Chapter 3

Dean Squinted his eyes as he tried to see the hazy blurred scene before him. It didn't take long before the his sight and surroundings began to clear. As the fog lifted and his vision became sharper, he stood in awe at the sight. He stood in an open market Surrounded by tall white buildings with their windows shimmering in the sun light. The market was quite large and had many shops that lined up in neat rows almost making it look like a maze. The ground was made of a stone and concrete mix that gave the illusion of a bumpy path but it was actually quite smooth. In the middle of the market was a mosaic mural of the continent of Atna. Dean recognized this place, it was the market for Delroy. This small kingdom was a place where all nations could come and trade with each other because it was neutral ground.

Delroy sat in the shadow of God's Mountain, also known as the Ancient One's Prison. There is a legend that said a long time ago at the beginning of time that an ancient god split the world into seven realms. It was said that the other races became jealous of the humans and sought to destroy them. The ancient god wasn't going to allow that so he split the world and then placed the five different races into those realms. This angered the other god and he attacked the ancient one while he was weak from using so much of his power and imprisoned him under that mountain. After imprisoning the ancient god, he then took the continent of Atna and sent it to another realm. That god wasn't as powerful as the ancient god so it still had some connections with Earth the planet it was originally from. It is also said that this is why people and objects from Earth end up appearing in Atna from time to time. It is also said that on calm and quiet nights you can hear the ancient one's cries coming from the mountain. At least that is the story that mother's would tell their children before bed time.

Dean knew there was more to the story but he just couldn't quite remember what it was. He turned back to look at the top of the mountain that towered over the buildings one last time before walking down the first street to his left. He didn't know why he choose this street, only that it seemed familiar. He continued on past the tall buildings until he came to a small park. The park was just a simple open space with a hand full of trees and a small play area for the children to play and swing on the swing set. There wasn't anything really special about this park, but for some reason Dean had a wave of nostalgia wash over him. He could remember playing on the slide and the teeter totter in a park just like this one when he was a child.

A familiar voice caused Dean to spin around and he then began to look for the source of the voice. Dean followed the sounds to a house across the street from the park he was just at. The house was a two story brick building with a window on either side of the white wooded door. Dean slowly approached the open window on the left side of the door and peered in. He felt a pain of guilt like he was some pervert looking into someone else's home, but he felt he had no choice. The voice, which was louder now, was coming from a young woman. He could only see the back of her but again he felt like he knew this woman. She was tall, maybe six feet, and she had bright red hair that curled down to just below her butt. She was talking to an older man that was just a little taller than her, he had on a nice suit but Dean couldn't see his face. Just to the right of the couple, playing on the ground, was a small boy of about three years old. He focused on what the woman was saying, hoping to get a glimpse of her face.

"What are we going to do? We need to keep him safe!" The woman said.

"I know love. I have a place you can go, but I need you to trust me." The man said.

"Where is this place? Is it far?" She said sounding a little desperate.

"Yes it is a bit of a journey to get there but I believe that our son will be safe there." The man said as he hugged the woman to calm her down some.

"Why is John doing this?" The woman asked almost sounding like she was on the verge of crying.

"I don't know what is causing your brother to attack my kingdom but I promise that I'll do what ever it takes to keep you and our son safe!" The man said kissing the woman on the forehead.

"Ok we'll leave soon. Dean give your father a hug, we're leaving." The woman said as she pulled a raggedy old hood over her head.

"Ok momma!" The boy said running up to his father.

The man leaned down and gave the boy a hug and whispered something into his ear. Dean stepped back from the window, trying to grasp what he just heard and witnessed, but before he could process the event he is shaken by the sound of an explosion. He leaped back towards the window trying to warn the people inside but when he tried to yell nothing would come out. Inside the woman grabbed the boy and quickly bundled them both up in a raggedy old coat, but before she could leave the man grabbed her and gave her one last kiss and then kissed the boy on the top of his head. The woman ran out of the house past Dean and headed in the direction of the market. Dean tried to look at the woman's face as she ran past, but she kept her head down so all he could see was a little boy with light blue eyes stare up at him as they ran by. He tried to follow the woman as she ran away but the explosions where now happening all around them and the debris from the destruction was now raining from the sky.

