"Your majesty" the warrior elf stepped out from the shadows and bowed before Princess Kiara. She was chief of the guardians of the forest and lake; her tribe knew exactly who, when, and where a stranger was wandering. Though they were not a violent group of elves, they were perfectly capable of warfare. These particular forest guardians were peculiar indeed, politically; they would not bow before any male authority figures, but they had become especially enamored at the idea that Princess Kiara would be the next ruler of Cyrch so that they gladly obeyed anything she said on the rare times they would meet. They also encouraged her to ascend the throne by herself so another man would not take over the realm, citing the need for fierce warrior princesses to protect the land.<br/><br/>"'Twas I, Suntop." She walked closer to Wesley. "This is a strange one; it is not fit to say he is not from around here. That is an understatement." Curious, she walked around Wesley, looking him up and down, occasionally touching him as if investigating if he were real or not. At one particular touch, Wesley resisted and grabbed Suntop's arm. Immediately, she countered forcing Wesley's arm behind him, grabbing the back of his hair and pulling hard. Wesley let out a cry, and Suntop eased up a little so her hold would not be so painful. She kept her knee steady in his back so he was paralyzed. "Feisty he is. But there is something all together mysterious about this, what did you call yourself? Wesley?" she said as she broke the grip and forced him forward on the ground.<br/><br/>Suntop continued. "He may very well be telling the truth that he thinks he is in a dream; perhaps we are not the dream characters. Perhaps he is. You see" she said, retrieving the arrow from the tree and putting them back with her other ones while taking out her bow. "I don't miss; my arrows are designed to hone in on anyone with a life force; it misses when there is no life force to be honed in on." Abruptly, Suntop walked over to Princess Kiara. "I can shoot a different arrow and this time I won't miss, if it is your pleasure Queen Kiara. But essentially what I'm telling you is ... this person who is as real as you and me ... who you can touch ... who you can see ... he's technically dead."<br/><br/>***********************************<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">"Go over this again with me" the good doctor exclaimed. "When I call his next of kin, I gotta know what to say here."<br/><br/>Wesley's co-worker was none too happy to have to recount the same story over and over again, but the doctor apparently did not believe any of it. "I told you; I went into the break room around quarter of three; there was Wesley. It seemed to me he was sleeping away, taking a nap. You know, he had a hell of a morning working on the Asia contract. I left, came back around three. He was still there and I decided I better wake him."<br/><br/>"So" the doctor continued. "You did what to him?"<br/><br/>"I didn't do anything! Except try to wake him; as you see him now is the way I found him. The way he is now is the way he was in the break room. That is the God's honest truth. That's why I called ER; he's not getting any better you know."<br/><br/>The doctor sighed, writing it all down for the fifth time. He didn't want to believe it, that perhaps he had an issue here. How many patients fall asleep, never to awaken again. Taking out his cell phone, he dialed the numbers on his sheet. Waiting for a few seconds, it went to voicemail. Must have been out of service. Yup, it was Audrey Moyer's voicemail; how she was next of kin, he wasn't sure. The name sounded nothing like Wesley Theodore Bux.<br/><br/>At the beep, he said, "Yes, Audrey. This is Doctor Stevens at Baystate Hospital. I need you to come down right away; well, you are next of kin on the emergency roster of Wesley Bux. We have a major problem here. Your ... friend ... your brother ... whoever he is. He's fine ... err ... in terms of his health and bodily functions. We've got him hooked up to IVs and all of that seems normal. But; there's no brainwave activity and the heart is barely beating. I'm not sure how else to say this.  Essentially what I'm telling you is ... he's technically dead ... "</span>