[9] Once Upon a Dream

“You really should get back to bed... it's late,” Ethan said, shivering slightly as he stared out into the distance.

“Oh yea... w- what's the time anyway?” I stumbled in realization.

His mind wandered for a moment, “Around two in the morning?”

“Wow,” I uttered, rubbing my eyes.

“It's not like you've been up for a full twenty four hours, but with all the events and the news and everything you learnt about, I think you deserve a full week's rest at least,” he said, only half joking.

“Naw, I'll probably just... need half that amount,” I said, trying to cheer him up.

“C'mon, let's head back inside. I think someone's up practicing their element again, this place is frickin' freezing,” he suggested, beckoning me inside with his warm hand on my shoulder.

“You can stay here for the night, then tomorrow we can go down to the main office and register you for your own apartment,” he suggested, grabbing two of the four pillows on the bed and throwing them over to the couch.

“Whoa, you mean I just gotta be one of y'all and I get to live in a sweet place like this? Nice,” I said, jumping unto the bed.

I noticed that Ethan quickly made himself comfortable on the couch, though I didn't feel good about him being there. I didn’t want to make this awkward, but he didn't deserve to be put out of his own bed just because he had me over.

“Hey, why don't you just come sleep over here? It's not like it's weird; we're best friends,” I told him, smirking.

He didn’t budge. “You sure? I think this is totally fine with me to be honest, but I need a blanket, I feel cold.”

“Ethan get your stubborn arse over here. We're splitting the bed. This could be like...our first official best-friend-sleep-over... thing. Fun, fun, fun!” I tried to sound as enthusiastic as possible, but it came off as sarcastic instead. He laughed and threw his pillows right at me.

I moved hastily over to the left side of the bed –the side I fancied more. Ethan turned off the TV and the lights and sifted his way through the furniture and over to the bed in the darkness with the help of a few gentle rays of moonlight shining through the translucent curtains over the balcony doors. Two blankets shielded us from unwavering cold; something I realised I would have to get used to if I were living in the same place with a bunch of storm and elemental wielders. I turned away from him, and I'm certain he turned away from me too. I gazed into pure darkness for a while, kept awake by nothing but endless thoughts. I didn't know about him, but I was pretty sure he was doing the same thing. There was nothing but silence for a long, long time, and soon enough, I drifted off.

***

“You're not like them,” she said, her voice like a gentle echo in the wind, “You're not like any of them.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her, searching desperately into nothingness for the face of the stranger, “Who are you?”

“You're not like any of them. I know, because I wasn't like any of them, either...” said the voice again.

A strange light flashed before me, and I had no choice but to defend my eyes from its intensity. When I'd hoped the light had dimmed down, I looked up and saw the face of a beautiful woman. Her eyes were like endless grey orbs, her hair was purely white, her cheeks held the slightest blush, and she wore an iridescent white gown with a golden lining at the waist. She was tall; tall enough that I had to stretch my neck upward to look at her.

“Who are you?” I asked again.

“Someone like you,” was all she replied.

I looked around me at the surrealism of wherever I was. I could see nothing but endless clouds, and under my feet, there was nothing but the same white clouds and sky. “What am I doing here? Where am I?”

“Don't worry about that,” she chuckled, “I came to warn you.” Her face went serious.

Warn me?

“Warn me of what?” I asked her.

“Where you are, who you're with, is dangerous,” she said.

“Wha- Ethan? No! No way, Ethan wouldn't hurt me...” I insisted. “T-these people wouldn't hurt me. They're the people like me, right?”

“So I thought... I was wrong,” she answered, a sombre look overtook her. “I thought I was safe there, too. I thought what I was made of was power and strength and intelligence. I thought I fit in with them. I didn't, and neither will you.”

“I don't understand, please tell me more,” I begged.

“When the time is right,” she said, “you will understand. If you want more answers, go to the Lonely Lake, north of the city.”

“Will you be there?” I asked her.

“I'm everywhere, dear... I am the omnipresent, the almighty...” she began, and suddenly, with every word she uttered to describe herself, her grey eyes filled with darkness and eventually became inky black, “I'm the all-powerful. And I will find you.” Her gown became black linen, burnt in parts and torn in others, her hands went pale, her hair became like coal. She became someone that wasn't as beautiful as she was frightening. There was proof that she'd once been beautiful, but it was tarnished by a lifetime of evil - a curse of a million wrong doings. It was a dreadful beauty, and even in the face of terror, I couldn't help but stare.

Her last words echoed violently through my head.

I will find you.

I will find you.

I will find you.

I jolted from my sleep. I gasped.

“Faye...hey, you okay?” Ethan's familiar voice embraced me.

“She- s- sh-she...w-who” I stuttered, breathing heavily.

“She? Faye, hey calm down, calm down...” Ethan said, his gentle voice moving around me like warm water against my skin.

“Hey,” he said, turning my chin to him, his warm fingers bringing me back to full consciousness, “Hey, it was just a dream. You're alright. It was just a dream... okay?”

I leaned into him, beginning to sob quietly. He rubbed my back, and I felt nothing but fright run through my bones as I cried into his chest.

Ethan uttered protective words to me for a while, so much so that I didn't remember when I had fallen back asleep. The dream didn't come back to me, and for that I was so glad.