In the dead of night, within an estate comfortably distanced from the bustle of the inner city, a slight ringing sounded in the master bedroom. Within this dimly lit bedroom was an enchanted stone disc, sized to fit into a palm and placed upon a bedside drawer, creeping in a meandering manner with each buzz that emanated from it. Upon the bed itself, soft blankets and a human figure stirred from their previous stillness. A second figure was present in the pile, although he was still rapt in sleep, nestled into the side of the now roused lady. Her right arm wrapped around her bedmate, her left addressed an itch on the back of her head and then reached for the stone. Tracing a delicate but simple symbol on the stone with her thumb, a rune lit up upon it as she held it close to the side of her head.

“Calling for Major Stetz.” The voice of the man came through as clear as if the one speaking was within the stone itself, albeit quiet with a slight “tinny” effect.

The lady breathed out a sigh, familiar with the voice of her comrade. “Speaking.”

“Hey Mahaud, we’re holding an emergency meeting. Some serious issues have broken out in the Karthmere territories and we need to make a plan and send a sortie out. Just an official function, you can return home afterward.”

With the young man at her side still tucked into her armpit, Mahaud bent her torso this way and that, firm muscles poking out from her back. “Aaaaa-alright, i’ll head over. When and where?”

“South wing of the main building at the compound. We’re pretty much the only ones awake here, just look for the only room with a guard posted. Be in here within an hour.”

Mahaud nodded, “Gotcha, i’ll be there real soon.”

“Yeah, you better!”

Mahaud chuckled a little; the voice’s comment was jocular in nature. Many would perhaps be unsettled by the casual nature two high ranking military officers discussed business, but the two were long time friends, and the extent of their past heroics outweighed any doubt of their commitment to their duty.

Placing the stone back down on the desk, she breathed a sigh and paused to think. Her eyes wandered down to the sweet little thing she had next to her, long, downy hair upon his head with a small, soft, nearly naked body comfortably pressing up against her.

His name was June Kenarn. At least, that was before Mahaud got her hands on him; now it was June Stetz. He and Mahaud had been married for three years, and known each other for four. She met him while she and the company under her command were taking a respite in the countryside, celebrating the great strides that their campaign had made during their deployment. He worked at the tavern the company was having their festivities in, and he just so happened to be serving the beers and meals to her table. His dainty looks already enticed her, but he had a sweet innocence coupled with a verbal wit that he flaunted to great effect, along with a heart piercingly sincere smile. Mahaud made a few light advances by the end of the night, which June answered with playful teasing. She was a solid 12 years his senior; he was but 20 years old at the time and she 32.

After that was a year of Mahaud rather passionately courting June in between assignments, as she found he was just the thing her battle weary heart needed. June looked forward to the meetings just as much as she did, with all their hallmarks; kicking open the tavern doors with flair, suggestive comments on whatever new style he had on, a present here and there. For every visit, his mood brightened more at the sight of her, and he became more receptive to her approach. She had utterly conquered his heart, making it only a matter of asking for his parent’s blessings and then popping the question.

A pair of rings and a vow later, and the two became near inseparable. With Mahaud’s income, the two agreed that he could send some of her pay to his family instead of having to work at the tavern, allowing him to be a full time house husband. After a few tearful goodbyes to his beloved family, June left the countryside and moved into Mahaud’s estate. Mahaud still had duties to attend to herself, as she had a few decades left in her before a quiet retirement. The constant seperations, while painful, did nothing to slow the couple’s passion. Mahaud felt that it was nice to have someone to return home to, and June was more than happy attending to the estate. The periods away from each other just made the couple’s nights together more intimate, and perhaps more physically exhausting.

Despite the light commotion Mahaud had caused, June was still deep asleep, obviously comfortable in his position. His right hand and face were rested against Mahaud’s chest, unconscious in their natural pull towards their protector. His upper lip, deep, smooth and pink, was pursed slightly open, leaving open the slightest view of his whites. Even though his mouth was open, he breathed through his nose, the quiet ins and outs reflective of the delicate nature of his body. That was his only movement, the subtle expansion and contraction of his chest, over and over. Mahaud found it, and him in his entirety, simply mesmerizing.

While she gazed appreciatively at him, his mouth let out the slightest noise, entirely indistinct in purpose. Mahaud cocked her head, curious at the utterance’s meaning. “Are you dreaming down there?” she whispered in contemplation. As well as she knew him, she didn’t have the faintest idea what June’s mind would dream of. Luckily, Mahaud thought, she knew just the kind of magic to elucidate the mystery. She took a light course of empathics (or in non-jargon, mind reading) in college; her main discipline was war magic and tactics, specifically applications of electromancy, but her limited expertise would still be usable. June was sleeping, the least defensive mental state, and she was without doubt that his mind would have little want to resist her regardless. Gently placing four fingertips on the side of his head, she closed her eyes, trying to clear her own mind and get into sync with his. Not making a lot of progress, she remembered a tip she picked up; placing her other hand on his wrist, she got a read of his pulse, and used that as a reference point.

