Morons and Monarchs

Chapter Twenty: Viviendel🏃

"That year, Ea and I did a show about our gymnastics and how fast we can run. I was the one who could run while Ea was the one who could do flips, and many more. He did a handstand on my shoulders while I ran sixteen miles in under four seconds."

Ea snarls at him, "She does not need to know that," His face is a dark green.

"What? That Azul is faster than you, and yet you are the one racing me?"

"Yes!" He exclaims. Then realises what he says, "I mean no,"

"He means yes," Azul chirps. He walks back towards the palace, his hands in the pockets of his pants. The pure embodiment of arrogance. I quickly turn to Ea and smack him in the back of the head, grinning. He crouches low to the ground, his hand covering his head.

"What was that for?" He asks.

"We had a deal," I say as I make my way back to the castle as well. Something punctures the ground right next to me, and when I look down, I see the handle of my dagger peeking out of Mother Earth's flesh. "Thanks," I pocket it.

Ea grumbles, but does not retort.

-*-

Thanatos is back in my dream world... and in Abilene's name am I happy to see him. When he sees me, his eyebrows pull together. Worried.

"You look stressed," He observes.

"I had a meeting," I reply, shrugging. "And then had to run 2.5 miles before I made a cheetah run the other half. "

"Do I want to know," He cocks an eyebrow.

"No," I reply with another shrug. "You really don't,"

"So..." He kicks a stray pebble off the trail. "It seems the awkward demon has appeared and descended upon us."

I laugh, "The awkward demon broke through the ground in the hole Thanatos made by kicking that pebble," I say in a very exaggerated voice, like a news dweller. "And now he has blanketed two travellers passing by his hobbit,"

"And now these two travelers are fighting to regain their conversation the demon so awkwardly stole," Thanatos adds in the same voice.

"You know," I start in my authentic voice. "I believe we will go to the Tomairsitkiz village tomorrow, we might see each other in real life," I have no doubt that this person is real, nor do I have no doubt that he is not a shadow. Dreams hold the reality of the future, after all. All you have to do is believe in the dreams, have hope for them to become real, and then leave the stars to do the rest.

Not that the stars particularly like me, they almost never grant me the dream I wish to accomplish. But that doesn't mean I stop altogether. Maybe one day, they will hone in on my dreams and answer it in reality.

"I will have to climb down from my castle then," He says.

"Castle?" He has a castle in the Tomairsitkiz village?

"Indeed, I do. It is called a horrid school covered with pillars so sharp you can't touch them without impaling yourself. A school branded in black stone looking almost iridescent with multiple colors and shades of darkness. The shadows that are bread in that school are monstrous, and can tear a person apart if they give out false information. It is the school of thieves, assassins, and death in all of its mightiest forms. But also hope, not that I would know much about that." I almost miss his sad declaration.

"Well, imagine me as an embodiment of hope. I will be the light at the end of the tunnel, your friend, if you will. And then, Voila!, hope." I say smiling at him.

"You already are my hope," He shrugs. "A shred of it, at least. The first step in a very important plan," He murmurs almost to himself.

"So... at least the awkward demon left." I say. "And now, we can see each other. In the real world, and not this place," I wave a hand around the room. But he grabs my hand.

"What is so bland about this world?,"

The world chooses that time to turn upside down. I scream, but instantly shut up when Thanatos pulls me to his chest. I breathe in the scent of him. Digging my nose into his chest as we free fall down into Earth.

An invisible force breaks us apart, and I yelp as the new cold air bites my skin. My clothes melt into a pool of pink lava floating faster than gravity is taking me down. Making the pretty pink material float out of my grasp. A cold air shift passed me, making me face down towards the new snow covered ground. I scream again, but am unable to move.

A dress wraps itself around my exposed body. Blue and black encase me in an ironlike grip. Black shadowed hands fixing my hair and doing my makeup. While white hands- that looked like they were formed from light itself- wrapped me in a bundle of chiffon and silk.

I scream again as one shadowed hand puts pitch black eyeliner on my eyes.

I feel stitching close my mouth and eyes. My breathing cut short. I am aware of what's happening but I can't see, speak, or even breathe. The stitching doesn't hurt. This is my dream, not a nightmare.

After a few seconds of muffled silence and the rustle of skirts, I land on solid ground. Stitches take themselves out of my mouth, and I start silently screaming. Stitches embedded upon my throat unfurl, my screaming now audible miles away. My eyes pop open, but I don't remember the stitches unstitching themselves.

Thanatos is in front of me. I stop screaming.

He wears a blue masculine blazer. The bright blue vibrating against the dark night of this new realm. But that is not what stags my attention. He wears no shirt underneath the blazer. His chest sculpted and shaped to perfection. I only get a little peek, so I can tear my eyes away from his bare chest.

My mouth waters.

He smirks, his arrogance almost palpable. Arrogance is and will always be his worst vice, but when I enter this dream world and see him, I see that that is all I want. He seems almost sure of himself, of where he is going. As if he has accepted that the world will not grant him everything in his favor, but will grant him enough to pass life by.

And I need that, I need somebody to know what they are doing and where they are heading. I need to know what I am doing and where I will be heading.

I want to be the character in the novel that guides everyone else into battle, forging alliances, and knowing what will come of them after everything is said and done. I don't want to be the main character, because authors are... well... authors are cruel. And sometimes they kill even their most precious of fictional children. And that knowledge scares me. I don't want to be the main character, because I have no way of knowing how attached the author is to me until suddenly I live or die.

I would rather be the side character that hides in the shadows, cowardly, and I know that that is not something that most people want to say. I know that most people would say that they don't want to be a coward. But in reality... if you were stuck in one of those novels... wouldn't you do the same? Hide from the world like you are doing while you read? Escaping the real world, don't you think those characters hiding in the shadows are doing the same? Just with a distinct form of escapism?

You see readers get so mad at the character that does nothing but mope and drag the main character down, but we all do that in real life. We all just sit down and do nothing, do we not? We just sit down with a book and shriek until suddenly it is four o'clock and you just want to read one more chapter...

We are not out there aiding in a rebellion; we are not trying to overthrow a government. Are we any better than that character we hate so much? At least the character is some mythical creature, or the son of some god... you are nothing. You are normal. We are normal. Yet you hate that one character for at least somewhat taking part in something you could never comprehend in real life.

I call all readers hypocrites, and honestly, I am one as well.