Dreamkeepers: Cry of Silence Ch.1

“How fare does it go before stopping? Does it ever stop?”  These thoughts dwelled in Kyle’s mind as he was looking at a small hole in a boulder out in the farmlands.  Kyle was a lanky dreamkeeper with black fur and complex blue patterns on his body.  He had a long slender fluffy tail that had repeating stripes on the top side.  He soon walked over to the boulder to take a look.  The hole was dark and appeared to have no end.  He may have a calm face, but this worried him.

He picked up a long copper wire that was resting on the bolder.  It was about 20 feet long.  He curled one end of the wire so he could keep a good grip of it as he fed the other end into the little hole.  He slowly fed the rock the copper wire.  As it kept going in it worried Kyle all the more, till the entire wire was in the hole.  It had completely eaten the wire, indicating that the little hole was much deeper than 25 feet.

“Darn it!” exclaimed Kyle as he pulled the copper wire out. “I must know when it stops!  I guess I would need to bring the whole spindle of wire.  But Dad would never let me roll it over here without some kind of explanation.  And I just can’t…”  He then stopped short.

Kyle knelt down and picked up a pebble as he started to walk away from the bolder, to get some distance.  “Maybe I could stop it from getting too far.  I find it hard to believe that a pebble this small could get that deep in a rock that big.”

He went about 30 or so feet away from the bolder and held the pebble up about waste level.  Really he did not even need to touch it, but this allowed him to gauge its height and aim better.  He looked around and saw no one.  The only part of the city of Anduruna he could see was the Sabbaton tower peaking over the hills.  But still there are other Dreamkeepers out here, and he doesn’t want to be caught. “I only want to know how dangerous it is…” he thought to himself.

Seeing that no one was around, he let it go.  A spark flashed over his head and instantly disappeared.  The light was only there for a fraction of a second.  And the pebble in his hand was now gone.  He was now staring into a second hole that was put into the bolder.  It was only a few inches away from the first one.

“Darn!” started Kyle as he started to take a few deep breaths. That last trick really tired him out. Once he caught his breath, he made his strides over to the bolder. “By the time I think about stopping it.  It’s already gone!  Out of my control…”  He approached the rock and grabbed the cooper wire and fed it into the second hole.  And just like last time, it ate the whole wire. “What if…  I hurt an innocent person… the first time it happened.”

He took the wire back and took a few steps away.  As he looked at the two holes, he could only think of that day when he discovered his power.  It may have saved his life.  But it frightened him.  He remembered how scared he was at the time.  He then looked down to the throwing knife that he has clipped to his belt.  Powers are dangerous and illegal.  He understood that perfectly.  But he also knows that he would be dead if it wasn’t for his power.  Now he keeps the throwing knife with him at all times.  It was much easier to control in a close range attack if he really had to.  And only if he absolutely had to.

Kyle then broke out of his trance of the past, “I better get back home…”  He made sure that he had the copper wire at hand by swatting it a few times in the other hand.  With nothing else he could do here, he started to head back up the hills.

His home was just a few fields away.  His family had several crops and a few livestock.  A livestock that he had protected several times before.  He first went up to the large harvester machine that was parked without beasts of burden attached to it. His father was still working on it.  Dad was a large black bear with a large fanned out bushy tale.  He had a few stripes but no were near as complicated as Kyle’s.

“Hey dad.” Greeted Kyle as he looked over the machine. “Is it ready yet?  Want me to get the two Manekales to hook it up?”

“Nah!! It’s not ready yet…” responded Kyle’s father without even taking his head out of the machine.  His voice was slightly distressed as the clanking and clicking sounds continued. “Speaking of witch… did you feed all the Manekales yet?”

“Yes sir!” answered Kyle in obedience, “All of the animals have been fed and given fresh water for the night.

“Good!  Go see if your mother has anything for you to do.  I don’t think you will be using this thing to harvest anymore today.  Besides… its getting a little late for doing any harvesting.”

“Yes sir.” Responded Kyle as he ran off.  

He could already hear where is mother was by the sounds of thwacking out on the other side of the house. When he came around his house, he saw his mother chopping fire wood.  She looked similar to Kyle, but she was a red and burgundy color with rings around her tail. Also her long ears pointed upward instead of down like Kyle’s.  She noticed his approach, and without missing a beat in her swings of the ax, she asked, “Needing something to do?”

“Yes ma’am!” responded Kyle respectfully.

“All right then.  I want you to take this firewood and stack some in the house.  Then stack the rest in the woodshed.”  She gave a loving smile, but Kyle did not seem to smile nor frown, just so neutral.  But that was just his face.  She knew how he felt inside, she could always tell.  And this time it could only be what happened earlier this morning.