It was working; at first, her mind only visually displayed loosely held together colors. Tuning in closer and closer, she found that he was in fact having a dream, and she had gotten a hold of it. She chose to perceive it from his view, as trying to reconfigure an entirely different perspective was a lot of work, and Mahaud was comfortable with what she had already. He was walking to his home, back in the countryside. He was carrying with him a light bag of luggage, and walking toward the front door of the cottage. She could feel the peace and happiness he had; this must be a loose recollection of some of the return visits he had to his family. The home had a garden out the side, where June’s stout father, Penn, was tending to some tomatoes. When his gaze came across his son, he leaned forward on the fence surrounding the garden, calling out, “Well, look who’s returned!” Immediately afterward came bursting out the door a spry, 10-year-old little rascal in a dress; June’s younger sister, Bell.

“Juuuuuuuune!” she yelled as she barreled towards him. June placed down his luggage, and the two wrapped each other in a deep hug.

“Awwww, hey Bell! Have you been behaving recently?” June placed his hands on Bell’s shoulders, looking her over.

“Yeah kinda!” June laughed. “Look, look, I need you to do something for me!” She grabbed his hand and started pulling him along, but not before June could quick snatch his bag back up off the ground.

“Oh dear, what on earth are you getting us into this time?” Mahaud noted that while June was wary of Bell’s antics, he truly did care for her at the bottom of his heart. Bell was a bit of a headache for Mahaud whenever the two met, but Mahaud admired the patience June displayed when with children.

The father called out to the two, “Mother’s almost ready with dinner, you two! Be ready to come inside soon!”

Bell answered with a juvenile “Kaaay!” while June thanked his father for having a meal ready for him.

After she led him to the front lawn, she turned around and said “I need you to show me how to do that braid you did for me before!” She held up the majority of her hair before her face, which seemed to have been groomed at no recent time whatsoever.

“Well you should start with perhaps taking a comb to your hair every once in a while.” June inspected her hair with his own hands, running his fingers through it a bit.

“Yeh yeh yeh i’ll do that, just show me the, the, the thing! Do the braiding thing!” She sat herself on a large stump, and June positioned himself behind her.

“Alright, alright, i’ll do it for you while talking it through.” June took out a comb from his bag and lightly wiped it clean, and began working on Bell’s hair. Mahaud felt the peace that June reminisced on, his dear memories of his family. As he deftly braided Bell’s hair and chatted with her, Mahaud could really see why June was so attached to his family. She herself really viewed them as a model, the ideal citizens of the republic she puts herself at risk to protect.

As June was midway through braiding, a horrid screech echoed in the distance. June looked out into the distance, and spied a dust cloud that slowly grew in size, bizarre forms twisting within it. A pack of mantilids; gigantic, bloodthirsty hybrids of lizards and insects that began cropping up on the republic’s borders. They were certainly not natural, and according to intelligence were more than likely created with intent to destabilize the region. At least, as a military officer, that’s what Mahaud knew. June was only aware of the danger they posed, and that his family lived in a place that was unfortunately not guaranteed to be safe due to these monsters.

Mahaud could feel his pulse in the real world quicken, and unbridled fear ran rampant in his mind. In the dream, he grabbed his sister’s hand and began running as fast as he could, but knowing the nature of nightmares, Mahaud thought it would likely not be fast enough. Penn called into the house, “Nara, mantilids!” A spindly woman, holding a barely serviceable spear, came running out of the house and joined the family in their escape. June ran and ran, his train of thought not diverging from his fear for him and his families safety.

Mahaud thought to herself that she can’t accept this; even if the danger was fabricated, she couldn’t leave her precious June to fend off his terrors alone. In reality, his breathing became more erratic, and he even began whimpering, desperation overtaking him. It was going to take much more effort than what she was already doing, but it was most certainly worth it to see him comforted, she felt. She focused harder, and probed deeper into June’s mind, plunging her mental grasp towards his cognition.

Within the dream, June and Bell had run into the nearby woods, separated at some point from their parents. The mantilids were only a few dozen meters away now; the forward scouts of these monsters could keep pace with a draft horse. June’s foot got caught on a root and gave way underneath him, sending him straight into the dirt along with Bell. A mantilid caught up immediately from the opportunity, and was only a meter away now. His fear reaching a fever peak, he sheltered Bell from the creature. His eyes closed tightly shut, he had reached the point in a dream where normally a sudden jolt would rock through his body, waking him in a cold sweat. Instead, he heard a loud clap and shock within the dream, along with the dense thud of a fallen creature.

His eyes opened, the dream continuing; Mahaud was right there, standing guard in front of him and Bell. Her service saber drawn, the weapon crackled and flashed with energy, the ooze that once flowed within the mantilid now dripping off of it. She flicked off the sludge with a flourish, and turned around to face him. The two saw each other in positions they so frequently recreated in romance; Mahaud saw the precious and vulnerable boy laid on the ground before her, and June saw the brave and powerful hero standing watch over him. Bell was also there, which made the long gaze between each other slightly awkward when they remembered as much.

