Guess i accidentally made an au
I rested among the pink colored clouds. Sunset was my favorite time of day, for a number of reasons. The clouds turn so pretty, and I can feel the sun on my face, and it's the most I get to see of the night before I have to go back to the Sanctuary of Dreams like all the dream spirits. Sometimes I wish I were a totem spirit. At least they can wander around at night. Ever since the Protectors of the Night Dreams went rogue, all the dream spirits need to hide at night or we'll get ripped apart by him.
Seeing that the sun was nearly set, I pulled my cloud up higher into the sky, past the point where people can't breathe, and a portal opened up above me and I flew in.
In the Sanctuary of Dreams, it was always daytime. Ever since the Night Protector left, we lost our night. I had actually never seen the night, until recently. I can't usually see what night is like on earth, and there's no night at home either. Everything here is made up of clouds. The ground, the homes, the million different shrines dedicated to legendary dream spirits and protectors of long ago. And seeing as we were spirits, we didn't live like humans ,or dogs, or birds, or any kind of living thing did. All we needed was the energy present in this Sanctuary to exist, and we'd all be just fine.
When I floated through the Gate that all portals to the Sanctuary lead to, I was greeted by Magistress, an old lady with curly pink hair, a white dress, and a black drape that covered her shoulders. She waved her cane in my face and started to yell.
"Lilifee!" she snapped. "What did I say about staying out so late?"
"Nothing." I said. "You said not to stay out past nighttime, and I didn't."
She huffed. "I went through all that trouble to get rid of that monster, and now I have ungrateful kids like you running around without any sense of caution." She then shook her head. "Kids these days."
"Yeah. Are you gonna teach me any more spells?"
"In one ear and out the other, that's how it is with you." she said. "Of course I'm not going to!"
"But I'm already eight!"
"And I'm almost five hundred. Eight years doesn't mean squat."
"But what if the Night Protector attacks me and I can't do anything?" I said. She laughed, then patted my head.
"Then I'll tell you not to stay out late." she said. "You don't need more lessons, you need some caution."
"I can handle things just fine." I said. "Like with those kids running around with the rogue totem spirits."
"And you were almost hurt." she said. She then wrapped me in a hug. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just worried. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."
"It's alright, Magistress." I said. Pulling away, I asked, "Let's go visit the shrine of the owl. I wanna see the view from there with you."
She smiled, and gently shook her head. "I have some important business to take care of first, but I'll be there later."
"Alright, see you." I said. She then went towards where the huge and important temples were.
There are three main islands that the Sanctuary comprises. First is where the dream and totem spirits live, filled with domed, open houses. We usually only slept here, because it's expected that dream spirits patrol the world of the awake, while the totem spirits mingled until night came, where they are supposed to guard the dreams of the sleeping. It's basically one big community plaza. Spirits aren't known for having a sense of privacy.
The next island is reserved for the temples. Larger than shrines, they are dedicated to truly legendary spirits and protectors. Because of its vast reserve of energy, magic is practiced here, Magistresses are trained, Protectors are chosen, spirits are born-everything important happens here. Magistresses are often here to train spirits to use magic, along with keeping an eye out for threats and defending the temples. When they're chosen for this duty, they have to give up their names in a pledge to protect both the Sanctuary and the well being of the Protectors. Breaking this pledge would cause them to disappear.
Personally, I could never handle that kind of pressure.
The last island is composed of shrines dedicated to totem spirits, noteworthy spirits, and historical events. They were built out of this rock that glowed under the light, and have nice decorations like art, gardens, and fountains. My favorite one is dedicated to owl spirits, and had a fountain built into it that make a stream of water pour off the end of the island and down into the abyss below. The way the light reflected off it almost makes it seem like the fountain is spouting pure light instead.
I went to the owl shrine, on the very edge of the island. I swung my legs off the side and stared at the abyss below. It wasn't at all dark down there. Rather, it almost looked like it was overflowing with light. I guess the fountain is right at home here.
Having nothing to do, my thoughts drifted to those kids I dealt with a week ago. Even though I checked up on things a few days later and found nothing bad, I don't think they realized that what they were doing was wrong. Tina understood, the whole time. I can tell. She was doing it all for her brothers. But she still babied them, like they're fragile little flowers who need to be protected from everything bad in the world.
Back at the huge mansion that the mayor lived at, he nearly freaked out when I told him why I was there.
Two policeman flanked me as soon as I appeared because of all the trouble they caused. It took two Magistresses coming down to explain why I was there, and they were all too eager to go through with it until the mayor got a report. In a panic, he called me over and the police chief put out orders not to do anything.
