Chronicles of the Dreamworld

The Wyvern and The Snake

Dalia and her father had been living in the shed he told her was a house for the past year now. It was a one story with two small bedrooms, a bathroom and a front room that managed to cram every other necessary room inside of it. It wasn't like their old house in Nightfall, Dalia was still debating whether or not she could call that place her home since she was forced to hide half of who she was or she'd be burned in the square.

Nightfall was the Kingdom that was home to the imagineers: people who came from the external world (the imagineer's basic non-magical earth) into this dreamlike- internal one which they intruded by having visions that lead them to portals.
Using the powers bestowed upon them by the internal world, imagineers protected the hallows- the "good" creatures- of this world: The elves, the gnomes, dwarfs, and unicorns. The Kingdom was split into twelve districts named after the thirteen zodiac signs, each one having its own ruler. But others like Dalia weren't allowed to live in the kingdom freely and were titled phantoms because of their horns and sharp teeth.

    After her mother was discovered by the wardens that guarded Nightfall, Dalia (who was fourteen at the time) and her father fled to the closest dark market before they could fall to the same fate. The markets were a safe haven for phantoms and any others that didn't fit the typical hallows and imagineer description. But for Dalia, who was half imagineer and half phantom the locals tended to look at her strangely.

    Dalia had a set of black horns that curled back above her head and slightly pointed ears, but those were the only features that marked her as different from her father's human heritage. She had her fathers auburn hair, light skin, and used a talisman like the rest of the Imagineers to bring forth her magic. Hers was a pen which was the most common of the sorts. She always kept it on her, that was the first rule she learned at Bellatrix Academy where she went to school in the Kingdom. Right now the purple marbled pen was being twirled in her hands.

    The hatch door opened that led up to the roof where Dalia was sitting and watching the sunset, her father, Gideon, shakely took a seat next to her, both their legs hanging off the edge.

    "You're going to have to come down at some point," he said, nudging her shoulder and examining the view, "you can't hide up here forever."

    "But it's safe up here," she said, hugging her knees. She wouldn't stay up there forever, just until she was ready to go back to Nightfall and get revenge. Her father nodded, and switched topics, oblivious to her true intent.

    "Do you mind getting me some ingredients tomorrow from the vendors," her father had chosen the potions branch of magic when he went to Bellatrix Academy, and so had she, but Dalia never got to finish her training. "Make sure to avoid Cory if you want to get back early," he told her, but she already knew Cory was renowned for his haggling, which wasn't even all that good. The thing he was good at, however, was annoying someone until they finally paid for something.

    "I know you don't like it that much here, but will you at least try to get to know it. There are lots of stories you can learn from." The two of them went quiet for a moment before her father patted her on the shoulder, "I'm going to start dinner, am I going to need to call you down?"

    Dalia shook her head and got up following her father to the hatch. Before going down she took one long look past the market towards Nightfall, which could still be seen faintly in the distance. She whispered "I'm sorry mama" and closed the hatch above her.

    The next morning Dalia got dressed, laced up her only pair of boots, stuck her pen in her hair, and walked out for the ingredients on her father's list he had left on the table. She followed the uneven stones to the middle of the market where stalls were set up and already making money.