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Chapter One
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2025-01-12 01:30:54The field I was currently standing in was beautiful.
The grass was long and green, moving like water in the wind. There were clumps of colorful flowers popping up, drawing my eye immediately to them. Some of the plants seemed to be… glowing. So brightly colored they hurt my eyes to look at. The trees lining the edge of the field were tall and old looking, seemingly reaching out to touch the dark night sky with their twisted fingers. In some of them I could see thick rope with frayed ends swaying from the lower down branches. An image of children climbing all over those ancient trees flashed in my mind. In the distance, lights could be seen and voices could be heard. I could hear evening doves cooing, and bugs singing their song. I could hear the deep croaking of toads coming from a pond pushed in the back corner of the field. It was what I would imagine a fairy tale sounding and looking like. I half expected a deer to come up and nuzzle my neck.
“You look like you’re thinking really hard about something.” I spun around at the sound of a sudden voice, making eye contact with a familiar face. I had definitely seen this man somewhere before, but I couldn't quite place where…
He was tall and wide, and you could see the cut of muscle under his soft looking t-shirt. He walked like he was on his way to declare God himself his nemesis, leaning forward and with his giant fists permanently clenched. His hair was slightly unkempt and dark, his eyes, the deepest shade of blue I’ve ever seen a pair of eyes before. And despite his seemingly aggressive stance, he didn’t scare me or make me feel unwelcome. He stopped in front of me, his eyes scanning me over.
“This place is really pretty.” I reply lamely, almost in a whisper, not really sure what else to say. He took a step closer, and I watched him wearily. It crossed my mind that I was at a complete disadvantage physically to him, but I tried to push that thought aside. “Where have I seen you before?” I ask instead. The familiarity of his face was bugging the crap out of me.
“I’ve always been in your dreams.” He replies, taking another step towards me.
“My….dreams?” I furrow my brow. Somewhere deep down I think I knew this isn’t real, but it’s hard to wrap my head around.
He chuckles at my contorted face, and I feel my heart flipping a little with the sweet, deep sound of his laugh. I feel like I've heard it before. Something is festering around inside me at the sound of his laugh, telling me to wake up from the distorted reality I’m in.
Where is this feeling coming from? It’s faint, so I push it to the back of my mind and try to focus on the person in front of me.
He’s edging closer to me now, so much so that I can smell the earthy scent coming off of him and see the splash of freckles across his tan face. I imagine he got them from laying in this field when the sun is out. I can feel the tension shooting between us both, and it only thickens when I shoot my eyes up to meet his. What was this feeling passing in between us? Why did I feel like I knew him? It’s driving me crazy.
“Want to sit down?” He asks. He must’ve seen me admiring the soft appearance of the grass before.
He sits first, and I follow, for lack of anything better to do. I was right: the grass feels like threads of silk. I run my hands through it as though it were a girl's hair. I start at the roots, curling my fingertips slightly into the soft earth, and then slowly run a handful of grass through my fingers. I can’t help myself, I lay down, giggling a little. I continue to run my hands through the thick grass, thinking about how easy it would be to sleep here. The cool night breeze smells like cotton and dreams, and for a second I think I almost do fall asleep.
That strange laugh makes me sit up suddenly though, making me aware of what a fool I’m making of myself in front of a perfect stranger.
“It’s nice, I know.” He hesitates, and then lays down. “When I was little I used to sneak away from my home and come to this field. Everyone knows it’s here, but no one comes here because they know it’s mine.”
“Am I invading your space?” I ask, inching a bit closer to him. He smirks, shaking his head.
“You wouldn't be here if I didn’t want you to be.” I lay down after he says this, angling my body so that we’re touching at the hips. The tiny amount of physical contact makes my arms tingle.
Why did I want to be closer to him? I wanted to curl up in a ball in his arms. I’d never been good at flirting, I don’t even think you could say I had ever done it before, but I definitely felt like I was now. I glance at him through my lashes, and feel my heart jump when I find him already looking at me. I avert my eyes quickly, settling on the sky instead.
Who is this boy?
