Kris's normal day looked like a disagreement with a bar tender, a scuffle in the bar, followed by being thrown out into the street and a cycle of the same with a new tavern and a new bartender.
He only did his Oneiromancy where he needed too. Messing in people's heads did take a lot out of the mancers. Milmilia still followed Kris.
"I guess I am going to go look at the postings, see if there is any work," Kris said allowed, as if he was including Milmilia in this. She glanced over, her wrinkles shifting as she tried to piece together what Kris just said. He strolled up to the board reviewing all the notices.
"There!" He exclaimed pulling a paper off the board.
"Huh, possible curse, sleepless and sometimes violent. Alright easy enough," he muttered, Milmilia looking trying to read the notice.
"The notice is for the outer districts. It shouldn't be too long a hike," he said. Milmilia nodded.
"Alright, this Siphoner is really on board with this following thing," Kris thought.
The alleys and roadways in the capital city guided them through districts with looming towers with sharp architecture, and distinct designs made to intimidate ones looking to assault the walls of the capital city.any of the building sweet built tightly next one another, with layers of cobblestone and brick patching up holes and adding to other buildings.
The two passed by a slew of taverns, with other business tucked between.
"I am banned from those two taverns," Kris pointed out.
"Why?" Milmilia asked.
"Got too drunk, said some things and got tossed out," Kris said. "I also believe I may have slept with the owners daughter".
Milmilia rolled her eyes.
"Humans always think with their genitals," she said.
"I can't argue that. We are pretty nasty creatures," he said with a chuckle. Then that laughter shifted to something else. Remorse? Disgust? It was something.
Guards were on constant patrol, marching up and down every and all streets. Their armor, made of flexible metal, covered in detailed designs of large winged beasts, that shared qualities with most birds, but in its design and depiction was bigger than a common man. The helmets covered their faces, making these soldiers almost lifeless. A rectangular slit in the helm gave them sight, but from Kris remembers hearing that the armor was also imbued with magic?
"Since when do people use magic," he reminded himself. Kris and Milmilia reached the outer districts around dusk. The sun had begun to set, dipping behind the massive wall that separated the outside world and the capital city. Some tendrils of miasmic fog crept over the top of the wall, but no further.
"This will be good for me to immediately start working, but I will probably sleep all day tomorrow," Kris said quietly, but loud enough for Milmilia.
"Here it is," he said pointing out a run down house next to a large red barn.
Kris immediately approached the door.
He knocked three times. The door swung open almost immediately.
"Hello?" a woman asked. Her eyes were clouded. She was blind.
"Ma' am, I believe you were looking to hire an Oneiromancer? I am one and I'd like to ask-".
"An Oneiromancer? Come in, come in!," she said grabbing his hand and guiding him into the living room. The Siphoner followed. A fire crackled in the hearth, with an elderly man, rocking in a chair nearby.
"Father! This man here took the job," she said with excitement.
The man looked over his shoulder, his eyes bloodshot. He motioned for Kris to approached. The woman stood right in her spot. The expression on her face looked hopeful.
"This is my assistant Milmilia. Now what seems to be the matter," Kris asked revealing his pendant.
"I am cursed son," the old man said.
"Cursed? What kind do you think?" Kris asked.
"A curse that punishes! I am in agony, no rest always thinking and a mind that races. I see images of a face. A face that laughs at me. When I close my eyes, it's tusks and haunting smile is all I see". Kris scratched his head. He pulled up a stool, sitting across from the man.
His pendant hummed.
The green light was pulled out, slowly twisting and vaporizing toward the man.
"Something is here," muttered Kris as he scanned the man. The pendant picked up something, whether it a curse, or something regarding the miasma this man was ill.
Ever since the miasma arrived in Graediya, dreams and thoughts were always the first to be manipulated and messed with. Some believe it was souly the miasmas doing, others believe the strange creatures that appeared all across Graediya was to blame.
Regardless, Kris had a gift. Slip into dreams, cut whatever curse or illness they had, get paid and get out. Simple.
Kris asked the man to lay down. He hobbled over to a nearby couch and did as instructed.
"Will he be alright?" the woman asked. Milmilia walked over, to Kris's side.
"I'll have to put him to sleep to see what's happening," Kris explained. "You are right though this is an Oneiromancers job". Kris started to swing the pendant from side to side, catching the mans gaze. And just like that he fell asleep. His eyelids moved back and forth.
"Already in his Dreamscape?" Kris thought in amazement.
"Already?," Milmilia asked. He nodded to her.
"This can't be good. Alright, I need you to get half the silver from the girl. The price on the post is fair," Kris asked the Siphoner. She tilted her head in confusion, but agreed as she approached the blind girl.
Kris focused on the man and with the magic of his pendant, he entered the mans dreamscape.
There was absolute chaos. His house, tore from the concrete and lifted high above the capital city, with winged beasts flying around. They would occasionally attack the house, but not enough to do any real harm.
