Dev saw that there were ten thousand worlds made from dreams, Solumbra just one of them. He was one of the vast minds, slipping between the stars. But something was trying to break the worlds. A hellplague was fought off on Solumbra. Many other worlds were destroyed, and the minds with them before they remembered themselves.

  Dev startled awake, already feeling more refreshed than he had in several days, despite the dreams. “Glotpcyd.”

  He tried again. “Frepotery.”

  Why isn’t my mouth working? He thought to himself.

  ‘Who’s that?’ Another voice answered.

  I’m Dev. What are you doing in my head?

  ‘What are you doing in my head?’ “Prince Elluvian of Ancrel. I’m not sure how I got here.’ ‘

  Three voices? I really have gone crazy.

  ‘Three?’ ‘Now the voice in my head is hearing voices’ ‘’

  “Ahem!”

  Deb’s head snapped towards the speaker, only to find a swaddled infant in a cradle before him. He froze.

  “Not what you expected?”

  The warm, rich voice seemed to be coming from the direction of the bassinet.

  “Are you…” he trailed off as the scene shifted, and the child and cradle were replaced by a black haired, well built adult lying in bed.

  “Yes, that is me.”

  “Who are you?” Dev’s mouth moved without his consent, causing him to clamp his hand over it. As soon as he did so, another hand came up to do the same, then both hands tried rebelling against him

  ‘Hey, stop that!’ ‘Let go of my mouth!’

  The voice in front of him let out a deep sigh, then said, “I’m going to have to separate you, aren’t I? Try to remain still.”

  Dev felt as if his body was paralyzed, then with a deep, stretching feeling, he was joined by three others, simultaneously freeing his body to move again.

  The first was a tall, blonde teenager with aquiline features, looking just a bit older than him. He was the very picture of storybook nobility, and Dev immediately assumed that he was the prince who had introduced himself.

  Next was a shorter guy, with reddish brown hair and a heavyset frame, again just a little bit older than him. He had slightly calloused hands, which looked like they were covered in machine grease.

  The last was the smallest, being a short and scrawny guy with darker skin and a sort of intellectual look about him. He looked like the heaviest thing he’d ever lifted was a moderately large book.

  With Dev looking like a homeless guy who had just been mugged in a swamp, they painted quite the odd picture.

  The prince bowed in the direction of the voice, introducing himself. “I am Prince Elluvian. Thank you for your assistance. May I ask who you are?”

  “Yes, well, don’t thank me yet. This is only a temporary measure. You’ll have to get used to each other. As for who I am, let’s see if Dev here knows.”

  “What? Why would I know?” Dev asked.

  “Do you really not remember me,” the voice asked, the scene shifting once more to a small dragon curled up on a pile of treasure. “Even after your most generous offering?”

  Dev’s eyes widened. “Are you the Dreaming Prince?”

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “The one and only. And you four are in quite a pickle.”

  ------

  Dev took a moment to process that. “What is happening? Why are we here?”

  A clap rang out, then the voice said, “Excellent question. Let’s get everyone up to speed. Start with introductions.”

  Nobody moved.

  “Well, go on then! Start with Dev, make your way around.”

  Dev stepped forward. “I’m Devikan Cantor. Call me Dev, everyone does.”

  The prince was next. “I’m Prince Elluvian Ancrel. Please, just call me Elluvian. I have a feeling that I am very far from home.”

  The shorter guy spoke up. “I’m Justin Denson. Just call me Justin. I would appreciate it if you would forget my last name.”

  The last one tentatively introduced himself, shrinking slightly under their attention. “I’m Tae Sunna. Call me whatever.”

  “And I’m the Dreaming Prince!”

  “Just the Dreaming Prince?” Justin asked dubiously. “No proper names?”

  “None that matter right now. So, next object in the order of business, you are all currently trapped in Dev here’s body, and I believe you are in it for the long haul. Also, Dev is dying.”

  “Trapped?” “Dying?” “How?” “Why?”

  “I’ll try to explain. Let’s start at the beginning of what I believe happened. This likely started before Dev was born. At some point, it came time for his soul to exit the river of souls and enter his mortal vessel. On that day, three other souls slipped out, attempting to enter the vessel at the same time. Your souls. They collided in the attempt, and normally, that would be the end of things. They would return to the river of souls, and nobody would ever know what happened.”

  “But that didn’t happen,” Elluvian stated as the dragon was replaced by a small bird.

  “No,” the Dreaming Prince answered, “Instead, you three were either incredibly lucky or unlucky and, due to the unique nature of this world, the three of you went dormant as you were eclipsed by Dev’s soul.”

  “What do you mean by unique nature?” Tae asked.

  “Solumbra is attuned to the eclipse element. We can discuss the implications of that later, but for now, rest assured that it could have created the conditions for four souls to occupy a single mortal vessel.”

  “Anyway, skipping ahead, we come to ascension day. After five hundred years of exceedingly careful essence infusions, the world ascended. The earth lifted the heavens, and you four got caught in between. This is likely what disrupted the arrangement, beginning this disarray.” The bird turned into a small, dark haired child, who turned towards Dev. “It must have been suffocating.”

  “Yeah,” Dev said, shuddering. “I felt as if my mind was pinned against my soul. I tried reaching out, but it felt as if I was trying to reach through an unbreakable barrier, separating my soul from the world.”

  “It was never meant to be like that. There were a great many safeguards in place to prop up the local heavens, allowing you to see and examine them up close and personal. But nobody anticipated a situation like yours.”

  “You clearly understand what happened,” Dev said. “Why wouldn’t it be known?”

  “First, I am only guessing. I didn't see anything. But multiple souls attempting to enter a vessel is a studied phenomenon in the empire. It happens in an estimated one in one hundred billion births. I do not expect that a single other time has been successful. I have no doubt that there are scores of researchers who would love to examine you four.”

  “And I, for one, would love to stay off any operating tables,” Justin said. “Are you going to give us alternatives?”

  “First, let us finish discussing how we got here. Then, we can discuss your collective futures. Where were we?”

  “Ascension day,” Tae answered, looking like he wanted to be taking notes.

  “Ah, yes. Ascension Day. That was likely when you three first stirred from your long slumber. Perhaps you would have gone dormant once more, but then, just a few days later, Dev came across one of my techniques, the Dreams of Heaven and Earth. Ever since then, his body has been self-destructing as he is overwhelmed by a technique beyond what he could process.”

  “And that’s when we woke up,” Elluvian said.

  “Correct,” the Dreaming Prince responded, nodding his head towards Elluvian. At some point, his hair had turned blue. “When I noticed you stumbling around up above, I decided to bring you into my dream. I disentangled your personalities, shut down most of your essence sight, and here we are.”

  “Then that dream I had before waking up? That was you?” Dev asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Was that… real?”

  “Perhaps someplace, some time, far away from here, it was. But here and now? No, it is just a dream of a distant echo reverberating through the halls of reality.”

  “Now, if there is nothing more, how about we move on to your future?”

  “How can we understand each other?” Dev asked. “Is that dream magic or something?”

  “Oh, no.” the Dreaming Prince said. “I could have done that, but you needed something a good bit more permanent. I just didn’t separate your language memories when I was disentangling your psyches.”

  “So we all speak each other's languages now?” Tae asked.

  “Better. You will forever be able to speak each other’s languages, even if one of you learns a new one. Now, can we move ahead? You are currently drowning in a mud pit, and I’d hate to see my hard work here go to waste.”

  “There is one last thing, first.” Justin said, “You. Who are you, why are you here, and why do you want to help us?”