The Dream Keeper's Dragon

15. Prisoner of Thoughts

Aurelie walked through rows of multi-colored tulips. Behind her, the ocean provided a dance floor for its waves. They crashed and raced to hit the sandy beach.

When she turned back, a cabin appeared. The roof sunk in, and the wooden walls were cracked and covered in soot. Chunks of wood fell off, revealing large, gray, stone walls. The stones puffed up like balloons and grew taller, and wider. More appeared, four, five at a time, until a large castle stood in the cabin's place. A long tower climbed up toward the sky and disappeared past the clouds.

White marble rolled out from the door, like cloth, and stopped beside Aurelie's feet. No matter how mad the things before her were, Aurelie found them all to be quite normal under the circumstances. Though, she wasn't entirely sure what exactly those circumstances were.

"Wine my lady?"

Aurelie turned to the voice. Steps away a sculpture of a woman stood, with a glass of red wine on a tray. The field was empty except for the two of them. "Hello?" Aurelie said and moved her head closer.

The statue's hand extended toward Aurelie in three motions, lacking flexibility. "Some wine?" Her head turned, eyes moving, but lacking a lifelike spark.

"No . . . thank you," she said. "What is this pl—

The statue's free hand awkwardly moved to Aurelie's lips. Her eyes shot up toward the sky tower, and then back at Aurelie. "The master will see you now."

"Who is this master?" Aurelie asked. There was no response from the woman. Her eyes looked onto the tray, and her body froze.

"Okay..." Aurelie looked up at the tower. "I guess, I'll just see the master."

Aurelie followed the path up to the castle. The tulips extended as far as her eyes could trace them. Back home, she had never come across a place so grand. Yet, almost every detail held a trace of familiarity.

Blackwood, held together by iron bars, with bolts almost the size of her palm, made up the door. Two silver dragons were wrapped around the curve of the handles. Aurelie pushed her back against the door and drew it open.

The floor had been crafted from the most delicate stones that she had ever seen. They glowed as she stepped on them. Different colored crystals lit up and created three pathways, one to past grand paintings that led to a circular passage, one up a large staircase, and the last to a tall arch that opened onto a dining room. Aurelie followed the frames, they were large and gold, their paintings showed beaming faces, dogs, landscapes, and one obese, hairy, smug-looking flat-faced cat. Square in the middle, the largest painting of all was of Emile Dranoir, the King.

The rounded passage led her through a library, and into a tiny room designated for spiraling stairs. She lifted her dress and ran up, three at a time, anxious to get to the so-called master.

The stones on the wall to her left cracked, and fell, creating an opening through which Aurelie could see the outside. She had been inside the tall tower. Clouds floated below her, and through their gaps, Aurelie could see the foam spread on the ocean. She frowned and turned back. The archway that she had come through was merely fifteen or so steps away, there was no way she should have been up so high.

She tore herself away from the absurdity and turned back toward the stairs.

A doorway stood in the way, leading into a round room.

An old man sat in the middle, behind a large wooden desk. A black cat with bright green eyes lay lazily on some of his papers, playing with the feather that the man was attempting to write with.

"You!" she cried. It was his face in the smoke, and him flying beside her.

He glanced up, lifting the quill. The cat leaped up, and tripped over the ink pot, sending it splashing over his work, and his table. The ink was a strange color, a silvery blue. The cat fell on his back, and rolled all over the table, absorbing the color into his fur. All the ink came toward the cat as if it was metal filings drawn to a magnet. The cat's fur turned silver, he rubbed his head against the old man's shoulder and purred.