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He looks up at the big moon with me, and I find my gaze drifting, turning to look at his eyes so that I can see the moon’s reflection in them. Sure enough, it’s like I’m staring into a lake’s surface. “I grew up a mile or so that way,” he points towards the tree line ahead of us. I turned away from his face to follow his pointed finger, where I saw the lights and heard voices earlier. “I grew up with ten younger brothers and sisters.”“That’s a lot of siblings.” I say, looking back at his handsome face. His jaw is clean and sharp looking, his lips thick, with a scar going through the top and lower right corner. It has a brother, going across his right eye. I move my gaze down to his neck, where I can see dark blue lines wrapping around from the back. I gently nudge his jawline, and he complies, twisting his head so I can see the back of his neck. I try to ignore the spark I feel when I touch his skin. A large circle tattoo, which is sliced like a pie, is on the back of his neck. Each
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I snap awake, and become aware of everything all at once. The back of my neck is drenched in sweat. My dog is staring at me. It was only a dream. After the last realization, a kind of hole forms in the middle of my chest, and I can feel tears burning at the corners of my eyes. All traces of wonder and hope that came with being in a good dream washed away as my consciousness returned. I sit up, and hold my dog's head in my hands. “It was just a dream.” I tell her, and she responds by licking her waggly chops. I sigh, and let go of her face. I throw my blanket off of me, and perch on the edge of the bed. I can see my reflection in the tall black framed mirror that I have leaning against the wall across the room. My dark brown eyes look wide and wild. My shoulder length black hair is matted in the back, making it look thicker than it usually is. Even from across the room I can tell it looks like I’ve just seen a ghost.Dream or not, that was intense. I rub my fingers together, and
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“I got this.” I say to my mother, stretching my neck forward to see the front of the line.It’s been four days since my dream. The day of the dream, I hadn’t really done anything. I fed my dog breakfast and then went back to bed until three, until I had to get up and get ready for work at five. Work had been busy, a pleasant distraction from thinking about my dream. The next few days after that I spent mostly trying to occupy my mind. I cleaned the house and my room, gave my dog a bath, sorted out some clothes to sell for extra cash, stuff like that. My mom thought I was on drugs and I think she was seriously considering buying an at home drug test.I’ve obviously slept since then, and no dreams like that have happened again. I had a dream that I was a mermaid trapped in disney world, and I swear, I could see the guy from the field standing outside my tank, watching me with those blue eyes that captured the moon so perfectly. I mean I know he had said he was from my dreams but... I h
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That night I didn't get home until almost four in the morning. I worked a late shift at the twenty four hour dinner I had been at for a couple years now, and since I could now drive myself home, I decided to go through a drive thru and eat my dinner in the parking lot. I was fully, all the way, avoiding my own dreams. What my mom had said earlier kind of… shook me. I sat in the empty parking lot for almost a whole hour, just thinking about everything that was clogging up my brain gears recently. I had compiled a list of observations: One: this guy was obviously some miserable creation my own lonely mind created to compensate for the lack of male presence in my life. I mean, I had no dad, no boyfriend or even a close male friend for that matter. That was bound to cause some inner turmoil, right?Two: my mother probably thought I was dreaming about becoming a doctor and wanted me to take that into consideration when choosing what I was going to college for, and that’s why she acted l
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I shake my head, and turn to my right, making my way through the treeline, trying to push that very strange encounter to the back of my mind. The forest is pleasantly thick, but not so thick that I can’t see far enough ahead of me. I walk for about ten minutes before I can see a house to my left a few hundred feet ahead. I assume that’s the boy’s house, which hopefully means the field shouldn’t be too much farther ahead. I have no idea if that’s actually true, since I’ve only been here one time and in one place. But I was trying to be hopeful. I walk quickly, feeling slightly pressed for time. Last time it was days before I could come back, what if it’s longer this time? What if it’s a week, or a month, or a year? I don’t really know this boy too much, but for some reason the thought of not seeing him for a year makes my heart knot up. I laughed at myself a little. I had dreaded coming back here so much, but really only because I knew how much it would hurt to get ripped away from it
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This time when my eyes snap open, I’m not feeling so sad and lonely. I’m confused as ever and a little irritated. Scratch that, a lot irritated. He knew going in for a kiss would scare the shit out of me, and used it to wake me up. I sit up, trying to process what I just “dreamt” about. Who were those people trying to find me? Why was that guy so scared of them? Scared might not have been the right word… but he was definitely wary of them to say the least.And who was that that called for me? I could remember the exact pitch of his voice calling out into the night. “Little flower…” I feel almost… regretful… that I didn’t see the face it belonged to.I shake my head, focusing on what really mattered. Were my dreams more than dreams? Was this a real place and a real person I was visiting and talking to? It was seeming more and more like that was the case. I felt insane even thinking that, but what was I supposed to think at this point?I sat there in my bed for a few minutes collecti