Mahaud extended her hand down towards June, asking “It would be rather dangerous for you two to be alone here, shall I escort you home?”

A smile upon his face, June placed his hand into the grasp of the strapping lady, answering “Why, that would be wonderful.” Clearly June was happily playing along with the sudden turn his dream was taking.

Pulling him up to his feet, which consequently brought Bell up as well, Mahaud followed up by picking the two up in one arm. Bell in June’s lap, June cradled against Mahaud, and her saber in her other hand, Mahaud began walking out of the forest. The strength she was displaying was no exaggeration of her real world capabilities; due to her intensive training with electromancy, the kinetic potential in her muscles were highly augmented beyond conventional human standards.

Bell began tapping against Mahaud’s shoulder, shouting “MAHAUD! BIG SIS! SHOW ME HOW TO DO THAT CRAZY KAPOW THING! PLEASE, PLEASE TEACH ME, I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANNA KNOW! OR, OR, JUST GIVE ME YOUR SWORD, I WANT YOUR SWORD PLEEEEEEASE!” Mahaud noted that June had an internal understanding of how persistently Bell would request Mahaud to do something incredibly dangerous.

As Mahaud neared the edge of the forest, the rest of the pack of mantilids drew near. It was a solid wall of them, all of them at least the size of a cow, with the biggest among them looking like they could have a cow for lunch. Mahaud placed herself into wide stance, levelling her sword. “Maybe some other time. For now, let’s just have a light show!” Her saber began to make a buzzing noise that grew higher and higher in pitch, and soon the metal of the blade seemed to vibrate itself. The mantilids all charged in at unison, hungry to rip the humans apart. The fastest ones, who thought they were in prime position to have the freshest kill, were blasted apart into meaty chunks by an immense overload of lightning that shot at them. The lightning arced from the tip of Mahaud’s saber, splitting into a wider and wider spread to accommodate all the beasts. Those that weren’t blasted apart fell down under paralysis, and those who weren’t paralyzed were severely slowed down. The mantilids gained ground at a crawl, despite the fact that Mahaud could press harder if she wanted.

She had to make it look convincing, after all. This wasn’t a matter of using real life combat prowess to fight off evil; it was a matter of convincing June mentally. He had a belief, a legitimate fear, that willed these threats into being. He didn’t want to believe his family were in danger, but he thought so nonetheless, concern for his family consuming him. So the only thing that could alleviate his willful fear would be a stronger will, a will that says that he and his family are safe, that someone will always be there to rescue him. A will that is simply stronger that wants to protect him.

When only the massive siege beasts remained, Mahaud turned up the pressure little by little, until eventually they began to incinerate into thin air, leaving no corpse behind. Mahaud whipped her saber around in a flourish, and placed it back into its sheath. As she continued her walk, June commented in a playful tone, “That was simply dazzling, Major Stetz, if a little...” Mahaud’s boots squished against some viscera, and she kicked aside half a corpse that was in the way. “Messy.”

“Well, you know me, messy situations are my forte.” She flipped her hair with her free hand, doing her best at being impressive. June blushed a little.

Bell shrugged, “I don’t get it.”

Soon Mahaud reached the cottage, and there was Mr. and Mrs. Kenarn in distress. Seeing the safe return of their two offspring, they were both struck with immense relief. Mahaud placed the two down, and Bell immediately ran off to tell her parents how absolutely awesome Mahaud was. With that, both June and Mahaud were more or less in privacy; for all intents and purposes, June’s dream focused in solely on him and Mahaud. June looked up at Mahaud, and Mahaud returned the gaze. The dream was rife with possibilities at this moment, the two lovers in solitude.

To Mahaud’s dismay, though, time was still flowing in reality, and likely a bit fast. If she didn’t rush off soon, she would be shirking her duties. Her dedication to protecting the republic was what gave her the commitment to convince June that he and his loved ones are safe. She couldn’t be going back on that promise now, even if the current opportunity was outrageously delicious.

She removed her grip on June’s dream, allowing it to continue naturally. At least one of the two were going to be able to enjoy it, and it was his own mind in the first place. Delicately placing June down from her embrace, she stood up out of bed and began getting dressed. As she slipped on her pants, vest, boots, and jacket, she glanced at her partner resting in bed. She was truly curious where he would take the dream from there. Would her dream double leave June to enjoy dinner with his family, riding a horse spawned out of nowhere into the sunset? Or would a date commence from there, not unlike the many times she romanced him before? Maybe the two would walk back into the privacy of the forest, where Mahaud would ravish June as the spoils of her victory.

“Alright, Mahaud, that last one’s just you.” she admitted to herself. Ready to head out the door, she paused to consider; he really did look so sweet lying in bed, and she could use something for the road. Walking back to the bedside, she leaned down over her love and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Sweet dreams, my June.”