By the time he caught up to the woman and child, the city that was once beautiful, shining and flush with trade was now on fire. The tall buildings were no more and the market that once housed so many things from all over Atna was a sea of fire and screams. Dean followed the woman as she turned down the main street and headed for the main gate. Just then a group of men came running out of a building that they were hiding in, like they were waiting for the woman. They moved to block her from going any further and two of the men ran up to her trying to pry the boy from her arms. She let out a scream for help and in that moment Dean ran full speed up to them determined to save this woman. As he went to tackle the first man, he ended up going right through him and fell to the ground. Dean looked up and the anger, fear and guilt at the fact he couldn't do anything for her, began to swell up from deep within.

Dean looked up and locked eyes with the boy, but his eyes were now different. They weren't the usual light blue, but instead they were burning just like the sun. Dean wasn't the only one to see this. One of the men noticed it to and stepped back pointing at the boy before shouting to his comrades.

"Hey look at that kid's eyes!" He said grabbing the second man by the shoulder.

"What the FUCK!" The second man said looking to where the first was pointing.

"Quick shoot that abomination! The first man yelled to whom seemed to be the leader. Before they could do anything, the air around them became hotter. It continued to heat up until it became hard to breathe and then finally the air just exploded. The group of men that had ambushed the woman were thrown back from the blast and the two that were trying to take the child from her were blown to bits. Dean sat on the ground staring in awe at what he just witnessed, but he snapped out of it when the woman turned down the alley way to her left. Dean jumped up and ran after the woman again hoping to not only see her face but also the boy who was now fast asleep in his mother's arms. As The woman in rags ran down what was once an alley way, she looked back to see if she was being followed. Dean could feel the anxiety build up inside as the woman turned to look back. As she turned her head all Dean saw was two light blue eyes on a featureless face.

Dean jumped upright from his dream, sitting up in bed. He was now sweating profusely and breathing heavily. His sudden movement also woke up Myra who was now rubbing his back. Dean's breathing began to slow back down as he started to become more calm.

"Are you ok sweetie?" Myra asked as she continued to rub his back.

"No I'm not." He said as he reached for the anxiety medicine he kept on the night stand beside the bed.

"This was the worst on yet." She said as she got up to go get him some water. "We need to get you some help with this. This can't continue. Let me talk to one of the psychiatrist that comes to the clinic and see if I can get you in to see them. If I can get you an appointment, will you go?" She said stopping at the door.

"No, I'll be alright. I'm sorry to have worried you." He said as he popped the lid off the pill bottle.

Myra shook her head and went to get Dean a glass of water. Dean sat back against the headboard in his bed thinking back on the conversation that the couple had had in his dream. He knew that the city he dreamt of was Delroy and that the woman was his mother. So who was this John that she had mentioned? Was she referring to the person who attacked Delroy? If so then why did everyone blame King La'Taro? Dean had so many questions running through his head that he didn't hear Myra come back in to the bedroom.

"DEAN!" She yelled trying to get his attention.

"Sorry, my mind was somewhere else." He said ass he took the glass of water from Myra.

"That's it, I don't care if you say no or not. I'm going to set you up an appointment with the psychiatrist and you are going to go." Myra said placing her hands on her hips.

"Fine." He agreed, knowing that she would not let it go until he agreed. "Let's try and go back to sleep."

Myra agreed and laid back down in bed. Dean finished taking his pill and then he too laid back down. He rolled over and grabbed a hold of Myra. It didn't take much for Myra to fall back to sleep and Dean just held her in his arms. It took Dean a while to fall a sleep because he couldn't stop replaying his dream over and over in his head. After about an hour of his mind racing, he was finally able to calm his thoughts and fall a sleep.