Dhule was walking in a field of golden wheat that split as he walked, the sky above him was a deep blue as far as his eyes could see. The sun beat down on his skin, it was nice, the feeling reminded him of home, the location not so much. Especially not with the large monolith in the background, he recognized the monolith but he couldn’t recall it exactly. “Maybe if I get closer I’ll be able to remember.” He thought to himself.

  Dhule walked towards the landmark, he got close enough to see the base of the landmark before finally realizing what it was, it was the pillar from the town of Omhen’s Rest, The Obelisk of Kings was it? As he was staring at the obelisk a figure stepped out from behind it, they had no clear silhouette or features almost as if they were cloaked in shadows.

  “Do you still believe you’re destined for greatness?” the figure asked.

  Dhule squinted at the figure, “Who are you?” He asked.

  “You forget your own blood?” the figure asked as the shadows disappeared revealing the person underneath, a man shorter and clearly younger than Dhule, his hair was blonde as opposed to Dhule’s sandy brown and his eyes only green. He wore regal looking robes that Dhule knew was light and flowy despite its appearance.

  “Oh, hello Yoro, how have you been?” Dhule asked.

  “Do you think your path leads to kingship, brother?”

  Dhule tried to talk back but he couldn’t, he couldn’t form words, he could only barely breathe. As he grasped his neck to see if something was wrong he felt something pierce his neck as well as blood drip down his fingers, he looked down only to see that his skin had fallen off his hand and his bones were covered in the blood from his neck. He looked at his reflection in the obelisk, he was emaciated, his skin clung to his bones under the rags that he was wearing.

  “I- I am a king.” Dhule whispered, attempting to sound much louder than he did. “I will be…”

  “You will never be anything!” Yoro hissed “You are unworthy, a disgrace, nothing! You will be forgotten in the sands of time, and die alone in these wastes.”

  The grass around the two withered and blackened as clouds filled the sky, blocking out the sun. The obelisk emitted multiple shockwaves knocking Dhule to his knees.

  Dhule grabbed at the dirt below him trying to grab onto something.

  “Look at you! On your knees, just like you were before and just as you will be in the future!” The ground disappeared below both of them, Dhule fell floating in the endless nothingness, still trying to ground himself with his hands.“Grasping at nothing, trying to attain power but never reaching your goal!” Yoro stood where the ground was looking down at Dhule in disgust. “Nothing.” He mouthed to the falling Dhule.

  Dhule sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, as he sank all of the light that was once beating down on him was now gone, the only difference he could pick out between having his eyes opened or closed was the feeling of opening or closing them. The further Dhule sank the longer he kept his eyes closed, until he finally heard something.

  “Dhule, Dhule, Dhule.”

  He turned his head but his eyes stayed closed.

  “I need to tell you something.” the voice said.

  Dhule tried to ask however as soon as he opened his mouth it felt like water was flooding in while also the air he had was being sucked out. He needed to open his eyes, then he could at least know who was talking to him.

  “Nod if you can hear me, Dhule Sanyal.”

  Dhule nodded while trying to open his eyes, but they felt like they were glued together.

  “Good. You need to-”

  Dhule had finally opened his eyes however as he opened his eyes he woke up in the middle of the desert, the sun had just crossed the horizon. “FUCK!” He yelled as he woke up, waking up the rest of the camp.

  “What’s wrong son, it’s seven in the morning, you were fine leaving later last night?” Yerantai asked.

  “No, it’s not that. It was something in my dream.” Dhule replied.

  “I don’t think a dream is a good reason for yelling in the middle of the night.” The older man that was traveling with Yerentai spoke up.

  “It’s fine Sagra. What was your dream about? What caused this sudden outburst?” Yerentai asked again.

  “I-I I don’t remember, but it had to be something important, right?” Dhule tried to remember but could only remember his brother telling him how worthless he was. He knew there was something else but he couldn’t remember.

  “Look son, I’m sure it was important, if to no one else than at least to you, but don’t go too hard on yourself about forgetting a dream. It was a dream, they’re just a stream of consciousness that most people forget when they wake up.” Yerentai consoled Dhule.

  Dhule stared at Yerentai for a few moments, the weight of his forgotten dream sat on his mind for the entire time he stared. His hands trembled as he tried to piece the missing parts of his dream together in his head. “I know dreams are often forgotten but this one feels special, almost like a prophecy or a warning. Do you understand, does that make sense?” Dhule asked.

