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Johnny was parched from that nightmare; it felt like he dragged his legs across some wasteland. He wondered if it was due the bed, what was the last time he changed the sheets? Mainly if they were the one, he had for cold season and warms season. He ditched that thought for now.

He reached for the water bottle by his bed, he kept it there when he had those nights when he woke up like three in the morning. John also recalled that he felt "watched" during those hours, at least when he was awake, not to mention he sometimes saw a figure with sharp teeth but only in the corner of his eyes. When looked at directly the "figure" would disappear in the instance, like it wasn't there to begin with. John wasn't really superstitious sort, still he reported this once to his neighbour and even a landlord. Both of them just waved their hands over the whole thing and told Johnny that it was due to his "lack of sleep" and "fatigue". Then again bunny read somewhere on the internet that this phenomenon is pretty common so he let it slide, although there was one time when he woke up around the that time and there was a distinct fish like smell but then it faded.

He took few gulps from the water bottle and then reached for something underneath his bed, he was looking for something. He felt around underneath the bed, he felt something rectangular he hoped it was what he was looking for. Rabbit pulled out the object in question and it was...a bundle of pornographic magazines. Nope, not what he was looking for. Johnny completely forgot about this one. He didn't really remember when was the last time he opened it, a thought shot across his mind. He should sell it, could make a quick buck with one of those bazaar apps on his phone, since he stopped having..." urges". Rabbit tucked the magazine back underneath the bed, he felt next to the magazine another rectangular shape and then another. He hoped it was the one he was looking for and luckily it was. An old looking diary, he used it to keep a track of his nightmares. Wrote them in there and tried to connect them to each other somehow but...none of them made any sense. He also kept if one of the therapists that he tried to get to have appointment with to hand it over in case they could get something from it, he went out to a few but none of them really led to anything. The only thing he had to combat those nightmares were those pills that seemed to get weaker and weaker. He opened the diary and wrote in the diary what he saw in that dream, what he was doing and so on. After that he left the diary on the bed post and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After that he dried himself up, he stared at himself in the sink mirror cabinet. Just for a second, to make sure that his bed hair wasn't too noticeable and himself just looked good in general. He went over to his closet where he had his clothes laid in carboard boxes with labels such as "Hoodies + Sweaters", "Shirts" and so on. Johnny wasn't exactly a picky person what to wear on work days. Just whatever he grabbed in his paws and put on and went to make himself a breakfast. Ye Old Breakfast was toast on a pan with jam and tea. That's it. That's all it was. Plain but simple. He ate while watching TV for the news and such meanwhile he was checking his Courier app to see if the packages he wanted to deliver were taken by someone else. Nope, all for himself. Good and as a bonus he could deliver them this afternoon, so he had some time for himself.

Johnny stared a bit, just typically into nothingness trying figure out what to do, then he got an idea. He could visit his neighbour that hyena. What was his name again? It was Trevor, right? Lived with some guy next door, not to mention Trevor here was looking for an apartment of his own but no dice. It was due to the fact he had a partner and both of them wanted their own place. At least that's what Johnny here was thinking and hoped he remembered correctly. At least I should say hi and maybe stay for a spell. Johnny thought to himself.

Johnny before going through the door of his apartment he looked into the mirror to just kind look if he looked somewhat "presentable" to Trevor. Didn't want to like a sack of potatoes full of holes. Wearing a black shirt with some name of metal band, dark shorts and a purple hoodie, sure this could work. He walked out the door and locked it behind him and proceeded to knock at his neighbours Door 101, the Trevor's place, and waited a second. He heard some footsteps and some mumbling, the door opened held by the door chain and Johnny could see a green eye. "Who is it?" the person on the other side of the door asked.

"Its me Johnny," ¨the rabbit replied "I was thinking since I have some free time this morning, we could just have a chat you know, like we always do. You got free time, no?" There was a distinct "Hmmmm." from the other side of the door and then the door closed.

There was a rustling of a chain, Johnny smiled he already knew the answer. The door opened wide and what bunny saw was a large canid-like figure then him, it wore a big goofy toothy smile. "Sure thing, partner!" Trevor took a step forward and hugged the rabbit and lift him up gently. Trevor was one of those Hyenas that what people called "Punks" this one had cargos pants with some studs, a belt with rivets, plus a gold-coloured belt hanging from the side, plus a plain white tank top. Definitely someone you would see at a rave or some show. Green eyes, brown fur and black spots there and there, plus spiky hair. Typical hyena. Yeeep, that's Trevor.

