Chapter 2: The Gromelix Palace

The next morning the whole group went along. There was much excitement about meeting Dragons. The group removed their clothes as before and turned into Tyrannosaurus Rexes. One of the Queen’s guards met them in shimmering armor carrying a decorative sword the length of a great white shark, in a silver sheath, and accompanied the group into the Palace and to a larger meeting room. The room was magnificent with many runes on the walls, statues, paintings and tapestries. The light looked to be made of a huge diamond that glittered brilliantly and produced a warm light that filled the room.

Elizaveta Epilex, the Queen somberly welcomed the larger group. She carefully counted them all. “Which of you did not go to the Azayal War College and is also not Azayal?” She subtracted the number and seemed to brighten up a little. “Was there a traitor amongst you who was replaced?” she asked.

“There was a traitor,” said Linda, “and he was killed. Perdita replaced him.”

“Yes, we saw him try and kill Razza’s father, the Emperor. Perdita your father is a prime minister of the Jumo Empire? Can one of you show me how you change to be an insect?” she then requested.

Perdita, who was sitting at one end of the long bench, slid off and changed into a praying mantis and then back to a dinosaur.

“We watched the long presentation far into the night and discussed the disturbing implications for us at great length. We discovered that we have dreams in common. We agreed we could see all of your faces in our dreams. Some of us have seen yours and some others’ faces since our childhoods. These dreams have been with us all our lives. Seeing all of you has made our dreams so much more real. Our dreams do, as you say, mirror those of the Ghouls. We cannot see how we can lay eggs in the Ghouls. The dream does not make sense to us. The way you showed it being done to the Ghouls is not something we can do and we cannot imagine how we do it. The youngsters cannot lay eggs and our eggs are too big to fit in a Ghoul. We are very uncomfortable thinking or talking about it. We don’t know what it all means and we are very disturbed.” The Queen said.

“I don’t like the whole way this is going. I don’t think we need to do any of this. We were going along fine and now everybody is getting worked up. We don’t need the Ghouls and we don’t need to go into this anymore. We have now met the people of our dreams, but I’m not feeling better I’m feeling worse, I am agitated and I cannot see how talking about this is going to help us,” said Effulix.

“Have any of you tried to insert an egg into an animal?” Linda asked.

They all looked at her horrified.

“So, you have and are mortified?” said Linda.

Coccydioborgus Effulix looked so angry he looked as if he would attack her. Smoke gushed from his nostrils with each breath. His face turned red. “I cannot take any more of this. This is too much!” he said and collapsed face forward onto the table with a loud bang.

The heavy table shook and Jason’s group was stunned but the Dragons seemed unaffected.

“He gets worked up like this every so often. I remember five hundred years ago this is exactly what he did when one of his relatives murdered her boyfriend,” said the Queen. “He is a very emotional dragon, but in most areas, he is wise calm and rational. However, this area of discussion is disturbing to us all and we are not sure why. We are determined to get to the bottom of this, despite the pain of so doing. We were awake all night discussing what the problem may be. We are not entirely sure what it is.”

“My guess,” said Linda, “is, you feel driven to do something you consider reprehensible.”

“That may be true,” said the Queen.

“Yet you have all tried it and cannot admit it to yourselves or anyone else!” said Linda.

The Dragons looked at her with horrified expressions.

“I suspect there is more to the dreams you are not telling us!” said Linda.

“What is going on?” Effulix said raising his head from the table looking nonplussed.

“You heard me,” said Linda continuing to pursue her avenue of thought. “Effulix, please tell us what you have dreamed but cannot stomach!” She ordered.

“We are an independent people and will not be told what to do by you or anyone else. We do what we wish and will never be the servant of any other,” Effulix said almost apoplectic with rage. Thin streams of smoke wafted from his nostrils as he spoke through his teeth.

“Effulix none of us wants to control you. You will gain control if you deal with your perceived problem and dig to find the real issues. How does it make sense to avoid control by others when you make your children your face to the outside world?” Linda continued inexorably.

“This is too hard, this is too hard!” Effulix said banging his huge head loudly on the table.

The table shook and the vibrations were felt through the floor and table.

None of the dragons seemed inclined to react.

“Effulix spit it out, tell us the other dreams. What do you have to lose?” Linda asked as she continued remorselessly.

“All right, I can’t stand it anymore. I tried to put an old egg into a calf. I couldn’t do it and I caused it so much pain. I had to kill it.” Effulix reluctantly admitted.

“Well done, you have exposed the issues, you have told us what you did. The whole world didn’t collapse. Many others probably did the same. You all feel guilty and ashamed. What of the other dream Effulix?” Linda continued.

“Why must I do this? Why must I face this shame, why don’t you pick on someone else?” Effulix plaintively complained.

“Effulix, your shame is the worst. You are the most independent and self-sufficient of them all are you not?” Linda asked.

“I am, I hate the idea but I dream of it, but in the dream, I feel free, I feel elated and I am laughing. When I wake, I feel someone else is in control of me. I will not have it” - Effulix thumped on the table to emphasize each word.

“Effulix, say the words and we will talk of this, you cannot ignore your destiny!” said Linda.

The Dragons looked at her, first startled then horrified.

“You may think you know your destiny but you may have it wrong and you are misinterpreting it. Effulix tell us what you see and how you feel in the dreams!” Linda ordered imperiously; very much the General.

Effulix looked at her with wide eyes, stuttered a few times and then spoke in a whisper. “I have a saddle on my back and some small human sits there and we fly high in the sky. In the dream, we are both joyful. I will not tolerate someone telling me what to do!”

Linda turned to Jason and indicated to him to continue. She sat back and almost fell backwards out of her chair. Everyone laughed and the atmosphere lightened.

“I want to try and put all of this together in some kind of rational framework. What do we know? Jason started speaking.

“There is a group of ancients who create AIs and live with them happily for a long time. During a battle with enemy forces, the Queen is damaged and she betrays her people and leads them astray. The ancients cannot switch them off for some reason, but they are able to remove the memory they have about how to recharge themselves. They run down over a long time but find a way to recharge themselves by extracting the life force of living beings.