Magnus dreamed in a lost place.
He dreamed in a grand ballroom of gilded walls, shadows did not stay still here, they danced in the warm light and revelries sounded from every corner, so beautiful it was.
In the centre of the ballroom a strange dancer swept, draped in long flowing silk she seemed to glide everywhere at once, flutters of delight and joy radiated from every move of the graceful swishing, joy she spread could not reach herself, Magnus could feel that somehow it never would.
He dreamed of a kings court, it was a regal masterpiece yet it held no soul, a deep weariness sank over the marbled floors and across the gorgeous court was a hundred scattered books and a thousand unfurled scrolls.
In his mind he was faintly aware of the grand throne which held a king, the kings body illuminated by the faintest moonlight he felt like a ancient scholar that had lost his will to continue his pursuit of knowledge yet still lived devoid of purpose.
He dreamt of the grizzled battlefield where unspeakable violence swam, here the sent of coppery blood blotted out any molecule of breathable air that might remain, the dirt was stained a deep red, a colour so overpowering that it would not fade even against the eternal test of time.
Beside him was a broken general kneeling upon this bleeding earth, his ruined body seemed to hold countless wounds but even then a strange smile remained on his face, the glory of countless victories held his back straight and defiant even as he faced his loss.
He dreamed of a brilliant church that seemed to connect to the great heavens themselves, it was a cathedral that looked to be built by the most pious of believers and the most devout of worshipers, a monument to the heavens eternal glory it must have seemed if not for the inverted cross that stood proud at the pinnacle of this great church.
Magnus stared into the empty halls, there stood a priest whose head was tilted towards the sky, eyes closed, seemingly enjoying the fresh breeze however his stance seemed to show a immeasurable arrogance and triumph, despite this the priests robe was ripped and tattered as if he had walked through a storm of knives
He dreamt of a dazzling garden that had bountiful fruits and flowers, a enthralled sun shone on the countless flora in a smile of light, it radiated an aura of perfection, it held all after all, what more could it need.
The gardener stood in her endless perfection, wrapped into the very garden she had bleed for, she stared at the endless sky in strange yearning, Magnus seemed to wonder, why did she desire the sky if the garden provided flowers more graceful than anything above could offer? Even a sky could be grown here should she wish but still she stared at the blue void above.
He then was in a brilliant sea of gold that washed across all, its hands reaching and surrounding itself in a endless cycle, its depths were fathomless yet the end felt so close, just a moment away, no life could be seen but the crushing waves upon themselves seemed to be more alive that any true life could be.
In the waters the scientist sank, deeper and deeper, the warm golden ocean pulled her further into the light fulled abyss, the quiet of eternity, a gentle lullaby, they both sung in her ears as she grew a weak smile, sinking and sinking, Magnus could not see her here.
Magnus sat in a ruined temple stood upon a mountain that crawled higher than the clouds, was it the temples existence at such a peak wondrous or the peak itself stretching to this hight? Vines crawled across the ancient stone but nothing moved.
He faced a silent man dressed in the attire of a monk, the monks eyes were closed, he did not expect them to open if they ever had, this place had taken hold of him, the vines swallowed his body, the dust coated him in their unforgiving embrace as he sat, unmoving.
He dreamed these dreams, they spun and circled him endlessly
A dream that would never en-
* * *
"Oi, hello... Hello!?"
Magnus groaned as he was ripped from the drowning warmth of thoughtless.
"AH! He made a sound! ANSEL! We got another live one!"
Before he could begin to clear out his tired stupor his left eye was wrenched apart by two meaty sticks, blinding him with a sudden increment of light.
A voice boomed back in response to the earlier cry, Ansel it must have been. This thought dully swirled into reality inside Magnus's murky mind.
"ZEPHYR SHUT UP"
As who Magnus assumed was 'Ansel' finished shouting Magnus's pried open eye had finally adjusted to the previously blinding light.
As his eyes cleared they revealed a rather short man squatted above his face, the first thought that came to mind upon looking at him was...
Fuzzy
This Zephyr radiated a feeling of fuzziness and chaos, his wildly sprawling twisting golden hair and blinding smile seemed to spread an aura of untamed, and very happy, chaos.
Seeing Magnus look at him the fuzzy man leapt away and gave him, impossibly, a even wider and blinding smile.
"So welco-"
Magnus raised his open palm towards towards Zephyr. "Stop, give me a second"
He rubbed his forehead in a circular motion before taking a deep breath and lifting himself off what he now realised was a rough stone floor.
"...Ok I'm good, now please... speak slowly"
Zephyr's electric blue eyes flashed at being given permission to speak. "Well s- Hmm, well lets start simple"
"I'm Zephyr! Although you might have already heard from Ansel..., Anyway! I bet you're wondering where this is" Zephyr swept his hands around gesturing at the stone cavern with a flaming bonfire in the centre. "Hm to be honest... Uh we have also no idea where this is, or what we're doing here" As he spoke these words he seemed to give a embarrassed shrug.
"Personally I woke up in one of these caves, barely could see thanks to the glowing moss, went around, met a couple of other people, yadda de and yadda do, and bam here I am." Zephyr's smile dropped a few fractions before lighting back up. "So far all of us seem to have had a... few little problems, well one to be exact, None of us seem to have, uh, any memories?"
Upon hearing those words Magnus immediately mentally jumped away from the conversation turning into his own mind, and felt his lungs catch on something cold and sharp, he could not recall a single thing.
As he flipped back out of his mind he felt his eyes twist erratically in their sockets, breath seemed to become shorter and more laboured with ever passing, heart pounding, suffocating moment.
"OH! Oh right!, oh, Bud, buddy! stay up!" Zephyr caught Magnus before he could fall back onto the ground.
Whatever words were spoken after that were not heard, He had already fallen back into unconsciousness.
This time however, dreams would not return, and little did he know at the time, they never would.