  Sagra scoffed under his breath, but Yerentai held up a hand to stop him. “I understand, and maybe you’re right but don’t beat yourself up for forgetting a dream.” He gave a soft smile at Dhule trying to lighten the mood. “But let’s focus on the now, okay?”

  “Okay, I can do that. Do you need help packing up?”

  “Not quite yet, we're gonna go back to sleep for a few more hours but feel free to stay up if you don’t wanna.”

  “I- I think I will, have a good rest.”

  “Okay son, thank you.”

  Dhule sat next to the sleeping Veyr for the hours until the rest of the traveling group woke. During the hours he was waiting he remembered more of his dream, not the entire thing but he did remember the parts immediately before he woke up, “What do you think they were telling me Veyr? How important was it really?”

  Veyr snorted, surprising Dhule, he had not known that they woken up.

  He sighed, “I still don’t understand what you're saying. I had hoped that at some point I would have an innate understanding of you, but I still don’t.” Dhule laid down on Veyr staring at the sky as it brightened, “We’ll get there someday, right Veyr?” he asked the pony knowing he wouldn’t understand what they had to say.

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  Veyr neighed. Dhule couldn’t understand what Veyr said exactly but he could hear, what he thought was, some excitement in the noise.

  The others woke up and as they did so Dhule got up to help them pack. As he was helping he was introduced to the remaining members of the group. Yerentai was traveling with his wife, Altani, a slender woman that gave off an aura of quiet confidence, her hair a beautiful chestnut color that was tied into a bun atop her head, piercing green eyes that Dhule could feel reading his soul when she looked at him, she decorated herself with golden earings and a matching bracelet, a band nearly identical to Yerentai’s, and a perfume that smelt of lavender. Their daughter who was only a few years younger than Dhule, Yesugen, a slightly shorter girl with an athletic build, dark brown, almost black, hair tied into two braids that framed her easily excitable face, her eyes more resembled her fathers, brown and always seemingly happy, she had a line of freckles that crossed the bridge of her nose and always wore many small trinkets such as beads, feathers or small pieces of broken glass. Yerentai’s father-in-law, Sagra, a stocky man that moves with purpose despite his age, he had short white hair and a thick beard that runs through a bronze ring, his left hand had a large burn scar that covered near his entire palm and a tan line around his ring finger. And the family’s newborn son, Kara, small and round still maintaining baby fat, his hair was short tufts of white hair that would stick up no matter how much effort Altani put into pushing them down, his eyes were a soft green and filled with wonder, he always had a plush doll of a lion in his arms reach, the doll was about half his size that Yesugen created for him with the help of Altani. Dhule also learned the history of the family, they were Weybonds who left their clan, he didn’t learn exactly why they left as they would stop talking about it whenever he asked.

  As the group finished packing Dhule found himself in a whirlpool of emotions, the warmth of Yerentai’s family felt odd to Dhule. It had been so long since someone actually cared about him, could they be putting up an act or were they truly nice people. “It had to be the second,” Dhule thought to himself, “There’s no way they know who I am, and even if they did I don’t hold any power anywhere anymore. Yeah they have to be good people.”

  The family's conversations were loud, filled with laughter and conversation, in stark difference to the silence surrounding Dhule. Yerentai and Altani sang Weybond songs to entertain Kara and the rest of the caravan, Yesugen spent her time studying maps and pointing out landmarks when they were passed, Kara slept for the vast majority of the trip as did Sagra. As the caravan traveled Dhule noticed Yesugen stealing looks at him, he didn’t think much of this as he was a stranger that was traveling with them, but the looks kept getting longer. These looks culminated at the end of the day after the camp had been set up.

  - ?? -

  Dhule was standing next to the laying down Veyr as Yesugen walked towards the two who were staying a ways away from the camp

  “You’re quite quiet.” Yesugen told Dhule, “Is there a reason for that?”

  “I have a lot on my mind.” Dhule responded.

  “Do you wanna talk about it? Is it about your dream from last night?” She asked.

  “I don’t wish to talk about it.”

  “You seem like you think too much.” Yesugen sat down next to Veyr brushing her hand through the pony’s hair

  “You seem like you talk too much.” Dhule shot back.

  “I never said I didn’t, but thinking too much could clog your brain, could lead to it shutting down. It’s better to let it free every so often, don’t stop thinking in entirety but sometimes it’s nice.” Yesugen defended herself.

  Before Dhule could respond, Altani yelled at her daughter, “Yesugen, stop annoying him, and don’t touch his horse without permission! Foods ready, both of you!”

  “Let’s go, they made Grazelok stew, I heard.” Yesugen said.

