𝓢𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓶𝓪𝓷'𝓼 𝓓𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶

𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝑶𝒇 𝑫𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓

Twenty Nine

I expected to have an awful nightmare that night. Alas, it turned out to be worse.

I was taken back to my past yet again - the part of it which I swore never to think again. Yet, here I am, being forced to relive it.

Is this the downside of dating The Sandman? Gods, I hope not. I fear I'm not mentally prepared to enact my terrors over and over for as long as I remain by Morpheus's side.

For his sake, and through the love I have for him, I will remain, of course.

There is just one thing I find curious in this whole endeavor. I do not sleep. Dreams cannot sleep, as far as I am aware. However, it seemed like my consciousness shuts down every now and then and produces dreams on their own to forsake me.

Those are the thoughts that distracted me as I sat on stacks of hay, drenched in dirty water from the barrel that the hand of my mother was grappling.

"Good. You're awake," She said, ever so cruel, flashing a sneer on her face all the while she's looking at me. "And an hour late, you useless girl."

"Forgive me, Mother. It took me until almost dawn to finish cleaning the barn."

"Even then, you still managed to fail," She shook her head. "What are you waiting for, then? Go wash up and tend to the stall. People are already lining up to meet you. You better make them all satisfied and fill the pot with money before the sun sets or else, I may have to kick you out of the house at last."

"I do not want to continue that... work, Mother," I rose from the hay I used as my bed last night, allowing the water to flow to my shoes. "People were already hurt. Have you heard what happened to old Troy? He's... lost his mind."

"From what I heard, it was his wish to live within his nightmare. I couldn't care less about that bloke. There is no excuse that will make me change my mind about it."

I sighed and watched her walk away, clasping now the barrel she threw at me before she left. "Somebody get me out of here." I mumbled to myself, eventually obeying my mother's wish.

Once I'd cleaned up, changed into decent clothes and ate what was left for me from the dining table, I hurried my way to the caravan parked along the road that leads to the palace. Mother was right. Loads of people are already waiting for my arrival. The long line was stretched to almost three blocks, filled with those who are all longing to sit with me.

Although a huge part of me was against this, I decided not to prolong their agony any longer. With a whip of my hand, the doors opened and I approached the woman that stood first in line to lead her inside.

"It is an honor to be in your presence, Dream Maker." She said to me, making her eyes wander in hopes to find my face behind this thick black veil I'm wearing.

I shivered once I heard that title she referred to me as. Dream Maker. I've forgotten where it originated from - probably from my mother, yet it stuck. Supposedly, I'm pretending to be a fortune teller. Then an incident occurred when I accidentally brought someone's dream to life.

Believe me, I do not have a clue as to how I did that as well. All I know is that when that little boy fell asleep inside my caravan, I visited his dream and pulled him and his dream - a golden knight that is loyal to him - in reality. Whilst I saw that as a root of panic, Mother saw it differently. Apparently, the boy did as well. From then on, he was no longer abused by his father as he's had a protector who's never left his side since. That was about a year ago, and now making dreams come to life is my occupation - or rather, a way to fool people into paying me a lot of money.

I do not know what I am or why I am capable of such an ability. I cannot say I'm grateful for this as well, especially now that these people are demanding more from me - asking for my help to grant their wildest dreams which most are greatly unpleasant. But one particular request put my life in grave danger.

I finished the day quite late, almost midnight already, which is why I moved sluggishly as I cleaned up and closed the caravan. I had just freed my pale locks of hair from the dark fake one I'm using as concealment on a day-to-day basis when someone pushed the door open and barged in unannounced.

"The Dream Maker no longer accepts-" My words failed to fall out of my tongue on their own once I got a glimpse of that familiar handsome young man clad in the finest leather ever created in that land. "Prince Sorin?"

"I need your help, Katrien." He said, progressing toward me and placing his hands on my cheeks.

If it is another being who displays the audacity to be close to me like this, I would have kicked his arse already. But since it is Sorin, the man I care for a lot, I allowed him to hold me close.

"What's wrong?"

"I am plagued with a terror and I fear it has been crippling me even in my waking hours. I know I swore not to seek your aid in this sort of thing because I know you're against it. But my guardian, the golden-eyed man, said you're the only one who I could receive a solution from. I need your help in bringing my terror alive so I could slay him here."

At that, I shook my head and broke free from him. "Sorin, I can't-"

"I'm begging you, Katrien..."

There were tears in his eyes and seeing that was all it took for me to end up agreeing. Right then and there, I granted his wish halfheartedly.

With my ability, I've helped a lot of people and up until the moment Sorin came to me, I have done nothing but goodness in my allotted duty in the kingdom. But since I have been forewarned already before that it is never a good thing to mix feelings and magic, and I have paid it no mind, it led me to my doom.

The monster that's plaguing Sorin's dream isn't only a typical terror. It is the worst of them all. A titan who did not break a sweat to slay our kingdom's beloved prince just as soon as it broke free from the realm of dreams and entered our through my magic.

I was stunned and my heart broke as Sorin's eyes stared into mine when his body dropped on the ground and he exhaled his last breath, mixing it with the blood that came out of his mouth.

Perhaps I was too overwhelmed with fear and gloom that I tapped into a power inside me that I've never known I have. With a gesture of grasping the figure of the titan from afar, I entrapped him with my grip and crushed the living daylights out of him before he could run off to terrorize another people or wake them up and see what has happened. Where that terror go, I have no idea, but I hoped I ended him for good. He took the one person I care about the most, it is only fair if I trade his life for my loss.

"No..." I ran to him, cradled his upper body hoping my touch would bring back his life. But he didn't come back.

At that state is how the people found us and from that moment on, they began condemning me as the one who killed the prince. They were right. It was my fault.

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I am so sorry for being inactive again for so long and if this chapter is a bit of a letdown on what you lot are expecting. I promise to update again soon and write better. Thank you all for still being here (if you still are) and for the new readers, thanks to you too ♥️