I became aware towards the end of the dream, but not lucid. I remember it started out with my half-sister finding a large something in her new home. She asked me to check it out. A circular piece of rusted iron with hard to see figures and inscriptions. It reeked of magic.
I told her it was historical. Where did she find it? “I pried it off the stone in the backyard.” As we go out back, the grass is dying. It’s dead near the boulder and the wilting is creeping outward. I see this. She doesn’t. She complains about insects. The bugs in the grass are trying to outrace the wilting. Those that fail, die.
“Are there any folktales to the area?” She said she doesn’t listen to such silly superstitions. I tell her if the iron piece is related to one that will make it valuable to collectors. She suddenly remembers a tale where the fairies that used to live here were tricked into a well and locked away so people could live there.
“Oh yea, there’s a well under the boulder! I’ll have to get that capped.”
So. Much. Facepalm.
I tell her if she puts the iron piece back in place before the museum inspectors arrive, it would be worth more. “Some artifacts they prefer to leave in situ because it tells a better story. You might even get a monthly check for it!” She goes to get the plaque.
Her husband, thinking it was scrap, had already broken it up into smaller pieces to fit it in the bin. The two start bickering. “You make it sound like the iron was holding something down! To hell with it! Too late now, let it come out!”
The Blight suddenly speeds up and overtakes all of us, the house, and a quarter mile around. The house starts to decay and fall apart. My car is untouched. Theirs is rusting. She is running around frantically, trying to save books that crumble in her hand. He is watching his tools rust into nothingness.
The boulder cracks and splits open. The pieces fall away revealing the sealed well. A mist comes from the well and surrounds me. “Why did you try to put the seal back?”
“Because I don’t know the truth of things. And I wanted to learn if the seal was deserved or not. And I knew my half-sister would be an ass.” The mist held me in place, damp binds tightened around my throat.
The mist started to squeeze me but I resisted. Not enough to throw it off, just enough to let it know I wasn’t completely helpless. It stopped with curious hesitation. “You are not like them.”
Oh, how I laughed. “No. You have no idea how many ways I am not like her. Listen, you. You and yours are free. Remember she and he may be ignorant, but they are not those that bound you. Not even descendants of them. The world has changed greatly since this well was sealed. Alliegances have been broken since your imprisonment. Kingdoms have fallen. Different battles rage in the worlds. Step carefully.” I shook off the grip of the mist and walked away clear. The mist withdrew slightly. I knew I would have no more conflict with it.
“But humans are still human?” “Yes.” “Then nothing has changed.”
I bowed slightly to the mist. “We part in peace, Fae. May that peace remain between us.” “Agreed.”
I got into my untouched car and drove away, leaving Fae & half-sister behind, regretting neither decision.