“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”
~ T. E. Lawrence
~ Prologue ~
I awoke already standing in a completely stark white room. The walls, floor, and even the dress I was wearing were an unnaturally pristine white. The room seemed to stretch on forever, so that I was trapped in a world full of pale loneliness, with nowhere to go and nothing new to discover. Then, quick as lightening, my imagination jumped into action. It was as if someone had flipped on a switch in my mind, as a million different plans all formed inside my head instantaneously.
I felt myself smirking at the thoughts racing around in my head. They bounced inside of my brain, each one more enticing as the last, until one idea planted itself firmly in the forefront of my mind, demanding every ounce of my attention. I wasn’t standing in a room, but on the world’s largest blank canvas.
I closed my eyes, imagining bright blue sky; the kind of open expanse of cerulean you only get on clear spring mornings.
My eyes blinked open, and above me was the sapphire sky I had concocted in my head. I broke out into a wide smile and went to work.
My heart racing with excited, I created my own little fantasy realm, pulling any and every wild idea out of my head and letting them have full reign of my world. I felt liberated and untamable as my thoughts ran rampant. I held nothing back, and every strange creature and landscape that had ever fluttered through my brain manifested right before my eyes. I was in a storm of ultimate creation, where the undying figments of my imagination came to live. I stood there for a moment, reveling in the chaos, the mess of a whole new world being built before my eyes.
Just as quickly as it had started, it ended, and I was left to explore my own personal wonderland.
I stood in a field of flowers, the strangest flowers I had ever seen. Some were made of fire and embers, others were made of water and steam. Still others were shaped out of gears and gems and marbles and moonlight, each just as stunningly beautiful as the next. In the distance, the skyline of an unidentified city stood out against the green of a budding forest. The sky above me held not only a golden sun but a brilliantly silver moon, seemly close enough to touch if I could just reach high enough. Even the dress I had on had morphed from a pale slip to a menagerie of fabrics and colors.
I didn’t have long to enjoy my fantasy land though. A blast of thick, grey fog covered the land, making it impossible to see anything but what was directly around you. Unlike the rest of my world, I could force this fog to retreat or dilute. In fact, it pushed against me, consuming my dream world as it covered in. I stumbled around, lost and dazed, until I spotted the dark outline of a man in the distance. From far away, it appeared as if he were wearing a long cloak that was dragging behind him. As he neared and the clocked raised from dragging to extending well past the man’s shoulders and over the level of his head, I realized it was no a cloak but angel’s wings. Even with the fog to cloud my vision, I could tell that one wing was pitch black, blacker than the bottoms of the ocean, and one was a luminous gold, the color of all of heavens stars. He continued walking towards me until he was close enough that I could make out his face. He had jet black hair, styled to look perfectly messy, with strands that framed his strong, angular face just right, and an air about him that oozed arrogance and superiority, but also power and mystery. His wings flapped gently behind him and he smirked as he realized I was staring at them.
“Come on now love, we’ve got far more important things to discuss than your obsession with my wings.” The man spoke with a smooth, clear voice that contained just a hint of an accent.
“Who are you?” I asked the man curiously. Though I was weary him, I wasn’t outright afraid.
“Ah, that’s right. Still missing a few pieces to the puzzle in that head of yours. It’s alright for now, won’t be like that for long anyway.”
“What? Missing pieces? What are you talking about?” I questioned again, this time more urgently.
“Now, now love. All good things to those who wait, yes?” He smirked down at me again, and I could tell he was loving the fact that he had information that I didn’t. “Just be warned, you won’t be waiting for much longer.”
I started to speak again, but the angel-man cut me off before I could.
“No more questions now. I do believe it is time for you to wake up.”