  Dhule and Yesugen walked towards the center of the camp, the scent of meat and veggies forcing their stomachs to growl. The family all sat around the fire on their knees, they held hands and bowed their heads. Dhule had seen them do this last night however he wasn’t exactly sure what was happening. He was closer tonight than he was yesterday, however he still couldn’t quite understand what they were saying, he heard the mumbling of prayers, assumedly to whatever gods that they worshiped.

  Dhule shuffled around awkwardly, he wasn’t sure if he should sit with them to embrace their culture or if he should step back so as to not interfere with their rituals. Their prayers were vaguely melodic, they reminded him of the lullabies his caretakers would sing to put him to sleep when he was much younger.

  As Dhule was lost in his thoughts, reminiscing on his life, the family finished their prayers. Altani was sitting opposite to Dhule, and looked up to see him standing awkwardly behind Yerentai and called out to him, “You can sit Dhule, we’re done.”

  Yerentai looked back at Dhule, “Yes, come sit, you must be starving.”

  Dhule sat down between Yerentai and Sagra and was almost immediately given a bowl of food. He took a bite of the meat expecting something entirely different from what he got. “This is very gamey for Grazelok. I mean no offense, but did you cook it for too long?”

  “No offense taken but I might see where you’re coming from. This is Mons Grazelok native to the Occidental Mountains, have you ever been?” Altani asked.

  “I’ve never left the Central Wastes.”

  “That’s a shame, there’s so much beyond it. But what prompted you to leave if you’ve never left before?” Altani responded.

  “I never planned to, but your husband insisted that I travel with you.”

  “Well, I’m glad he did. Everyone should explore the world, see all the beauties it has to offer.”

  “Me too, did you see what he’s traveling with, he had practically nothing on him heading to Xurolan!” Yerentai said.

  “Well what were you doing that for?” Sagra interjected himself into the conversation.

  Dhule had just put more of his dinner into his mouth when Sagra asked. After eating the bite he took as fast as he could he answered, “I was just looking for a restart in a new place, and would have preferred a location I was more familiar with but maybe I’ll travel around the continent a bit more.”

  “I recommend it!” Yesugen cut in, “You can even travel with us!”

  Dhule sat in silence looking around to see if anyone else would say anything but no one did. “Maybe, but I like traveling on my own, I think that I’ll be off on my own once we reach Carsioli.”

  The rest of the night was a blur in Dhule’s eyes, he listened to the various conversations that played out through dinner, answering questions asked to him. Dhule sat by the fire far longer than anyone else staring into the flames thinking back on the events that conspired in the past Dechit. It was undoubtedly the worst Dechit Dhule had ever experienced, he was disowned by his family and thrown out of his kingdom, he was forced to traverse the desert by himself for six days, he met Veyr and was assaulted by someone they had never met before, Veyr had somehow lost their ability to speak, likely to do with the beast that fought the figure but he wasn’t quite sure, he then found a place that he thought he could at least think about his plan but he was kicked out unceremoniously for a rule that he was never told. As he was ruminating on previous events, Yesugen walked towards him with a woolen blanket, draping it over his shoulders.

  “It’s not good to go uncovered through the night, no matter how close to the fire you are, and especially in the wastes.” Yesugen said. She sat down next to Dhule with a blanket of her own.

  Dhule shifted under the weight of the blanket, pulling it over himself. He glanced at Yesugen, her face illuminated by the fire, her expression was calm and curious. The silence stretched between the two only broken by the crackle of fire.

  “Thank you.” Dhule said, his voice almost swallowed by the silence of the night.

  Yesugen smiled as Dhule said that. “You’re welcome.” She said, “It seemed like you had a lot on your mind. I hope you don’t mind me sitting here.”

  Dhule nodded, as he pulled the blanket tighter around himself. “There’s just a lot of change going on right now, and I’m not sure how to deal with it. The only good things I’ve come across so far is Veyr and your father. I just feel like I’m wandering blind. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be dumping everything on you.”

  “No, it’s okay. Everybody should talk about what’s troubling them, especially if they can’t think about anything else. Also, change can be good, I’m not sure how much you know about Weybond culture but we worship Tostig, the God of Seasons, however they are more so the god of change.” Yesugen wrapped her arms around her knees, “So just think about that right, cause calling change bad would be, like, demeaning to mine and my families culture, and you said meeting us was one of the only good things that’s happened recently, okay?”

  “Okay.” Dhule replied, “I’m gonna head to bed, you should too.” Dhule took his blanket and walked to where Veyr was sleeping and laid down, closing his eyes, and hoping not to dream about his past.