Dreams

Gods work in mysterious ways. They never straight out say anything. Everything that could happen could secretly be a sign from them. Is it because they lack a voice, or because they would rather those that follow them figure them out themselves?

 She didn't know. She prefered not to think on things. Maybe her god didn't like her for that: action first, then questions.

 But when her dreams showed a monster rising from the seas like Leviathan, black tides of water crashing upon the tiny island and staining it, when it cried out in pain, when it looked into her eyes and whispered words she could not remember before sinking into the inky darkness... She figured that maybe she needed a dream interpreter.

 She supposed that it was his way of telling her something. She didn't dream at all whenever she fell asleep, not even when she had loads of sugar before bed. Nothing good, nothing bad, just straight sleeping. When she did dream, it was always odd, and it was always lucid. Almost as if she were awake, only she stood upon a cloud of stars above a crystal city, or a tiny island upon the rainbow seas, or even a bubble floating up into ruins in the sky. Nothing she'd encounter in real life, for certain. She could explore all she wanted, enjoy all there was, see the world that her subconcious created.

 She always found it weird that she could remember everything to the last detail, especially when she doesn't bother remembering things like what she ate for breakfast. The last dream she had involved a giant clock, its hands ticking slowly as she walked around the clockwork town, empty as all the other cities in her dream were. She could remember how cold it was and how she put on a scarf and long leggings to keep warm, the shades of copper and bronze all throughout the city, the lonliness that filled her heart, and the tick, tock of the clock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

 And, of course, he was there: The shadow man, she called him. A sillouette that never revealed what was truly there, aside from five bright eyes with no iris or pupil in sight. His attention was turned to a golden pocket watch that ticked in sync with the towering clock ahead. She remembered him turning his head towards her as she approached, the watch mysteriously disappearing from his hand. "Here again?" she remembered asking. "It's like you enjoy staying in my head or something."

 Of course, he never answered back. The most she had ever heard him say was just a high pitched screaming in another dream. Man, that dream was weird, with her swimming in a rainbow sea and him poking his head out from a putrid, black bubble that was below. She saw something like chains on him and tried reaching out and pulling him up, but then the chains tugged back and pulled him down, and whoops, she ripped off his arm on accident. Oops.

 In the clocktower dream, he said not a peep, only pointing towards the clocktower. He then motioned her to leave, indigo appendages sprouting from his back and trying to push her away.

 "Hey, no pushing!" she remembered snapping. "Its not like there's anywhere else to go anywa-"

 Both stopped  and turned towards the tower as the tick-tocks were replaced with loud gongs. The entire city began to rumble and fall apart, gears and hands and numbers tumbling down into the darkness with her and the Shadow Man. She instinctively grabbed him as the ground gave way, shoving the yelp she was going to give back down and steeling herself for the endless pit. The man clung on tightly, and they both watched as the rest of the city fell apart, even the clocktowers. She could have sworn she saw rusted armor falling from the sky and possibly a cry, but she didn't think too much about it until she had landed on a very-conveniently placed cloud in the middle of nowhere.

 The city continued to fall down into the endless pit, but she remembered hearing whispers of death and doom and how it deserved this fate. She remembered inky, paper thin hands reaching out and grabbing everything, trying to drag even the cloud down. Creepy laughter echoed throughout, only becoming louder when it caught the Shadow Man's leg. He yelped and grabbed onto her hand, and she remembered tugging hard, fighting against the legion with as much of her own strength. She did not want to fail again....

 The last thing she remembered of the dream before she woke up were the tears forming in the Shadow Man's eyes, and the words that he spoke, for the very first time.

 "Not again, never again, not again..."

 Was it just another sign from her god? Or did she dream this up on her own, with her subconcious nagging her about something?

 Sophia wasn't sure, even as she made tea for her so called "Master" before he woke up.

 Maybe one of these days, she'll actually get a dream interpreter.