Street Dreams

By AriaMars

277 20 14

In a world where the Mafia still has a presence in Las Vegas, the Yakuza are slowly trying to move in. Ren is... More

Chapter 1 - Just a Little Higher
Chapter 2 - Kick in the Teeth
Chapter 3 - Unexpected Turns
Chapter 4 - Arrival
Chapter 5 - Maybe it's just a Dream (Potential Trigger Warning)
Chapter 6 - From the Start
Chapter 8 - Fallen Angel
Chapter 9 - Once Upon a Jack
Chapter 10 - Run Devil Run
Chapter 11 - Angel Eyes
Chapter 12 - Set Aflame

Chapter 7 - Horns and Halos

10 1 0
By AriaMars

    Niall stood before a class full of eager learners; that was what he wanted to believe, anyway.  Most of them were too busy whispering among each other, or doing their best to appear unaffected by the day and bored with life.  Why were they so jaded?  They were too young for such apathy. The chalk clicked and slid against the black board.  Yes, he could have used the overhead projector with a computer, but he liked the board, the feel and sound of the white stick announcing itself and the work it was doing.

    Though the students did not know it, each conversation touched his ears. There was a tell-tale, 'I know right?' murmured in the back of the classroom, and he already knew that they were talking about him.  It was something he had become accustomed to.  He acknowledged that he was an attractive man, however, he did not like his students lingering on it.

    The girl in question was a burgundy-haired young woman, sitting with a knee propped on her desk.  Her hands held her cellphone, and she was paying more attention to the girl next to her than the board.  "Ashleigh, maybe you would like to solve this problem for the class."

    Guilt flitted across her face before being expertly hidden. The fact that she hadn't been paying attention was caught. "Uh, I don't feel very good."

    Niall shook his head, "Alright, it might be the cellphone and its radiation bothering you. I'd suggest putting it away, please."

    She did so; and to her merit, it was not pulled out again up to the end of class. That happened to be fifteen minutes later. Soon his class was empty. He had been substituting for the Algebra teacher.  He normally taught Science.  Luckily, he also knew how to teach Mathematics, so he covered when he was needed.  The school was short enough on teachers. It was usually when he had particularly difficult classes that the longed for flavor of smoke and tobacco was strongest in his memory. He had given up smoking when he took his initial vows.  He was to give up all worldly possessions. The class day was over, and he had papers to grade.  It would be easy enough to read over them, and be done with it soon. However, he wanted to go home.

    When he got to his small cell, allowed to him by Monsignor Abraham, he laid down in his bed. The papers were left, to be graded later, on the small nightstand.  There wasn't much to the small room, just the bed, the nightstand, and a closet. Otherwise, it was very bare. He did not mind it, as he had taken the vows.  He never felt particularly attached to objects; so it was not a large loss. As he laid down, he closed his eyes and let himself dissipate. His body became light, and soon, he would no longer be in the small cell.

    When his eyes opened again, Niall saw a far more familiar room, though it was quite different from the one he had laid down in. It was still relatively simple, with round walls painted in a light blue pattern instead of the dull-colored square, various shades of blue merged and swirled around him.  There was nothing truly permanent about this world, except that it existed. Niall slipped from his bed, the familiar, one-room, home was his. It was larger than the one he'd gone to "sleep" in, though not by any considerable measure, it was maybe the size of a typical middle-class house's den. In the room, all trappings he might need existed. Eating was not something that his people had to worry about, so there was no kitchen. Instead, there was a couch, his bed, a few tables and nightstand.  The walls had the only "permanent" objects in the room. Items he had brought over with him, a clock, though time worked a lot differently, here, several posters, or pictures, some from bands he happened to find, even one of those posters that had a kitten hanging on a rope.

    Clothes were also optional. Niall looked at himself in a mirror, his body looking so different to what it was there. His body was similar enough that one might see him in it, though his shoulders were broader, his waist narrower, as only is possible in a dream.  His skin was blue, similar to that of parts of his wall, a pattern of swirls also moving over his skin.  His hair, now long, falling almost to the floor, was a light brown, not particularly red, nor particularly blonde, just brown. His eyes, larger, and almost alien, like the ones you usually see on grey aliens, almost matched his hair in color. No nose to speak of was evident on his face, instead, he had two, small, holes that may have acted like one with two small curved extensions that might have looked like very flat nostrils. Three bony ridges rose above them. The ridges were mostly decorative, at least he figured that they were, giving him a very bat-like appearance. He wore a robe and a pair of trousers similar to those worn during the Sassanian dynasty in Persia.  Heavily embroidered, the robe closed in the front, though he wore it open, the sleeves reached his elbows, open from there, and hanging. The trousers were baggy and comfortable.  He had not seen himself like this in a long time.

