It had been the woman-creature's plan to make Owen fall over the edge of the cliff to die when he hit the bottom, then scrape his remains off for a meal. That was at least what he had figured out, and it made him mad to think that even though he had broken through his trance, the woman was still going to win.

Thoughts like these took less than a second to flash through his mind as he fell. He also thought about his inevitable death and the failure of his quest. He had been a fool to think that he could make it through Etherea when Lumbia had make it clear how impossible it was.

His heart beat faster and faster as the rocks came nearer. They approached more quickly now; it would all be over soon. Owen only had time to think absently about the amount of magical fog floating around him before he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the impact.

It never came. Owen tried to open his eyes to see what had happened, but he couldn't move them. He couldn't move at all, actually. He was completely frozen.

"Am I dead?" he thought. "Is this what it feels like to die?"

But he could still feel the pain in his clawed shoulder.

He wasn't dead.

He was only...stuck.

~*~

Owen had no idea how much time passed. He was only aware that whatever force had held him before had let go, and he was falling again. His eyes flew open, and he saw that he was headed for a slab of rock. He fell on his side, straining his arm and likely pulling a muscle, but otherwise he was unharmed.

Whatever had stopped him before he had hit the ground had shortened the distance he had to fall. Rolling onto his back, he looked up and saw that his benefactor had come in the form of a yellow cloud that was floating, stationary, over his head. Because of the magical properties he had already discovered in Etherean clouds, he didn't doubt that it was what had held him suspended in the air.

"Thank you, cloud," he whispered hoarsely. He then pushed himself up and slid off the rock, happy to be in good shape on solid ground instead of being broken.

Owen hurried to find a way to go anywhere but where the woman could find him. To his relief, the other side of the cliff from the one he had stood on gradually tilted downward until its slope was gentle enough to climb. He scrambled up as swiftly as possible.

The forest continued on the other side of the cliff, though it was different than the part he had been to before. The defining feature of this section, instead of birds, was rain. It had not been raining the moment before he stepped past the first tree at its edge, but as soon as he did it began to pour. Just to test this, he stepped back out of the forest momentarily. The rain stopped like a snuffed out candle. As soon as he turned back into the forest for the last time the sky was dumping buckets, but he moved forward because he knew he had to.

He was glad that at least he wasn't hungry anymore. Although eating the berries had obviously cast some spell on him, they had filled him.

The walk was cold and miserable. Owen didn't like the feeling of his clothes being completely soaked through, or of his boots sloshing through water and mud. Shivers coursed through him, his teeth chattered, and his nose ran slightly.

"Wouldn't it be funny," he mused, "if, even with all the dangerous things in this land, I ended up dying from a cold?"

The rain didn't last forever. After walking for about half an hour, he came into an area of forest that was more similar to the first, yet darker because of how late it was. He pushed through this, too.

He usually wouldn't have minded the dark. But after what he had seen, he was on edge.

That's why he froze, petrified with fear, when he saw two glowing eyes staring out at him from the darkness ahead.

Attached to those eyes was a big, furry head, and after that the sleek but powerful body of an enormous wolf.

Owen stood like a scared rabbit with wide eyes and shallow breath. But then he saw a familiar star-shaped patch of fur on the wolf's forehead.

"It's Lumbia's wolf!" Owen thought, a little relieved. It hadn't attacked him when it first saw him, so why should it do it now?

Yet something still felt wrong.

Owen tried to smile. "Hello..." he said hesitantly. What had its name been? White Wolf....That's what was wrong.

This wolf was black.

"Are you Black Wolf then?" Owen whispered, watching the wolf as it watched him. It wasn't the same wolf. He couldn't know what it would do.

The wolf took a step closer. It was relaxed, so was it friendly? Its eyes were intense.

Owen started thinking harder. Lumbia had told him to avoid this world's version of her. She had said it was her opposite. Black Wolf must be White Wolf's opposite.

He thought he heard a noise from somewhere else in the woods, but he couldn't see anything.

Black Wolf growled, bearing vicious teeth. Owen brought his attention back to it and drew his sword just as the animal leaped into the air toward him.

He dodged to the side and tried to swing at it with his sword. The blade nicked the foot of the beast, but it responded by swiping the sword out of Owen's hand with its powerful claws.

The sword flew through the air and slid a few feet through the leaves on the ground. Owen looked from it to the wolf with wide eyes, realizing that he was defenseless.

"I'm really bad at this whole questing thing," he thought.

The wolf prowled forward, the cut Owen had left on its leg not bothering it at all. Owen did the only thing he could do in the situation: he backed up quickly. He eyed his sword, debating whether he would be able to make a run for it without the wolf getting to him first.

He heard screaming, which he first thought was his own. But his mouth wasn't open. Maybe it was his mind screaming silently. But it grew louder, and he knew it couldn't possibly be his imagination when he heard his own name in the scream.

It was also a girl's voice.

Claire's voice.

Owen tore his gaze away from the wolf for a brief moment to see if his ears were deceiving him.

To his surprise, he saw Claire running toward him and the wolf, hiking up her skirts so they wouldn't get caught on bushes. He was even more astonished when she picked up a thick branch off the ground and it turned into a sword.

"Back off!" she shouted at the wolf, brandishing her sword at it.

The wolf snarled in her direction, but it took another step toward Owen.

"Don't you dare!" Claire warned. "This is my dream, and I get to choose what happens!"

Her dream? Owen blinked, growing more confused by the second. He was so bewildered he forgot how to move.

Black Wolf didn't care whether Claire thought it was her dream or not. He started running at Owen, who was clearly to stunned to react.