They looked like men, but their arms replaced with wings of bats.
They shouted and yelled in an unfamiliar language. Kris could hear the cries for help from the man inside the house.
"I never learned his name! Damn!," Kris thought slapping his palm to his forehead. Suddenly in the sky a face appeared. It held a demonic smile and bore two long tusks. Its face was mishapened, with yellow eyes that seemed to pierce someone's soul.
The cries escalated in the home.
"The intention is fear," Kris thought as he floated upward closer to the house. He could see the old man scurrying around.
Kris focused for a moment, and saw trails of purple light coming from the house, to somewhere in the city.
His eyes followed the trail, leading his vision to a small shed, tucked between two large buildings ornate in their decor. Kris lowered himself to the shed. As he landed he rolled up his sleeves.
"Alright, come on out," Kris shouted. There was no reply.
"I see you in there. You are eating the fear from this man. Much like a Siphoner, but you are different. You can manifest and move yourself through the Dreamscape and the living world," Kris said. "Frankly, I am impressed".
The door to the shed rattled.
"Hungry," a voice said. The voice was deep, and sounded a tad slow.
"You're hungry?" Kris asked taking a step forward.
"Very," the voice replied.
"You can't be eating this guy. He has paid me to get you out. Honestly, this is different. Usually the issues with the dreams of people just takes a little manipulation and direction to fix. If it is a curse all I have to do is to find the hexed item and break it, but with this, this is brand new. A something that can live in and out of the Dreamscape," Kris explained with a poorly masked excitement to it.
"How you know," the voice asked.
"Oneiromancers know how to read dreams. The situations, feel, tone, visuals all speak to something. We can read it, get an idea and from there we put the pieces together. Those purple trails, told me that something was feasting on this mans fear". Kris was rather impressed with himself.
"I don't want to go, this dream tastey," the voice said again.
"You have to. I am getting paid good silver to fix this," Kris explained. "I have a Siphoner nearby you could attach yourself to".
"No, Siphoners have no dreams. Their essence tastes like mud," the voice said. Kris folded his arms.
"You can eat things that aren't dreams"?
"Thoughts or brain waves. Not tastey. Bland," the voice replied. "Dreams and feelings, they taste good".
"Once again, I am going to ask you to leave," Kris said. He took a step forward. Suddenly, as if someone punched him right in the gut, he was tossed backwards and once he blinked he was back in the house, with the old man, his daughter and Milmilia. Kris let out a sigh.
"Something's in there Milmilia. It's forcing bad dreams so it can eat, apparently," Kris said preparing to reenter the dream.
"Eat?" Milmilia and the girl asked.
"I guess whatever it is, it is hungry," Kris said. He noticed the silver held in Milmilia's hands. It was nice to have an assistant if anything. It had been a while since he traveled with anyone.
Kris entered the Dreamscape again. All the same things occurred, and all the same visuals. Kris returned to the shed.
"You kicked me out? Pretty darn impressive," Kris said.
"You were getting mad. I don't like mad," the voice said from the shed.
"Not mad, maybe frustrated. I get it, we all have to eat but this is my trying to eat, and you feasting on this old mans fears can't continue," Kris explained pulling up a nearby box and sitting on it.
"No where else for Gabu, in the Capital City it is very scary," the voice said.
"Gabu? Is your name Gabu?" Kris asked.
"I Gabu," Gabu replied.
"Didn't all you creatures live outside the city"?
"Yes, but miasma swallow places whole. Not much place to go out there," Gabu said. A cloud of purple smoke puffed out of the shed. "Tastey".
"I have heard that story before. I know a Siphoner in the same boat," Kris said attempting to relate.
"We are in a boat? No Oneiromancer, we in a dream," Gabu replied with a snort. Kris rolled his eyes.
"I mean I know a Siphoner who also got trapped here in the Capital City". There was a moment of silence after that, followed by another violent shove out of the dream.
Kris's eyes shot wide. This startled Milmilia, who stood nearby.
Kris shook his head and arms out, attempting to relieve the tension. "I guess it's name is Gabu," Kris said.
"Gabu?" Milmilia asked.
"Yes, it's name is Gabu," Kris replied.
"No it is A GABU! It is a creature! I have met many a Gabu in the regions beyond the walls, before the miasma swallowed most places," she said shaking her head. "They aren't clever so they rarely name themselves. They just go with Gabu usually".
"A Gabu? Regions beyond the wall?," the woman asked. She stood there, eyes clouded, looking through the two.
"My assistant is very well versed and cultured," Kris scrambled to explain.
"Oh," she said with some concern in her voice.
Discussions of the outside world made people uneasy. Superstition clouded many minds with fear of creatures manipulating or replace people who venture out.
"Don't worry ma' am, my assistant is safe and clean. I double and triple checked," Kris assured. The woman seemed to become less tense. Milmilia looked over to the man. Kris gave her a wink as he prepared his pendant.
