"Huh?" Allegra jumped straight up in a hurry from her bed, her body full of sweat as she woke up.
What was happening? And why was she dreaming of Blanc all of a sudden?
Her breath was too quick, her heart pounding as if she had just woken up from a nightmare.
But her nightmares did not even faze her.
Yet this did.
She couldn't help but wonder why that was, as she calmed down her body.
"Finally," said a voice next to her, "You look horrible, though."
"Who?" Allegra turned to the side, only to see Melsa standing at the entrance of her open tent. "What do you mean, finally?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Melsa looked confused, "It's way past breakfast, we need to go. You eat on the road."
"Huh? But I just fell asleep, though," Allegra looked confused behind Melsa, seeing the outside, and the greenery beyond.
"Classic Spirit Bears," Melsa sighed, turning around, "Chop, chop, you have ten minutes, get ready."
And with that, Melsa was gone, leaving only questions in Allegra's head.
But she pushed all that aside for now, grabbing a piece of cloth and some water as she began wiping away as much of the sweat as possible.
She felt horrible and still way too tired.
That night of sleep felt as if it counted for nothing. She felt as tired as she was before she went to sleep the night before.
She poured down her throat as much water as she could, and was out of her tent, walking towards the hearth.
"Who is coming, after all?" Allegra asked, as she approached Melsa, who was speaking with another woman of her own clan.
"You, me, Iahmi, Heru, and four more of his clan," Melsa explained, "The rest chose to stay behind to defend the camp until they receive new orders from the chiefs."
"Defend," Allegra looked at the Metamorph-filled camp, and couldn't help but sigh, "What a load of bullshit, all but lies."
"It's their choice, Allegra," Melsa replied, shrugging her shoulders.
"But I was given the leading position by the chiefs," Allegra argued.
"It's still their choice to follow the chiefs' orders," Melsa countered.
"I call it blind faith, but you can call it whatever you want," Allegra said, "But enough about that, you told me to hurry, where are the rest?"
"You know how they are," Melsa sighed, "They'll be here soon."
And as if she manifested it, Heru and four more from his clan were slowly approaching their location.
"Y'all took your sweet time," Melsa complained.
"Yet still I got here before him," Heru chuckled, "But what can you expect from a man such as him?"
"Careful, bird, before I pluck a few feathers to teach you a lesson in humility," Iahmi replied, yawning as he walked towards the hearth, "And morning, Melsa, Allegra."
"Morning," Melsa replied.
"Mhm," Allegra nodded, before turning towards Heru, "Do you plan to send some of your clan members forward?"
"Yes, I'll be coming with you all, the rest are to move and look for the High-Chief and let her know we are coming," Heru nodded.
"Very well," Allegra nodded.
"How do we go about it, though? Beast or human form?" Iahmi asked.
"I don't really care, human or be-" Allegra began, but Melsa stopped her before she managed to reply.
"Let's go with beast form," Mesla said, suddenly overly excited.
"Aye aye," Iahmi replied, as his hair started dancing all around him.
"Be on your way then," Heru said to his clan members, who, with a quick bow to him and the rest, began running towards the exit of the camp, and jumped as feathers grew from their skin, and by the time they were to hit the earth, they soared through the sky as fully transformed eagles.
"It never gets boring to watch, does it?" Heru chuckled as he watched the three fly away, before turning towards Iahmi, who was licking one of his paws instead of watching, making Heru sigh, "Never mind."
"Let's be on our way as well," muttered Allegra just as the hair on her back overtook her body, revealing her bear form a few moments later.
"Up for a race?" Melsa asked, turning towards Heru.
Heru shrugged, before, just as Melsa waited for an answer, he began sprinting away.
"Fucking cheater," Melsa muttered before she too burst into a sprint.
As she approached the exit, she jumped into a backflip, transforming mid-air into her cheetah form just as Heru soared past her.
With a sharp exhale from Iahmi's lion form that meant 'let's go,' Allegra began running behind Melsa and Heru, trying to catch up.
Not for the stupid bet the two made, but to not lose time, since the run across the Domain would take them at least half a day to complete, and Allegra hoped that they would be back by nightfall so that she could sleep on a proper bed.
But as they ran, even though the others had their conversations through screeches, hisses, grunts, roars, and all in between, Allegra found herself thinking back on the dream she had last night.
She kept on reliving that part of the dream inside her head, over and over and over again.
"Blanc," her voice inside the dream whispered.
Why was Blanc there? Why was he alone? Why was he sobbing? Why was her heart close to ripping from her chest?
And if that blurry person was Blanc, does that mean that in that previous dream of hers, the man running, chasing, and playing with the three small kids was also Blanc?
And was that small girl who looked like she was her own child?
Who did she have it with? With Blanc?
Or was it something else?
Was that a small version of her?
That couldn't be, for she was in the pool with three others.
What was it then?
And what was with the difference in her emotions?
She had never felt such strong happiness, panic, and curiosity before.
Yet she felt them all during those dreams as if they were real.
But they weren't.
They were just dreams.