Dancing on Strings

Clockwork Boy

"What happened?" she said, gaping, lifting her skirts to climb back up the hill towards him.

"I told you, this is the true realm of dreams," Griffin said, holding out a hand and pulling her up the last of the hill before guiding her to sit down on the grass that was as soft of cotton. "This is where we can make things happen with ease. On the other plane, Reve has the most power; naturally, it's his very existence. But here, we can taste a little of that power. And we can bring our wants to the surface, even for just a moment."

He gestured to his face, the straight nose, the arched eyebrow, the sharp eye and high cheekbone that had been made of metal moments before – and probably still was made from metal when they returned from this world.

"I get to be myself for a little and... I wanted you to see it," he said.

Mai reached up and touched his face, making him blink then look at her and after a moment, she smirked at him.

"I don't know, when you're not making me horrifically mad, I think I'm fine with you in whatever state you happen to be."

Griffin smiled at her but only for a moment as he pulled his knees up and folded his arms on them.

"I am sorry," he said, looking at her, "For your sisters, for Dalton, for Kazimir. I really am sorry."

"Why did you have to do it though?" Mai asked, crossing her legs under her skirts. "I understand, it's some type of job but why? What is Reve's end goal in all this?"

"Goal?" Griffin copied, like it was a foreign concept. "I don't think he has one. I don't think he ever had one. I think it's just his way of waging war against the gods."

"He's a god himself though?"

"He is. Or he was, I don't really know what he is anymore. What's a fallen god called? Whatever he is, he's powerful enough to keep the other gods in his pantheon locked out."

"And they want to get in?"

"They want to get in – to end this. Those who rank higher than him don't take kindly to rogues creating their own little universes."

He looked away for a moment, resting his chin on his arms.

"I don't think Reve is particularly evil, you know?"

"Really?" Mai said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"He has his cruel streak – believe me, he can be so cruel in the moment. The gods are wicked. But I don't think he's intentionally created a prison."

"What's he created then?"

Griffin thought for a moment, tilting his head to the side. "A dollhouse?"

Mai stared at him. "A what?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "You saw what I turned Kazimir and Dalton into correct. You saw the joints, the glass eyes, the wooden limbs. They were dolls, correct?"

Mai still stared at him. "You're telling me a fallen god has created his own little doll kingdom that he can lord over?"

Griffin thought about that for a moment as well. "Sure, that sounds about right."

"Why?!"

"He's lonely?"

"So?!"

Griffin gave her a wincing smile. "You have to understand something in the way gods think. We, as mortals, are nothing but toys to them. I know, the idea of a dollhouse seems ludicrous to us, it sounds ridiculous and childish and petty but... we aren't much to those in higher power. So, creating a little kingdom in-between the main planes of existence to hide away in a make believe land where you can escape those who would contain you and your... whims, taking humans to fill it up if you get a little lonely once in a while is not so very big a deal. If it breaks the hearts of lovers and ends a royal line, it's not so very bad. Reve chose dolls as his medium – he finds it amusing how humans attach such emotion to emotionless things. Every now and then, he has a new pretty little doll made up to add to his collection... and then grows bored."