"How's my favourite neighbour?" the hyena asked. "I will tell ya if you put me down." Johnny answered. Both of them started to chat and decided to take some beer from the fridge and go to have a sit and continue chatting on the balcony.

They started to share their stories of what went on couple of weeks back, nothing much on Trevor's side. Looking for a place to stay together with his partner and only found the ones outside his price range, meanwhile Johnny shared some stories regarding some of the deliveries he had to do. Some odd ones there and there and then he started to tell his yesterday.

"Hold up dude" Trevor said "you still getting those dreams?"

"Yeah." "Still no real pattern to them?" "Unfortunately, no." "Did you talk about it with your therapist at least?" There was a moment of silence. "I brought it up but he just said to keep taking the pills." Said Johnny. "But" he continued "he seems constant to change the topics on that and I have no idea why."

The hyena replied with: "Maybe he isn't really specialized in that stuff." Trevor pondered for a sec: "You know what could help?" Rabbit looked at the hyena "What, you got something in mind?" "Um...yeah?" Trevor replied awkwardly "I think I have something that could help you sleep more deeply in my cupboard."

Johnny looked at him weirded out; he didn't expect Trevor to have something like this. Since he is more of a brute. "What like some kind of medicine or like herbs?"

"Well to be exact." Trevor answered. "My roommate is a part-time herbalist, he allowed to me to take some of his stock so why not. Plus, you should see him room sometimes, it's like all-green. Nice smell though. I guess that's why he can sleep so easily." Trevor went into the kitchen, Johnny following, reached into the cupboard and pulled out a small jar filled with some dried petals and leaves. Trevor then pulled a small jar stuffed it with some pleasant-smelling herbs and handed it to John.

"Well, I guess you have the tools needed at home to make yourself a tea, right?" asked Trevor. "I think I have a Tea-Ball yes." "Ah right, what's it called again?" "Tea-ball." "Yeah that." Trevor wasn't that much a smart person but sure as hell he was a nice fellow. Time went by fast and it was already almost noon, it was time for our neighbours to part ways and our rabbit go to work. Before going he made himself lunch, ate it and then made himself a snack for break time at work. He left the jar of those herds at the table in his apartment for later use. He dressed up appropriately for the work and locked his apartment and started to head down the stairs. He was now on the ground floor where had their Cages for storages, he went there to get his folding bike. He used to get around the city and deliver the packages, a small perk that he saved some money for some time ago.

Johnny got outside, unfold the bike and rode out. The streets smelled of aftermath of fresh rain, head-clearing and calming. The Capital was, as it later on expanded more and more, to be more walkable it still had its designated parts for vehicular traffic and lanes big enough for pedestrians and bikes. Rabbit was heading towards an old postal building with exposed bricks work and ancient architecture over time it got modernised but the original rustic feeling prevailed, he parked his bike outside the building to report to the boss. The boss in question was a toad, with mud like colour with black spots there and there who was sitting by the desk, with few warts on his face but he was dressed in pinstriped pants with suspenders and a button up shirt with stripes that matched the pants plus he wore round glasses complimenting his "spiffiness". The toad's name was Mr. Bogwood, or Sire Bogwood depending on your background, first name Edgar who was of noble descend. To make the long story short about him he inherited fathers' business from his father's father and so on. While the toads and frogs alike were mainly known for dealing in trading pitch, used as fuel for lanterns and in making of adhesives plus also some other miscellaneous products, however Bogwoods decided to go some other direction and that was when it was still in its infancy The Postal Service which in question helped the community as a whole and still helps to this day. Edgar was so proud of this he kept several paintings of his ancestors and hang them in his office. Funny thing to mention is that when he is quite pleased with a job that was well, he would do specific kind of smile that matched exactly to the ones on the portraits to a T, his bloodline indeed ran strong.

Johnny parked his bike and walked into Edgar's office; the toad was sitting at his desk doing some paperwork. "Gooday, Mr. Bogwood." Said the rabbit. Toad lifted his head to face Johnny "Ah Johnny, glad to see you." He said "Do you need anything?"

"Well, sir, I just wanted to ask if the packages I chose to deliver are, okay? Like does anyone else want to deliver them?" asked the rabbit. "Well, there's a small snag" said Bogwood "I checked the way you are going and there's one delivery I want you to make. Don't worry it's a light soft package. It also a bit out of the way, I however do believe you can manage." Johnny didn't have protests at first but after looking at the way that the toad showed on the map Johnny saw that he could run late home and wouldn't be able to checkout in time. Rabbit responded that he could take a shortcut, it was up some stairs and plus his foldable bike and together with that last "soft and light" package he has to deliver. "Sounds like a sound plan, kid." The toad said. "Well, I am going to take those packages now. See you when I see you Mr. Bogwood." Edgar nodded his head and wished Johnny good luck.

