Fated and Forgotton

Dream Walker

"My lord, there is an...anomaly."

"An anomaly?" Morpheus turned from the dream he was creating to face Lucienne. She looked grave, as she always did whenever she had bad news to share. "If this is about Hypnos' meddling, I have already taken care of it." He had never been fond of young gods, but he and Hypnos usually got along. Which made the god of sleep's meddling in the dreaming on behalf of a mortal more frustrating.

"No, sir. I am afraid this is another issue." She sighed. "There is a woman in Troy. She seems to have the ability to create nightmares and is using them to torment some of the soldiers in her father's employ."

Confusion reared in his chest in a way he hadn't felt for an age. "She is creating nightmares?"

Lucienne nodded. "At first, I thought she was just manipulating the ones you had already created, which as you know, while rare, is not unheard of. But when I investigated further, I realised she was manipulating the dreams directly, casting out your creations and replacing them with ones of her own. She could be a vortex?"

"No." He stared off into the distance, his mind reeling. "This age has already had its vortex and I would be able to feel if something was threatening the walls between dreams. If I cannot feel her, she is something else. Who is she?"

"Princess Cassandra of Troy." She read from the book on her hand. "She is currently in the dreaming, tormenting one of her father's soldiers."

"Leave it with me." He said, disappearing in a flurry of sand and leaving Lucienne staring after him, alone on the beach with his creations.

***

"You should not be able to do that." Morpheus watched unamused as the woman jumped and stumbled back from him. The soldier was completely oblivious to them, focusing on getting away from the snakes that were moving towards him.

"Who are you?" She glanced around, checking if he was alone or if there were other with him.

"I'm the king of dreams and you are trespassing in the dreams of another, dream walker." He studied her, taking in her tanned skin, dark brown hair and eyes. She was tall for a mortal, though slightly shorter than he was, and could not be much past twenty years. The off white, flowing dress she wore was clearly meant for a warm climate, showing more skin than he was used to seeing. While he was taking her in, she seemed to be doing the same to him, curious eyes scanning over him and checking to see how much of a threat he was.

"Oneiros." She whispered, taking another step back.

He tried not to let on how much the mortal name bothered him. He glanced back at the soldier who was still trying to get away from the snakes. "Crease this or I will make you."

"Why? He deserves this and much more." Her face hardened and she stood taller, as if challenging him.

He furrowed his brows. "That may be so, but this is not the place to do it. That is enough." He waved his hand and they found themselves standing in the middle of Fiddler's Green. Without the presence of another mortal he could get a better read on her and realisation flickered through his mind. "You have been cursed."

"You have no idea of what you speak." She spat at him. "It was nice to meet you dream lord, but I will take my leave."

"Cassandra." He called, but she had already disappeared. He stared after her, wondering what the soldier had done to inspire such rage and confidence that she would outright challenge a being she believed to be a god. He sighed, knowing she had returned to the waking world, and materialised back in the palace library.

Lucienne was sat behind her desk, reading from the dossier in front of her. "I take it went well." She looked at him over the top of her glasses.

"She is using nightmares to punish. She seems to be a lucid dreamer, but can dream walk and manipulate the dreams of others. I have never seen anything like it. There is a curse upon her, but she woke herself up before I could press the issue." He idly fiddled with his ruby, considering all the ways to move forward.

"What do you plan to do?"

"Send a raven to watch her in the waking world. I will speak to her again when she returns to the dreaming. If that fails, I will have to visit the waking world." He truly hoped it would not come to that, he was not as comfortable among the mortals as some of his siblings were.

"Do you think that wise, sir?" She looked concerned and even after all this time he wasn't used to someone caring about his wellbeing, even if she was one of his own creations.

"No, but if she is going to be a threat, I will not have a choice."