I'm standing on that ancient stone platform again, but my father is nowhere to be seen. That's strange for two reasons. First, he promised to give me a few days off before I recover from my concussion and I believe his word, however weird that might sound. Second, I have never experienced a lucid dream on my own.
I can still feel my head hurting, but I'm not dizzy in this dream. I walk around a bit, not sure what to do. I have no idea how to wake up and it doesn't seem like my father is coming. Now what? I look up and discover that the platform is part of a much bigger structure.
The dreamy surroundings that my father created have been hazy so far so I thought they are just a decoration, but what if there's more to them? It's not easy to muster enthusiasm for exploration with a migraine, but I push myself. If I can discover more about the secrets my father is hiding, I need to take that chance.
I walk for as long as the platform leads me and the closer I get, the less hazy the structure seems to be. I eventually reach the wall and touch it. It feels solid enough, definitely not just for decoration. I walk along it and, to my surprise, discover an opening with a wide staircase. Not willing to bother with something as unnatural to Celestials as climbing, I spread my wings and fly up, following the stairs.
I get startled when I'm suddenly enclosed between walls that seemingly appear out of nowhere. Everything looks even more solid now. I land on a marble floor and look frantically around. It might look ancient and alien, but it somehow resembles... a library?!
"Welcome supreme administrator!"
I twitch after the voice, but it echoes, giving me no hint of its origin. It sounds almost perfectly natural, but I suspect that it must be pre-recorded. What is this place?!
"Please, state your query," the voice says politely.
Oh, so I was rightâit is a machine. What is it doing in my dream? Is it real or just a figment of my dreamy imagination?
"Ehm... can you tell me about Draconia?" I ask, not sure how to formulate the query.
"Language not recognised," it answers.
"Draconia dimension," I try again. Maybe it doesn't understand complex sentences.
"Language not recognised," it repeats stubbornly.
"How can you not recognise the language when you clearly speak it?" I frown.
It takes me a few seconds to realise the truth and the revelation makes me shudderâit has been speaking in an alien language all this time and I just didn't notice! Is that the Divementis language? And I can somehow understand? Understanding is one thing, though, how do I speak it?
"Draconia dimension," I try, but English comes out of my mouth instead.
"Draconia dimension," I repeat, but this time it's Japanese.
"Ugh!" I get angry because the migraine is still killing me and I can't focus properly. "Stupid machine, learn human languages!"
"Accessing information about human languages," the voice surprises me by cooperating.
Wait, did I actually speak Divementis just now?!
"Human languages refer to the languages spoken in the dimension called by the locals the Earth," it starts explaining. "Just like four ancient Draconian races, humans aren't telepathic so they have to rely on vocal sounds to communicate."
"Stop!" I interrupt it because that's not what I'm interested in. I've confirmed at least one thing, though. This place is like the Divementis equivalent of Wikipedia!
"Tell me about Draconia," I ask.
"Language not recognised," it repeats.
I roll my eyes, sit down and envelop myself in my wings. I can understand the voice so well that I had no idea it was speaking to me in an alien language at first, but I can't seem to reproduce it at will. Why did my father never mention it? If I can understand it, he didn't have to bother using Japanese during our conversations.
A shiver goes down my spine and spreads to my wings. Now that I think about it... maybe he didn't? Did we speak Divementis all this time and I just didn't notice? What did that feel like? I'm trying to recall that feeling and it's almost at the tip of my tongue. It's as if that knowledge was somewhere deep within me all this time and I just wasn't aware of it because I never got an opportunity to use it.
"Tell me about Draconia," I repeat and this time I'm confident that I speak Divementis.
"Draconia is a world that was originally home to five sentient races..."
I want to celebrate that I'll finally be able to learn something useful, but I suddenly get that familiar feeling of my body waking up in the real world.
"No, please... not yet!" I want to stop myself from waking up, but my body is transparent already. There's no stopping it.
*****
I find out that it's not my body naturally waking up, but my partners trying to wake me up by force. For the very first time, I get seriously angry at them. How dare they? I could have finally learnt something! Who knows if I'll be able to reproduce lucid dreaming on my own any time soon? They ruined this rare opportunity!
Because my head is still hurting badly, I forget to watch my mana channelling and accidentally push Erik and Noage away with telekinesis. I don't push Gotrid only because there's a natural barrier in my mind that won't let me use my powers against Celestials. I regret it immediately because I see genuine shock in their eyes. However, guilt doesn't mitigate my irritation.
"Ude maa te vor!" I hiss angrily and envelop myself in my wings. My feathers are all puffed, mirroring my annoyance.
Erik and Gotrid look at each other, even more shocked now.
"Your Majesty...?" Liana slowly approaches our bed and even slower sits in the corner. She's bewildered. "Was that Japanese?"
"That was no Japanese, Viceroy," Gotrid shakes his head.
Shocked, I put a hand in front of my mouth. Did I just speak Divementis to them? Did languages get jumbled in my concussed brain? Or was I too influenced by my lucid dream?
