Chapter 4

The moon shines brightly overhead as I sit in a meadow, flowers surrounding me. It's night yet birds chirp in the trees around me, their song loud and beautiful as it fills the air. I tilt my head back, moonlight soaking into my pale skin as my hair falls over my shoulders. The birds' song increases in the trees and I rise to my feet. I dance through the grass, the flowers tickling my bare calves as I move. The night air surrounds me, the moonlight calm and beautiful as it dances across my skin. I close my eyes and call to the moon, my mind and body desperate for its touch and the magic it brings.

I raise my arms as I move and some of the silver light leaves the moon and twirls around me. I have no idea how I did that but I don't question it as I'm surrounded by the silvery wisps of light. Other animals join the birds' song, creating a symphony in my mind. The scent of the flowers in the meadow fills my senses, sweet and wonderful. I dance with the moon, the light swirling through my hair and clothes. The wind shifts, picking up slightly. My hair flows in it, the wisps following the waves of red.

Something pinches the top of my ear, piercing through the sharp point where a Silent would have a smooth rounded edge. In my minds eye I can tell a large earring adorns my ear. A gold chain swings down from the top where it was just pierced and stops at my earlobe where I've had it pierced since I was a child. A small pendant hangs from the top of the earring; two suns merging together with a crescent moon resting on opposite sides. Where the tips of the moons touch, a flame rests perfectly in the center. It seems to float in the air since neither the bottom nor the top of the flame touches the suns or moons.

The light spins and twirls down to surround my body, moving under my arms and between my legs as my clothes shift. My brown shirt starts to change first, the rough material becoming smooth and a dark red with gold jewels shimmering in a delicate pattern. The material appears where the moonlight touches, changing my normal tight fitted black pants into the skirt of the red dress.

The dress flows around me, the top part of it tight fitting and hugging my curves perfectly while the skirt spreads out at my hips, creating a red circle around my legs and hiding them from view. I know my feet are bare as I continue to dance. A weight rests on my head and I reach up to feel a crown. I decide not to take it off and look at it, knowing without a doubt that it's gold with red rubies placed in it.

All of the moonlight I called down before concentrates in one area and dances around me. I reach out to it, wanting what it normally gives me. The light touches the tips of my fingers, turning my skin silver in its light. It flows up my arm and stops before it reaches my chest. I don't stop moving as it enters me, the light hitting my heart and causing me to gasp but never miss my step.

Something inside of me changes. It comes alive and rests under my skin. It buzzes and I feel alive with pleasure and joy. More flowers begin to grow wherever I step, growing large and colorful like the ones that already graced the meadow.

I smile and laugh at the magic under my skin. I call it out and it appears in my hands as a green orb, so bright it illuminates all of the meadow and pushes back some of the darkness in the trees that surround me. I send it up into the air and it explodes in beautiful fireworks that scatter in the sky. I laugh wildly, feeling as if I belong in the night. The moon cools me as I dance wildly, my hair swinging around as I spin. I let the earth surround me as the moon shines brightly, it's silver rays mingling with the green of the fireworks.

It's hot from moving around but the moon cools me off, my skin tingling with magic. Suddenly, without warning everything stops. My skin turns icy as the animals stop their song and the moon disappears. Everything becomes dark but I still feel the magic tingling under the surface of my skin. I feel the forest that surrounds me and the grass below my feet, some of the flowers tickling me. I know I'm in the meadow but fear enters the pit of my stomach. This has happened before. . .

Screams fill the air, all of them familiar but I can't name who they belong to.

"Help us!" Someone screams, the voice high pitched and feminine. "Please!"

"Brailen!" A deeper voice yells, a man. I want to run to them but something holds me back; fear. There's something I'm not supposed to know and it involves the people yelling.

I ignore the fear and start to move to the people, needing to know what's going on. The grass and flowers that were my friends only moments ago turn against me and stick to my skin, vines growing and wrapping around my legs to keep me in place.

"No." I groan. I need to know what's happening. I use the magic given to me by the moon and force the vines away from me, fighting to get to the voices screaming into the night air. The wind picks up, whipping my hair across my face and tangling it all together. I push it back and use my magic to propel myself forward. I run through the meadow and into the trees. It's dark and I can barely see but I push my magic into my hands and form another green orb, this one purely made for light instead of fireworks like the previous one.

"Brailen!" The voice screams again and I move faster. "Help us!"

"Save the kingdom!" The other voice yells.

"What kingdom?" I yell back. I want to stop and think about what the voices just said but I push forward, wanting to know who they are more than anything else.

The trees grow closer together, branches hitting my face and arms as I run past. A limb hits my dress and tangles in the smooth material, ripping it and ruining the masterpiece created by the moon.

I continue to run, my heart beating rapidly in my chest. I need to stop and breath but I can't. I need to know. . .

After running for more than three minutes, I leave the shelter of the trees. Three people lay before me, all of them tied up with their hands behind their backs. The oldest is a man who appears to be in his late forties but it's too difficult to tell. He's covered in dirt and blood, the hair on his head and face long and unkept. His green eyes are dull as he stares up at me, his lips drawn back in a snarl. The woman on the other side of the clearing seems to be around the same age as the man. Her red hair falls down her back in clumps while her honey brown eyes stare at me. I can tell she was once beautiful but the pain clear in her eyes is an indicator to the torture she's been put through.

She reminds me of someone I should be able to remember but my mind is foggy, something fighting to keep me from realizing it.

A boy a few years older than me lies between the two. He doesn't move, not even to look up and I realize he's unconscious. He has dark shaggy hair that falls around his face, his chest rising slightly with each shallow breath he takes.

"Brailen. . ." the woman breaths. "No! Leave, save the kingdom!"

Her screams fill the air, the man joining her as the boy jerks awake and claws at the ground and his skin.

"No." I try to run to them but stop as I hit an invisible barrier. "No!"

My screams join theirs. I watch in horror as cloaked figures move forward and stab silver blades into their chests. The boy falls first, the man and woman both reaching for him before the last of their strength leaves them and their outstretched hands fall back to their sides.

"No!" I scream and cry. My heart breaks for the people I don't even know as they fall to the ground before me.

I gasp as my eyes snap open. Sunlight filters into my room, the feeling of the moon still lingering on my skin. The dream seemed so real, almost as if I was really there.

But who the hell is Brailen?