Soulwalker

Chapter 5: Where All Your Dreams Come True

When the Mist finally cleared, everything looked almost exactly the same as it had before the Mist came. Even the mountains were back. Everything had just materialized.

The sun had risen, and for the first time since she entered the dream world, Aisling could see clearly, and her environment looked almost normal.

For some reason, this was even more unnerving than the Mist had been.

Aisling looked back towards the forest, looming dense and dark behind her. It had also disappeared when the Mist came. "Where should we start?"

"No clue," said Samhain bluntly, arching his back in a stretch the way cats do.

Aisling glanced at the forest again. "We should go into the woods."

"And get lost? Why?"

"We're already lost," Aisling reasoned. "And we have nowhere to start. Somehow the woods seem less overwhelming than walking across the hills. I just feel that it's the right place to start. It'll lead us somewhere."

"Okay, fine. If you're going to be my guide, I'll be so much more comfortable." Samhain began to trot towards the forest, and Aisling followed him, shaking her head with a smile.

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The trees were tall, dark, and ancient. Their roots were long, covered with moss, and as thick as Aisling's whole body. The age of the forest tingled through Aisling's feet. She felt relieved at how real it was. She could definitely feel the soft moss and ferns under her feet.

But like the Mist that came and went, the realness could go away, at any minute.

That was terrifying. But Aisling wouldn't think about that.

If the forest was real, it was certainly not normal. The huge trees just seemed to fade into darkness above her, although she was quite sure it was daytime. It was uncanny.

Samhain slunk through the ferns in front of her. She could see only his tail and the tips of his ears. She laughed. Samhain sighed, "Mrowr."

"Is this forest real, Samhain?" Aisling asked.

"Yes, and no," said Samhain. "Don't question whether things are real or not. Just accept them, like you would anything in your world. Whether this forest is 'real' or not doesn't matter. But it does exist, so treat it like you would anything else that exists."

That mindset would get some getting used to.

Down a hill, she saw a clearing, which was lit by golden sunlight, even as the trees faded into blackness. At the centre of the clearing was a little sapling. Aisling walked toward it, knelt down and touched the sapling.

She jumped back as it immediately grew into a small tree. It was an apple tree, and its apples were silver. Aisling curiously reached up and picked one of the apples. As she leaned forward to eat it, hundreds of low, wide pink flowers popped up all around the clearing. Aisling put the apple into her satchel and stepped away from the tree. A group of flowers popped back into the ground, and as she walked away from them, they popped back up.

The flowers kept popping in and out of the ground as she walked around the clearing. She heard Samhain sigh from somewhere behind her. Aisling gasped as a dark path that lead from the clearing back into the woods was suddenly illuminated. Several little colored lights had appeared in a row, going down the path. One was green, one blue, one yellow, and one pinkish-red. Whispers echoed in Aisling's ears as she stared, entranced, by the lights.