Magic and Light

Night Terrors

Darkness. Endless darkness. It's quiet too. Silent. The kind of silence that makes you yearn for a noise. It could be small, but it makes you feel less alone. Then there's a light. Then another. Suddenly, there are millions of them, twinkling and blinking, like little stars. They look close, but when I try to touch them, immediately, they are miles away. They seem to be moving. Then I realize that they are moving, but i'm at the wrong angle to see. I maneuver around, until I see what the lights have made.

It's a dragon. A glittering, silver dragon, seemingly made of diamonds. It opens its mouth in a jugreat roar, but it's still silent. Then, it seems as if a god has turned on the sound, because I can hear the roar in all its glory, a deafening, piercing sound. This, I realized, is the sound of an all-powerful beast. This is why dragons are thought of so highly in our legends. Then, the dragon turns its huge head towards me, and it spoke. I could not hear much of it, but the one thing I did hear was this. " We will not have to wait much longer, little one. Soon we will meet." The rest of what the dragon said was masked by the echoes of a long dead roar.

I jolt up in bed, covered in a thin layer of sweat. I shakily exhale, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. It's that damned dream again, I thought. I never remember what's in the dream, but it leaves me feeling very lonely in the morning. I swing my legs out of bed, my cotton night-dress tickling my ankles. Walking over to the window, I look over at the forest. I don't notice at first, but when I do notice, I realize that my back and the wall around me is bathed in soft fire light.

"Mina, are you allright?" A voice whispers. I turn around, and are face to face with my cousin, Bee. She's a small thing, with only 8 years of age. Her name isn't really Bee, that's a nickname. It's short for Beatrice. I look at her little face, and her expression conveys that she wants a response.

"I'm fine Bee, just a night-terror." I tell her, giving her a little smile. Bee walks over to me, and gave me a hug.

"If you pray, the gods will protect you!" She said, her eyes wide. I chuckle at her naïve demeanor, and pat her head. 

"Let's get you to bed, Bee." I say, as Bee lets out a big yawn. I stand up, and pick her up, quietly pushing open the door, walking in to our living area. I walk to one of the doors, a plain wood one, save for the charcoal printing on it that labeled it as Bee's room. I nudged it open with my foot, and set Bee's tiny body on her bed, covering it with the quilt I made her. I give her a small kiss on the forehead, and whisper good-night. I tiptoe out, and find my uncle asleep in a chair by the fire. I sigh, and use the pitcher of water and the fireplace poker to put out the fire. I then grab a quilt out of the closet, and drape it over my uncle. I sigh again, and walk over to my room, pulling the door shut behind me. I climb up on my bed, and pull the quilt over my head, hoping that no more dreams plauge my sleep.