Achilles, Achilles, Achilles come down // DNF (dreamnotfound)

How the most dangerous thing - part 3

“Hi,” Dream waved at George, ignoring the zestful sensation of turning back and running.

George looked at him and smiled. It was the kind of smile that brightened his whole face, a true and beautiful smile that Dream absolutely loved. Dream noticed that George was one of the few humans who wore their feelings on their sleeve.

“Hi, traveller!” George greeted him back.

As he got closer, Dream noticed a weird thing: George’s basket was filled with mushrooms, and they all were as poisonous as one could find. George also noticed where Dream’s gaze was fixed at. With a quick move of his hand, George covered the basket acting as if it was nothing there to worry about.

Dream asked himself if it would be alright to question George about his toxic habit of eating poisonous mushrooms, but he brushed over that thought considering that George was unknowledgeable in the area of plants. He touched the basket when George wasn’t paying attention while he sat right next to him, cleansing the poison.

“What’re you up to?” Dream asked instead.

“Flower bouquets I guess,” George smiled.

He smiled too much for his own good, Dream found himself thinking.

After a second look, Dream was able to see the multitude of different flowers that rested on the other side of George. There were lots and lots of different wildflower, some of them Dream seeing for the first time in that place.

“Why?”

Dream was genuinely curious about the reason behind his little hobby. Picking flowers was deemed as a cruel thing by him, a god who put life above everything.

“Because they are beautiful.”

George carefully picked a blue flower that he added to his bouquet.

“And I want more people in my hometown to enjoy them. It seems unfair that I’m the only one who is able to enjoy them.”

There it was, that special something that George had and attracted Dream like flies to honey. He wasn’t making the bouquets for himself, but out of selfless for the people who weren’t brave enough to step that close to the forest. No human was brave enough or stupid enough to enter the forest or stay in that close proximity of it, as they feared the sound made by its guardians, which were in fact Dream and the god of fire.

The two gods didn’t even take into consideration that someone would walk on such a secluded part of the forest when they decided on that cave as their new “home”. With time, the forest grew thicker and darker, and the humans assumed that there were violent monsters guarding its core whenever they heard the gods’ bickering from afar. And it was the natural thing to fear something you couldn’t understand.

Thinking about it, George was the first human Dream had seen there in forever. It was weird and unusual, but not disliked, at least not by Dream. Was he brave, stupid or careless?

“People don’t usually come this close to the forest,” Dream gestured to the forest, a few steps away from the tree they found shelter under. “Aren’t you afraid?”

“But what about you? Why are you here then?”

What good reason could Dream give George for his presence there? He had to think and he had to think fast. A bell rung in his head when he found the uttermost perfect excuse.

“I’m a traveller. I didn’t know that this place was that dangerous.”

He was so proud of himself for thinking of such a good excuse.