Nightmare

Luna

I was having a very bad dream. In it, I was being chased by something. I was running through the woods, my pounding feet ringing ominously as I moved. Behind me, something was roaring angrily as it cut down the trees, bearing down on me.

"You cannot escape. You brought this on yourself." A tremor rocked my body as I pushed my body to move even faster. The voice was neither human nor wolf but it was definitely male. I couldn't place what had spoken, and I dared not turn to look but something about how the voice boomed like thunder, sending shivers down my spine told me that it meant every word. It was going to hunt me down till I had no place left to go. I spurred myself to move even faster.

"Stop running." The voice was laughing now although how the creature could manage to do that while it was still running and cutting down trees was beyond me. The laughter was even scarier than its voice. It sounded like the sound a pack of wolves would make if they were tearing a prey apart. "You brought this fate upon yourself. You can't outrun it. Give up."

The voice washed over me like hot water on a freezing cold day. "Stop. Listen to big mister scary." My mind seemed to be saying. My heart was urging me to move forward which I found to be strange. Even in a dream. I wasn't much of a philosopher but wasn't the mind supposed to be the one who made the smart decisions while the good old heart took all the foolish risks. I didn't have time to consider this though as my legs suddenly seemed to be growing too heavy, each step becoming slower and slower.

"What are you doing? Run!" I shrieked in my mind as I could hear my pursuer beginning to gain ground on me.

The laughter came again, loud and grating, this time much closer. "Stop running, Luna. Favored daughter of the goddess."

My ears popped as I stopped, my shock racing through me. It had been so long since someone had addressed me by that name. "What are you doing?" My brain seemed to have remembered its duties. "This is a trap. You should run before he or it catches up with you. Come on!"

"Too late." The voice chuckled behind me, a huge shadow rising above me, blocking out the pale light of the moon which I hadn't even realized was present.

Even without seeing it, an irrational kind of fear consumed me as I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out.

"Turn around. It is time to stop running." The voice boomed. Even from afar with me running away from it, the voice had been scary. Now that I had stopped running and its huge shadow cast total darkness over me, its voice was outright terrible. My hair stood on end as the ground seemed to quiver under me. Even then, I was filled with an overwhelming urge to obey. If this creature wanted me to turn, then I had to turn. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a tiny voice screamed at me to not turn but instead run as fast as I could away from this accursed place. But there was only so much a tiny voice could do as I continued to turn.

"Good. Good." The voice encouraged. I was just a few inches from turning toward it fully when a huge hand wrapped around my shoulder. I shivered, scared that another demon had come for me.

"Hey!" A familiar voice called. My heart warmed as I allowed the hand pull me away from this place of horrors.

"Soon, Luna. Soon." A cold shiver raced down my spine. I didn't like how the monster sounded so chummy, like he knew there was no place I could go or worse, I was going exactly where he wanted me to go.

My eyes opened and I sat straight up, the events of the dreams playing out in my mind's eye. Somewhere at the edge of my consciousness, I could hear Indrik trying to call my attention but I was too shaken by what I had just seen. What had the voice called me? "Child of the goddess? goddess of the child?" Nope! That wasn't it. What he had said had started off a fire in me that got me excited and hungry for a life long lost.

Finally, Indrik's voice got through as I turned to him. He started to talk but I soon realized that he also had problems of his own. I wondered what his own nightmare would be. Probably, getting stuck with his brother in close quarters? Now, that would be a nightmare to remember. The amusement gave me enough energy to get out of bed. He might not know it but he had saved me from what might be my worst nightmare yet. This made me feel kind of duty bound to help him as well.

"Hey!" I called, tapping him on the shoulder. What happened the next moment almost made me regret my good deed. He had been kneeling beside the bed and on tapping him suddenly leaped to his feet, an action which would have knocked my head clean off if I had not been quick enough to get out of the way. I voiced my displeasure but didn't hold it against him as I enquired about his purpose for coming here. Another look at the window informed me that it was still very late in the night.

"I was hoping we could train?" He asked sheepishly.

I wanted to laugh and hug and kiss him for making such a good suggestion. I needed the distraction to shake off the cold feeling that had settled in my heart after the dream. Wait, did I just say kiss? Forget that. Instead, I replied with a gruff voice. "You need a herald to declare it?"

The way his eyes lit up made it worth it.