Owen kept up a steady pace as he continued through the desert. The sun still scorched the earth and he was beginning to run out of water, but he was hopeful. If he didn't walk to fast or too slow, the sands would take him right where he wanted to go.

As Eye had said, Owen found himself out of the desert not much later. An expanse of grasses dried into golden brown hues stretched out across the land ahead of him. He assumed that these were the Dry Plains that Eye had told him to go through. The sun still shone bright there, but it was lowering in the sky and baking the world less than it had before.

Owen started his trek across the plains, the long, brittle plant stalks swishing against his legs as he pushed through. The colored fog, which he hadn't seen much in the desert, gradually reappeared, hanging low to the ground, hiding among the grasses and spotting the land with splashes of color.

Small Etherean rodents, birds, and other critters hid under the plant cover and scurried away whenever Owen stepped near them. The insects that skittered around were larger than any he'd seen before, though they were still small enough that he could catch them without them biting his hand off. They didn't look very appetizing, but he figured that they were probably edible. Eating them would be better than going hungry.

As the plains grew farther from the desert, more shrubs and dwarfed trees began to dot the landscape. Owen took a moment to look around and wonder if Etherea was really all that different from the world he was used to. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he had thought it was. When he accidentally brushed the side of his foot through a purple cloud of fog and instantly felt as a boulder had been dropped on his toes, he dismissed those thoughts. Etherea looked like the real world, but it was still pretty bad.

Watching the sun sink down past the horizon gave Owen mixed feelings. On one hand he was happy that it was finally safe for him to sleep without worrying about shadows coming to snatch him. On the other hand, he felt a tinge of worry that he had one less sunset before he had to be at Etherea's edge.

Owen cleared an area of grass and lit a fire using the flint he had brought in his pack. After eating and warming himself with the heat of the flames, he settled on the ground to rest. Sleep took him easily.

~*~

Owen woke up before sunrise and squinted at the sky out of tired eyes. He would have gone back to sleep and woken up later, but he didn't want to risk sleeping past the morning. Gathering up his pack and sword, he rose to his feet, stretched, and continued his journey, facing straight into the rising sun. "Thank goodness the sun still rises in the east here," Owen thought. That was one thing that remained constant.

He had been walking for a few hours when he saw a dark patch blotting the otherwise uniform plains up ahead. He gradually recognized that it was a clump of trees that grew both taller and closer together than any he had seen on the plains so far. The closer he came, the more the plants filled his vision. It was a large patch of growth, a miniature forest.

Owen hesitated in front of the line of trees. Eye hadn't mentioned anything about a forest. But he had also instructed him to continue east, and these trees were right in the way. "He probably forgot about it," Owen told himself. "If he said to go east, east I'll go." He stepped past the first tree.

The air instantly changed, turning from the dry, uncomfortable warmth of the plains to a perfect temperature. Everything smelled sweet from the flowers that grew there, and they grew in abundance. The branches of the trees hung low like willows, laden with blossoms of dazzling pink. The forest floor was carpeted with pink and white flowers, as well as the petals that drifted from the trees. The pollen that the blooms let into the air shimmered like magic, giving the forest a golden glow.

Owen looked around in awe as he passed through the beautiful place. How could Eye not have told him about this? Such a memorable place would have been an obvious landmark to recognize.

Owen sighed peacefully, his eyelids beginning to droop. It would be so nice to lie among the flowers and fall asleep breathing their sweet scents. He blinked and shook his head. No, he could not let the tranquility lull him. He had a destination to reach, and resting during the daytime was dangerous.

After walking further, Owen stooped over to pluck a flower from a bush. The perfect, velvety petals were soft against his skin and glowed snow-white. He cupped the bloom in his hands, lifted it to his nose, and breathed in deeply. His eyes closed as he smiled. "Claire should see this place," he thought, remembering the cherished garden at her castle. "She loves flowers..."

Owen jerked his head up as he felt himself drifting again. "Why am I so tired?" he asked himself, puzzled. He had missed some sleep on his travels, but surely not enough that he would fall asleep still standing.

He adopted a quicker pace, thinking that he would stay awake if he kept himself moving. That meant no more stopping to admire the scenery, but he didn't care. If he had to reach the edge of Etherea by hurrying through it, so be it.

The trees grew more thickly deeper into the forest. They seemed to close in on Owen as he strode through, their trunks drawing nearer to each other and their flowered branches leaving little space to go through. Owen ignored the leaves and petals as they brushed against his head and shoulders, instead focusing on staying awake, which was proving to be more difficult. He yawned every minute or so and even forgot to keep walking several times.

Then he saw glimpses of the grassy plains through the trees ahead of him. He was almost there. Maybe the hot sun of the plains would jolt him awake. He started to run.

The hanging branch of a tree hit him straight on in the face, the impact sending the shimmery pollen flying in a cloud around his head. Owen felt dizzy and took a few wobbling steps before sinking to his knees. The realization finally hit him.

"It's the flowers," he thought, yawning deeply. Then his eyelids fluttered closed, and he collapsed into a bed of flowers, fast asleep.

The sun still shone brightly overhead. The shadows of the trees around him swayed and stretched.

~*~

Claire had no time to waste. She didn't know how she had lost Owen so easily, and she was growing frustrated that she was not in Etherea right now looking for him. Her eyelids fluttered, letting in a little of the light from her castle room even as she tried to relax enough to get back to her dreams.

What was keeping her awake? She vaguely felt something brush against her blanket at the foot of her bed and kicked at it. The faint chattering of an angry squirrel filtered into her drowsy ears. "Get away, squirrel!" she thought. "I have to get back to Etherea."

Once kicked, the squirrel didn't return. Claire was able to calm her mind, slow her breathing, and slip back into a deep sleep.

There was the Dream Road again. She flew down the shifting paths quickly, looking for a way to the desert she had left Owen in. "I have to find him," she thought as she traveled. "Whenever I leave him on his own, he almost gets himself killed! Etherea is an awful place."

A smile lingered on Claire's lips for a moment as she realized that he was there, risking his life, because he loved her. Then the smile disappeared and she went right back to worrying. "I still need to help him!"

No matter how long she floated through the maze of dreamscapes, she couldn't see the desert. In fact, not much appeared except a place that she didn't recognize that was blooming with flowers. Even after ignoring it numerous times, the Dream Road kept leading her to it.

She was about to cry out in frustration after seeing it for the tenth time, but a thought crossed her mind. "This is the road of my dreams," she thought, "and I'm looking for Owen." She studied the image of the flowery forest. "Maybe my mind has been trying to lead me to him this whole time."

It was worth a try. Claire floated out of the insubstantial path and appeared in Etherea. She stood in a patch of flowers, crushing some of the fragile plants under her feet. "Sorry," she whispered quickly to them, then looked around with searching eyes.

She almost immediately spotted Owen. He was lying nearly hidden in a bed of flowers, completely motionless.

"Please don't be dead!" Claire cried, running over. "Please just be asleep!"

Little did she know, it was much worse to be sleeping.