Draconia or the End of Reason
Epilogue — Tiny Voices
Janet Campbell woke up to two things. Grievous pain all over her body, and punk rock. Funny, she thought, that reaction is usually associated with dubstep. The song was familiar, but the only lyrics that were on her mind at that particular juncture were groaning in pain.
“Uuurgh...That bitch packs one hell of a punch for a master mind!”
The image of Omega Draconia hitting her with the unfortunately literal Fist of God was still crystal clear in her mind. How in the fuck did she survive that? Oh, right. Barely.
Where was she anyway? Instead of the wreckage of some shop in the Hollywood & Highland Center, she was in a bedroom. It had a modest, aging structure, but lush decoration. Shiny silk curtains, antique furniture, Japanese pottery. So, the owners were quite well off, but not enough to afford an expensive apartment. The punk rock, which was being played in another room, most likely meant the occupants were white. She had no delusions her preferred brand of music was shared among her brethren. Tastes aside, the music suddenly stopped, and soon after...
“Janet? You’re awake!”
Kimberley barged into the bedroom, interrupting Janet’s observations. Strangely, she had lost her vampiric pallor.
“Oh, hi Kim. Yeah, I must have a dozen broken bones but I’m alive and awake.”
“I’ll be honest, I thought you went from CIA to KIA.”
“I’m secret service, not CIA.”
“Did you just piss on a perfectly good one-liner? Damn, you really are down for the count.”
“And then some. Anyway, how did you...”
Janet’s train of thought came to a screeching halt when she realized the shade of brown under her bandages wasn’t bark, but her own old skin. All the mutations she had suffered throughout her journey in the Dreamscape were gone. She was human again. She was about to ask Kim how that was possible, when a second woman entered the room. A woman the agent immediately recognized as the Aspect of Lust. She lacked her transcendental beauty, but she was still very attractive and buxom. Her wings were also gone, and her dress, though a bit revealing, was straight up prudish compared to her demonic incarnation. With a bright, friendly smile, she walked to the side of the bed.
“Ah, you woke up! Thank God...I’m Pearl. You already met Kim.”
Janet wanted to say something, scream, pray out loud for God to tell her what the hell was going on, but the look on Kimberley’s face was eloquent. “Just go with it, I’ll explain later”. And so she did.
“Huh...Yeah. I...don’t know exactly how you managed to get me to safety, but do believe that I’m grateful.”
“Oh, Kim did all the work. She’s the handyman around here! Me, well, I just do my job and bring in the money.”
“I...See.”
“I’ll leave you two alone with our daughter. I’ve got an appointment. I’ll pray for your recovery, Janet!”
“Thanks.”
And with this, the dreaded Aspect left. Kim let out an embarrassed cough, ruffling her spiky hair.
“...Kim, what the fuck is happening here?”
“Look, I don’t have the whole picture myself, but basically Lust forced me to kill a Green Beret or some operator shit like that to keep you sane. His goal in life was to preserve Normalcy in the auditorium, and upon dying, he created this place. It’s Pearl’s old apartment, and as you can see, it’s out of the Dreamscape. We can still see it from inside, but as far at it is concerned, this place doesn’t exist. When I saw you were getting your shit kicked in, I reached outside just enough to create a portal and pull you in.”
“...Wow. Okay, that’s a lot to process, but...This is a safehouse?”
“Pretty much. As you can see, everything that enters here becomes completely Normal, with a capital N.”
“Yet you portaled me in.”
“Yeah, if I peek out the door I can Dreamshape. The specifics are kind of complicated and I won’t bore you with them. I will state that I never stay long outside though, because right outside is the auditorium, and I assure you that’s far from good news.”
Janet contorted herself a bit to see outside the window. Painful, but enlightening. One fire elemental Changeling was outside, completely oblivious to their presence as he Dreamshaped a tiny volcano to bathe in.
“But they can’t see us, or enter by accident, right?”
“As far as I can tell, yeah. What I don’t want barging in here just blinks on the other side of the flat, as if we didn’t even exist in pace. When I saw Draconia herself had showed up I thought this would be the end of it, but...it held up. It’s invisible to her too.”
“Thank God for small miracles.”
“Yeah, well that does mean you’re gonna have to heal the hard way.”
“The normal way, Kim. The normal way.”
The violent young woman heaved a sigh of defeat.
“For now. I flew over Lost Angels and into Normalcy for a bit when battling the Lieutenant, and it didn’t look like the US of A had its shit together any more than when we were hit. I sent the message that you were alright to the President, but that’s it.”
“Ah, I guess I should thank you. Poor Dad is trying is hardest to keep the nukes underground...Though I very much doubt it would have any effect on the Dreamscape.”
“Probably not, yeah. Our only remote hope to stop Nightmare from spreading was to kill the Changeling Queen. A plan that was answered to with a resounding ‘Good fucking luck with that’.”
“Yeah. She’s on a whole other level. I’d say something spunky like ‘I’ll find a way to defeat her!’ but the heart wouldn’t be in it.”
“No kidding. Even with this secret weapon of a bunker, we’re completely helpless against her.”
“All we can do is wait for Nightmare to devour all...And then pray Draconia lives us alone.”
Janet’s mind drifted to the subject of the dark Goddess and her innocent counterpart, but a dizzy spell washed over her just thinking about it. Helping Alpha overcome Omega’s power seemed like the soundest plan, but one that was well out of their hands. Maybe one day Janet could embark on a journey to the Reverie Omega mentioned, but for now, it seemed she had to plant her roots here, in Lost Angels, and in Kim’s home. Fighting through the dizziness, Janet asked, with a weak voice...
“By the way, that music...That was Bad Religion, right?”
“Ah, yeah, the Stranger than Fiction album. That band was one thing Lilith hadn’t forgotten how to like. Want me to bring the radio here?”
“Yeah, sure. I’m fairly certain I’m going back to la-la-land in the next ten minutes. Play me out, Draculina.”
Kim nodded and walked out of the room. Soon after, Janet heard the voice of the little girl Pearl has mentioned.
“Oh, did I wake you up, sweetie?”
“’sno big deal, Mom. Is the black lady alright?”
“She’s tired. Come, what do you want to play?”
“I wanna play karate!”
“Ha ha ha, alright, just give me a moment.”
The radio player came back to life, and started to blast the first notes of a Bad Religion song. Janet knew it, of course. It was...Incomplete? No, Tiny Voices! Yes, definitely that one. Janet smiled and relaxed, letting Greg Graffin and his band lulling her to sleep. It wasn’t very mellow at all, but after this crazy day, even Manowar would seem like a lullaby.
“The brown and orange sky holds its breathAs the sun retreats to the distant horizonAnd our hearts palpitate anxiously as we soon will lay supineAnd wait for sleep to overcome usAnd from somewhere in our black, subconscious minds when we’re asleep,Comes a haunting swelling mass of voices, resonating,It’s screams of forgotten victims and their cries of innocence,And the desperate plea for recognition and recompenseTiny voicesEchoes of our heritage, our long and sallow faces turn the other wayTiny voicesArbored deep within as we outwardly deny that they have something to sayAnd if we don’t confront them they will never go away”