"Your kind hasn't been here in a long time." he said, hunched over. He had me sit on the other side of his desk at his home office, while two guys in suits stood in front of the double doors.
"They haven't had to because your kind shouldn't be making this kind of trouble." I said.
"But I don't understand, is taking their souls the only way?"
I sighed. "It's not taking their souls. I mean, a piece of it, but it depends on which piece." In the process of breaking the connection between a totem spirit and a human soul, if the two have been bonded for about two weeks, there's a guaranteed chance of tearing apart the human soul in the process. The effects can range from nothing, to removing memories, personality, or all their emotional capacity. If they're bonded for years, you'll most likely kill both the totem spirit and the human. I was sent down there to perform the separation spell and seal the rogue spirits, even at the cost of the human souls. After all, the well being of a few kids matter less than the destruction they could cause with their powers.
"I already know." he said, stroking his beard in thought. "Something similar happened when I was a child, and I heard the children entered a catatonic state after it ended."
"So?" I said, and he got out of seat and began to pace.
"What I'm saying is, there must be a way to make them stop causing trouble with their powers without hurting them." I don't know what it was about him, but he struck me as a total softie.
"Ugh." I groaned. "Well, we do have some people around the world who voluntarily united with totem spirits, but they're not six. There's no way it would be approved, and you don't need protection that badly."
"Why not?" he said. "You can never have too much help, right?" he said. "I'll keep the children under my supervision, and if anything goes wrong, I'll take full responsibility for it. And-er…"
"And….?"
"We-We'll find the dream trinkets for you."
"...What!?" I yelled, nearly jumping out of my seat.
He smiled, reaching into his pocket and slipping me a very familiar parchment. When I brought it back to the Magistress council, they all but jumped at agreeing to his terms. Can't really blame them. Dream trinkets are dangerous in the wrong hands.
Interestingly enough, there's still three rogue totem spirits left in Europe. Well….not really rogue. When some sorceress kidnapped a number of our totem spirits, we were in an uproar trying to find them. But, after a few hours, they just returned-except three. The Day Protector hasn't been able to get a read on their location, and we're not getting any reports about power abuse, so it's been assumed that they were killed, but some of the dream spirits higher up believe they're still out there somewhere. It's weird.
I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder, and Magistress sat down next to me.
"How are you doing, dear?" she said.
"Fine." I said. "Do you have any more tasks for me?"
"No reason to worry about that." she said.
"Nothing to do with the dream trinkets?"
She frowned. "I don't want you anywhere near dangerous artifacts like that. They corrupt even the strongest souls."
"It's not like I wanna use it. It's dangerous in human hands, so we should have as many dream spirits looking for it as possible!"
She looked away for a few seconds, then put her hand on my shoulder. "I know I don't treat you like one, but you're still an apprentice. It'd be reckless to send you on missions like that." She then stood up. "I'm sorry, but I'll be busy all night, so I won't be able to spend time with you today. I wanted to say hello, at least. I'll be home in the morning." With that, she hurried off before I could respond.
"...Aghhhh!" I yelled, tugging on my hair. Why does everyone treat me like I can't do anything!? I mastered ice magic at six, I can defend myself just fine, thank you very much! I'm sick of spending every day cooped up at home! The world isn't dangerous, I can handle it!
Hm. Hm. I have an idea. Maybe I should check on those kids again. One of the Magistresses said that they should be checked on once in a while at my discretion, so there's no problem with leaving now, is there?
I flew past the partial moon above the city. The last time I saw the moon, I was dealing with a bunch of kids, so I couldn't enjoy it as much. But it's really pretty, like a pearl hanging in the sky. I didn't see anything wrong, so I was planning to go home, until….
Until a power surge caught my attention. I didn't see it, but I felt it.
Armed by my instincts, I rushed towards the source on my cloud. Past the city, through fields and forests, and out past a gated community towards a small town. But by the time I got there, it was gone.
"Darn it!" I cursed, staring down at the city. I was planning to fly back, when I heard someone fly past me.
"Who are you?" some girl with white, sparkly hair, and a weird outfit was staring at me. She looked human, but she was flying on a crescent shaped board.
"Uh…." I said. Is she a sorceress? An alien? "Just passing through." I said, then created a portal and escaped. I ran back home, and seeing that Magistress wasn't there, I laid down and pretended to be asleep.
In secret, I made a mental note to come back there later.