    Did it count as cheating, he wondered, to have a home in another world.  Perhaps it was only that human rules applied to the human world.  He went there to help people, he wanted to help them, to encourage them to be better.  He had not given up, but the task seemed to be far more considerable than he had initially anticipated.  He stepped out of his home, looking around.  The violet grass, the overcast of red that seemed to tint everything, the indigo sky swirling like swaths of paint made with a brush of truly galactic proportions that always seemed to shift and move, sometimes even overlapping the moons, themselves, greeted him.  Physicists, Biologists, all of the scientists of that world would probably have their minds blown if they walked the land, outside of their dreams.

    A grawul floated by, its translucent body glowing with some inborn luminescence. It looked like some sort of small white lobster, without the claws and dragonfly-like wings. It was something familiar. No matter how many dreams he went through, being in the waking world was just strange.  The cars, the colors, everything was so alien.  Yet humans, in their limitations and almost limitless potential, intrigued him.

     He had gone to the Prince of Dreams, asking if he could pass through for a prolonged period of time. It wasn't often done, others usually viewed humans as simply a means of sustenance. They would appear, form the world to their own subconcious image, and those who were within the dream were able to sustain themselves on the energy released by their mind.

    Niall went for a small walk, letting himself relax.


    Elsewhere in this that same world, another was wandering around.  Ren had not been home in at least a year.  He had almost fully enmeshed himself with the humans, to the point that he just didn't want to come back.  His side of the world was not quite as pretty in a traditional sense; the sky was the same, though he lived in Kursahuldim, the Land of Nightmares. The other land was Kursagal, the Land of Dreams. Ren never cared for how light it was.  Both lands were influenced by the whims of their respective lords.

    Today, it would appear that the Prince of Nightmares was in a good mood, the ground was smooth, the walkways a cold marble, the grass glowing a soft teal, while amberfls, a smaller species of gruwal, floated in the air like Asian lanterns, numerous as fireflies in July, making the trees sparkle, in spite of their menacing appearance. Ren paused, looking at the trees.  During the rare "daylight" hours, the trees turned a crystalline blue, at night, the leaves were a deep violet, making everything look darker.

    He needed to center himself, remind himself that he was not part of that world. His heart was twisting, and the longer he stayed there, the colder he had become. He could feel the emotions he had possessed in spades slipping away. Those of the waking world, he noticed, tended to be less passionate, unless they were mad. The inhabitants of Kursahuldim may have always appeared to be heartless, their true natures were evident in their eyes. Nothing they did was done half-hearted.  Nihilism did not exist, here. In the wilds, perhaps, but never in the lands of the lords of this world. He took a moment to admire the terrain. A light wind made the leaves and grass sway gently. A presence could be felt behind him, but he made no effort to protect himself.  He recognized it.  A moment later, he could feel arms thrown around his neck, and a familiar laugh rang out. "Gotcha!"

    He unhooked the arms and turned to see Eryn. She was smiling up at him, with shark-like teeth, beneath a smooth plane of face, with two, large, multi-faceted eyes, similar to those of bees. Behind her, a large bee-like abdomen extended from her waist. Her legs were long and thin. The trunk of her body was covered in a soft, fuzzy carapace.  Ren smiled in return. "Did you just happen to be in the area?"

    She shrugged, "I may have been tracking you. But in my defense, you haven't been back home in how long?"

    He actually tried to do the math, before waving it off. "Long enough. I know, I should come back more often, but business there keeps me busy."

    She huffed, "You are becoming stuffy. You should come back more often. Why is 'business' so important?"

    "Because I like being over there."

    "Why? It's not like you can't be whatever you want, here."

    Ren sighed, thinking about that, "I like humans."

    Eryn snickered, "Any particular humans?"

    "Yes, actually. And no, not like that." He cut her off before she got any ideas, "I have a friend, there. And I have power. People respect me, and fear me."

    Her wings moved quickly behind her, causing a loud, low, buzz before settling down. "I noticed you also have a partner, now."

    Ren grimaced. "That... I did not ask for."

    "Can't you just say no?"

    A sigh answered her, "No. Not only did I not ask for this partner, but it flees from me as well."

    Eryn tilted her head, "'It?'"

    Ren let out a breathy laugh, "The human I am to be tied to is a hermaphrodite who chooses to live as a female, though its genitals are both fully functional, it seems."

    If Eryn's eyes could widen in shock, they would have, he gathered, from her expression, "Oh, so you..."

    "Not in their world. I discovered it through its dreams."

    "What did you do to it?"

    He shrugged, nonchalantly, "Raped it."

    "Why?"

    "To taste its fear."

    "And how did it taste?"

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