Rabbit gathered his assigned packages put them in his saddles, bags and other containers and set out on his bike into the city. He stopped where he was told to deliver the mail, usually maybe some niche magazine, memory bank, book, box of miniatures for a tabletop game, hard-disk and such. Sometimes delivered in person and sometimes just thrown into the mail box or slot. Few hours later he was on his last package the "soft and light" one. Time to find those stairs, Johnny heard that they led to a special part within outskirts of Lenbrough although he wasn't very sure of that rumour. It took a bit to find, due to some bad sense for direction plus Johnny got turned around couple of times but he eventually found them. He folded the bike and started climbing, he saw how the brick work and the architecture overall became less rustic and ancient and more refine and fancy, with a hint of marble. He was leaving the lower outskirts and entering the upper parts of it and once he reached the top of the stair and had a good look around, he was right about the rumours about this part of the capital.

This part of the city, that is if you would call this place "outskirts" anymore, was mainly reserved for the youth of the nobles. Animals who were in more upper parts of the society like arch-mages, politicians and etcetera. Johnny also read in some magazine that this district was built in order that the younger generation of nobility would get to know the lower class more personally and well according to some surveys this was indeed a case. Nobility overall was more open to discuss and negotiate with the lower class for all kinds of improvements, if you list it, they probably discussed it and came to some sound conclusion.

Johnny looked around again looking for the house or at least a mansion looking house with a number that matched the package he knew it would be close and well he didn't exactly know the name of the streets since they were named after some historical figure or something like that and he didn't remember those very well. "Okay Johnny think and just keep those eyes open" he thought to himself "number seventy-two, come on it has to be close." Rabbit looked at the end of the street and there it was, one fancy house with a number 72 with a package with its name on it well to be specific an owner of the house with a package with their name on it. "Bingo!" The package said "Mister Prismshire" no first name, odd. He walked to the house with the package and the folded bike and knocked on the door waiting for the answer. It was getting a bit cloudy too, he hoped that he still had time. He heard on the other side of the door heavy footsteps, could be some larger mammal or a predator? Johnny tried to image who it could be, a fancy bear in a trench coat and monocle? Moose in a suit and top hat? Maybe even one of those smaller mammals in some exo-suit who is an inventor?

There was turn of door knob and the door opened and Johnny was greeted with a tall unicorn. Johnny was surprised Unicorns were a bit of a rarity to encounter, some never seen a unicorn in person their entire lives. The unicorn in question was a bit thin for an equestrian, wearing a tank top and tore up jeans plus he had couple of piercings there and there. Plus, he coloured his mane a darker colour. "Um" rabbit stuttered a bit "a-are you Mister Prismshire?" The unicorn leaned against the doorway and with a smirk replied with: "Correct-O Daddy-O!" Johnny was stunned by the speech; sure, the noble tone of voice was there but THIS is what comes out of a mouth of a noble's son? A juvenile phrase? Prismshire continued: "Yeah it's me, been for few years in fact." Bunny was confused by that statement, it took him a while to just hand over that package due to being bewildered by that, or just simply surprised at best. "Well, that was my last delivery, it's been a pleasure that you used the Bogwoods Couriers Network, Mister Prismshire." Johnny said. A loud thunder echoed through the sky; the rabbit jumped. The unicorn just twitched a bit. "Looks like a Pourer this one, dude." Said the unicorn.

"Does it?" rabbit asked. "Well," Prismshire said," we will know in" his ears twitched a bit and started to count" three, two, one.". Another loud thunder echoed through the sky and it started pouring like crazy. Johnny realized if he tried to force it through this rain he would be soaked to the bone in matter of minutes and possibly catch something, not to mention he would have to walk down the stairs which would solidify the previous statement and to seal the deal, no umbrella and no rain coat. And just now he realizes those were the things he forgot about when leaving the apartment, he facepalmed. Good job Johnny. he thought to himself. Well time to get wet.

