Children of Morpheus

Chapter 13

    The others climbed down from their horses and walked right behind me, closing every possible way where I can run. Their armors clinked while the horses neighed. The sprites secretly peeked their heads out of the water to watch, eavesdropping what's about to happen. About me, being captured and tortured or maybe, executed. 

    Dranvi bowed while the cloak covered his whole body, trying to hide like me. The light shimmered down their silver armor as one man held a scroll in his hand. “Did you see a mortal in this area?” He asked, as he clenched his left hand into his sword sword, inside the scabbard tied to his waist.

    His actions alone made me shiver, what would  happen if they caught me?

    “No.” Dranvi replied in a calming tone. He then removed his hood and looked back at the face of the fae knight. “Sorry, but my brother and I haven't seen any mortals.” He added.

    He shook his head and glanced at me. His face shifted. His green eyes are now smaller with traces of green tattoo-like birthmark beside. His ears became pointier with bearing silver earrings hanging. His lips got thinner like he was biting some inside his mouth. Then he smiled. 

    “Besides, mortals are forbidden to our realm since that tragic event. Why'd you ask that?” He asked and looked back at the guard.

    “There's a report that a mortal has been spotted near in this region of the kingdom.” He replied and moved his eyes and  stared at me as I kept my head slightly bent with the cloak on. 

    I can feel someone is walking towards me from behind. My heart was hammering hard, as my breathing began to unravel. Keep it cool, I said to myself. Then someone pulled my cloak, revealing my face to them as I jerked and tried to retrieve it into my head. They gazed at me, then turned and mounted on their shiny steeds and left.   

    My heart calmed down as the knight fades away from my sight. Dranvi put on the hood and pull it down again, this time his face changed back. Bigger green stares and thicker lips with elegance and beauty scarred into his face. 

    “H-how?” I said shuddering. He smiled and pointed at the water. My reflection is different. Everything is different. I almost looked like him when he shifted his face. “Oh my God!” I looked back at him. 

    “The armor is enchanted, it glamours your appearance if the wearer wants to hide.” He replied, with a big grin in his face. 

    "Quick question. This is mine now, right?" I said with a beaming face, hoping that he says yes. "Because this is amazing." 

    He nodded.

    Back there, I said to myself. I thought he sold me out, but he didn't. Maybe he could be trusted  and he gave me this awesome armor, so he earned it. I cheerily looked at him and bopped my head.

    I put on my hood and focused for a while, then took it off. I bent to the water to see if I changed back. I'm back! Then the sprites got out with a splash, celebrating with their high pitch small voices. They flew around me and dived right at Dranvi, which made him fell on his back. He laughed as some of the sprites landed on his chest, and some flew around him, trying to help him stand up like his very small siblings playing with him. They looked so adorable as if I could pitch in any seconds, but I can't. I felt it's not my place. . . 

    “Let's play later,” he whispered as he stood up and the sprites flew inline in the sky like bees preparing to attack him. “I need to help my friend here to escape and go back to his home.” He added. The sprites flew behind me and pushed me hurriedly, so I can go home and Dranvi can play with them. 

    It's cute, I thought. 

    We've been walking for hours and the sun is now settling down as the shades of the violet night were eating the sky. He walked deep into the forests while everything around me glows like the neon lights back in the diner. Its luminescence shined through the thick and velvet purple of darkness that gave a wondrous yet eerie touch to this world. 

    He gathered some dead twigs and dried leaves, then piled it in the center of the spot where he settled 5 stones around us. He snapped his fingers into the mounted dry woods and created a small red spark that later turned into a blazing fire, that fought the shadow away. The stones began to glow like the pods hanging beside the tree. 

    “What did you do?” I asked, pointing to the stones. 

    “This is called the secret circle,” he replied and sat down beside the fire. “It keeps everything inside hidden or secret.” 

    “That's a game,” I said then sat on the ground staring at the dancing fire. “We used to play it when we were young, we tell each our secrets inside.”    

    “Where do you think mortals learned that?” He said and smiled, again. 

    He grabbed an apple from his satchel and threw it to me. But now, I caught with one hand and took a bite. Then he grabbed another and bit it, that gave a crunch into the harmonious night.

    He lied down and used his cloak as a blanket. I stared at him, with questions that are spiraling around my head, but I just need a question that can outstand the rest:

    “Why did you help me?” I asked, then he looked back at me.

    “I know that you are one of the Children of Morpheus.” He jerked his body and sat, staring at me. “You looked like you needed my help when the treant—” he paused and slowly stood up and looked around. He fisted his hand, for silence.

    I shut my mouth and did the same thing—I checked the area. Then the earth shook as the trees rumbled their leafy arms of branches, then it stopped. He sat down again and smiled.

“I thought there was something watching us,” Dranvi explained. 

    “Oh, okay.” I said as I squatted in front of the fire and sat. “Why are mortals forbidden in this realm?”

