AYYYYYYYYYY so i decided to do this :') enjoy my horrible writing lol --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: Eryn I feel lighter as my feet hit the crystal stones. The thing about this forest is that all the trees have blue or purple leaves. They wave in the wind, creating beautiful gradients of swimming color. I take a deep breath of mint air and continued on the stone path that leads through the forest. My feet brush against the red grass, and a green bird sings in the distance. The sky changes colors every day, and today it is a lavender color with wispy blue clouds. I take a second to watch the clusters of glowing dreams that float in the forest, waiting to find their way to one of the cities. I stop when I come to a sign that reads: “Welcome to Farsia” This is where I usually travel to while in the dream realm. This realm consists of all the dreams ever dreamt, including nightmares. There are two towns, Farsia and Nonti. Farsia is a collection of all the wonderful dreams. Dreams of flying, romance, loved ones, and other things of that nature. This is the official residence of the Divine. They rule over Farsia and they hate me. The Divine thinks I am an abomination and disgrace to all human and dreamkind because I’m not originally from the dream realm. The Shadow hates me just because they can, the Shadow rules over Nonti, the land of nightmares. I’ve only been there once, out of curiosity, and I will not be going back anytime soon. As I walk toward the gates of Farsia a guard stops me. “What is your business in Farsia?” It’s a routine question, even though all the guards know who I am. They hate doing this, they would rather not ever come within ten feet of me, but it’s a requirement. “I’m here to visit Kalaber,” I say as politely as I can. This is true, Kalaber is an apprentice alchemist in Farsia, and he’s probably the only one who enjoys my visits to the dream realm. We had become good friends, even with my inability to talk to just about everyone. The guard glares at me as he steps aside, grumbling about how I’m a disgrace to the dream realm. .~*~. The first thing you notice about Farsia is the colors. Every color imaginable is painted onto buildings, stalls, and even people. Farsia has a sky dome, a bright dome that covers the whole city and can replicate any weather (probably some inventors imagining). Kalaber’s shop is painted with light blues and greens, blended seamlessly. As I open the door, a small bell rings with a tinkling sound, almost like laughter. “Hey, Eyrn! Your back!” Kalaber exclaims as he steps out from behind the counter, his British accent a welcome sound in my ears. His usually fluffy, strawberry-blonde hair is now long and black with bold streaks of red. “What did you do to your hair?” I ask as I walk towards a shelf of elixirs. “Just experimenting.” He said lightly. He pours a sunshine-yellow liquid onto his head, and his hair shoots back up, returning to its normal length and color. “What are you looking for today, mate?” Kalaber asks, dusting off his brown apron and sweatpants. “Just the usual,” I say as Kalaber frowns, his dark blue eyes clouding with concern. “You really should be taking sleeping potions instead of the energy ones, you still need to sleep at some point.” Kalaber is always worrying about my health, I can only visit the dream realm at night, when I would usually sleep. Because of that, I don’t ever really sleep. And he can’t keep a constant eye on me. “You should spend the night in Farsia, so you can rest. You can stay here and go back in the morning!” Kalaber says as he grabs some elixirs off the shelves. “Kalaber, you know I can’t do that,” I say. Kalaber visibly deflates, slowing his work. “Why not?” He asks sadly, even though he already knows the answer. “Because my family would worry about me,” I reply. That’s not really true, though. My family couldn’t care less about what happened to me. My younger sister, Heather, is always trying to get me in trouble. My parents are hopeless and think she’s an angel, so I always get the blame. Once she even accused me of hurting her, and my dad broke my leg. Unfortunately, I've told Kalaber too much about my home life for him to believe that.
“You know that’s a bloomin' bad lie,” He says. “If you spend the night, and actually get some sleep, I won’t charge you for your order today.” It's a very tempting offer since I’m purchasing about twenty energy potions. “Fine,” I say begrudgingly. “I’ll spend the night here.” The night here is daytime back in the human realm, hopefully, my family won’t miss me for one day. “But where will I stay?” “Here,” Kalaber grins. If I were from Farsia, I could stay anywhere. People are very nice here, and if you ask for a place to stay, they won’t turn you away. But I’m not from here. The only place I can stay is Kalaber’s shop. “Where would you sleep, then?” I ask, desperate to get out of this. “On the couch” Kalaber replies happily, his grin stretching wider and wider as I desperately try to question my way out of my promise. I sigh when I realize there’s no getting out of this. “Fine,” “You already said that!” Kalaber sings as he skips towards the door to his apartment. I follow him and instantly step into a room full of plants. I’m staring at a huge holographic flower when he says “Do you like them?” It takes me a second to realize he is talking to me. “Oh- Yeah, I do. They’re really pretty,” I quickly say. I point to the flower I was looking at. “What’s this one called?” Kalaber smiles softly. “Eryn,” He says, turning to look at the flower. “I named it after you.” My face heats, and I reply “Uh… thanks,” “Come on, you need to get some rest.” .~*~. Sunlight penetrates my eyelids, and I turn over to block it. I don’t want to wake up. I had a dream about staying the night in the dream realm, and I want to go back. I slowly open my eyes and realize that the ceiling I'm staring at isn’t the shabby white it usually is. It's… a painting of the night sky. I roll over and recognize the plants strung from various shelves, and the many chemical stains on the floor. I’m in Kalaber’s room. I sit up just as the owner of the room opens the door. “How’d you sleep, mate?” Kalaber asks as he hands me a slice of thick, fluffy bread with butter smeared on it. “Really good, actually,” I say as everything from yesterday comes rushing back to me. “Thanks for letting me stay the night.” “No problem!” Kalaber smiles. “You need the bloody rest.” He hands me a bag, and when I take it, I hear the clink of glass bottles. “What’s this?” I ask as I look inside the bag. “Your order,” He replies. “I promised you that it would be on the house.” “Thanks, Kalaber,” I say, smiling at him. “I should be heading home though.” “I’ll walk you to the gate,” .~*~. I’m walking through the forest again when I decide to take a closer look at what’s in the bag. I open up the drawstring, and all the potions are a strange blue-black color. The color of sleeping potions. “KALABER!” I shout at nothing. He gave me sleeping potions instead of the energy potions I asked for. I can almost feel him grinning back in his shop.
