Dreamwatcher

Chapter Five

Rayven looked like she was ready to faint.

Valkion? Oh, he wanted to plunge his sword into the shadow and be done with it. 

But that wasn't possible. Everyone knows you can't plunge a sword into a shadow to kill it. Even Valkion knew that. You would need a dreamcatcher to do that...

Which, Rayven was clutching. That, wasn't helping. Do something, Rayven! Don't just faint and make me deal with it by myself! 

Rayven didn't keel over and faint. Yes! But, Rayven didn't know how to trap a shadow of this size. As long as this shadow stayed here, Rayven and Valkion could be in big trouble, especially since they don't know if these shadows are of the hands of Cirrus.

Just as things were starting to get ugly, a blur ran past Rayven and Valkion. The blur threw something at the shadow. It looked like some sort of powder or dust. Whatever it was, it really affected it. The shadow looked stunned, and it lost it's way to float. 

"Quickly, use your dreamcatcher! Before it gets back up and calls reinforcements!" The blur yelled. This was when Valkion realized that this was not a blur, but another living Lilcian. Well, maybe Lilcian. 

Rayven snapped out of her trance quickly, and ripped the dreamcatcher off her neck, and held it to the dark blob of a monster.

The shadow looked like it wanted to escape, but it was being sucked into the dreamcatcher. Eventually, the shadow was gone. Rayven clasped it back on her neck.

The once-blur now looked like a Lilcian. Well, maybe a rogue one. Valkion at once hoped that this girl didn't know about Cirrus, and the threat on Rayven's life. What if she was working for Cirrus? What if this girl was part of a cult, and she was going to kill us both? What if... What if...

"DUDE, cut it OUT! Your emotions are all over the place! Your giving me a headache!" She yelled.

"You're an Empath?" Rayven asked.

"What's an Empath?" Valkion said.

"Yes, I am an Empath. An Empath can feel another person's emotions, which, yours-"points at Valkion-"Are very strong right now!"  The Lilcian responded.

Okay, then. Empath, got it.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"It's alright, I'm used to seeing this. I'm Aster." The girl said.

"Aster." Rayven echoed. "I'm Rayven, and that's Valkion."

Aster gave me a weird look, then looked back at Rayven.

"Are you Beta Dreamwatcher Rayven?" Aster asked.

"Yes. I am. But I don't feel like it."

"That explains it. Rayven, you and Valkion need to change. I heard about what happened at the palace. Word reached so far, pretty much everyone knows that Cirrus took over now. I'm pretty sure he would want you now, as you are the only living heir to the current dynasty."

Valkion shudder. He knew Cirrus would want to kill Rayven, but he just realized that threat was getting real.  If they had to change to avoid detection, things really just got real. It scared Valkion.

"Cut it out Valkion, seriously! Your emotions are all over the place again." Aster groaned.

"Sorry."

"How do you know so much about the Dynasty?" Rayven asked.

"I will answer that later. For now, lets get you guys changed."

《☆》

Rayven looked out of the window in the abandoned house. Apparently, Aster lived here, and she let her and Valkion stay for as long as they need to.

"Its hard to get used to the view, isn't it? So much covered in darkness." Aster's voice came out of nowhere, and Rayven jumped at the sound of it.

"Yea, it is. I'm so used to the light of the capital." Rayven said.

"What is it like? The capital? I haven't been there in my life."

Aster had never been to the capital? Rayven was a little surprised. "Well, the capital, also known as Larcenaris, is where the most light is in Lilcia, in the daytime. There is so much light there because of the Elisian Temple, where I lived for sixteen years before...." Rayven couldn't bring herself to say his name. Curse that name, he had taken her mother and used her to slowly transform the Elisian Temple into his own place.

"I heard it used to be beautiful before he did what he did." Aster said softly.

Rayven nodded her head. "It was."

《☆》

Rayven was running again.

It wasn't like the others though.

She wasn't in her childhood. Instead, Larcenaris was on fire in a blaze that even water couldn't stifle. Everything was burning. Cirrus had brought her worst nightmares to life: she could not safe her home.

Suedenly, Rayven hears deranged, ragged breathing.

"Valkion?" She whimpers. Rayven is now hiding behind a marble pilar.

A rustle of feathers. A sword being dragged across the ground. More ragged breathing.

Rayven steps from her hiding place. "Valkion?"

She is caught off guard as a mysterious figure kicks her to the ground and steps on her back. Dirt greets her face and she tries to get it out of her mouth.

Rayven attempts to push herself off the ground but the figure is too strong. She struggles to breathe.

"Valkion..." was the only word she could choke out before being knocked out.