Old Promises, New Mysteries: Book 2 of The Kinstone series

That night, I slept soundly in my bed. For the first time in a week, I was actually fast asleep in my bed. It felt good lying there, curled up tightly under the covers.

My mind wandered about as my dreams slowly came to me. But the dreams that did come were unlike anything I had ever seen before.

I was standing at the gates of a large white city, with carved pillars all around me. Homes and buildings lined a large brick lined road.

My feet carried me deeper into the city. The buildings now appeared to be similar to an elven city, but mixed in with Byzantine architecture.

The city itself was multilayered, with bridges that spanned and hovered over several parts of where I was. The higher the level, the taller the buildings became, and more elaborate. Large trees dotted the streets the further I walked, with many more huddled behind the buildings.

Many of the homes had stairs leading up to the door. Embedded with the buildings were large crystals, which glowed softly as I passed by. At the moment, I was alone in this massive city. It felt eerie with each step I took.

Another way one could describe the city around me would be if you were stepping through Minas Tirith from the Lord of the Rings movies. But the city itself wasn't constructed in the face of a mountain. I looked to the very heart of the city and saw a large crystal floating at its center.

I looked upwards; the bridges were now supported by swooping arches and firm sturdy pillars, all of which were expertly carved. Part of me felt like I was back in Rome, but this somehow felt more…familiar.

I stood before several more that appeared more organic in design. Soft lights flashed from inside the windows, which were contained within swirling and looped metal casings that flared around the corners.

The city then grew more compact the higher I ascended each level. More and more buildings were set floating overhead, yes I do mean floating, were large gardens. Some were as big and expansive as football fields, with waterfalls showering out of them.

A few of the floating islands even possessed enormous mansions on them. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Birds dotted the skies, many taking off from the islands above.

Dragons flew through the air, adorned with golden bracers upon their forearms and jewel encrusted plates upon their chests. Some appeared to look like what most would assume to be dragons.

Large quadrupedal, heavily muscular beings with wide spreading wings. They had long necks with some having boxy square like heads and a few other having slender more graceful tapered muzzles.

A few more flew overhead. These were more serpentine in appearance, like long thin heads, long powerful looking arms and legs, and large thin wings.

My eyes grew wide as I saw armored knights riding on their backs. The mounted dragons all had long blue crystal-like horns protruding from their heads, with similar colored jewels in their chests.

I felt the urge to fly up there with them, much as I do with Silvi. Hey, dragons love to fly, even if with complete strangers.

My vision then blurred for a moment, only to return. I was standing in a different part of the city. Surrounding me was a metal or metal-like circle which was supported by columns. More buildings could be seen off in the distance, with trees gathered around them.

The top of the circle was adorned with consecutive tiny pillars connecting to double rings. The floor of the circle was covered in a bluish crystal or glass perhaps. Gold, or something similar, was inlaid into the walkway. In front of me stood a large to circular tower with an archway which ran through the middle of it.

More bridges connected the tower to many more surrounding me. More trees, even taller the tower itself, shaded over the square. I turned to walk towards the archway, looking up as I entered it.

What was striking to me was the fact that I didn’t feel afraid or lost in the slightest. It was like I walked these streets since the day I was born, and knew exactly where I was going.

As I exited the archway, all around me smudgy figures began to walk about, not noticing me all at first. The images then slowly came into focus, revealing humans, elves, goblins, even fae.

A few of the fae glanced over to me, appearing to know that I was there. I stopped for a moment, watching them in return. The fae simply gave a soft wink, with a couple nodding at me before moving on.

I then saw artisans and shops lining the streets, with people talking to one another. I was in the middle of a marketplace. The sight of sparks flying in the air caught my attention. I turned and saw dwarves hammering red-hot metal against anvils.

Adjacent to them were even more dwarves, working on jewelry. I stepped forward and looked into their shops. I couldn’t hear anything, not the sound of footsteps, of business being conducted or even the simplest conversations.

Everyone around me was merely going about their day. Even children ran along the streets all carrying satchels, with some talking to each other. Their attire was reminiscent of Victorian-era attire, but again, different, not quite as puffy.

