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Morning, 45th Brightening of Kalendryas, Winter, Era XIII (pf)
Another morning arrived for Nyd and found him rather disturbed by the previous night's dream.
He was sitting in the middle of the cave in a meditative state; the one he used to inhabit in the mountains with Gri'Tai. He could sense everything happening within the cave. The sound of the fire flickering in the firepit, the smell of burnt wood combined with that of earth, the feeling of the fur rug on his hands as his finger sank into it, his own steady heartbeat followed by slow, steady breaths; it was all a part of him. Without warning, something appeared in the cave that was out of place. He opened his eyes and turned to face the disturbance.
At the mouth of the cave and coming closer was a shadowed figure; the flickering flames of the fire unable to illuminate any details. Then a freezing wind rushed in from behind the figure toward him, blowing out the flames in the pit. He suddenly felt as though his eyes were being pushed out from inside his skull, the pain was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before. Just when he thought he could take no more, a soothing warmth quickly coursed through his body and begin to push back the pain.
This soothing warmth came from behind and he slowly turned to see what it was. A figure engulfed in white light, their features muted by the brightness, stepped toward him. He felt a battle waging around and through him; the source of this battle being the figures standing both in front and behind.
Nyd woke with the feeling of needles coursing throughout his body, causing his body to spasm violently for a few agonizingly long seconds. When the feeling subsided, he immediately sat up. His vision was blurry but cleared after a few moments. He took several deep breaths and tried to calm down but couldn't. The dream felt so real and he could still feel the echo of the pain. He tried to shake it all off and pack up his gear and take down his tent. He accomplished the packing up but still couldn't calm down and what made it worse was that he didn't know why.
With everything packed up, Nyd quickly made his way to the Baths where he changed and headed straight for the steam rooms. He looked for and found one that was vacant and entered. He thought that if nothing else, perhaps he could calm down in the steam room.
Nyd assumed his comfortable posture of sitting with his legs crossed, feet tucked inward, and arms at his sides. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing. Slowly he breathed in the steamy air, letting it out just as slow. He repeated this over and over and tried to focus on the beating of his own heart and the its calming rhythm. After what seemed like forever, Nyd finally began to calm down as his heart beat slower and his breath came more easily.
He then tried to think about the dream and what had happened. He focused on the feelings and thoughts that he had during the dream. It was like swimming through muddy water at first but Nyd tried to remain calm and continue to focus on the dream. He slowly felt it coming back to him. He remembered the entrance of the dark figure and the feelings that followed. Even in the heat of the steam room, he felt cold. The shape of the figure began to take a more definite form the more he tried to remember. It was a hulking form, very muscular, its arms hanging a bit lower than a human. Its slightly sloped forehead and porcine snout became clear. It was an orc, the model orc in all its brutish evil and hatred.
Nyd turned his focus to the figure of light and tried to remember more details. Unfortunately he had been in the steam room much longer than he realized and the heat began to blur his vision. He broke himself from meditation and found that he was completely drenched in sweat, his entire body sticking to itself. Although he was initially amazed at that he was able to recall such detail in the dream, the heat and his thirst was almost unbearable as he had been in the steamroom for over a candlemark. He hadn't realized it had been so long. The steam had died down yet the heat hadn't. Quickly he staggered from the room and went to find water to drink.
After gulping down quite a bit of water, Nyd left the Baths rather confused. He decided to take a walk in the Garden to try and break down the dream more and understand why he was feeling the way he was.
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