Broken Glass - Taekook

3

I jolt upright, breathing heavily, and for a moment I can't understand where I am. 

The house is dark, cold, unforgiving, and the fire is completely dead, the faint glow of earlier entirely gone. My heartbeat races in my ears like war drums, and I find that I'm shaking, trembling from more than just the cold. But before I can scream, before I can even think, my rationality takes over, and I remember the kindness of the family that live here. This is not a dangerous place.  

"What the fuck?" I murmur to myself, closing my eyes and controlling my breathing, slowing everything down in an attempt to calm down somewhat. There's a moment of complete silence, and then I hear a confused hum. A second later, I remember that Taehyung offered to stay in the same room as me tonight, just in case I deteriorated.
"Jungkook?" 

I hear him stand up unsteadily,and I can't help but feel guilty. "Sorry I woke you up," I mumble quietly, and I don't see the expression on his face, because of the dark. 
"It's okay. What happened? Are you in any pain? Does your head hurt or anything like that? Are you dizzy?" he questions, his voice becoming less sluggish the more he talks, and I can almost hear the healer within starting to make an assessment. 

"I-I think I'm okay. Just a bad dream," I respond, ashamed my own reaction to the dream. "It's lame, but it really freaked me out. I didn't mean to disturb you."

There's a moment of silence. "Do you wanna talk about it?" 
"Huh?" 

"Do you wanna talk about it? I know what it's like to have nightmares, and you're in an unfamiliar place, with a bunch of strangers. I don't blame you for being scared by it, to be honest. I would be too." 

"Really?" I return, hating how vulnerable I sound. He doesn't respond for a second,  and then I hear a faint click. A small glow fades into existence in the corner of the room, and I see him properly for the first time since before I went to sleep. He's knelt down, holding something in one hand, which appears to be the source of the light. "What is that?" I ask before I can stop myself. 

He smiles slightly, walking over and hoisting himself up onto the platform where I sleep with one hand, and holding the glow with the other. "Meet Aphelia," he states quietly, opening his hand to reveal a small ball of glowing white light. "She's been with my family for generations, and were passed down to my parents when they married. Whenever I've had a nightmare, she's been there to help me calm down."

My eyes widen in amazement, and Taehyung watches me carefully, as if gauging my reaction . "She's stunning." I look up, meet his eyes. "What kind of-"

"She's a Gaklea. They are...it's hard to understand what they really are," Taehyung explains, as the orb starts to levitate on his palm. "I've heard it said that they are spirits, but they aren't. I've seen spirits, and they look similar, but they pulse with different coloured light. A Gaklea is essentially like a firefly that feeds on warmth and magical energy and lets out light in order to guard itself from cold, from unpleasant thoughts." 

As I watch, the glowing orb in Taehyung's hands rotates slightly, and he chuckles a little. "She likes you." I tilt my head, surprised by the random information. 
"How can you tell?" He shrugs, as if it's simpl
"I can sense her emotions." 

At the confused look on my face, he chuckles a little. "I forgot, you aren't used to things here yet. Basically, every living thing has a consciousness, right? A core identity, which thinks and makes decisions. Every creature has some form of intelligence, in that sense." I nod in understanding. "Well, some living things reach into that same consciousness to tap into a type of energy, one that flows through Eithyr."

"What does it do?" 
"Think of it like a river, thousands of miles under the ground. Some of us can sense it, though in different ways, and we can access it. For me, I see it as a small golden stream, but only when I concentrate. This energy comes in many forms, which appear in different quantities in different areas. For example, in a forest, you'd expect to see lots of natural energy. In certain plants, there's a lot of healing energy. If you visited a volcano, you'd see heat and fire based energy."