The girls wore knee-length long-sleeved dresses, stockings, and short wraparound capes. To me, they looked like students heading off to school. I smiled, watching them run after each other, looked like fun.

More girls ran past me, wearing clothing similar to Lolita. I found it fascinating. More people walked past, now wearing clothes straight out of a fantasy game. Fire Emblem maybe?

Few of the people then turned and nodded to me. No…they weren’t nodding their heads to me, they were bowing their heads. A faint smile rose on my face, bowing my head in return. It was both awkward and commonplace at the same time.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the faintest sight of a large white tail. I turned and saw several people riding within carriages along the streets and walking beside them were gigantic wolves.

My eyes grew huge; they looked like Fenris, twin tails and all. But these wolves were all bluish-silver and while looking like Fenris, they didn’t share nearly as much of his regal features.

They strode through the streets, looking just as magnificent as my bonded, but seemed to lack the same energy as my wolf. My stomach twisted at the sight of collars around the majestic animals.

While they still walked with some measure of pride, the wolves appeared to be far more tamed. It sickened me to see them like that. Even when I still lived at my old apartment, I hated having to place a collar onto Fenris’ neck when we went running in the morning.

The people beside them wore elaborate outfits, girls and young men mostly. The bystanders all bowed at their passing. I watched as they strolled passed me, sensing a deep and conceited arrogance.

They all then peered over to my direction and shot me venomous glares, not unlike the ones I witnessed while at Court. I ignored their apparent unspoken hatred.

The wolves also looked to me, but bowed their heads. Their eyes glimmered with a soft and gentle affection, as if they were greeting me in a familial way.

My heart rang out for them, feeling a deep connection towards them. The caravan then moved on and the bystanders resumed their activities.

Again my vision blurred and I now appeared to be standing in a terraced park, surrounded by ever spanning forests. There were fewer buildings, and it appeared to be some distance from the center of the city as I could see it off in the distance.

The sun shone through few open spanses of trees, but with what appeared to be an aqueduct hidden within the trees. This gave the area a strange bluish tone. In fact that had been true for most of the city.

I looked up to see the first level of the park having three separate rows of planted flowers, next to it was a fenced railing, which laid next to stairs, and wrapped around the top of the first platform.

I walked over to them and knelt down to get a better look at them. I felt a smile rise on my face as I stroked the petals.

I rose and walked up the stairs, again, knowing exactly where I was going and strangely at home. I turned and headed for a second staircase, looking to my left I saw what looked like an open cage springing out from the trees.

It was quiet, being far from the hustle and bustle of the city proper. A breeze blew around me, kicking up petals from the flowering trees. I watched as they floated around me. With every step I took, it was a step closer to my "home".

As I reached the top of the stairs, I stood in front of large house or mansion, not sure. It looked the same as many of the buildings I had seen previously but bigger. A wall surrounded the property. Trees shielded and surrounded the area, but it wasn’t overly dark, just comfortable and welcoming.

I stepped closer to the front gate on it was a large crest. I examined the crest. It depicted a stylized wolf and fox encircling a tree with a sword at its heart.

Somehow I knew what this crest was. A gentle swelling of pride and love rose within my heart as I walked towards it. Another smile rose on my face.

I pushed open the front gate and proceeded to step forward. But before I did, I felt myself being pulled away from my body. My sight then faded to black.

My eyes opened to see that I was back in my room. It was still dark as my eyes scanned around me. Something large rested beside me. I tilted my head to see Fenris sleeping soundly on my bed. A soft smile stretched across my face.

I sat up on the bed and looked around, again confirming that I was indeed back in my room.

With the dream still fresh in my mind, I rolled out of bed and walked over to “Study”, flipping on a light. I pulled down an empty notebook from the large stack on the shelf next to me and opened it.

I jotted down all that I had seen, even drawing the building and structures. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how long I sat there, writing and drawing. Soon the notebook was partly filled with my scribbles and sketches.

I closed the notebook and slipped it onto the bookshelf. I flipped off the light and returned to bed.

The last thoughts that ran through my mind were those of the dream. I slowly drifted off back to sleep, still wondering about it and what it meant.