Maggie's Adventure in Dreamland

Chapter 2: The Gate of Oneiros

Maggie felt her bed floating, she opened her eyes to see a large body of water surround by a purple void, she sits up and looked around in surprise, she realized she was in middle of a calm ocean then she saw in the distance a giant golden gate on a small island with stairs leading up to it, the curly haired girl furrowed her brows in confusion,'Where am I?. Am I dreaming?' she thought to herself.

The bed floats near the stairs, Maggie touched the water with her foot, it was surprisingly not freezing or too warm, it was a perfect temperature, she got down from her bed, the water went up to her knees then she goes up the stairs to the golden gate, she looked through the bars but all she sees was purple then she opened the gate, she shielded her face from a blinding white light.

Maggie lowered her arm, she looked around, she was in a middle of a vibrant lush forest with emerald green grass,'I am definitely dreaming', she thought again as she walked through the trees to a clearing to see two little girls wearing colorful dresses laughing, playing and talking to each other in an unknown language.

"Maggie", the voice said from behind

Maggie whirled around to see another girl around her age, she looked exactly like her friend Ashley but her blonde hair looked more golden and her eyes matched the grass around her, she was wearing a unique outfit of long flowy lacy white blouse with puffed long sleeves and long pastel blue skirt

Maggie stared at the mysterious girl in wonder,"Ashley?. Is that you?"

The girl smiled kindly and giggled,"I may look like your friend but I am a reflection of her. You are the dreamer and I welcome you".

Maggie felt the chills run down her back, how does this girl know she is the dreamer?, surely she's just a figment of her imagination, a memory, how is this possible?

The curly haired girl was shocked as she backed away then turned around.'This is getting too weird. It's just a dream. I have to wake up', she thought but the other part of her wanted to stay for a reason, she turned back to the dream character who looked like Ashley,"Who...who are you?".

"My name is Ælsha. I am your dream guide. I want you to meet my boyfriend. Come, let me lead you", Ælsha said then walked away

Maggie followed her through the forest, there were exotic birds flying between the branches of the trees and strange bugs crawling on flowers that has nonexistent colors, she saw a butterfly flew past her but it was not fluttering up and down, instead its colorful wings were swirling around at the top of its body

"Aroon!. The dreamer is here!", Ælsha called out

"I'm coming!", a deep accented voice called back then a tall young Indian looking man came out from behind the tree, the curly haired girl stared wide eyed at him, he looked like a male version of her other friend, Neela.

"Ah, Maggie, It's nice to see you again", Aroon smiled

Maggie looked between the two dream characters who eerily looked like her friends from her waking life but in an alternate version of them, she started to feel weirded out,'Why is Neela a boy in my dream?', she thought to herself

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Oneiros, or you dreamers would simply call it 'Dreamland'. We are your dream guides, we're here to protect you and guide you through your dreams", he said

Ælsha smiled and nodded,"We could tour you around, if you'd like"

"Yes...I would love to", she said.

The trio came out of the forest to the hill, Maggie stared in awe at the breathtakingly beautiful view, the green rolling hills were dotted with trees and houses, there was a sunset in the horizon with vibrant purple-orangish clouds