Gentle waves whispered back and forth across golden sand. Overhead gulls wheeled and called in the warm sunshine. A soft breeze rustled the palm branches just a few yards further up the beach. Emi sighed happily as she stood still, wiggling her toes and letting the waves wash over her feet to the ankles. A feeling of peace and happiness filled her entirely as she simply stood. She was home.

“Emi.”

She turned at the sound of her name, wondering who could find her here. The man on the beach had the same copper-toned skin as her. His black hair, also worn in braids, came to his waist. He wore simple, knee-length shorts and a sleeveless shirt that was open at the neck. Emi stared for a moment then rushed to his open arms.

“Poppa!”

Father and daughter embraced in silence for several moments until at last Emi pulled away.

“But how? You’re-”

“Dead?” he supplied, “Yes, I am. Sometimes the Spirit Realm and dreams touch, but only briefly. You seem to have gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble.”

Emi nodded and began explaining about the last few weeks. Her father nodded, listening intently as he always did when Emi laid out a problem. When she finished he was silent for a moment.

“Do you remember when you were about 10 years old and you wanted to build your first boat by yourself? You were so determined that you could do it yourself. You selected a good tree and got it cut down, but you couldn’t budge it afterward. You tried for hours before you finally gave up and asked for help.”

Emi smiled ruefully, remembering the day clearly. “I was so upset that I couldn’t even do the first task of boat building: get the wood to your work area. It was more than anyone could have done on their own, but I was so sure that I could.”

Poppa chuckled, “Indeed. You are in a similar situation, Duckling. Do you remember what I told you when you were so upset about the whole thing?”

“You said,” she paused, trying to remember, “you said there was no shame in admitting you had taken on more than you can handle. That sometimes it was better to admit you needed to step back and think again than to keep going and risk harming yourself or others.”

He smiled and hugged her tightly, “Remember that always, my Emi. My time grows short.” He held her out at arm’s length and smiled as his form began to fade away. “Your mother sends her love and I am very proud of you.”

The dream shimmered and shattered as ear-splitting shrieks filled the air outside her cave. Emi woke and rolled quickly to her feet. She moved slowly to the rubble pile at the entrance listening intently for any sign of something being close. The hole at the top of the pile was above her head. Muttering to herself about not paying better attention to such things, she braced her hands and feet against either side of the narrow entryway and worked her way up to peek out.

By the light of the full moon she could see demons of all sizes moving across the countryside. She could now see that the shrieks and bellows were the results of some of the demons fighting amongst themselves. Cursing her luck, she dropped back down and moved away from the entrance. Maybe they’d be too intent on reaching the gate and fighting each other to notice her, maybe not. Either way, she had to find a better option than hoping for the best.

She felt around in the pitch black of the cave to see what else remained to shore up her rubble pile “door.” She found the rest of the firewood and began stacking that up in the entryway. Nothing else remained in the cave. The only place to hide was possibly the fireplace. She glanced nervously at the entrance then felt her way to the fireplace.

Crouching, she sidestepped into the fireplace and stretched her arms up, feeling along the walls of the chimney.

So far so good…

She stood slowly as she continued to stretch until she was at her full height, but the chimney hadn’t narrowed yet. She looked up but couldn’t see any evidence that the hole was directly above her. She coughed lightly as dust, dirt and old soot fell in her face. She crawled back out of the fireplace and froze.

Howls echoed around her as the sound of scrabbling reached her ears. She cursed under her breath, grabbed her harpoon and hurried back into the fireplace. Bracing hands and feet against the walls, she worked her way up the chimney. She held herself in place with her feet against one wall and her back against the other. Holding her harpoon ready to stab down at anything that showed its face, she waited and prayed.