Twins
"Fure." Alfenze said, pointing toward a fire about a quarter mile to the west. I immediately thought about that raging fox from a few hours before. "I don't like it." I said. "Alf?" Alfenze was already going towards it. "I don't like it either, but I'm cold." Alfenze argued. I whimpered. "I can't argue with that." I admitted that. "Fine." I tentatively followed Alfenze as he walked towards the campfire. I found that I could stop shivering or darting my eyes around. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the husky's voice. "Welcome. I pray that you come in peace." he said. "I wouldn't dare do anything else, really." I said with a shaky voice. "Well, good. Mind if we fill you in?" a panther in a tree above us asked. After we were introduced to everyone, save for the sleeping wolf named Nick, we were told why there wasn't any fighting here and why Feir was so calm and was even letting Nick sleep against him. Apparently we still needed the storm mages to show up before we can execute the plan. "I'm willing to bet they're asleep." Friz offered. "It's pretty late, so I doubt they're still hunting." Ghastillo was laying in Friz's lap, eyes closed, drifting off to sleep. I didn't think it was weird anymore after it was explained that there were five predetermined pairs in this arena of anthros that will become as close as brothers. Friz had also told me that he and Ghast practically became brothers so each could help the other cope with the loss of a brother. Regir and Timler were cuddled together at a younger age than eight, both sound asleep. I watched as Feir adjusted him and Nick to get more comfortable without waking the wolf. He then began to absentmindedly drawing in the dirt. Alfenze and I had locked arms to assure each other of staying together after we fell asleep. Neither of us has really learned to live without the other nearby. We didn't really want or need to, anyway. "What if they aren't as unwilling to fight?" Feir asked. "I know that I was having a grand ol' time throwing fire everywhere before you calmed me down." "They might, and that's the problem." Alfenze said. "They seem to be in survival mode from when they had to contain your torrent of fire." "That wasn't technically under my control to begin with." Feir said, blushing. I smirked. "I just hope they aren't killing one another, honestly." I said. "I guess the answers will come in the morning, yeah?" Alfenze and I fell asleep simultaneously, putting an amazing amount of trust into the other six anthros around us. "Fure!" Alf yelled within our subconscious. See, we don't have dreams. We more or less
share our imaginations for a few hours. I looked around but didn't see him. I was in a white expanse. There was nothing. "Alf?" I called. "Where are you?" "I would ask the same thing." Alf called back. "Are we dead?" I asked, fearing the worst. I must've been speaking from Alf's fear. I was always the one who showed the negative emotions. He was more logical and emotionally stable. I guess that's how oir brains split the stimuli we experienced. "No, we aren't. I'm still scared though." Alf said. I walked towards his voice and almost immediately hit a wall. "Ow." "Hit a wall?" Alf asked. "Yeah." I replied. "It's almost as if-" "-we're in a maze." Alf finished. "But a maze within our subconscious-" "-would be really strange. What are we gonna do?" "We'll wake up eventually. Might as well-" "-enjoy the challenge." "Exactly." "Let's do it." Alfenze said. "So, the strategy is-" "-to put a wall on your left and keep to it." I finished. I did this by putting my left paw on the wall I just ran into, looked in the direction that put that wall on my left, and walked without taking the paw off the wall. I eventually came to a corner that took me left, and I followed it. "It would be nice to-" Alfenze started. "-be able to see? Yeah, it would." I finished. We were mostly silent from then on out, mutually agreeing to make sound every minute or so to indicate how far we were away. I eventually found a doorway in this endless expanse of white. It looked like a window into our fantasies of a luxurious life we never had. Our parents had died when we were young, so we never met them. A stranger raised us until Alfenze and I developed our psychic and druidic powers. We temporarily had mind reading capabilities, and it told us that our guardian didn't plan on guarding us for free much longer, to put it simply. I walked through the archway, and the maze faded behind me. In a panic, I tried to go back in, but couldn't. Alfenze was still in there, and I needed to help him. What am I saying? I can. I thought as hard as I could: Alf? Fure? I heard back. It had an echoing quality to it. I sighed. Alf, are you okay in there? I think I am, these twists and turns never end. He complained. Call out when you turn and the length you walk before then. It was a simple task, we were amazing at estimating distances. I eventually recongized a pattern. Alfenze was trapped in a circle. I concentrated really heard on
visualizing an exit. He and I found that there was an exit on the right wall. Eventually he made it to the center of his maze and the room I was in was shown to him. We embraced as he walked through. "What do we do now?" Alfenze asked. "I think we should keep this-" I started. "-to ourselves, gotcha." Alfenze finished. He was obviously shaken, and this is the first time I've seen him let emotion dictate his actions. We woke up after a couple of hours of trying to let our fantasy world calm us...