Kyle picked up several pieces of logs that his mother already chopped up, and proceeded to take them to the house.  The house had two fireplaces and each had a box next to them.  Kyle made several rounds to fill these two boxes up.  After that, he started to make the rounds to fill the woodshed.  When it started to get dark, his mother stopped chopping wood and went to the house to get dinner started.  Kyle continued to gather the fair wood and store them in the wood shed until he cleared the yard of wood.

When the Dreamkeeper teen went into the house, he found that his father was already inside, setting up the table and giving his wife a passionate kiss from behind while she was stirring the stew.  Of course she held his hand and kissed him back.  No matter how hard any day was, they still loved on each other every day.

Without being asked, Kyle went over to the sink to wash all the wood chips and grime from his hands.  His father then patted him on the back, “Good work out their son.  Won’t be long till you’re able to run the whole farm all on your own.”

Kyle only let out a slight chuckle, “You say that every day, dad.” He then dried off his hands and took a seat at the table. “I still don’t know how to fix a lot of the machines.  I’m sorry dad.  I did not mean to break the harvester.”

“It’s not your fault…” replied his father as he navigated around the table and cabinets with his larger size. “I’m just glad you’re not hurt.  That loud noise and the sound of the Manekales panicking…  It sure gave the old ticker a start.”

“Yeah dad, I never seen you run so fast.  That fence did not stand a chance.  You just plowed right through it.”

While his mother leaned over to fill his bowl with stew and give Kyle a hug, “We are just happy you’re okay.  We aren’t mad about the harvester.  The harvester can be fixed.  We can’t fix you if something bad were to happen.”  She then proceeded to pour her husband a bowl of stew as he eagerly sniffed at the steam and fragrance.

“It smells great honey.” Responded the father as he nuzzled his face up on hers.  He then looked over to Kyle as he got his spoon ready to eat.  “And good job at calming down the Manekales.  You seemed to settle them down nearly instantly. I could never get them to settle down that fast.  Always trying to herk and jerk away.  Takes several minutes for me to get them to steady.”

“Just stay calm and once they see there is nothing to worry about, they calm down too…” responded Kyle in a low timid voice.  Once he saw his mother sit down, he and his father started eating.

It was silent for a few moments as they enjoyed the stew.  “So…” started Kyle’s mother. “How’s school?”

Kyle was quiet for a bit.  Even though he did not show much reaction, she could see that he was disappointed. “I was able to make a few B’s.  But…” Kyle let out a little sigh of disappointment of his failures. “Most of them are still C’s. I’m trying as hard as I can.  Or at least thought I was.”

“It’s all that homework crap isn’t it!?” responded his father with a near roar.

“Herbert!!” exclaimed the mother for his indecent choice of words.

“Well that’s what it is, Aaliyah.” He turned his attention back to Kyle, “I mean you go to school to learn!  That’s where you should be learning!  You got things to do when you get home, and I’m sure the other kids do to!  But they have the nerve to give you homework!? It’s not like people in the city go to a job and work, then when they get home, they keep on work’n same job!”  He then noticed Aaliyah giving him a look.  “I’m sorry honey…  It’s just some of that stuff frustrates me.”

“It’s okay dad…” responded Kyle in that timid tone. “I just need to try harder.  Spend less time fooling around, more time doing constructive things.”

They continued to eat for a bit before Herbert spoke again.  And from his voice, it sounded like something he did not want to bring up.  “Speaking of constructive things…  I won’t be able to fix the harvester.”  Both Kyle and Aaliyah rose up their heads, wondering how severe the situation is.  Herbert took another spoonful bit of stew. “It seems that several key parts were faulty.  Parts I don’t have replacements for.  Some of the missing gears I can replace.  But two of them that blew out to spirits who knows where, I need to get new ones.  I was able to accumulate a list.  It’s not going to be cheap.”  He then turned to his son, “Kyle, in the morning I need you go into the city and get these parts for me.  Be quick as possible.  You remember the store, right?”

“Yes father, I remember.” Answered Kyle.  “How much Lucre will it be?”

“I’m not sure.  But I will give you all that we can spare, and hope that will be enough.”  He then let out a frustrated sigh with a hint of a growl.

“Is it really going to be that much dear?” asked Aaliyah with much concern.

“I’m afraid so.  Damn tax season!  Of course something like this had to happen right after those darn bureaucrats try to suck us dry and…”  He then noticed Kyle was just stirring what was left of his stew.  Still fairly expressionless, but Herburt still could read is son. “No no.  It wasn’t your fault!  It was going to happen no matter who was driving.  They were faulty parts just ready to explode.”

Kyle took the last few bites of his stew.  “I would like to go to bed so I can start heading to the city early in the morning.  May I be excused?”

Aaliyah and Herbert both looked at each other, and then they nodded to Kyle.  He then stood up and took his bowl to the sink and rinsed it out.  He then immediately went to bed.  He knew that going to the city to the store and coming back will take some time.  And he wanted to get those parts for his father as fast as he can.  He had much work to do in the morning and he need to get some rest.

more to come