Beautiful Dreamer

Chapter Five: Beautiful Dreamer

A mysterious mage walked calmly across the room of unconscious bodies. She locked all the doors, and shut all the windows. She created a protective barrier so that no one could enter without her permission. She sits on a table that's just off center of the main hall, looking out at all the unconscious forms around her. Then she starts to weave, like knitting without needles, she twists her fingers. Coils of bright golden energy stream from her fingers and touch the minds of all around her.

Dreams and minds were easy to control, especially the more emotions you had within you. Fairy Tail had always been known to be a bit emotional, so it was an easy target. Though some might say she's risking a lot of exposure for herself if she's caught, she hasn't eaten in over a hundred years, not since she wiped the small town out off the coast and was chased into the mountains.

These sleeping mages with all their magic energy, they would keep her feeling full for more than three times that small town had.

She was once a simple mage herself, she was often paid to cure the nightmares of young children, or adults who could not sleep. She was called "a dream caster" and she had a respectable career, with a good group of friends in a guild. Until she came back from a long trip to see her guild in ashes, to find out a dark guild had attacked.

They hadn't thought she'd be strong, 'what could dream magic do'.

That was the first time she sucked the essence out of someone. The first quickly became dozens as she took everything that guild had.

Now she sits in another guild hall centuries later.

She closes her eyes, and her fingers start to knit the strings.

First she picks her landscape, she creates the destination of their dreams, somewhere that they still will have duties to perform and responsibilities to handle. It's good to keep some consistency from the real world, and since this is a guild for hire she assumes they have some level of personal responsibility in them.

Then she searches their minds, what are their desires, even the ones they don't know they want: the love of an unrequited crush, a life without failure, respect from those around you - those are easier ones to give. She can craft up a vivid dream easily with those wants and desires.

She doubts anyone will notice these small indescrepencies within the dream, as the Fairy Tail guild is not known for its brains. Though for the members she's heard do use their heads, she focuses more on meeting all their desires, to keep them docile - happy.

Immediately after she weaves the dreams through their minds she hits a knot.

Dream weaving is very much like sewing. She can't continue until she untangles the knot.

The knot in question is from the celestial wizard. She is living in the dream world but is having too many instances that bring her closer to remembering this world.

Why? The mage thinks. She studies the celestial wizard as the first pieces of all of Fairy Tails' essences start to flow through the mental strings, into her body, filling her with their energy. The blond girl on the ground doesn't look anything special. She looks at the one who she summoned, hm, perhaps that is the issue. She's never wove with a spirit involved.

As her power grows she peaks into the dream. Yes, she can tell, the spirit is inside her dream and can't break the atmosphere that she created, but he's nudging the celestial wizard in the right direction.

She quickly digs through the minds of the other wizards, who she can send to interrupt this girl. Who can she send to distract her?

Then she sees it, a desire. She sees a desire in the pink haired dragon slayer. The desire was unexpected, and buried a bit deeper down, and the mage doubts the wizard even knows what the emotions he feels are yet. Perfect, she thinks. The connection between the two is strong, as are the emotional equivalents. A worthy distraction.

She quickly steers them to each other, nudging the boy's consciousness towards the woman he has a crush on.

Perhaps this will distract her.

The mage walks back to the table in the center of the room, crosses her legs to meditate as she feeds and forgets the situation for a few blissful hours.

That is, until a burning light hits her, sending her back and tumbling to the floor, she peeks into the dream once more to see the celestial wizard far too close to escaping the dream she created.

The mage curses, she had made the dream so captivating for the others, she made their desires come true, what did this celestial want?

She sees the two in bed, the Celestial wizard hovering over the dragon slayer, and hears his question clearly, "So how do we wake up?"

She sighs, raising her hand and moving the mental strings once again, she fades the vision out and starts to craft a new one. She focuses on the celestial mage this time, while giving everyone else their desires. What is it you want, girl?

As she goes to begin scanning the celestial wizard's mind, the celestial spirit glows. She doesn't think she'll be able to wipe their memories again, not if they keep discovering the truth like that. But maybe she doesn't need to, she just needs to keep them busy while she feeds.

She scans her mind, adventure? This girl was inside and ignored most of her life, she joined the guild for adventure.

That's easy enough.

And so the mysterious mage starts weaving another dream.