Which one of us was the stupid thing?
What was I doing?
The dragon went still as it felt me crest its final spike. The eyes, the only part of the creature that should logically be soft, drew my attention.
Flattened against its head, I crept forward, every muscle tight, bracing for the violent shake that never came. Heat bled up through its scales as I crawled toward the ridge of its eye. I hooked one leg into the void beside it and kicked hard.
The dragon roared, the sound rattling my bones, and whipped its head from side to side. I clung to a jagged spike above its eye, my body snapping back and forth with each violent jerk. My fingers slipped. Whether I let go or it threw me, I was coming off. Theground loomed three stories below. I released. The air tore past me, and the impact exploded into pain before I got the chance to scream.
The wood door squealed open, jerking me out of my memory.
I let out a strangled laugh. “Nice try, Miss Q.” I slapped my legs. “Not broken. Didn’t happen.”
An older woman stepped confidently into the room. Her bright pink hair and glowing gem-pink eyes were perfectly synchronized.
I wrinkled my nose, touching my not-broken legs again.
I’d blacked out and woken four times, including this one. Every time, whatever delusion I’d been in before vanished, replaced with a new scenario. Although this setting lacked the usual outdoorsy theme, the characteristics of the people seemed to be the same: hair of every color, which always matched their glowing eyes.
Oh yeah, and magic. Magic existed. No one destroyed things like I did. But if I’d seen it in a movie, Miss Q made it a part of this world. My bonkers mind wanted to stay bonkers. On some level, I guess, I respected her attempts to normalize magic, as if that would save her destructive ass.
Something still felt off about the new arrival. I focused on the woman’s pink hair… woman. I blinked a few times. I’d seen very few women in any of my delusions. She wore black, generic wizard robes from like a hundred different TV shows, belted around her waist with light-pink cords. A collection of pouches and glowing jars hung off her left hip, including a square stone with glowing writing on the sides.
“You’re awake. How charming.” The woman’s rough, low voice bounced off the bare walls.
Great, Miss Q was leveling up her sarcasm game.
The people in my delusions believed they were real. To this point, I’d done my best to accommodate them and ‘blend in,’ which had not gone well for me. Three spots now ached dully across my lower back.One for each disaster Miss Q put me through trying to save herself. Should it be four? I guess it depended on whether I was getting them when I woke up in the new setting or at the end of it. I’d just started number four, so maybe the end? Bah. This was the wrong thing to be focusing on.
The old, pink-haired woman popped a hip and rested her thin, weathered hand on it, clearly expecting me to respond.
My first instinct was to be polite, but so far, my usual accommodating personality wasn’t doing anything. Bitter resentment bubbled up from memories of events that never happened, because all of this was a figment of my subconscious.
“Clearly.” I flattened my lips. “Where am I, and who are you?”
A bit of guilt at my tone twisted my stomach, and my heart raced.
A slow, almost bored smile tugged at the corners of her wrinkled mouth. “I am Chancellor Morgen. You’re in the Architect’s Castle now, though I doubt you’ll be thrilled to stay. Do you recall the test you failed to impress us with?”
I bit my bottom lip. I did. That ‘test’ was what spawned the dragon. So, this delusion was connected to the last. Based on the commonalities, all my delusions at least shared a theme, possibly a world.
“I remember falling off a three-story dragon and shattering both my legs.” I wiggled under the blankets. “But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
The bright pink of Chancellor Morgen’s gaze took on a cold edge. “We healed them and the rest of your dying body.”
Right. ‘Magic.’ But, this delusion, being connected to the last one, was new. I wondered if that meant Doctor Oz was getting close to finishing.
“No gratitude? No curiosity?” Chancellor Morgen stepped toward me, her arms wide in mock welcome. “You were dying, and nearly took your healer with you. He’s out cold for weeks. Enjoy that.”
I wouldn’t. Even if my ‘healer’ didn’t exist, I hated hurting others. That pang of guilt pinched my stomach harder. This woman was getting meaner because I was being rude. The only person I could control was myself, and the truth was, I liked being a nice person.
“Ah, sorry.” I bit my lower lip and looked at the floor. The guilt eased. “Thank you.” I took a deep breath that didn’t wheeze and met her gaze. “Really, thank you. I’m sorry. I’m trying to understand what’s, ah, going on.”
Chancellor Morgen pursed her lips. “Where are you from?”
“Um, north, I think?” I answered. “At least I’ve been walking south, so that makes sense, right?”
The woman gave me a puzzled look. “Do you have a family?”