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It was almost two in the afternoon before I finally gave up. I closed my laptop that I’d had to plug in while I used it from draining the battery, and tossed it on the foot of my bed. I had let my dog out hours ago. She had no interest in research, only in frockling in the back yard. I left my room, shutting my wooden door a bit forcefully behind me. The house was cool and quiet, all I could hear was my mom’s cat padding around somewhere. I stood there in the hallway for a moment, staring at a picture of my dad that hung on the wall, along with various other pictures. We had gone on a fishing trip; I was only four and the small perch my mother had photographed me holding had felt like a shark in size to little me. My dad died when I was eight, from a heart attack. I loved him, and I miss him every day I walk down this hallway and see these pictures of him, smiling and frozen in time. That gives me an idea. My legs and mind kick into gear with the fresh thought seared into my min
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She stares at the picture, as though what I’m saying is irrelevant. She backs up and flops down into one of the brown armchairs taking up a corner of the room. Her eyes stare off a little, and she sighs. It’s a good minute before she says anything, and when she does, it’s like she’s talking to herself rather than to me. “Your father and I used to live in a really crappy town down south before we moved here and started over. We were young and broke and couldn’t afford anything better. So we ended up living in kind of a dump around people who gave us nothing but bad memories… especially your father. We moved there to get away from people, to be by ourselves. You know already my parents weren’t very nice, and your father’s died when he was young. I was tired of living under the same roof as them and your dad… well he didn’t care where we went. He always said he just wanted to be by my side. So we settled for less, just to get away. It just caused trouble for us, though. At first, every
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"Come, Lady Delilah. Since Erik won't be returning until after dinner, he's instructed me to lead you to the dining hall, so you may eat with the rest of the Alva." We're walking out what seems like a back door of Erik's place, down a small hill with a path, and through a clearing towards a plain looking salt structure. It looked like it was only one room, but a big one.Dining hall sized, I guess.Chepi was carrying a covered tray while walking behind me, with what I assume to be my dinner underneath. My nerves started buzzing at the sound of loud chatter coming from the naked entry way of the building. We were getting closer, and I was feeling very nervous.This was a total lunchroom situation.We finally come to the entry way, and I stop for a moment to take it all in.There are four room length tables in the room, all with dozens of wooden stools around them. There are a few small groups of people congregated around a couple spots, and it reminded me of the same kind of groups I'd
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I turn the page of the journal I was reading for my little audience. "The Mann returned, but he did not return alone. I fear this may be my last entry, as we are currently under siege. Mann attacked in the night, slitting our fighters' throats as they slept and smothering our babies before they could cry. We were only alerted when one of the Mann stepped on an animal's tail and woke the house he was invading. We all heard their screams as they were killed. Our goddess is angry, angrier than I think I've ever seen her. She has called forth the rage of the forest, and Mann hang from limbs by their necks. She says she's done with Mann, and this world, and plans to create another for us and her new slaves." I stop reading and glance up at Chepi, who looks ashen. "She's on top of the hill now, absorbing energy. Only seventy-nine of us remain, and ten of the invaders. Including the original Mann who stole the blood of our people. She has him with her on top of the hill, last I saw she was i
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Hello again, Child. I didn't think I'd be seeing you so soon, and with company.I was nestled against the roots of my Aldre, the book I had picked up first in the library in my hands. Chepi had come along, with a ball of scratchy looking yarn and a small stool. She was perched on it now, her fingers moving the string around methodically, paying me and my tree no mind."She's okay." She doesn't even look up when I speak out loud to the tree.What ails you?I sigh, and hold the book in front of me, opening it and turning the pages."When Mann, as we've branded them, was first encountered by Sanju, tidings were well."You can read the old tongue. I nod, and continue. The pages are laid out like a journal, starting on the second page."Sanju left the fort at first light on the second day of the full moon with the objective of obtaining medicine for a group of sick children. While she and many others possessed healing, the sickness that taints the children is deep, acquired from an unknown
