Going Home is a series that Explores the city of Tiranis through the eyes of Eric Clarkson, a returning veteran, who finds that the city has changed more than he expected in his absences.

Each section of the series will focus on a different part of the city while Eric gets pulled into problems typical to that area, or sometimes not so typical.

This is about 800 words of the 8,500 words chapter.

You can read the full story, as well as other stories set in the world of Tiranis by joining my Patreon at the 1$ level https://www.patreon.com/kindar

Going Home: Harland Part 5 of 6 (Excerpt)

"Must be. I kind of remember a teaching saying crystals grew, but geology's never been my thing."

"I don't think this is geology. Maybe crystals grow, but they don't emit heat."

"Or light, as far as I know."

"The glow in the vision was inside the hole they put the coffin in," Anita said.

"So you saw it too."

She smiled. "It was hard to miss. We know where she wanted us to come. Any idea why?"

Eric shook his head. "It's either to protect her corpse, or the crystal, but how would Roland know about either?"

"Samuel might have told him; told him about seeing the glow when they placed Vivianne's body here." She paused. "It could be simpler. There's always been rumors of Vivianne being buried with all sort of riches. Maybe he's looking to get her wealth."

"He owns an amusement park, money can't be a problem for him."

"Money is always a problem for the rich," She said bitterly. Eric glanced at her and she shook her head. "You'd be amazed at the number of clients we have who are just rich people looking for ways to keep more of their money."

Eric grinned. "If that's what he's after, he's going to be-"

"Tiranis be praised!" A woman said, "You found it."

He spun as he stood. A coyote with a hardhat and coveralls was standing in the doorway. She looked tired, and had a necklace around her neck. Eric noticed that in the dimness where she stood, the yellow stone in it glowed faintly.

"Wait a minute." She was looking at him and Anita. "You're not part of the crew. Who are you? How did you get here?"

Eric tried to come up with a credible lie, but nothing came. "Would you believe me if I said Vivianne guided us here?"

"Who's Vivianne," the coyote replied.

Surprised he pointed to the bones. Didn't they know what they were searching for?

She looked at them, back to Eric. "I think the two of you should stay here while I get the foreman."

Anita ran for the woman, and the coyote bolted. Eric followed her. By the time they were outside the room, the coyote had vanished in the darkness, even her lamp couldn't be seen.

"She's fast," Anita said.

"Why did you run after her?"

"I don't think getting more people here is a good idea."

"Exactly," Vivianne said.

Eric jumped.

The lioness was standing in the room, by the door, looking outside toward where the coyote had vanished.

"You can talk!" Anita sounded pleased. "Wait, if you can talk, why didn't you just ask for help?"

"I can talk here," Vivianne said, indicating her side of the threshold. "Not there." She indicated their side.

"Why?" Eric asked, looking at the wall for anything that could block...what, ghostly energy? He shook his head to clear it. He was utterly out of his field.

Vivianne shrugged.

"Don't you have any idea how this works? I mean you're the one who's a ghost."

She sighed. "Unfortunately, the role didn't come with a script. I became aware some time ago. At first it was only as a sense of being here, but then it was more. As if there was more of me here. I don't know how long," she said as Eric opened his mouth. "Then I was able to move about outside this room, to the park. Sometime later someone noticed me. I was so surprise I vanished and reappeared here."

"Were you powered?" Eric asked, "when you were alive."

She smiled. "Only if you consider acting a power."

"I do," Anita said, which earned her a quizzical expression from Eric and Vivianne. "What? I tried out for theater when I was in school. I too thought I'd be a great actress. Not a pleasant experience."

"How about the dream thing? Could that be linked to your acting?"

"I don't know. When they started digging, I grew worried. I needed to warn people. Let them know what was happening, but I have no voice outside this room. I grew desperate and then, I and an older man were in this, well, you call it a dream, it's as good a name as any. We were both surprised to be facing one another, and that broke it, but I practiced and now I can use it as I want."

"But only with doors," Anita said.

Vivianne nodded. "I think it has something to do with expressing a willingness to cross into the dream. Again, I'm working without a script."

"Okay, so you needed to warn people," Eric said, he didn't feel like trying to understand how the dream worked. It was too much of an impossible problem, and he worried that even with the lack of a technological component, it would end up poking at his Tecker brain and drive him insane. "Warn them about the workers?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

"So they could protect this room."