Kris entered back into the Dreamscape, and a moment later, his eyes shot open again.
"This guy is tricky," Kris complained.
"I understand that Gabu's love their food," Milmilia thought aloud.
"Sure do. This guy is just eating away. Now it's every time that I enter I get immediately kicked out," Kris continued. "Any suggestions"?
The Siphoner, in her human form rubbed her chin as she thought.
"We could-," she started.
"Could what? Tell me," Kris asked.
"We could attack at two sides. You keep it distracted and I can sever it's attachment," Milmilia said.
"Wait? You are saying that you do, 'your thing' as I am in there, and you could stop this thing"?
"I will explain better," she said approaching. She whispered to Kris, attempting to avoid the woman hearing them.
"Creatures can handle only one person. I have never seen a single creature feeding off of multiple people. You keep the Gabu busy, and I will find it's tether and from there he should detach and appear," Milmilia explained.
The woman clearly heard them.
"Appear?" he asked.
The Siphoner nodded.
"Gabu can change their form and exist within the Dreamscape. Once the link is severed, he will appear in the physical world," Milmilia explained.
"Violent?" Kris asked. Milmilia shook her head.
"Nope, rather pathetic if you ask me," she replied. Kris looked over to the old woman. This was the same creature that tried to consume him. Could he trust her?
He recalled only hearing awful tales about Siphoners, but Milmilia wasn't bad. Anything outside the Capital City walls was considered bad. Human or not.
Kris rose from his seat and glided over to the woman.
"Miss, my assistant will be helping me with this. This Gabu is a real nasty thing. Now I am going to give you this," Kris started taking the dagger from his belt and placing it gently in her hand. "If you get the idea, the feeling, or even just a hint that my assistant is getting any sort of pleasure from this, plunge this right into her".
The woman froze, tensing up.
"What?" she asked with a stammer.
"Just hold it like so, and just swing down. Here I'll move you right near her," he said guiding her to right behind Milmilia. The Siphoner shot the Oneiromancer a glare. He smirked.
Kris returned to his seat. His pendant ready to go.
"Let's get this thing out," Kris said as he entered the Dreamscape once more. The room was silent. Milmilia, still not a fan of Kris's idea with the woman, reached out her hand and entered into the mans Dreamscape.
Milmilia heard the two arguing. The Gabu asking why he keeps coming back, and Kris making threats. She soared through space, existing far above the city the dream was occuring.
"Wouldn't hurt," she said eating a bit of the dream. "Not too much".
She could see the purple feathers of light.
"There," she thought. A strange shape floated in the distance. Hidden by a few floating shacks, with the debris lifelessly floating around it.
It was the Gabu, and severing this would kick the creature out of the Dreamscape. She was hungry however, so she snacked on the dream, taking her time getting to the root of the problem.
----------§-----------
"You need to leave! Get out!," Kris argued.
"NO," Gabu replied. The wind picked up around Kris.
"Oh, you won't leave so your going to throw a tantrum? Make the wind blow me over," Kris said scrambling to grab something solid.
"I kick you out, and you come back. I don't have enough strength to kick you out again. Go away!," Gabu shouted from the shed.
"Nope," Kris shouted as the winds picked up top an uncomfortable speed.
----------§---------
This man did have tastey thoughts. They had a flavor that Milmilia hadn't encountered in a long time. The intense emotion attached to a dream, memory or thought gave it its flavor.
"I understand why the Gabu is here," Milmilia said to herself. She looked back to the shape, and with a sigh she shot out her hand, a dagger zipping through the air piercing the thing.
Suddenly, Kris opened his eyes, Milmilia did the same as the older man shot up, and with a violent sneeze, force out a purple cloud. The cloud shot across the room at great speeds, forming into a creature that materialized near the front door.
Immediately Kris stood, swiping the dagger from the woman's trembling hands, and approaching the beast. As he got closer, the light from the small kitchenette defined the creature. It had the shape and size of a pig, but a trunk that head three finger like appendages at the end of its trunk. It had shorts tusks that barely grew past the creatures lips, with big yellow and purple eyes.
It cowered.
"I told you, pathetic," Milmilia said hobbling up next to the Oneiromancer. It continues to cower as it let out a whimper. Kris placed his dagger back into its sheath. The old man sat up, "Is it over? I feel different". The woman rushed over to him, arms stretched out to feel if there were any obstacles before their embrace.
The Gabu, in a defeated way stood up on his hooves.
"Kill me," it said.
"What is with you guys and killing," Kris exclaimed gesturing to the non humans in the room.
"Just go. Bother someone else..." Kris said as his thought trailed.
Kris hatched an idea. An idea that would keep his income consistent, enough where he could actually live in one location, compared to his constant travel.
"On second thought, Mr. Gabu, I may have a proposition for you," Kris said looking down at the creature. The creature eyes the man and asked, "What is a proposition"?