My Dream

🍎 Back to Class

"Ugh, so cold." Grim complained. "I wanna go to school wrapped in blankets."

Winter break was finally over, and it was time for classes to start back up.

Gwen had woken up earlier than Grim, as was usual. After she had gotten up, she stopped to stare at the window, remembering the dream she had.

"Hm?" Grim paused in his stretching to look over at her. "What's wrong? You're starting at the mirror."

"It's nothing." Gwen said, absently playing with her hair. Her hair was finally getting back to its old length. "I just can't decide..."

"Your hair looks fine so stop checking yourself out, we gotta go." Grim said.

Gwen shrugged and decided to just wear her hair down, grabbing a purple headband to slide into her hair. "Alright then, let's go!"

***

Ace and Deuce met up with them on Main Street like they usually did.

"Mornin' babe. Grim." Ace greeted.

"Good morning, it's really cold today." Deuce shivered a little.

"I know right!" Gwen rubbed her hands up and down her arms. "Brr!"

Gwen looked over at the statue of the Sorcerer of Sand. "Y'know, me and Fahim like to cook a big meals with his family." She said. "Fahim, Razi, and I hide the ingredients we don't like. Othello and Jade always find them though."

"Aw, that's cute." Deuce said.

And then Gwen looked over at the statue of the Beautiful Queen.

Her dream flashed back into her mind, of the regal looking woman in front of the mirror.

"Ah!" Gwen cried, pointing at the statue. "I saw her in my dream!"

"Owow!" Grim cried as he smacked into her legs. "Don't just stop in front of someone. I rammed my nose right into your leg."

"'Sup?" Ace asked, turning to look at her. "Why're you staring at the Great Seven?"

Gwen turned to the statue of the Queen of Hearts. "I dreamed of her, and then Quinn came. I dreamed of the King of Beasts, and Myz appeared. I dreamed of the Sea Witch and Killian was summoned. I dreamed of the Sorcerer of Sand and remembered Fahim."

Gwen shook her head, running her fingers through her hair. "They've all been appearing in my dreams. Not just today either, I feel like before..."

She turned back to the statue of the Beautiful Queen and watched as it flickered. Long hair, dark enough to be blue. A pendant around the neck. A dress... no, a poets blouse and pants?

"Hey, Gwen." Deuce laid a hand on her shoulder. "You're just spacing out, are you feeling all right?"

"She's been weird all morning, y'know." Grim said.

"Ehh?" Ace tilted his head. "Did something happen over the holidays?"

"I... I..." Gwen shook her head, trying to fend off the oncoming headache. "I'll tell you on the way to class."

***

"So... you think your dreams are connected to your memories?" Ace asked. "I thought we already knew this."

"Right, but the weird thing is that my dreams are different from what happened in my world, and they're different from the legends here." Gwen pointed out. "It's like... it's like there are two worlds, right?"

"Yeah." Deuce nodded. "Here, and the world where you come from."

"Right. But what if there's a third world?" Gwen wondered. "And that third world is leaking into my dreams through the mirror?"

"Wait, so there's three worlds?" Ace asked.

"Maybe even more." Gwen replied.

"More!?" Deuce and Ace gasped.

Gwen pulled out her paintbrush and began to draw on a spare sheet of paper. "Imagine that once upon a time there was only one world. And then people began to dream. And with every dream, new worlds began to pop up. Some worlds don't last long. Others last for hundreds of years."

Gwen held up the picture so the others could see. "The trouble was, some of these worlds couldn't function on their own, especially if their dreamer passed on. So eventually, powerful dreamers were born inside these worlds, and it was these dreamers who kept the worlds going."

"Whoa..." The other three looked awestruck.

"Gwen... are you one of those dreamers?" Grim asked, tilting his head.

"I... I don't know..." Gwen admitted. "A lot of my past is still blurry."

"So... how did you know all of this then?" Deuce asked.

"Someone... maybe Merlin?" Gwen shrugged. "Someone taught me about this."

A chime ran out, signaling the start of class.

"Take your seat, puppies." Crewel instructed as he entered the room. "Put your paintbrush away Miss Crowley."

"Yes Master Crewel." Gwen replied, tucking her paintbrush away.

All eyes in the classroom turned to her in shock. Ace and Deuce's jaw dropped.

"Yes mutts, you all heard that correctly." Crewel snapped. "All eyes in front!"

All eyes slowly turned back to Crewel.

"In homeroom, it's time to take your leashes and pull the slack you enjoyed over the holidays tight." Crewel grinned at the nervous looking faces. "I'm sure you're all aware of the National Magic School Joint Culture Festival happening in the middle of February. Night Raven College has been selected as this year's host."

"Ffna?" Grim tilted his head. "We're having a festival?"

"All you confused puppies sitting here didn't look at the school calendar you got in September." Crewel shook his head in disappointment. "Fools!"

Crewel smacked his pointer stick against his hand, a sharp crack echoing throughout the room. "Then I'll do you bad boys a favor and explain it again. Disciplining puppies is my job after all."

"National Magic School Joint Culture Festival gathers students from wizard schools all across the nation." Crewel began. "Over two days they will perform, give research presentations, participate in a speech contest, amongst other activities. This is the cultural inter high."

"Normally fourth years are dispatched to various magic related workplaces for internships and research but..." Crewel smiled. "They come back to campus for this to share the fruits of their labors."

"Oh now that you mention it..." Ace suddenly realized something. "I haven't met a single fourth year since we started school."

"I just knew that they were off campus doing research." Deuce said. "I'll have to make sure to show my appreciation to them as my seniors."

"Oh yeah, I've only ever seen third years." Gwen said. "Huh. So even wizards have to do internships."

"National Magic School Joint Culture Festival brings representatives from many different fields." Crewel continued. "The board of magical education, ministry of magic, magic corporations, research departments and even celebrities all pay close attention to this event. Any of you puppies in cultural clubs need to brush all your fur in line."

"Hmph, so this is for culture clubs." Ace crossed his arms.

"That means any of us in sports clubs won't have much to do." Deuce realized.

"So since it's a festival are there gonna be a bunch of things to eat like during magift?" Grim wondered.

"All you care about is food." Ace shook his head.

"That's all for homeroom." Crewel announced. "Today's first period will be dedicated to practicing defensive magic. Puppies, come here!"