Silver Stars ➣ j. kline

prologue

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EARTH HAD NEVER been as interesting as the Dreams.

He'd decided on that after his first visit back after God put him in charge of them once humans started having problems due to them. He remembered his father telling him that it was for the best until they could fully control them. When that was, the angel had no clue, but he manned his post with pride anyways, protecting humans from their worst nightmares.

He was searching for a powerful dreamwalker that he had recently found. These humans never came around but once every few hundred years and from what he's seen throughout history, it always meant changes were coming to the world. If it was good or bad, that was how he treated them.

It was his job to guide dreamwalkers, powerful like this one and all those in-between as they walked between worlds to ensure they were never harmed when they woke.

Of course, mistakes were made, and sometimes he couldn't save every one of them, but he always shrugged it off. He couldn't feel bad for every mortal he couldn't save or he'd just lose the rest while he mourned. Being able to shrug off death was much easier for him seeing as he never had many attachments ever since he was created. That, and being an angel helped as well. They weren't built for emotions, much less attachments. They were soldiers and he lived by that.

This all led him to here, standing in front of a cherrywood door that belonged to a small house hidden down a long dirt path off a small town that would be hard to spot on any kind of map.

Before he could knock, a young brunette who wasn't too much shorter than him answered looking very tired. He immediately knew this was the one he was looking for just by looking at her.

"It's the middle of the night, sir," she yawned. "What is it?"

He noticed how she watched him carefully, checking the outside like he was a threat.

"I'm an angel, we've met before," he said.

Her eyes widened and her grip on the door tightened.

"No, you're not. Please leave." She went to close the door, but he put his foot in between the wall and the door.

"I can't do that, you know this."

He heard her breath catch in her throat and felt her push against the door harder. Why did humans have to be so difficult?

"There's no need to be scared," he tried to soothe. "I have no reason to harm you."

"Sorry, no can do, pal."

He sighed, his breath turning to smoke as the night got colder. Not that he could feel it.

"Please, dreamwalker —"

"Don't call me that!" She snapped.

He paused, suddenly confused. "Why? Is it not a gift to be able to dream of different worlds? Just the other night you visited a world only made of forests did you not?"

The woman stopped pushing and the angel pulled his foot back as she opened the door enough to peer from behind it. He didn't know what she was looking for as she stared up at him, but she apparently found it.

She sighed and opened the door fully.

He watched her, wondering if it was a trick and she'd slam the door in his face.

"Well, angel, are you gonna come in or are you gonna freeze your ass off?"

"You're...you're letting me in? But you almost hit me with the door a few moments ago."

"Yeah, well," she paused, shaking her head, "I've never told anyone about my dreams, not to mention, you've got a glow around you if I look hard enough."

That shocked him. Usually, humans were unable to pick up on angelic grace, but this one could. Could it have to do with her dreamwalker abilities?

"Are you gonna stare or come in?"

He blinked then walked in, looking around her home as she closed the door behind him. He swore he heard her say something about being murdered which only confused him more. Why would he harm her?

"You have a nice home." He said. He wasn't lying either, it was the nicest he's been in considering the other was made out of clay and mud.

The walls were dull yellow and there were paintings that decorated the walls in splashes of bright colors. Shelves full of novels and photos stood in the living room next to a lit fireplace that lay in front of a comfortable-looking couch. To his right was a hallway with three doors and to his left was a kitchen with a small table in the center with piles of paper sitting on it.

"Thanks," she said. "Do you want tea or coffee?"

"I...I've never had either of those things," he said.

The woman gasped and he jumped, startled. "Are you serious?"

He nodded slowly, not at all understanding what was happening. He wasn't used to talking with people, the most interaction he got was telling humans that they were dreaming then making them wake them up.

The next thing he knew, he was sitting on her couch with a warm cup of Jasmine tea in his hands (apparently it was her favorite) watching the fire burn without relying on wood. Why he was entertaining her, he had no clue.

"What's your name?" She asked, bringing his attention back to her.

"I'm an angel of the Lord and the protector of the Dreams. No one has used my name in a long time," he answered.

The brunette chuckled. "I got that the first time you said it. I asked what your name was."

This human was like trying to figure out a maze. She was so...warm. He stared at her for a moment, but eventually gave in when she didn't take it back.

"My name is Thelsiel."