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"What am I supposed to do with all of this?" I ask as Erik returns to his seat in the corner with me cradled in his arms. He turns me so I straddle him, both our chests pressed together and with my face buried in his shoulder. I was probably being a little dramatic, but it kind of felt good to let it out for once and not hold back my reaction. I wasn't exactly sure why I felt comfortable doing that around Erik, but here I was, crying like a baby in his arms. I had to keep reminding myself I'd only known him for a couple of days; this level of comfort wasn't normal. "Please don't weep." He whispers as he strokes my hair softly. "It makes me feel things I didn't know I could feel anymore." I sniff, and back up a little.Our eyes meet, and more memories pour in from him. A woman, tall and beautiful with hair the same color as Erik's, with deep purple eyes and clear perfect skin, was shoving him into what looked like a cupboard. Tears were bubbling in his eyes, and he was saying somethin
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"What the hell are you talking about right now, Chepi? You're confusing me." I ask, my heart racing at what she just told me. What is a Gudinna? What did it have to do with me, and why could I read this alleged dead language? It just looked like English to me. Normal words I had been reading my entire life."Lady Delilah, you asked me why I held you in a higher regard than I did Erik. My inviting you here was so I could prove to both you and myself why that is. I have a very strong suspicion that you are-""Chepi." We both jump at the sudden sound of Erik's voice. I look where he is standing in the entry way, glaring at my servant. My heart is racing; I feel like I've been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.She bows to him, and backs out of the room quickly, all while he watches her leave."Why did she leave? What was she about to say?" I shake the book at Erik, emphasizing my point. "Why did she say no one else can read this? You can, right?" I thrust it at him. Erik sighs, and t
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Twenty minutes later, I'm dressed in basically the same clothes as yesterday, just clean ones, and leading Chepi towards a supposed library."Left." She whispers behind me as we come to a fork in the hallways."Delilah!" I turn around at the sudden sound of a familiar voice. Larkin has appeared down the hall from us, where I think the other bedrooms are. I watch as he jogs towards us, quickly closing the distance. "Larkin." I say, smiling up a little at him when he stops in front of us. Yeah, he irritated me. But he was hard to stay mad at, and there was no point in being mean to him. I didn't know what was going to happen with us, but I had a feeling we'd both end up hurt as it was. I didn't feel like I needed to rub dirt in the wound by rehashing his mistakes over and over again. "I had no idea if you were still here or not." His lips lift up in a smile and he squats down so we can make eye contact. I back up a little nervously when he ends up only a few inches away from me. Too ma
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"Do you have any scents you prefer?" Chepi asks as I start peeling off my clothes to get into the bath. She graciously turned her back then to clink through the bottles of soaps and other liquids."No, I trust your judgment." I step into the water, lowering myself in quickly and perching on the provided ledge underneath."Very well, My lady." I sink into the water up to my nose, watching Chepi from behind the steam. She plucked vials of oil off a cart and made her way to the still running square shaped taps behind me. She empties a pink colored one into one stream of water, then crawls to another and adds a cream-colored vial. The water immediately starts smelling of honey suckles and vanilla. I sigh, and close my eyes for a second, opening them again when I hear her rummaging about some more.She grabs a fabric bag off the cart and approaches again. She kneels down and gently starts sprinkling the dried daisy petals into the bath, keeping her eyes on the water the entire time. She ri
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"I guess I need to learn more about what it means to be fated." I feel his hand on my lower back, and I know I'm growing weak. I force myself to blink and break eye contact, so I don't lose consciousness again."Don't worry, we'll work on your magic, so you won't always get so weak when we connect." He moves his hand from my lower back once I'm stable again."Speaking of magic." I step away from him a little. "Something happened last night, when I was outside.""When were you outside? The guards said you were just wondering-" he stops when I turn to glare at him. He kind of opens and closes his mouth, avoiding looking at me for a second before shooting me a sheepish grin. I roll my eyes but turn back towards the window. So, he knew I was lost last night. He was probably the reason none of the many guards I'd walked by offered to help. How petty."Anyways." I shoot him a look and stop in front of the window, bending to look down and gasping in excitement at what I see. "I knew I wasn't
Dreaming of Flowers Chapter Thirty-Two
"My Lady!" My lady? Who the hell is calling me my lady now? And why are they yelling?I pry open my eyes, blocking the sunlight from them as I do so. I groan, looking up to meet gazes with what appears to be another servant woman. She wears the same dress as the others, and the same apron. She's staring down at me in horror, shock clear on her face. Her hair is almost yellow in color, pulled back into a tight bun that hung low on her head. Her eyes are a pale brown color with long, lovely lashes surrounding them."Why are you on the floor? Did you and Erik have a fight?" She quickly sits down on knees, laying down flat so her hands stretch towards me. She looks up at me with her face only."What are you doing right now?" I ask, scrunching up my whole face. It was too early to beat around the bush."I shouldn't stand above you. It would look bad." I shake my head a little, rubbing at my still tired eyes. I am definitely not used to this weird master-servant relationship all the helpers
