Prologue

The World of Our Dreams

There exists a realm parallel to the physical universe, not a realm for souls good or evil, not a realm mirroring the physical world, but one of the subconscious. A realm shaped by the inhabitants of the world it is connected to. It is a realm of dreams, its contents shaped by the hopes and fears of all living things as they dream in any form be it daydream or restful slumber. In this realm there are two opposite sides, neither of which can exist without the other and neither can overtake the other even slightly so as to exist in perfect balance. One is a world of positive dreams, fantasies of achieving a life long ambition, of finding love, of experiencing some exciting adventure. All positive dreams, regardless of the one dreaming them or whether they are morally good or evil exist here, so long as the person having said dream finds joy or comfort in them.

At the opposite end is a world of nightmares, a world manifested of all possible fears and doubts. Fears of failing a sacred duty, of never finding one's place, of losing someone precious. So long as the dreamer feels anguish, fear, or hopelessness due to them these will reside here.

At the center of this realm lies a sacred artifact that keeps this realm in balance, its very existence ensures stability. Concurrently, in the center of the positive dream world lies a golden temple, which acts as both a sacred place and a palace. Currently we find a small, floating individual rushing there, as this sacred place is being bombarded with repeated attacks.

She watched her home, their worlds most sacred place become increasingly engulfed in flames. Who would do this? Why!?

"aaah!" she screamed as a large chunk of debris was sent flying off and nearly crushed her upon landing.

"Princess!"

Turning her head, the princess of this world saw one of the palace guards rush up to her along with several soldiers. She could see the uncertainty and clear confusion on their faces.

"Of course their confused and afraid!" she reminded herself "Guards and soldiers they may be, but we never imagined any of them would actually have to fight anyone! Not here!"

"Are you alright?" one of the panicked guards asked as he reached out his hand to help her up.

"I'm alright" She said as she stood "Where's mother? Is she okay? The last I heard she was in the temple."

The guards and soldiers looked to each other uncertainly, clear signs of bad news.

"Princess" one of them began "I'm sorry but we haven't been able to reach the queen the entire time of this attack"

The princess's eyes dilated.

"Impossible, no one in this realm could overpower mother!"

The soldier continued as though not seeing the panic in her eyes. "We tried to contact the soldiers and guards on the inside but something appears to be blocking our powers. Form what we can gather our forces within are likely close to being beaten or already are. Further we believe the attack is being carried out by-"

"MOTHER!" the princess cried as she pushed her small wings to the limit to rush in to the temple with reckless abandon and ignoring the concerned and panicked cries of the guards and soldiers she left behind. For now she wasn't concerned with who the attackers were, if the guards and soldiers within had already been beaten and their peoples power was being kept from reaching into the temple even to contact others, then her mother must not be able to defeat their enemy. But how!? her mother was the most powerful being in all of the realm! Its very creator! How could someone manage to best her!? moreover, an attack like this shouldn't be possible. Their world is safeguarded by such things by that which keeps their world in balance….unless.

She shook the thoughts from her head as she flew through the temple's many corridors. The cause is not her concern right now, now she must focus on finding her mother and making sure she is okay.

As she flew though, she began to notice she was not alone, littered across the many floors in each room and corridor were guards and soldiers. Thankfully none of them were dead, just unconscious. What disturbed her though was that it seemed they'd been deliberately left alive. With the sheer amount of destruction being brought to the temple, the enemy should be more than capable of far worse to these brave men and women.

Finally, she reached the throne room, finding the doors wide open and nearly blown away. "Mother! Mother where are you!?" she cried out as she scanned the room. There was plenty of destruction to be found, pillars were collapsed, the floor was cracked and broken, the throne was almost completely shattered leaving only the seat itself, and worst of all, the statues of her mother were all destroyed to the point of being mere piles of rubble. But there was no sign of any other person.

"She's not here. Nor will she ever be again."

The princess shuddered with both fear and stark recognition at the cold and cruel voice as it spoke. She knew that voice, that voice which sounded empty and and was like a hushed tone. It wasn't raspy of dripping with hate, instead it gave off a foreboding sense of dread, of hopelessness.

Of emptiness.

Quickly turning to face the source of the sudden cold chill she felt, she looked directly into the reflective eyes of her worlds assailant, a cruel smile as he floated in front of her in a casual manner.

"I removed her from this world, shattered her consciousness if you will, much like how I shattered that wretched stone you two like to hold over me and my world."

She could practically taste the clear, twisted joy with which he spoke those words, her face darkening in barely contained anger as she spoke his name with clear and unveiled disdain.

"Void"

Void smiled mockingly as he replied.

"Hello Lumina, long time no see"

And here we go! Book 2 has begun! I thought it would be an interesting concept to have Lumina and Void in this story. And as you have probably guessed, they are not two halves of the same person. Lumina's mother's identity I'm sure you can probably figure out even before I post the first chapter and as for her relationship with Void…well I'm saving that for the first chapter! So I hope you enjoy this story as we begin book 2! See ya!