"Love, we're truly sorry, but we had to wake you up. You've been sleeping for fifteen hours straight, we were scared," Erik explains quickly.
My partners try to slowly approach me again. They know quite well that puffed-up feathers are a sign of a Celestial being irritated, but they aren't the type to give up when it comes to me. They snuggle to me from both sides and tickle me until I open my wings again. Seeing an opening, Erik grabs me around my waist and puts me on his lap. Gotrid hugs my wings and starts to pet them.
"To be honest, it's us who have a good reason to be angry right now, not you," Erik purses his lips, but his hand on my wings stays as gentle as ever. "It seems you were keeping secrets from us."
"M-maybe," I admit hesitantly, this time carefully watching the language I'm using.
"Let's start with the basics, Your Majesty," Liana says slowly but resolutely. "Who are the Divementis and what is the language you just spoke?"
"It's...," I clutch Erik's shirt, feeling desperate. While Liana is genuinely angry with me for keeping secrets, my partners are deeply saddened and disappointed that I was keeping things from them and that breaks my heart.
"You can tell us now, love," Gotrid encourages me. "It must have been occupying your mind for these past few days, right? Of course, we noticed that you've been distracted and tired for no apparent reason."
"Was I that bad at hiding it?" I sigh.
"Well, not really," Erik shakes his head, "but we could see how exhausted you've been ever since we came to Japan. Even though Noage confirmed that you're otherwise healthy, we were still worried."
"Your Majesty, why did you feel that you couldn't tell us?" Liana lowers her head, devastated that I didn't put my trust in them.
"I didn't want to worry you, yet that's exactly what happened," I murmur, embarrassed.
"So," Gotrid caresses my feathers. "What's the Divementis?"
"That's how my father's race is called," I answer slowly.
"And that language you spoke?" Erik pokes me.
"The Divementis language," I say. "I don't know why I can suddenly speak it. I just can."
"And how do you know all of that?" Liana tilts her head.
"Ehm... my father has been giving me training," I bite my lip because there's no good way how to say it.
"What?! When? How?" Gotrid's hand caressing my wings freezes.
"During the past few nights when I was sleeping," I try to explain as simply as possible. "It turns out the Divementis can visit each other's dreams. That's why I was so tired, my brain couldn't rest properly."
There are a few seconds of absolute silence during which everybody has to digest what I've just said. I can feel the maids and guards present in the room getting restless.
"I think Celestials, the Dragonkin, the Earthborn and Clawfangs were the original inhabitants of the dimension those monsters are coming from," I continue when nobody's saying anything. "According to what I've heard from my father and that monstrous alien presence, they were annihilated, possibly centuries ago."
"So those Divementis, your father belongs to, managed to bring them back to life through us?" Liana summarises. "That makes you half-Divementis then?"
"That's why my appearance was never fully human and now I'm not fully Celestial either," I nod. "I saw my father's real body and it turns out that androgynous features are the main Divementis racial trait. He said that the transformation wasn't supposed to work on someone who's a Divementis so only my human part changed."
"Love, were you afraid to tell us?" Erik kisses my hair.
"Yes," I admit, "but I was mostly afraid that you would try to prevent me from meeting my father. If you knew, you would surely make Noage drug me with something that prevents having dreams or you would make me leave Japan immediately."
"You're right, we would," Liana doesn't hide the fact and is clutching her fists. "Did he hurt you?"
"He was training me," I say, but because I avert my gaze, she can tell that I'm not telling the whole truth. I was always a bad liar.
"Show us your memories, love," Erik asks simply.
"I'd rather not," I shake my head. "Besides, we don't speak English in my dreams anyway."
"Was he hurting you?" Gotrid takes my hand and kisses it.
"His methods might have been questionable, but it was only thanks to his harsh training that I was able to defend myself against that thing," I claim vehemently. "If I didn't learn how to use emotions to push back intruders, I would die yesterday."
Everybody shudders at that thought. They realise now that their embodiment of magic could have died and that's deeply disturbing for Celestials. Their jittered emotions make my head throb with intensified pain. I whine because excitement is never good during a migraine.
"His Majesty is getting exhausted, Your Excellency," Gotrid observes. "I know that we're all hungry for answers and angry that our Emperor was hiding the truth, but he's hurt and needs to rest."
"Further questions will have to wait until our beloved recovers," Erik seconds.
Liana sighs, but she agrees and stands up. Ayala immediately takes her place, holding a bowl in her hands.
"I know that you're still feeling nauseous, Your Majesty, but Noage insisted that he can't be feeding you intravenously all the time," the maid says persuasively. "Your intestines need to be moving and you're eating very little as it is, we can't risk your stomach shrinking."
Gotrid takes the bowl from her and starts feeding me sweet rice porridge. They are very patient with me, I can take breaks, but I have to empty it whole. Liana oversees the process, frowning and thinking frantically, no doubt about what she's going to tell the Celestial Council. I'm too tired to read her thoughts. I fall back to sleep the moment I finally finish eating.