    “Mortals murdered our queen, and your people locked our god, Pan, the husband of our queen.” He said in a stern voice and his smiles faded away. His eyes were about to water but he breathes in and blinked hard, shaking.

    “So, why did you help me?” I asked the question again. “I'm a mortal and my kind locked your god to the dream realm,” I added. "With that said, I'm pretty sure I'm not welcome here."

    “You're a nice person.” He replied as he glanced at me. “You are willing to sacrifice yourself for your friend's safety, and we fairies reward goodness with treasures.” His smile came back to his face then lied down. 

    I lied down on the cold hard ground with a glowing mushroom as a pillow and my cloak as a blanket. I felt something is watching me, observing me. I can't sleep. I peeked at Dranvi and he's fast asleep. I felt like a hundred eyes we're spying on me from the shadow of the forest. Maybe it's just my paranoia. Is it? Is it just my paranoia? 

    I shut my eyes and let my thoughts slid away as I fell into the darkness' laps of slumber. My eyes opened, I was in my dream again. A complete waste of inked darkness surrounding me. I focused on the door again to appear in front of me in this dream. A different door came into me, but still, a door is a door. 

    The door gave a long squeak while I pushed it. I was in the forest with the cloaked men again. I can feel the energy coming from the lamp and the wand that was weaving into my body like it was a part of me, or something. Then the third cloaked man came with a sword. A long silver blade with a large transparent-like stone in the guard. Then a wind came and struck me strong. It's the Key of Air, I said to myself.  

    Then a voice came in and shook the ground. Everything vanished into nothing and back in my dream. I opened my eyes and it was Dranvi, trying to wake me up. “Rafael, you need to wake up!”

    “Why?” I moaned while my eyes were still heavy. “Did something happened?” 

    “The air sprites warned me that the guards are on their way to guard the gate,” Dranvi said as small people like him but with scaly white skin with white eyes flying around and above me. 

    “What!” I jerked my body and put on the cloak.   

    We followed the sprites deep into the forest forests for a "shortcut", in the sprites' word that was translated by Dranvi to me. The woodland was still dark even the three moons were at its peak. Everything came in a blur as I ran and passed the trees, the glowing mushrooms, flowers, and pods.

As we ran, we can hear multiple hooves thudding on the ground that sounded like horses, coming closer to us. I can see burning light in the end, in time we started to slow down. We knew they already arrived before us. 

    With our cloak on, I peered around a tree, and Dranvi is on the bushes. Two of the sprites rested on top of my head like it was a bed, and some rested on Dranvi's. They looked so sleepy at that time. 

    “What are you doing?” A whispering female voice snapped behind us.

    We jerked our heads and a woman appeared from the shaded tree. I shut my eyes as I glanced at a ginger-haired lady with big hazelnut eyes and thin lips, and wore leaves around her chest and her core.

    “Vifen, quiet down,” Dranvi commanded to the lady. 

    “Dranvi, nice to see you too,” Vifen said with a calming voice. “Who's this handsome fellow?” She deliberately trailed her fingers into my hair swinging in my forehead as I felt her warmth. 

    “I'm Rafael Williams.” I said with closed eyes. I turned back and peeked around the tree. 

    “Why didn't you told me that yo—”

    ”Vifen.” Dranvi cut in with small anger in his tone and looked back at five fairies in armor guarding a two entwined trees with green orchid-like flowers growing in the dark brown trunk of the two trees. “That's the door.” 

    “Between the two trees?” I whispered.

    “Yes,” Vifen replied directly into my ears. “Let me see those eyes. “I'm Vifen, a tree nymph.” she greeted. "I hear a dreamer's eyes were green as the forest of Amazon."

    Then the sprites flew above me and around the tree. The guards looked on our way as I jolted my head behind the trunk. “What are we going to do?” I inquired as I kept my gaze from Vifen.

    “We need their attention faraway from the door,” Dranvi said as he kept looking back and forth.  

    “I can do it.” Vifen proposed. “We nymphs are great distractions.” She whispered in my ears.

    “No, we need the 5 of them to move, so Rafael can go back to his realm.” 

    “Maybe I can do it,” I said with doubt. “I haven't tried dreaming of a person who can talk and walk like a real person. But maybe I can do it.” I added. 

“Morpheus' children.” Then Vifen asked directly to me. “Where's your shear?”

    “Don't need one,” I quickly replied in a cocky tone.

    I closed my eyes and concentrated on someone that can get the attention of the guards that will definitely annoy them. I opened my eyes as my hands began to glow like crazy. The sprites quickly flew into me, covering the light with their small bodies. Then Alexander appeared behind me, smiling and kept raising his right eyebrow.

    “I'll put illusion in his face.” Dranvi said as he gazed his eyes on the replica. “He looked broken.” He mumbled.

    The replica walked towards the guards and ran away from the tree. They all followed it as the three of us waited and ran towards the door. Dranvi pulled a vine of the flower and the tree began to glow brightly in the middle and jumped in.