To Sleep, Perchance to Dream IP 8

Island People 8

Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends. 

The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.

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← Previous Post..___________________________________________.. Next Scene → While he slept, Seth’s body finished a process it had been performing over the last several days, but one that it now had some practice at performing. It detached but did not destroy (this would happen over several weeks, if necessary) the various connections that had connected Seth with the horse. Then it began the significant changes needed for the new transformation.

These were concentrated in three areas. The first was the bones. These were major changes but fairly simple anatomically. The long bones of the arms and legs were lengthened, and their density decreased. New structures ensured that their strength would diminish only slightly.

Then there was the brain. These changes involved very little tissue but a significant alteration in function. First, new pathways were made, which decreased the reaction time for certain activities. Automatic grabbing and holding functions were most prominent among these activities. Additional nerve bundles were provided in the spinal area and near the end of each extremity to aid in these reactions. In addition, a new centre was added to the brain, one which formed a gatekeeping function between several different functions, ones which before had been automatically and directly linked.

Thirdly, and perhaps most dramatically, was the tail. Tissue for this had been forming inside of Seth for quite a while, but it needed this time of unconsciousness to push it out of the body. The hair, which would have been impossible to complete in so short a time, was actually pre-grown, each hair curled up just under the skin. Thus the tail, when it was complete, would have short but adequate hair. The hair was very sensitive, connected with the nervous system, and served as a method for sensing the object that it was touching, aiding in the gripping/holding process.

Had Seth been awake, the pain (until the gatekeeper in the brain had been formed and activated) would have been unbearable. Even in his unconscious state he began a horrible series of dreams, in which his body was stretched on a rack… while he himself stood dispassionately by watching the process and analyzing it. But his body kept him unconscious so his dreams only served to disturb those sleeping nearby.

In the end, they disturbed the mother enough that she came over to check on her charge. Even in the moonlight, the lengthening of the limbs was obvious enough for her to notice. After some hesitation she went quietly over and woke her Husband and Son.

“But, is it discreet?” Her Husband asked, echoing the discussion she had had in her own head earlier.

“He is asleep, and is unable to observe the process himself,” she responded. “Thus he will lose any information that could be gained from observation. As I do not believe we should wake him, it is up to us to decide for him.”

The Husband considered the matter, and came to his conclusion. “Yes, we will observe. If we have erred and violated his modesty, we can apologize in the morning. But Farmers are less modest than we, and you are right: this is a one time opportunity.”

So for the rest of the night the three sat at Seth’s bedside and observed, in the dispassionate Elf fashion, the changes that they could see. Unfortunately these were only the dramatic, outward changes. But these still were fascinating enough.

When it became obvious that Seth was about to wake, they covered him up and went back to their beds. But they did continue to observe him.

What would be his actions on waking?

Some of the changes that had been made could not be finished in the sleeping state. Nerve patterns needed to be coordinated with sensory impressions. So the body brought itself to the waking state…

Seth lay with his eyes closed and analyzed the world around him. He concentrated and found he was able to separate out various different impressions. He heard the gentle wind in the trees, analyzed it, and then blocked those impressions. The creaking of the trees was next… an inevitable reaction to the wind, thus uninteresting. This too he blocked. Softer noises now came to his attention… the sounds of the family. Several of them, the higher pitched ones, had an unconscious rhythmical nature, which he associated with sleeping. These he also blocked.

However three of them… the two largest… and… his analysis worked deeply… the boy… were not asleep. Their breath patterns showed evidence of conscious thought. And they were not lying down, the sounds indicated that not only were they sitting up but they were sitting facing him.

How odd. It could not be a normal feature of Elvish modesty for adults, and one almost adult, to sit and stare (for their breathing had indicated a fixed direction for several seconds now, far too long to be accidental) at someone lying in bed.

Seth considered the situation. Why? What caused this breach of modesty? Modesty was a very, very high value among Elf. What other value… learning. Learning was also a very high value, and might… He stopped. No, not even learning would override modesty.

But perhaps. Perhaps if the subject was unconscious, and could not give permission… perhaps permission could be assumed until permission could be granted. But what about him sleeping could have caused the learning value to increase to the level where such a decision would have to be made? Seth analyzed this, and then began a review of himself. If he was the object of such observation, then surely there must be something very interesting about him. His analysis did not take long. Adequate evidence presented itself that, during the night, he had transformed into an Elf from a Heroiini. How interesting. No apology is necessary,” he said, raising himself to a sitting position and reaching for his clothes, “I will be interested in hearing your observations after I dress.”

At this the three of them turned their backs.

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