Johnny decided to throw in the towel, fold his cards and whatever other term got coming to terms exists out there and started to bare through it the flooding rain. "Hey, kid." Prismshire said behind him. Rabbit turned around to face him. "Don't you want to stay over?" This felt weird for Johnny, sure kindness from a stranger shouldn't be rejected because its free it has to do with...trust. Trevor was different, he was trust worthy, friendly and so on. This Prismshire Unicorn horse was a complete stranger to Johnny not to mention a noble, a freaking noble. But then again, he was acting friendly, no smugness or down-looking remarks just...a normal friendly interaction. Johnny decided to take a risk, hoping he wouldn't regret it, and asked "Like inside for the night? You sure?" The Unicorn snorted "Yeah, I have big enough couch and it is already big enough to act like a bed for you plus it can unfold into bed, with that its will be a size of a queen-sized bed for you." Prismshire opened the door some more inviting him into his home "Come on, just one night." Said the Unicorn. Johnny shrugged and thought to himself _What the hell, what could go wrong._Johnny walked through the doorway and the unicorn closed the door behind him and clapped his hands together and asked: "So you want a house tour, dude? Just so you know the layout where you will sleep and utilities are, just so you know." John nodded and but he had something to say: "Yeah thanks sir, but I got to make fast call. My boss will be worried if I don't come back and I ought to let him now." "Sounds good, I will wait in the next room, either find me there or just call me, okay?" said the unicorn. Rabbit nodded again.

He made a quick call that he won't be able to come tomorrow to work and do some courier work, Sire Bogwood suggested that it would be better for him to take few days off since he has accumulated a good chunk of them and it would be better to use some of them up. Johnny was happy with that; he would have some time for himself over the couple of days. Maybe he could clean his place up a bit or something else. And with that the unicorn gave him the house tour as he said. While house, or some would call it a mansion, looked normal enough it looked...weird for a noble house it would be more precisely compared to a punk den, with posters of music bands on the wall and shelves filled with odd collectibles. For example, spiked belts and fake bullet belts, jackets with spikes and patches of different band logos, patches with movie quotes and just pop culture in general. Actually, on second thought it might just be a one huge closet.

"Hey," said the rabbit "since I am going to spend a night, I think it would be good if we were on first name bases. Name is John and some folk call me Johnny. You sir...uhhhh...?"

"Alex, my name is Alex." Answered the unicorn "But," he continued "you already know my surname so, may I have yours too? Just out of formality." Rabbit answered with "John Temple, my name is John Temple." Alex nodded "Good name. So, Dancers of Death huh?" John was confused by that question: "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Your shirt," Alex pointed at the Johnny´s shirt" the band Dancers of Death they are pretty good, right?" Johnny realized what he was talking about: "Oh, yeah. They are pretty good, even though their latest album isn't as good as the previous one they still have their way of making great tracks once in a while." "What's your favourite track of theirs?" asked Alex. "Let's see" rabbit thought for a second "I really like the "Where are the Jesters?" I think it has a good message in it. Yours?" Unicorn answered with: "I think the "Catacomb Crusade" and I mean that and the entire album is largely underrated really." Rabbit commented: "I can see that." The two chatted for a bit, it was good that Johnny found someone with similar interest besides Trevor and to see someone of noble blood with the similar said interest was a nice suprise. "Hey say Johnny," said Alex "wanna see what I ordered?"

Johnny knew he meant the "soft and light" package he delivered, "Well it not a pizza." rabbit joked "All right show me." Unicorn turned around took off his shirt, and as was expected he had some tattoos on him.

Nothing really much off, your average skull with switchblade stabbed through, heart with a bandage with "mum" written on it in cursives, some skeletal knight with a mace and a shield. Just your average stuff. Alex ripped the packaging and held in his hands a shirt, although one could tell was some kind of print on it. Alex turned around to face Johnny and well rabbit took notice of something. While tattoos were nice, clearly the unicorn in question had a good eye, Johnny noticed something on unicorn´s chest. Scars. To be specific scars under his breasts. Nothing really out of the ordinary, John was aware such folks exist. Although that raised couple of questions. Questions he decided not to ask right now and decided to tuck away in a corner of his mind. And probably let them be covered in dust and cobwebs overtime.

Alex put on the said shirt and asked: "What do you think?" Johnny took a good long look; Alex had to straight up the shirt to take care of the folds a bit and then realizes what he was looking at. It was an artwork of what seemed a bull wearing a leather apron and chainmail plus some rune-like tattoos. The bull in question was wielding a hammer and hitting a large anvil with magical symbols, lighting and thunder pouring from the strike of the hammer and underneath of it all was the band's name "Thunderous Flame". Rabbits' eyes opened wide in awe. "Hold still!" he shouted; Alex obliged. Johnny ran around the unicorn and gently pushed away the unicorn´s mane and what he saw was a name of major cities with dates. Johnny felt he knew what he was actually looking at but now look at the back of the shirt it confirmed it. In the nutshell this seemed like a regular shirt of some Metal band, but this was in fact a very rare tour shirt. In fact, it was the last tour ever of the band. "Dude," said John "you hit the motherload!" Alex replied with: "Yeah I did!" both of them sounded exited. This was considered something worth to put into a museum of sort for Metal Heads, at least for these two dorks it was.

