Realization

The cage in which he is located seems to be a rather sturdy one. It is a bit rusty and bent on some places but solidly built. It shows that it has been used for a while, but it still seems to be in good enough condition to hold a bigger animal, like a lion or a tiger without difficulty. Considering this, he wonders: "Why the hell am I inside this cage, and why am I chained down on top of it? This looks like I am being contained because people are afraid of me. Wow, this is an interesting dream". Without thinking further about the situation, he shouts out: "OOOOYY", to get someone's attention. The guard that dragged an iron bar along the cage before, which he at first thought was his alarm clock, turns abruptly around. The Guard seems to be in his mid thirties with a small black beard. His clothes are in a similar style to the those found in the late middle ages. On top of that, to his surprise, a slightly rusty sword hangs the hip of the man. Arion is convinced that for this dream he is having an adventure in the middle ages.

Due to his sudden voicing from before, the guard moves closer with big slow steps, while staring at him intensively. Doing so, the sword on his hip makes a rhythmic metallic noise.

"What ya think ya doing there?", says the man rather aggressively. "Well I thought you might be able to explain me why I am in this cage and where exactly we are?", Arion spouts to the mans question. The guard utters: "What ya doin there, where ya are...", not being able to continue what he was going to give voice to, Arion cuts in with a calm voice: "Exactly". Angered by the interruption the guard states: "Well, durin tha travel ya cage fell off tha wagon. Ya must have smacked ya head pretty hard during tha fall. Forgot all the stuff aight". Arion just silently listening to the man's explanation: "To ya surprise, little monster, ya gon be sold as a pet or slave, depending on tha person. Basically ya an object, part of our wares". "I am a slave": shouts Arion out, while dragging his right arm with an abrupt movement in the direction where the man is standing. The fast action is suddenly stopped by a very loud metallic sound, as the chain is straighten out. Pain rushes through his right arm, which leads him to let out a small squeak. "Wow, this was rather painful for a dream", he realizes, but without giving it much thought, he attempts to stand up. The guard directly perceives his intention and in the absence of hesitation he smacks his unsheathed sword onto Arions head. Due to the hard blow to his head, he sinks back to the floor, unable to move for a bit. During this moment the guard turns his attention back to what he was doing before. Guarding the rest of the cages, making sure no one behaves in the same stupid manner as Arion did.

The pain has not completely disappeared yet, but he is able to move freely again. Arion determines that is a good choice to analyze his head with his hands. Because anything shiny, reflecting himself, is nowhere near him. The only things situated in the room are other rusty cages and a few torches. So he starts moving his right hand slowly over the right side of his head. He can start to feel something hard. This object is not that small as it fits perfectly in his enclosed hand. "This feels very similar to horn i have touched on a billy goat", he recognizes. "There are a few other people in the cages located around me. There are man and women ranging from young through a bit older. But they all seem just like any other human. So this horn might be the reason why the guard called me a monster!" Slowly moving his hand further to the left side of his skull, he can feel something a bit slimy and warm. Realizing this is the place where the guard hit him with the sword, he rushes his hand to the front of his eyes. This allows him to take a closer look at this liquid, so he can determine if it is blood. Now realizing that his assumption is correct, he attempts to abruptly stand up, but is completely failing while sinking closer to ground. During his fall his view darkens slowly, "Ah, I guess I am finally waking up from this mad dream", he attempts to say, but nothing can be heard...

Opening his eyes again, the view in front of Arion hasn't changed in the tiniest bit. He is still surrounded by rusty cages, located in the room lightened by torches, "Did I smack ya to hard little monster? Or ya just takin' a nap?", shouts the guard while annoyingly laughing.

"It looks like this is not just a dream. I didn't wake up from the pain and I have never heard from someone falling unconscious inside a dream. So this must be reality, it must be how that weird glowing orb explained.", he determines with his thoughts.