dreaming? Might happen but this is not it, Brum.

  “I saw Markena, it was him. I saw the deer he had injured. I don’t know how it ended up in that always night world, the Realm.”

  Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what else to say.

  “Let’s take Surkena’s counsel. I hope he comes today, along with Kamryon.”

  “I do hope Martin and his wife, Bennira, are coming too,” Amuna said.

  “I heard she is pregnant now,” Bisena said.

  “Yeah, that’s why she had not come the last two weeks, right? Bad case of hyperemesis?” Brum asked.

  “Yeah,” Aacek nodded. “I hope she is better now. Smirt and Anvuu have never missed a meeting till now. Wonder why they are not here yet.”

  “Speak of the devil and …”

  Smirt and Anvuu had just walked in through the open door.

  “And just a few months ago, you guys were calling me a God,” Smirt said, laughing. “How are you guys?”

  The men shook hands while the ladies hugged each other. Smirt and Anvuu settled down at the dining table.

  “We have boiled potatoes and carrots only on the menu today, sorry guys,” Brum said.

  “That’s still better than the groundnuts we had,” Smirt said.

  “We already ate some niltri,” Amuna said. “Anyone wants some?” She offered them blue, triangular berry-like fruits.

  “We waited a long time near the dead deer, Aacek. No person or animal even came close to it. So, we left to see the progress on the Community Well. When we came back, on our way to our house, we were surprised to see that the deer was no longer there.”

  Surkena, Kamryon, Martin and Bennira had joined them from the Western Forest. Surkena sat on the floor in his customary lotus pose. Kamryon preferred the floor too. Martin and Bennira occupied seats at the dining table.

  “After listening to your account, we are fairly certain it was Markena who took it away to the Realm,” Smirt continued.

  Aacek was taken aback. Not only had Smirt casually admitted the existence of the Realm but he had also revealed objects, in this case a dead animal, could be physically transported to the Realm. He started joining the dots now.

  “Are you immortals all awakened beings then? I mean, players in the Realm?” He looked from Surkena to Kamryon to Smirt.

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  Surkena smiled his customary smile before nodding. “It is not a game; you have probably already realized that. But yes, we are awakened beings.

  “And now, you are ready to know the rest of the details I had held back, when we last discussed in the Western Forest.”

  Aacek could not believe what he was hearing. His eyebrows were still arched up and wide. He looked at the others, the mortals, and was met with confused and shocked expressions.

  “Before we proceed, just tell me what class you all are. Please.”

  “Should be easy to guess mine,” Kamryon said.

  “Healer?”

  Kamryon nodded and smiled.

  “You must be a Warrior.” Aacek looked at Smirt.

  “Indeed.”

  All of them looked at Surkena in unison.

  Surkena smiled again. “I am a Druid.”

  “What? I didn’t even see it in the list I was offered.”

  “Neither were we offered Chronoschist when we chose our class, Aacek.”

  “Understood.”

  “But I can Time Walk and do some Chronoschist things. We may be offered a secondary class after we reach level 50, based on our predisposition. So, I am a ChronoDruid technically,” Surkena said.

  “Hey guys, this all sounds like you are discussing some video game to us. Does this mean Aacek is an immortal, too, now?” Bennira asked.

  “The essence never dies, Bennira. We just change bodies. Once we reach a certain level, we can choose not to take birth on Earth and remain in the Realm. Think of it like salvation,” Surkena said.

  “When are we going to awaken?” Bisena asked.

  “I would say, soon. The Realm seems to be looking for help. The awakenings have accelerated off late. Maybe the Realm senses some impending catastrophe and requires all the help it can get,” Kamryon said.

  Surkena and Smirt nodded.

  “Do the skills in the Realm transfer over to the physical world, I mean, this world?” Aacek asked.

  “Yes. You have already seen Kamryon’s healing skills, Smirt’s physical prowess and my Druid skills have helped me much here, even the Time Walks, when I can do them, are very handy.

  “Better not to use your Chronotachy skills here yet, Aacek.”

  Aacek smiled. “When we enter the Realm, is our body in two places at once?”

  “Since you are still at a low level, we all are, for that matter, we leave a projection of our body here, even when we travel to the Realm. At higher levels, you can completely travel to the Realm, without risking part of your body remaining on the Earth.”

  “Can we go to the Realm only when we are asleep?”

  “For now, you can enter the Realm only when you are about to sleep; you call it being in the beta phase I believe. With adequate training, you can enter the Realm even in your awake state if you can slow down your mind enough.”

  “Ah, is that what happens when you meditate? Is that where you go when you are meditating?” Aacek asked.

  Surkena smiled yet again. “You are a fast learner.“

  “How come we haven’t seen Markena’s projection lying around here when he is in the Realm?”

  Smirt cleared his throat. “He is at a higher level than us. He can take his physical body completely into the Realm, without being tethered here.”

  “Oh! What class is he?”

  “Shaman Warrior.”

  “No wonder he disappears at will and conducts those dark experiments.” Aacek sighed. “How do we defeat him?”

  Smirt, Kamryon and Surkena all looked at him.

  “We are counting on you now. After hearing the prophecy, we thought Aesira, Litss to you, would be the one to defeat him but we now know you have to help her.

  “There have been no Chronoschists for a long long time, Aacek, it is a very powerful class. There must be a reason why we suddenly have a Chronoschist. The time is near.”

  Aacek was confused. He felt guilty for thinking he should have chosen a different class. “What prophecy?”

  “You will soon have access to a skill that will reveal everything you need to know. Have patience,” Surkena said.

  “I could not see Markena’s name or skill when I saw him in the cave,” Aacek said. “Is that part of his skill set?”

  Surkena, Smirt and Kamryon looked at each other. “We are not sure,” Surkena said. “We have always been able to see his level and name.”

  The conversation then meandered to the progress of the community well. It was almost half done. With the help of the builders, they could start drawing water from it soon.

  “As long as we are still here on Earth, we need to take care of each other. We should think about our collective safety, now that Markena has awakened from his slumber again,” Smirt said.

  “We should start rebuilding, Smirt. We have been idle far too long. We should have a city guard or some form of protection. We should look for volunteers first and then we’ll see where it goes,” Anvuu said.

  “Ah, we are finally onto something. The last few weekly meetings were so dull and superficial, our attempts at everything so weak, I had started calling them, weakly meetings,” Martin chimed in.