John scratched his chin: "So what are you going to do with it?" The unicorn turned around to face the rabbit "What do you mean?" he asked. "Well," John started "you are gonna obviously wear it, but at what occasions? Like what is the band Thunderous Flame gonna do a a real final tour? Gonna wear for some special occasion or a concert? Or just sleep in it?" Alex pondered a bit, he guessed that it was more a small stupid decision he did on a whim. In the end he figured what to do with it "I guess I am going to sleep in it on and off, seems like a good idea." Johnny nodded. He looked around a room and asked: "So what are we eating?" Unicorn shrugged: "We could order a Piz- "before he could finish the sentence, he realized that its pouring like crazy outside yep, no pizza or any form of takeout this evening.

"Welp," said Alex "I am out of ideas." John leaned a bit back and peaked into the, what seemed to be a, kitchen. "How much food do you have?" asked John. Alex shrugged "No idea, what are you planning?" "I am going to try to cook something." Replied the rabbit. Alex confused, followed the rabbit into the kitchen. John opened the fridge and was surprised a bit by the contents of the said fridge, nobles had bit of a fancy appetite but this was just common stuff like canned corn and other assorted veggies, carton of milk and those type of things. Otherwise, nothing really special.

"You got spice cabinet?" asked Johnny. "Uhm, we got spice cupboard." replied Alex and pointed at the said cupboard. It was quite high up, no way he was reaching that unless he was standing at the kitchen countertop. Johnny looked at the unicorn and said: "Little help?" Alex replied with a simple: "Sure, bro." And grabbed the rabbit underneath his shoulders and put him on the kitchen countertop. Bunny opened the Spice Cupboard and checked what's inside it. Theres was plenty of bagged spices like garlic, sage and my other stuff plus some rare ones. Johnny turned towards Alex and asked:" Do you have some tortillas?" "Yeah, I know of some in a small pantry here." Alex replied and went to fetch them. John already has a small plan what they are gonna eat now, it was pretty light meal too. You don't want to eat something like a full course dish at night either unless you are planning to pull an all-nighter and even then, still a bad idea.

For the dinner Johnny made tortillas with some fillings, beans and corn that kind of stuff. Nothing really fancy but it was warm enough, thanks to that fancy toaster the unicorn had. "So, you like live alone?" asked Alex. "Yep." answered the rabbit plainly. Alex decided to prod a bit deeper. "How can a guy like you be, well live alone. Isn't there a girl or something?" Johnny´s ears drooped a bit. "Well since you asked there was a girl. But it didn't work out." Alex took another bite out of his tortillas. "So, like, was there a heated argument that broke it all? Or something like that?" Rabbit scratched his head a bit and started to think, after a while he said: "I guess it was the whole situation with like...."

He stopped himself for a minute, trying to find the right words and then continued: "You know that song with those lyrics "He was a punk, she was a ballerina?" Yeah, it was something like that. She was a...model basically, a good-looking wolf too and well. She broke up with me and I could see why. Bum like me and her? Nah that wouldn't work. So yeah, we broke up, but at least we are friends. I hope so at-least." "Hey," said Alex "sorry for asking. I didn't mean to bring down the mood." "It's all good." Replied John. "But," Johnny continued talking "since you asked a question, I guess it's my turn now. So, you a noble, correct?" Unicorn nodded.

"Since you are noble, like...what do your parents do? Like is one of them a knight or someone in higher position of power? Wealthy merchant?" Unicorn tilted his head to the side. "Well, he is wealthy that's true, I think he has a history of serving but that was some time ago." "Wait," said Johnny "like he served during the Wizard Wars?" Alex went silent for a second to find a good answer: "I am not sure, maybe. He never really talks much about his time in the military. But to answer your question, he is into politics and recently got a position in the parliament." "Uh, what party?" rabbit asked. "Phew, I...actually don't know. But I know he is pretty progressive so...eh, not sure?" Johnny never really paid attention to what politics are going on, he saw himself as someone who cares about people but knew if would care too much he would just worry too much. Ergo would just freeze in place due to all the worry. "Well," Johnny took bite of his tortilla "kind of explains why he likes ya so much." Unicorn answered with: "Yeah that's true."

