The Dreamer

The Journey Begins

"Hi, what can I do for you?" a frail voice brought her out of her stupor.

She looked up, surprised. After leaving Ryan's house, she just walked without any idea of where she was heading, and surprisingly, her feet took her to the town's only library. She had no inkling of what she was doing here because she was not a fan of books.

"Hello, can you hear me? Do you want anything?" The frail voice asked again. It was coming from every corner of the small library. She turned again to her right and there she was, a frail old woman, almost stooped with age and holding a cane for support. She looked kind, with warm grey eyes and a permanent smile on her lips.

She looked up to her and beckoned her to follow her. She walked slowly, leaning on her cane for support as she approached a back room. The library was eerily silent, with no patrons in sight.

'Maybe they have closed for the day,' she thought to herself.

The library contained rows of shelves that housed many books from fiction to comics and currently, they were approaching the Fantasy shelf. The elderly woman stopped at a point between two shelves and pulled a book. Jamie started in surprise when the shelf rotated, exposing a door that was hidden among the walls. They stepped in and the old woman motioned to one of the arm chairs in the small room. She looked around.The room was dark, with light coming from two candles set on silver stands placed on a small shelf. The smell of incense was very faint but detectable.

"What can I offer you, daughter of Allilith?" She asked, her voice becoming surprisingly firmer.

She stared at the old woman, surprised.

"Oh sorry, pardon me. You're Jamilah I presume?" She asked her eyes lighting up.

"Y...ye...yes" she stuttered. She had never met this woman but she seemed to know her name, and...she called her daughter of...was it Alith? Alice? She was confused.

"Allilith" she said, her smile getting wider.

Jamilah jumped. She seemed to be reading her mind.

"Be calm, daughter of Allilith. I can only read your mind when your guard is down and I can see that you don't have a firm hold on keeping it up. I can help you with that, because you will need it on your journey."

"Excuse me? I'm not going on a trip," Jamilah said, standing up from her perch on the chair.

"But you are," the old woman said, that smile on her face. "You are the protector of the lost princess. You are her, and she is you," the old woman continued. "You shall lead her to her father, the king and you must hurry. The throne is about to be taken by a tyrant who will wreak havok on the kingdom."

All these words seemed foreign to Jamilah.

"But..."

"No buts dear, drink this" she brought out a small vial from her breast pocket. It contained a clear blue liquid that seemed to glow.

"Drink this one drop at a time. It contains just three drops from which you will take one now. Your other subsequent journeys back to the land are going to be through a book which I will hand to you. You are to use the remaining drops wisely, only for emergencies." She instructed Jamilah, handing the vial to her.

'What if this thing contains a poisonous substance? There was nothing else to live for,' she thought to herself. If she dies, she dies.

She opened the vial immediately and took a drop before she changed her mind. It tasted sweet, like honey and something else. Immediately, she started feeling woozy, like sleep would come at any moment. 'Is this how death feels like?' She asked herself as she succumbed to the peace she felt.

"Farewell daughter of Allilith."

The last thing she saw was the face of a beautiful ivory skinned woman, with dark hair and fiery eyes.