Early Nebula 5 | Audio

[wisdominshadows]

I suppose at this point it’s ridiculous to make announcements; those kind-abiding here can guess there’ll be a mission in a day or two without visions from the void to herald it.

To anyone who would like some small warning of what may come, I am currently setting up an illusion in the quiet carriage of what I saw last night. Anyone whose dreams contained other details to add is welcome to do so, or to ask me if they cannot.

[A pause, while she considers what else she might add]

Otherwise, I hope you rest well while we still can.

[Anyone who takes her up on the offer will find her sitting on a bench, a view of floating islands in the distance projected upon the walls. She’s humming to herself quietly, but as you stay longer the crash of thunder begins to overpower the sound]

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[so_dark_a_road]

I'll come and view your illusion in a few minutes, or when you have it set up. I'd like to see exactly what you saw.

Meanwhile, here's a verbal description of what I dreamed.

I couldn't see the world at first, but I could feel the wind on my face. The whole environment felt calm, though I could not see it in the minute the vision began. And then something flew past me, a bird or some winged thing. I turned my head to see it, and a sky came into my view. It was a sky full of clouds and floating islands. Something was coming at me from that horizon.

I couldn't see it clearly, but suddenly there was thunder, and that approaching whatever-it-was turned red. The thunder grew louder and louder, and I began to feel great anxiety. The red deluged me and anything that was around me, and I might have screamed. And then there was a deep, low-frequency sound, and after that, nothing.

This is sounding very much like a disaster mission to me!

[ Curufin takes her up on her offer and comes to the Quiet Carriage, sits down beside Zelda, and watches the projected vision. ]

[wisdominshadows]

Then it sounds as though ours have a great deal of overlap.

[Which isn't a surprise, really; it might be odder if those on the same team weren't getting the similar visions.

Still, one did what one could. She nods to Curufin when he comes in.]

Don't they all, to some degree? [Though yes, she understands the distinction he's making.]

[so_dark_a_road]

It seems so. And that's happened before, that our visions have been very similar.

[ It would indeed be odd if members of the same team were getting different visions, or visions so dissimilar that they weren't useful. He continues to view the projected vision on the wall, matching it with what he dreamed. ]

I guess you're right. We've had adverse events in all of our missions, even if those events were't outright disasters.

[wisdominshadows]

Something about this almost reminded me of the matter in Horseshoe...

[She does send him a vaguely awkward look. Does it ever strongly hit you that these months have very strange names, Curufin?]

But I don't know. Sometimes I think I'm looking for connections, just to make some sense of things. And sometimes... I don't know. It feels as though there ought to be, in some fashion.

[so_dark_a_road]

What was it about that matter back in Horseshoe that reminds you of this current vision?

[ He gives her a slightly humorous look back. It does strike him that the train names the months in odd ways. ]

I, too, look for connections, and I'm not surprised that you do. It would be good if we could make some sense of things. Shouldn't there be connections? Events can't be completely random, can they?

[wisdominshadows]

The wind, I suppose. The islands. And the beating of wings, of course.... But I suppose I enjoyed that trip more than I should, and that might have something to do with the thought.

[Nodding]

Sometimes there are; our last excursion was proof enough of that. But with so many world on offer, I would normally think the chances of connection would be small- at least, if the summons we receive and the problems the worlds face are entirely at random.

[Zelda, why are you whining about big or small the sandbox is when you don't even really know?]

[so_dark_a_road]

The winds, the islands, the beating of wings, oh yes.

[ He nods, too. ]

Sometimes connections, sometimes not. But what about the really cosmic connections? There are other Voidcraft traveling the multiverse, and of course there is the Ministry of Void Travel and their communication systems. And the rogue craft like Anan's, looking for ways to help. And the Voidtrecker Express, for that matter. And the monsters that jump from one universe to another, like those dark cloudlike beings that eat worlds, and that probably ate the train's world. I'm guessing that it is not coincidence that some worlds have the same problems.

[ Who doesn't whine about the size of the sandbox when it is so confusing and such a mystery? At least, people who think about such things worry about them. ]