After the meal Primshire showed the rabbit where he would be sleeping, it would be on a couch which was already big enough for John but it was like ten times larger than his bed plus it could be unfolded to be a bed, at-least he would have plenty of space to roll around in. Both wished each other good night and went to sleep, or at-least one of them. Rabbit just couldn't fall asleep; he waited the first hour hoping for his eye lids to get heavy but nothing. The second hour passed, then the third and still nothing. He started to think, was it the blanket that Alex gave him? No. Was it the couch itself being too big for him...or the room itself? Nope, that wasn't it either. The rain and occasional thunder were perfect for falling asleep but that was of no help. Not even the nightmares he was having, since some of them tended to repeat.

He decided to get up and carefully shuffle his way into the kitchen, he didn't want to trip over something or walk into something for it was quite dark. Occasional flash of thunder helped but he didn't want turn the lights on, it would burn his eyes and just wasn't a fan of a direct light to eyes. He didn't know why. He made it to the kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed a carton milk that was there. He heard that a glass of warm milk could help folk sleep, so he decided to try that. He poured himself a mug of it and put it into a microwave that was there and set the timer. Suddenly he hears foot-steps upstairs and then they were going from the stairwell.

It was Alex, wearing that metal band shirt and some black light shorts plus a black bathrobe with white cartoony magical symbols. He said: "Can't sleep?" Johnny shook his head. "Yeah, me neither." Said Prismshire. They both sat near the table that was in the kitchen, the same one where they had dinner. They started to chat, both hoping they will get drowsy and feel sleepier. "What's keeping you up?" asked the Unicorn. Johnny blew a raspberry: "No idea, can't be the nightmares." "What nightmares?" Johnny waved his paw: "Nothing big really, just...look its nothing. Seems something that I should talk about to a professional anyway." Alex tilted his head:" Well...okay. You know you might be just worried about something or just anxious." Johnny took a sip of the warm milk: "I guess, any idea what could put my soul at rest?" "Wait here." Prismshire got up and went into the living room, sounds of sliding open drawers and other types of cabinets could be heard and occasional "Damn where I put them?": from Alex and then finally an "Aha!" from him. Unicorn got back with what seemed to be a pack of cards. "What are you planning to do? Play some late-night poker?" asked sarcastically John. Alex chuckled: "Nah, something completely different." He put on his hood of the bathrobe and shuffled the cards. "Wait," Johnny squinted his eyes on the cards "are those...tarot cards?" Unicorn nodded.

Johnny wasn't very alien to telling fortunes but he wasn't sure what was Alexander cooking here. "Okay" exhaled Alex "listen I know this might sound like bad idea, but majority of anxieties I had were from whatever the future held for me so this helped me like A LOT, so I believe this will put your mind at ease too." Johnny nodded, he wasn't much sure about this but at least he didn't have to worry that much now, right?

"Let's see.": said Alex and he put down six cards facing down. "Now John, I need to give me both of your paws. Okay?" Rabbit obliged and put his paws into unicorn's large hands, he was surprised how big they were. Alex breathed in deeply and slowly exhaled. "Let's get started." And clapped both of his own hands and rubbed them together he flipped the first card, it was a Card of Dawn it depicted a Goddess Solara a unicorn Goddess lifting the Sun with her powers. "This one represents New Beginnings and since it's a the very first card it would be of some great ones." "Like what?" asked the rabbit. "It could be some kind of new life opportunity?" shrugged Alex. Alex then turned the second one, it was a Card of Aid, it depicted young paw reaching out to a shrivelled elder one with intention of helping. "Now this one can have double meaning." "Go on." Said John." "Well, you either going to help someone or get some help from someone. Again, quite vague." Rabbit nodded. Unicorn turned the third one, it was a Card of Revelation it depicted a deer scholar or a monk gazing in awe into an open tome radiating some of light. "Okay, this might be one about knowledge." "What do you mean?" "Well, it could be something about yourself." Johnny stayed quiet for a minute. "Well, I am from an orphanage so..." Unicorns ears perked up. "Um," John stuttered: "can we talk about this later?" Unicorn nodded.

Alexander continued and turned the fourth card it was a Card of Familiarity it depicted two rodents of sorts, they were both separated by a pane of glass and both touching hands in symmetry. One could confuse this for an image depicting a common mirror in action. Unicorn scratched the back of his head "Hmm, are you still in contact with you parents?" "Um not really, again its complicated can we talk about this later?" Replied the rabbit. "I am...sorry." apologized Alex. The rumbling of the storm grew louder.

