Dungeon 1: Il Parlando-Prologue

She was so afraid.

There was an odd sense of detachment, niggling at the back of her brain like something very important she had forgotten; but she could not remember, not when her brain was stifled by the heady pressure of fear upon her and the anxiety nipping at her heels that came together with it.

The knowledge that she was not supposed to be here made the terror inflicted upon her increase all the more until she felt that she could not breathe, despite the fact she was underwater and swimming slowly.

There was another prickle of that strange feeling, of the voice at the back of her head telling her that she was not supposed to be able to breathe underwater, but it was soon swept away in face of the voices she began to hear above her little alcove.

"And you will pay?"

"Oh, but of course-royalties never go back on their promises. Wouldn't that be dis-graaaceful! Isn't that right, my fine fellow?"

"Disgraceful sounds right. Remember-my lot wouldn't like starving. Not at all."

"Oh, uh, of course, of course! Rest assured. When the meddling guild minions are driven off, we'll be suuure to remember your...contribution."

"Good. Because if it comes to that, your minions wouldn't be enough to tide us over."

Lies-lies, she knew that the first voice, gravelly and growling, only wished for a bigger territory and extending of his clutches from the underwater cavern deep beneath to the land above. There, perhaps he would devour the streams and taint them purple-she did not know what he would do, given that all the years she lived with him was all for naught when it came to his faraway ambitions.

They -she and all the others, her school-mates blind with fervent loyalty- were pawns, in the end, and it did not matter at all that he had them long at his side, because she had seen what came from disobedience even among the school.

Especially among the school.

His wrath was frightning, enough to bring cellings down and choke pokemon from where they stood-and it was that fear of his anger that kept her firmly tethered to the school, not that she had anywhere else to go in the dreary caverns.

Shivering in fear underwater, thinking of his anger, she shrunk back against the rocky walls-and the rocks clattered, unable to support her weight, and some tumbled into deeper water, doubtlessly making some sort of noise because-

"What was that?"

Snarling, growling voices, and she turned to flee-only that she could not, because at that moment, thorned vines came whipping down to her little alcove and seized her tail without mercy. She might have screamed-but she could not tell, because being hauled out of water like that was painful enough to have her utterly disorientated.

"You."

No, no, oh no no no...

"Didn't I tell you to wait with others? Like good, obedient children?"

Her scream might have never stopped, blurring into a litany of apologies as she was shaken upside-down painfully, please stop she was just curious, she didn't mean to disobey, she was sorry, sorry sorry sorry-but in the end, it did not matter at all.

Red eyes, a voice poisoned with anger, rotten deep-other eyes, terrified and shocked, shifting away with intentions to protect their own skins, and the thundering waterfall that masked her screams-pain, lacing across her skin, the poisoned barbs digging deep as her vision blurred with tears borne of injury. Paralysing pain and fear of those red eyes making her unable to even think of curling up and shielding her vitals-

She did not want to die, but the thorned grasp was tight, and no help was coming.

Miles away, safe and snug in her dormitory bed, Oratorio woke up with a start.

---

The first thing that came into her mind was of breathing, not of cold cavern air in her dreams but the warmth-suffused air of the dorm room shared with Sonata. There were no thorns biting deep in her flesh, no disorienting, paralysing pain taking over her body- a hasty patting down confirmed that yes, she had all her limbs and fur, not scales and fins in their place.

No red eyes were watching her, opaque and speaking of rot- and there was no thundering of a waterfall she could hear. Instead, all was silent save for her own labored breathing and her brother's sleeping noises in the small space, and there were no other presence around her except for the two of them.

No screaming, no blood, no water and scales- it was but a mere dream, albeit one with a bit more significance than a mere dream, but still- just a dream. Just a nightmare.

Just a dream that could not hurt her-for now, at least. With a shudder, Oratorio breathed in deep and exhaled, again and again until her breathing quietened down enough to be deemed close to normal.

She rubbed her forepaw across her eyes -carefully- and was relieved to find her fur there unsoiled.

Now breathing in deep with her stomach, the Absol calmed her racing heart and reached for the jug of water at her bedside. The long sip calmed her racing nerves, and cleared her sleepy head- enough for thinking about the contents of her dream whilst the threads of blind panic cleared away from her mind.

Sitting up, she tried to put her dream-memories into order while adrenaline drained away from her bloodstream, but they faded-leaving their startling vividness to drain away like ashes scattered among bald mountaintops, attempting to hold onto them like trying to catch light-patches in her childhood. The few things she could remember was of that she was dreaming as another pokemon, perhaps looking from his-her? His? eyes-and that the other 'mon was utterly terrified.

Of his -the screaming had sounded like a boy- fate, she did not wish to dwell upon. She could still remember the visceral fear and the painful thorns wound around her -his- body.

Taking in a deep breath, claws carding through her long mane methodically, she attempted to remember the surroundings of her dream-in vain, since save the roaring waterfall, she could not think anything up. A shame, since the dream was so oddly vivid. At least she was remembering more than usual per dream because of how...raw the dream was. It was really as if that was her future, but her logical self knew that she could not gain fins and gills anyway in the times that were yet to be.

Hopefully Sonata did not wake-he was especially receptive to her emotions in particular. A look towards her left confirmed that no, he was still asleep-albeit close to waking up, face scrunched up and limbs tense in response to the raw fear she surely would have been giving off in her dreaming.

Perhaps if she was not in the room, some objects would habe been floating- her brother's psychic energy was more closely linked to his emotions than he preferred. Oratorio took a deep breath, enforcing calm on her now fading panicky self, and Sonata relaxed in response- falling back into the deep sleep he almost left off, his wiry limbs losing their tension in the nonexistent light.

Pertrebuted, still confused over the dream and realizing it was the middle of the night, Oratorio laid back down in her cot, dragging her blankets over her and curling up in it.

It would not do to be exhausted come morning, after all-and the dream might make more sense when she had some proper sleep, or so she thought.

But truthfully, it was more because she could not afford being tired rather than hoping for a more proper dream analysis- time was short, and great things for the guilds awaited them tomorrow.

After all, tomorrow, the dungeons would be open for exploration.

End of prologue...