Dreams (Green)

"You're saying you are immortal?" I asked as the hole in front of me grew larger.

"Well, not really. That's why I was sitting in that place. I don't like dying of old age; it is one of the worst ways to go out."

"and waiting 50 years to come back is just as terrible. I was waiting to see if more like me would show up." Drak said before finally stepping through. The dim candlelight illuminated his face before me.

He looked like an ancient human. I would have expected him to hold a club and grunt for speech, but his clean clothes and perfect pronunciation of every word counteracted those thoughts.

"To think a ten-year-old would be born able to wield the power of space, I wonder what caused it."

Drak stared at me for a while, his eyes boring holes into me, causing my body to shiver unconsciously.

"you okay? are you frozen?" I asked after getting tired of his unmoving face staring at me.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just that touching upon the 5th dimension," he said while tapping the side of his head.

"Light and darkness joining together by pure emotion, but you haven't experienced such pure emotions to gain control of such affinities. Even so, it can't be said that they are not there. So very unnatural that even with the facts present, it throws me off."

"So, just by staring, you know everything about me now?" I asked while trying to feel for these light and dark affinities.

"Shush, not done. Ah, you want something that feels out of reach. Something calls to you. To think putting a human in extremes allowed him to do what I did in a fraction of the time." He said as his gaze traveled back towards the hole to that place.

"Your affinities found a reason to combine themselves, and it's as if they have feelings of their own or reacted to your strong feelings."

"Such things require powerful willpower, much more than you should be able to exert at your age."

Drak went quiet for a moment, and his eyes scanned me as if judging me.

"You know, I probably could have taught a human to use space energy, but this energy respects you; use it well."

"And no, I don't know everything. I just gleamed a bit by putting everything together."

"However, you know you will have to learn about the three to increase your affinity, right."

"I guess I knew that, but I can't get any good info about space unless I go to school specifically for it."

At the time, I thought it was as simple as solving a mystery or adding a few numbers together. I was naive.

"And?"

"And I'm a mage. They only study the elements at magic academies."

Dark frowned at the mention of magic academies. "Maybe so."

"I will send a representative from my school that I founded to watch your graduation competition; this kingdom has not made any progress in the field of education since my last visit."

"I can see that you've just barely got your room. The house is pretty decent for a single parent, and she seems not even to have a job." He paused. "Ah, I see this is where a lot of torment has come from. What a strange woman. A bit hypocritical to have a book with such a strict moral code on her bedside and just ignore it."

"How do you afford this place?" Drak asked me to change the topic.

"Father sends money to help pay while my older brother and I clean the landlord's laundromat for a discount on the rent."

"Taking advantage of others' willingness is all too alluring to anyone."

I had always thought he was talking about our landlord, but now I see he could have been speaking about my mother taking advantage of my father's kindness.

"I see; this kingdom is still progressing backward. How is one supposed to get anywhere else without a miracle?"

"Well, it's not up to me to meddle in anyone's business. However, if you do well in the tournament, you will be accepted to our college, and I will more than likely be your teacher, as you already know how well versed I am with spacial magic."

"Wait, where are you going?" Asked Alex

"To see the world, it's been a few hundred years. Even though I saw it all, it wasn't with my own eyes, and it's good to stretch."

"Oh yeah, and here, before I go, have this," Drak said as a box that had at some point appeared in his hand was pushed into my hands.

He then turned to leave, but before he left, a purple tendril of energy came out of him and made a cut in the air. The space opened up, and a field was seen.

Drak spoke up as it came into view. "It's only cosmetically changed, the energy, that is."

He then stepped through, and the portal closed.

'Wow.'

'What does the box do, though?'

I looked around at it for quite a while but found nothing special about the box. I tried putting things in it and closing it, but nothing changed afterward.

'It isn't bigger on the inside. Why was I given this?' I asked myself as I set it aside and grabbed the pen to start working on homework.

"Hey, mom said your report card is on the table," said Kate. Her voice irritated me at this point in my life. It was filled with strange pride, as if she was always looking down at me.

"Okay, I'll go get it now," I said as I sat the pen I had just picked up back down.

The report card was depressing to look at. I was doing everything I could to learn and master every subject, but I could not do so. Everything was like listening to sounds underwater. It was all silenced, and I had trouble understanding a lot.

'Well, that's not a pleasant sight to see. I have a C in Language class and a B in everything else besides math, which is my only A.'

'I need to learn to focus when studying subjects I don't like.'

'The real question is do I tell my family what happened?' I looked over to my older brother, who was already annoyed as my gaze moved in his direction.

'Hmm, Nah, I won't. That would make things difficult, and I've already got bad migraines from this whole thing. I've got a lot of work to do.'

'I need rest. That's what I need.' I thought as I entered my room, ignoring the work I was meant to do.

I lit up my specially made wick, turned off the light, and set the alarm for school. It wasn't hard for me to fall asleep as I was exhausted, and soon came the dreams.

I still remember these dreams and how they used to terrify me. I used to think that light was the only way to prevent their terror until they arrived in the presence of light. I doubt I would have changed so drastically if this hadn't happened.

In this dream, I was making a sandwich for lunch, the world as muted and dull as ever, but then I heard footsteps approaching, and my chest hurt as fear assaulted my mind.

It was my mother. She had heard me opening the bread pack.

A door swinging open was the last thing I heard before her loud screaming voice rang out.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING!'

'THAT'S MY LOAF, AND SINCE YOU PUT YOUR DIRTY HANDS IN IT, YOU BETTER EAT IT ALL!'

'I DON'T WANT IT ANYMORE, AND IF I SEE ANY LEFT WHEN I COME BACK, YOU ARE GETTING WHUPPED!'

I started eating as fast as I could, but she returned what felt like a second after. Fear and confusion were overwhelming, but I could sense her in this fear-filled world inside of my mind. She was inescapable. When I felt our distance increase, she started morphing into the monster I envisioned her to look like. A brief look back revealed a giant sea urchin was rolling towards me, gaining momentum every second. I ran as fast as I could, but she was barreling at me more quickly than I could run.

Just when I thought my life would end, I fell and kept falling, but I felt relieved she wouldn't catch up to me if I fell. I watched the dark floor below, hoping it would end, but just as I neared it, my eyes shot open as I found myself again in my room. My eyes shot towards the door, and the disorientation of sleep filled me with fear again.

I only found the strength to mutter "I'm sorry." over and over again.

It was all I could repeat whenever I was conscious enough to realize it was just a dream. I calmed down and stopped apologizing. 'The candle blew out, but wait; this isn't right. I have no furniture in here,' I thought while looking around at the empty room.

At this moment, I noticed a door that was never there, but I didn't like that one. I could feel that it was terrible and that I should stay away. I got up and tried to run to get out of the house.

At first, he was making progress, but as I moved, every step felt like he had only moved an inch until, eventually, I was moving backward.

'Nooo!'

I yelled as the door opened and saw the stairs going down. I could not help but open my eyes wide and scream as I was dragged down, giant formations of webs coating everything down here.