"No!" Claire screamed angrily. She started running, too, but she was much slower than the wolf, so she flung her sword at it.

The throw was wild, but the blade managed to scrape across the wolf's back. The animal grunted with pain and turned to the princess with rage glowing in its eyes.

"That's right!" she said. "Leave him alone!" She reached down for another branch that turned into a sword as quickly as the other one had.

It was when the wolf was headed for her, bounding across the ground with giant and swift strides, that Owen snapped out of his daze. He didn't know how Claire was there. He didn't know why she thought it was a dream. And he certainly had no idea how she had turned two sticks into actual swords. But he did know that he had to help her.

Maybe.

"Does she really need help if she can make weapons out of the forest?" he thought. He didn't care what the answer was. With Black Wolf distracted he retrieved his own sword and started running after the animal.

The wolf reached Claire before Owen reached it. "Take that!" she cried, swinging out with her sword. She wasn't very good with the weapon, but at least Owen had taught her years ago how to hold it properly. She was able to keep it in her hands as she struck repeatedly at the wolf, and she was even able to land a hit on it few times. The wolf was bleeding from several wounds now, but it was still steadily gaining ground.

Owen caught up and struck at it from behind while it was focused on trying to clamp its teeth around Claire's arm. The blow left an ugly red gash on its right flank, which prompted it to turn its attention to the new attacker.

The wolf pounced with unexpected fury, one paw moving to knock Owen's sword out of its defensive position, and the other aiming for him with outstretched claws. It struck Owen in the chest and threw him to the ground.

"Owen!" Claire cried. Then she set her face with fierce determination. She dropped her sword and picked up a branch that was lying at her feet. This time, it didn't transform into glinting steal. It burst into flames that licked at the air like dragons' tongues.

Claire waved it at the wolf, her eyes shining with the fire's light. "GET OUT OF HERE!" she screamed the loudest she could.

Black Wolf eyed the flames fearfully and seemed to shrink a few inches.

"GO ON, LEAVE!" Claire repeated. Then for a lack of something better to do she unleashed a scream and drew it out for as long as it would go.

All the heat and light and noise was too much for the wolf. It pulled its head and tail in so much that it looked as if it were about to fold in on itself. Then, casting a final glance between the two humans, it spun around and fled into the shadowy protection of the forest.

Claire watched it go. The fire on the branch in her hand blinked out, and she threw it on the ground as she ran toward Owen.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Owen pulled himself to a sitting position and winced as he inspected the claw marks the wolf had left behind. They hurt, but at least they weren't bleeding too much.

"I'm fine," he said quietly. Really, he was more confused why Claire was there than concerned about himself.

Claire knelt down next to him. "You're hurt," she said, looking at the wound. Then her eyes caught on the scratches the woman-creature had made. "It got your shoulder too."

Owen shook his head. "No, that was something else. It's already almost healed."

"What else was there?" Claire asked, her blue eyes wide.

"If it's all right with you, I'd rather not talk about it."

Claire nodded. Her gaze wandered to the leaves scattered on the ground around them, her eyes lighting up with an idea. "Oh, here! I think I can help."

She gathered a few leaves in her hands, which turned into clean, white cloth as she folded them together in her fingers. Then she pinched some dirt between her fingers and sprinkled it over the material. Before they hit, the specks of dirt turned to water, which wetted the bandage.

"There," she said with a pleased smile. She reached forward and pressed it gently against Owen's wounds.

Owen watched her work in silence, not knowing what to say. What should he ask her about first? He had so much on his mind that nothing would come out of his mouth.

"It's strange how real this dream seems," Claire muttered to herself as she created another clean bandage and sprinkled it with dirt-water.

"Why do you keep saying it's a dream?" Owen asked.

Claire looked up at him in mild surprise. "Because I am dreaming. I had no idea cursed sleep was filled with so much dreaming. I'm here now, but in any second I could get whished away to some other dream place. But why am I telling you all this? You're just a dream too." Her voice dropped off sadly.

"But I'm not a dream!" Owen said eagerly, anxious to cheer her up. "I'm actually here. You actually saved me from that wolf."

Claire studied his face. "You have to be a dream," she said. "I'm still sleeping in my tower at the castle. How could I be here...and you be here...wherever here is?"

Something finally clicked in Owen's head. "Oh," he said. "I see now. Claire, this land we're in right now is called Etherea. It's magical, and it's the place where the dreams and reflections of the normal world live. You must be visiting here in your dreams." He added to the side, "And that's probably why you can do magic; it's all a dream to you."

Claire nodded. "Okay. I can understand that...maybe. But are you dreaming yourself here too?"

"No, I'm all in," Owen said with a sigh. "I came through a...oh, I can't explain it all now. I came through a portal. I'm here physically and mentally, which is why I'm so happy that you showed up and helped. I could have died."

"Well I'm glad you didn't!" Claire exclaimed. "What in the world are you doing in this place?"

Owen's face flushed slightly. "I'm on a quest," he muttered.

"For what?" she questioned furiously.

"You." The tips of his ears were burning.

Claire smiled brightly. "You're on a quest for me? Are you trying to save me from the curse?"

Owen nodded. He briefly explained everything, his voice consistently quiet.

Claire was shocked to hear some of it, but overall she seemed happy. "You left everything behind for me?"

He lifted his head and looked at her face. Somehow telling the whole kingdom about his quest was so much easier than this. But seeing her smiling, he couldn't help but do the same. "Yes."

Claire looked as if she wanted to say something else, but when she opened her mouth no words came out. She was turning pale and transparent, disappearing into the surrounding forest.

"Claire!" Owen reached out, but his hand went through her. A moment later she was gone.