Lawless Dream

Soft golden light dappled the forest floor. Pine needles scattered the earth, lying next to multicolored leaves- some of them with purple or silvery sheens. The air was cool and crisp without much of a breeze, and it smelled fresh. A familiar blue cub ran headfirst, barreling down the sloping terrain, nearly crashing into him. He smiled and took in her scent. Earthy and like pine, with a hint of the berries she so often gorged herself on, and underneath that, their mother. Something long forgotten. The last scent made him feel something akin to melancholy, though he wasn’t quite sure why. Before he had time to dwell on it though, the smell changed. He looked over where the cub should be and instead saw nothing. Nothing but snow. Endless snow. The scent of cold flooded his nostrils. No more pine, or earth, or berries, but something familiar still remained through the cold. He started walking, following it, following her. The wind picked up, turning the white wasteland into a treacherous onslaught of blinding pellets of ice. Pinpricks of cold ran all across his skin as he pushed forward, but still he walked. This was nothing. This was everything. This cold was a part of him.

At that though he stopped abruptly as a block of ice appeared out of nowhere, directly in front of him, having been obscured by the storm. Looking at the ice, he saw that blue color again, this time distorted and fractured, but seemingly coming closer until there she was. She cocked her head at him questioningly and held a clawed paw up against the ice.

He mirrored her and placed his own, far larger paw up. Carefully he pressed his claws into the ice. Cracks burst forth forming deep rivulets in the ice, cracking, cracking, cracking, _shattering_.

He breathed out, excited. It’d been so long since he’d seen her. Since he’d taken in her scent. It was different now- wreathed in the same cold that claimed all of this land, yet a harmony of scents from when they’d been cubs remained. He knew her scent even now. But she stood there, head still cocked, a question in her eyes.

“Endara” he said softly, full attention on his sister, his best friend.

She moved at the sound of her name, deep blue pelt already covered in the snow from the storm that raged around them. But she moved away from him, straightening up, almost as if to stare him down.

“Who are you?”

The words fell from her lips, fangs bared. The words themselves cut him deeper than any weapon could as he was flooded with fear, confusion, and sadness- a sadness he couldn’t place. Almost as if moving on its own accord he found his mouth answering back-

“…I don’t know.”

Endara’s head bent low as she began to circle him, scowling. “You’re supposed to be my brother. My BROTHER!”

And she leapt towards him, claws outstretched, fangs ready.

He shut his eyes tight as the word echoed around him. “Brother…. Brother….. brother”

“Brother!”

Something was poking into the Icepick’s back as he came to in a jolt.

“Brother! You have to help me!”

It wasn’t Endara’s voice, nor her scent that filled his tent. It was his fur-wrenchingly annoying younger half brother’s. He smelled too much like Tidalwave and ice. Endara was nothing but a memory come to haunt his dreams. The Icepick pushed that thought aside as Khylus repeated again “Brother please! Please help me! I don't know what’s going on.”

Typical. The kid might be grown now but he was still incompetent and had been babied far too much in the Icepick’s opinion. The pink toa whirled around, shaking out his fluff, ready to give the younger phoenix a piece of his mind for waking him up before first light. The sight that greeted him though was wholly unexpected.

In place of Khylus, some monstrosity stood before him, nearly twice his height, standing on two thick hind legs and sporting two more pairs of legs all with massive claws. He appeared to be scaled and furred- his body covered in thick leather-like scales that, from a look, would be extremely difficult to penetrate, while his legs were all furry with shaggy Khylus-colored fluff. His spine was dotted with a line of lagged spikes, as were his shoulders and two tails. Each tail- thicker than his legs even, also had two pairs of longer claw-like spikes at the ends. The face of this monstrosity was the strangest of all though. He had glowing blue whisps in place of hair, a long unhinging jaw like a snake- complete with ketucari fangs, albeit twice their size, and dark pits for eyes that glowed with the same whisky light of his hair.

“I don’t know what happened” he said, using Khylus’ voice. “One minute I was sleeping and having a bit of a nightmare, and next moment I woke up and my body felt all weird, and now I’m scared I’m stuck like this. Why am I so tall? What’s happening?”

For once the Icepick couldn’t answer his younger brother. He kept staring at this new form, dumbfounded. Then, with a shake, he turned into his hawk form, shrinking before Khylus.

“Guess you got a new form. Dad will be pleased. You should stay as you are until morning so he can see. It helps to do something physical when shifting though. You’ll get used to it. I doubt you’re stuck like that, you’ll just have to train on going in and out with your own will.”

The Icepick hopped in his bird form, using the small momentum upwards to focus on growth and shifted back to his regular form. “See it’s not so hard. Go back to your one tent and let me sleep now. I don’t appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night.” The Icepick sneered at the hulking monster who somehow seemed to be sulking now at his rejections. “You should be able to handle a little nightmare by yourself.”

With that the Icepick turned back around and settled into his bedding, expecting Khylus to leave. The younger toa did just that, softly thudding footsteps sounding back towards his own tent. He would have to fend for himself, just like the Icepick had. The pink phoenix wasn’t in the habit of handing out charity of any kind, and he knew that powerful build would only make the younger toa even more prized by their father.

A growl escaped his throat reflexively at that thought. Khylus was becoming another threat to his power. No, he wouldn’t help the younger toa any more than he already had- if the gods themselves demanded it of him. He’d rather fight them all on his own than see his favor with his father usurped.

Try as he might, the Icepick couldn’t fall back asleep. He couldn’t even remember what he’d been dreaming about since that abrupt wake-up. All he could recall was the scent of pine. Perhaps it had been a peaceful dream. He looked out the flap of his tent to see snow beginning to fall from the dark night sky, and two massive tails sticking out from his brother’s tent. He sighed. Anywhere was more peaceful than here.