'Nesh once again anticipates battle with nightmares, but instead meets a strange creature.
- Despite his very best efforts, Holicinesh once again found himself sleeping soundly in his bed after much coercion by both his uncle and Hawk. He had a sneaking suspicion as he fell asleep that the Fiend had slipped something into his tea. He was not concerned by any strange drugs, no, it had not been that. He was far more wary of the strange plants and flowers Hawk was coaxing into sprouting within his uncle’s long forgotten garden.
He could feel it now. He knew exactly when the cool darkness of his dream realm began, and he was almost certain he knew how this dream would end. He was prepared. He was no longer a small child. Still young. Still untested as far has his skills with magic went, but he was not a small child.
He was a slightly bigger child. He laughed outright at his own fear, and stuffed one hand against his mouth to stifle his giggling. Oh, that damn Shadow. He had certainly slipped him something. He did not giggle so!
The darkness that surrounded him became more opaque rather suddenly. This too, he anticipated. He stood, ready to face his nightmare head on, but it did not appear.
Instead another creature manifested.
Before he could ask whom or what the creature was, it spoke:
“Child. You shall not have nightmares this night. I will guard you until the Dreamwalker shows himself. Do you know where he is?”
His head tilted to the side curiously as he padded silently towards the dark creature. He assumed by the sweet tenor of the creature’s voice that it was female, but it was difficult to discern. “Who are you?” he asked tentatively.
The creature rose to her feet. She was easily seven feet tall. Her legs were that of a great faun, but the hooves reminded him of a creature more powerful than a simple faun. More like a minotaur or stallion. Her clothing was simple, but elegant, and was streaked with gold and red. Those brief glimmers of color were the only things that made her visible against the surrounding darkness.
He squinted blearily up at her, and as he ventured closer he noticed more details of her face. Her eyes were glassy and dark, and he ruby red lips were a stark contrast against her dark skin.
“Who am I?” she seemed to chuckle, a musical noise, “I am a Sentinel, and I seek the one who does not dream, but remembers. I am his guide, and without me, he is lost to us all.”
Now this is interesting, ‘Nesh thought to himself. He watched carefully as the creature moved to sit once more, and he quickly followed suit. He would not mind sleeping or dreaming whatsoever if it meant interesting conversations with strange creatures.
“Do you mean… Mystic?” the boy asked, “Hawk said he was a Dreamwalker. He’s supposed to help me with my nightmares, but… well… that hasn’t quite happened yet.”
The Sentinel made a growling sort of noise that startled him to a degree, but she seemed far more frustrated than angry with him specifically. “Foolish creature he has become. Mystic? Mystic is his name in the waking world. The realm in which you live. He is.. “ she paused after a rush of words and held her face in her hands, “He is not Mystic. He is another, but he does not know it. He needs to know who he is, but he does not listen. He refuses to listen.”
She sighed and collapsed over onto her side and hid her face against her folded arms. “I shall fade, and he too,” she grumbled, “And with it your Kingdom.”
The boy’s brow furrowed into worried lines of confusion. “My kingdom?”
“Yes!” she hissed. Clawed fingers threaded back through her messy black curls, “Your Kingdom! Your entire realm shall crumble.” She growled again and this time her frustration was indeed directed at him, “Are you mortals truly so ignorant? Do you know nothing of your past selves?! Of the person you are fated to become?!”
She cursed in a fluid, dark language that he had never heard and could not fathom following or speaking for even a moment. He blinked over at her owlishly behind the frame of his glasses. He dared not utter another word for fear of inciting her anger fully at his apparent ignorance.
She pulled herself upright and pointed a finger at his chest with one sharp nail. Idly he noticed that her talon-like nails were painted the same color as her lips. “You,” she gritted out past pearly-white, sharp teeth, “Will tell the Dreamwalker of me when he comes to you, and he shall come to you, Keloswyn help me. Tell that foolish Emerald of this as well.”
The Sentinel moved to stand and Holicinesh moved as though to follow but she pushed him back down with one hand with an annoyed look upon her face. “Sleep now. I shall guard this realm for as long as I can. No dark magic shall touch this place while I reside within it,” she replied smoothly, voice honeyed and sweet. It lulled him like the spiced tea Hawk had given him earlier.
He could feel himself slipping away. His consciousness was finally being allowed some sort of rest. Faintly he could make out the sound of her speaking still. It sounded like she was humming some sort of lullaby from a far away land. Before he completely succumbed to the welcome reprieve she had granted him, she spoke to him one last time:
“Boy. I shall send you a messenger.”
