A Beast Among Mages

Mysterious Dreams

- Solaris -

   My scream filled the silent room as I woke to the sound of cymbals crashing together. "I can't believe you slept all day again, Solaris. What am I supposed to do with you? Ever since Mama and Mami passed away, you have holed yourself up in bed day after day!" 

   Despite my half-asleep state, I knew it was best to hold my tongue as she lectured me. It was easy to understand why Amaranthe, my elder sister, was so frustrated. She was the one who was suddenly the head of the family after the tragic accident that took our parents from us. Plus the fact that my magic was always very slow when it came to development but suddenly became uncontrollable when they died. Our household became very hectic. The doctors I saw about it all came to the same conclusion; my mental state being so stressed out caused a rupture in my magic. They likened it to a bomb finally going off inside my head which released all the pent up magic.

   It wasn't easy trying to get my magic under control. Before I could only accidentally peek into the dreams of other mages, seeing glimpses here and there. However, now I was able to force myself into specific ones if I genuinely wanted to. Growing up, I relied on Amaranthe to give me dreams so that it wasn't a black void that I saw while sleeping. Her magic allows her to provide dreams or nightmares to people so long as she has seen their face and knows their name. As someone whose magic was simply to join other peoples', I was unable to create my own while sleeping. 

   With the magic going crazy, I was hopping in and out of other mage's subconsciousness any time I closed my eyes. Some were peaceful and serene, but most were so terrifying that I would wake up screaming. I wasn't able to sleep properly, which resulted in me being excessively tired all the time. I was afraid to sleep and always worrying about the possibility of being thrown into another nightmare. It was Amaranthe who helped me through all that. She stayed up night after night with me. She would rub my back to console me and sing me lullabies. Her singing voice sucked but looking back it really did make me more comfortable and helped me sleep. 

   Somewhere along the way, I gradually came to prefer sleeping instead of being awake. There are so many more fun things that can happen in the dream realm compared to real life. Some people dream of crazy things like dinosaurs or being able to fly, it's absolutely amazing. Sure, we have magic, but no magic has ever allowed a mage to fly before. It's fun to be able to try it whenever people are dreaming about it. I must have smiled while thinking about everything since a few moments later, I felt Amaranthe grab my shoulders, bringing me back to the present. 

    "You can't spend all day walking through the dreams of others, Solaris! You aren't even listening to me right now, are you?! Why do I even bother." I opened my mouth to apologize for zoning out and to explain myself, but she had already turned and left my room. So closing my mouth, I ended up staring out the window into the night. I needed to find out who's subconscious it was that I had entered. Whoever it was, they were out there somewhere. I was confident they were most likely human, but they weren't a mage. I blushed at the memory of when I noticed them.

   I had found myself in a subconscious that was dreaming about the woods. It was quite dark out, but for some strange reason, I could still see. I thought it was a weird dream at first, maybe belonging to an animal who lived out here. I had never entered an animal's dream before, but with magic that was always developing and changing, I couldn't rule out the possibility. Most mages didn't dream about the woods though, in fact, it was a place that most would typically avoid.

   As I wandered through the dream realm, I noticed something seemed a bit strange with how it appeared. Although the woods have always been a place of fear for mages, it was depicted with a soothing vibe. It also happened to be more beautiful than I could have imagined. For my entire life, I always got warned against coming to the forest. Rumours said a vicious beast lived within and that any who trespassed were lost forever. Ignoring the slight hesitation that other mages instilled into me over the years, my heart pounded in my ears with excitement. 

   As expected, the forest was lush and green with foliage. The sounds of nature were overwhelming, from the birds chirping to the sound of rushing water. I couldn't see the source, but it was like stepping into an auditorium where a symphony was playing. I strolled deeper, determined to make myself appear as non-threatening as possible. I didn't want to agitate or spook any of the animals who made their home here. Especially the predators. 

   That's when I saw them. The being's skin was darker than the townspeople. It was closer to one of the many merchants who spent their days outside travelling between towns with their goods. Long, untamed strawberry blonde hair that seemed to have black locks also entwined into it. They had an attractive build of lean muscle as well, and I felt the need to see more. I stepped forward without thinking, causing a twig to snap underfoot. The being turned to face me, and although I blushed as I realized they were naked, I could not contain the one question I wanted to ask; "who…?"

   The sound of my voice must have spooked them because before I could even ask who they were, they turned and ran. I tried to chase after them, but my time was running out. The being was waking up, and I was getting forced out of their dream realm to a dreamless sleep of my own. I kept on running, my lungs burning and muscles straining as I chased them. I hadn't needed to run in a very long time and I guess my physical state was finally punishing me for my lack of activity. I didn't make it to them in time though. I stumbled as everything that had been around me fell to darkness, like it always did when the host of the dream I had wandered into woke up.

   With questions swirling amid my thoughts and feelings about the dream I had just been a part of, only one thing was clear to me as I shifted my gaze to the moon that was now high up in the night sky. If that was truly another human being, it was one that was visibly physically different from a mage. It doesn't make any sense to me at all. I could ask Amaranthe, but she would likely think that I'm imagining things. Perhaps trying to find a library with more information, though I doubt I would find anything there. As I thought about all my options, I realised that there was only one viable option left: I had to find that dream again.