Unicorn turned the fifth card; it was a Card of a Gift it depicted a Godly Figure handing over to a Mortal a bundle of herbs and spices but the whole card for placed upside down. "Uh, that can't be good." Said Johnny. "Not really," replied Alex "it's more a case of double-edged sword." "What like, Sword of Thorn straight up from some dark tale where the hero has to squeeze the handle which is covered in rose like thorns to the point of bleeding in order to harness its full power?" questioned the rabbit. Alex was a bit stunned by the oddly specific question, in a second, he tilted his head and answered: "Yes? Sure, something like that." Alex looked back up and asked: "Where did you get that anyway?" John replied with: "Comic books." "Right." Said Prismshire and scratched his nose, he was getting ready to turn over the last of the six cards, for some reason Johnny felt nervous and started to feel drops of sweat to form on his forehead. Alex reached out to turn the last card over but his wrist was caught by Johnny. "Listen I don't think this a good idea." Said Johnny, his voice was shaking. The entire situation didn't feel right.

Alex started to assure him: "Listen John, while I understand that you are worried there's nothing to be afraid off." "It's not that, I fear these types of things it feels like...ugh." Johnny pressed his paws against his own face took a deep breath and spoke. "It's just that I am quite superstitious sometimes and well...". Alex placed his hand on rabbit shoulder and said: "It's just fortune telling, there are cases where none of these things could ever took place. Just take this whole thing with a good slice of scepticism. Like me, as I said I am doing this to put your mind at ease. As the many times *I* did for myself, okay?" John nodded, he decided to take the unicorns advice. Coincidences happen after all, no "but what the hell?" situations here.

Alex took a deep breath and reached with his hand towards the last sixth card: "And the last one is..." a sudden flash lit up the room from the outside and a loud boom was heard. For a second the entire room shook from the sound and all the lights went out. It was pitch dark; both of our boys got startled. Alex jerked his hand and there was a sound of something papery spilling. "Ah bugger, the cards!" he shouted. Rabbit´s started to pound and began to look around franticly. After few seconds passed and both calmed down the rabbit said: "Do we have some sort of light source?" "Um, something like that.": said Alex. A small bright light filled up room, starting from a tip of the unicorn´s horn, proceeding to illuminate his forehead and muzzle. Then it proceeded to illuminate the small port of the kitchen, rabbit included. "Must be the breakers," said Alex "I will check them. Might have to result to candles though." After a while the Unicorn confirmed that the breaker was out and it seemed that the whole block, or at least part of it, had power outage due to the thunder from the storm. He came back with some candles, both of the boys light them up with matches from a nearby drawer. "W-what was the last card?" asked the rabbit. "Dammed if I know.": replied Alex, he was referring to the deck of cards that spilled when the power went out, plus the thunder. They both started to collect the spilled cards and put them in a deck and made a use of a rubber band to put them together "I guess we will never know now.": said Alex. "Eh whatever," shrugged Johnny "got...something else that could calm us down now?" "Hmmm," the unicorn thought "I think the stove still works...I got an idea."

"Hey listen," said the unicorn" I could quickly brew this herbal tea. It will help both of us sleep since the witching hour is probably over. I will work honest." Johnny shrugged and, in the end, said:" Sure, some guarantee of shut-eye will be benefit for both of us. Especially after that thunder." Alex got up and made his way to the cupboards and rummaged in them for a second, he was looking for the tin or the can for the right tea. "Ah, there it is." Unicorn exclaimed and set the tin on the table. "Let me set it up, yeah?" he said and rabbit nodded in response. While Prismshire was getting the gas stove on, Johnny decided to inspect the tin itself against the candle light, it was your run of the mill tin from old days with a great looking stars and planets and such the highlight of it all was a cartoony caricature of a moon and from it several Zs were floating away from his triangle-like nose. Overall, a cute design and from a peak of the Art-Deco era of style. The name on the tin can said: "Herbal Tea Mix for Sleep and Relaxation" with the under title saying: "Sleep with the Stars".

A question perked up in rabbit's head: "Say, where did you get this?" "Oh, it's my dad´s," replied Alex. "It helped him sleep and communicate with otherworldly beings, at least that's what he told me when he was telling me his stories." "Hmmm," Johnny scanned the kitchen table and his eyes stopped at the pack of tarot cards that Alex brought in: "I take it you are interested in that kind of stuff that your dad did?" "What? The whole speaking with spirits stuff? Yeah, it seemed interesting enough to try things like that and well" Alex gestured towards the cards "you can see how it sometimes doesn't work out. I guess the fates are not on our side this night, huh? Or anyone's side, are they? Heh." Rabbit nodded at that statement; the kettle stared to whistle.

Alex stuffed a small ball, with holes in it on a small chain and put it in a mug and drowned it in hot water, he did the same again for his own mug. Johnny decided to waft a bit of the tea, it smelled a bit like lavender. It had that calming herby smell. "So, this is going to do the trick?" asked the rabbit, Alex nodded. "Well, I guess I will see you in the morning." Said John and went to sit back at the couch in the living room carrying a spare candle. He looked over and saw Alex, illuminated by his spare candle, wave his goodbye for now and he went to go upstairs to his bedroom. Johnny set the tea down at the coffee table near the couch and sat there for a while, he started to think if he would have nightmares of sort again or would be a quiet night. It was never very much set in stone if he would have them without the pills.

He decided that it should be fine, sure he didn't take the medication but again he needed some rest, biking across a good chunk of the capital tuckered him out. He carefully blew at the tea and decided to drink it down, the taste was earthy and slightly sweet. To be honest it tasted like any other herby teas he had before. Johnny blew out the candle and laid himself down on the couch and covered himself with the covers and stared at the celling for a while, few minutes later he started to feel his eyelids getting heavy and let himself drift into a well-deserved sleep for the day.

John started to dream, it started with his opening his eyes and surveying his surroundings, it felt awfully familiar. He got up he was in an odd room, padded like a room in an asylum but the floor was wooden again it felt the familiar. The smell itself was of antiseptic, used to clean wards and doctor offices but there was also an equally strong smell of oldness, like of an old wooden furniture. He examined the room more closely where he "woke up", there was a basic bedside post of a table and he was in a bunk. The upper bunk wasn't absent but there was no mattress just wires where the bed should be and there was an old looking light on the ceiling, it was of toxic yellow colour like of street lights.

Suddenly an odd "click" like sound came from behind him, he briskly turned around and saw a pale wooden door with cracked paint slowly opening to some sort of hall. John cautiously stepped into the hall and looked around. The entire hallway was an amalgamation of structure that sort of "bled" into itself, like there was concrete, white façade and wooden walls and there was an old CRT TV mounted on the end of it. The floor itself was a mix of light-green tiles and wooden floorboards, there were also benches scattered along the walls. Johnny looked at the back of the door he came out of, there was a number "01" on it and then he took notice of the other doors. They had some numbers too, but they were scratched out, it started to...unnerve him. He felt he was here before but it was hard to tell, he started to feel his head hurt.

Abrutly, he heard a sound of static and...concrete being smashed? He turned towards the source of the sound it was the TV, it turned itself on and started to twitch. It grew...legs from the bottom, then torso, arms, all that was missing was the head, because it head was the TV. It was just hanging there and next it braced its limbs against the wall behind it and pushed, it pried itself from the wall with its cable still connect to the said wall and it started to walk towards John. Rabbit was stunned by fear, he felt how his legs just turned to stone and was unable to move. A cold sweat ran down on his forehead.

The stranger was now face to face to Johnny, still emitting white static but there was also a mess of voices that were hard to make out like on a malfunctioning radio. The stranger was clothed in dark jean like pants, on their feet were heavy duty boots, he wore a white tee with some symbol, black fingerless leather gloves and as a cherry on top a black trench coat. Johnny felt he saw something like this before. A text black appeared on the strangers TV head saying: "Do you remember me?", John shook his head. "Do you remember this place?" Johnny somewhat shook his head and gesture that he wasn't sure. "You will, kid.": the text wrote and again "In due time of course." The stranger pats the rabbit on his shoulder, it felt weird like John´s shoulder fell asleep for a second. "I wish you good luck. We will see again soon." Johnny started to hear a cacophony of way too loud voices: "Wake up!" "Its time Number 1." "You have duties to attend to!" "The chair, sit in it!" there was a sound of a blaring alarm "Don't move!" "Another dose!" "Strap him!" Rabbit clenched his head, he briefly looked up. The stranger was gone. "HE IS A FAILURE!" "WORTHLESS OPRHAN!" "A DEAD END!" "HE WONT LAST!" "THIS WAY, KID!" a world started to collapse around him "HE IS A DEAD MEAT!" "HE IS NEVER GONNA AMOUNT TO ANYTHING!" He couldn't take it he was at a breaking point: "SHUT UP!" he yelled, forcefully closed his eyes and woke up!