Kilana wasn't sure how she had gotten there, but somehow she had. Not that she was complaining, oh no, quite the opposite.
'If this is the way all Dreams are, it'll be easy for us to get home.' Kilana thought as she walked.
She and the rest of the group of time and country traveling friends were walking down a dirt path. It was getting dark and they were all in those loose outfits of the time.
"We have to go through here." Clara said simply. Her voice was oddly monotonous. They had reached an opening of a tunnel. The other girls all went in without another word.
"I don't think we should," Kilana said as she paused near the dark opening. "Let's find another way." No one said a word; in fact, no one seemed to notice that Kilana had spoken at all. Sighing, she followed the group that was already a ways ahead of her.
Slowly the lights faded out and Kilana became even more uneasy.
"Clara? Sarah? You guys still here?"
"Hurry up Kilana." A lantern flickered into life not twenty feet ahead. "If you don't, we might leave you behind." Becky held the only light but Clara was the one talking. The girls started forward again but Kilana kept some distance between herself and the others. Something in Clara's voice and the way they had all looked at her was odd somehow.
As they continued walking with no end in sight, Kilana started to hear nearby rocks shifting. She started to speed up and then noticed that the walls seemed to be shifting in the dull light.
Quite unexpectedly she stepped on something and felt it give way under her shoe. Picking her foot up she tried to see what she had trodden upon. The four small still quivering legs that she briefly saw were enough for her. Her foot was back on the ground again covering the remains of the small spider.
Then just as her foot touched earth again, there was a slight extra weight felt on her shoulder. Kilana turned her head to see a large wolf spider perch on her shoulder.
Kilana gave a small scream and raced toward the light which was now resembled a star in the sky. She ran to her friends, calling out about spiders and their deadly bites. She finally reached the group after some of the shock had worn away.
"Huge hairy spider!" she gasped. "It was on my shoulder!" Kilana hung onto the arm of the closest person to her as she caught her breath.
"There are no spiders in this tunnel." Claire, who was being hung onto said in a very flat tone.
"No! There was one on me! And I stepped on…another." Kilana finally looked good and hard at Claire's face. She had spiders crawling all over herself and some were even using Kilana's arm as a bridge.
Kilana quickly let go and retreated a few steps, shaking her arm all the while. She stared in horror at Claire, but then her eyes strayed tot eh faces of the other girls. They too had spiders crawling all other themselves; Kanji even had had a tarantula crawling across her face.
Kilana continued to retreat until her back hit a solid rock wall.
"There are no spiders." Claire repeated.
"Hurry Kilana or you'll get left behind." Clara said before the girls stared walking away at an eerily slow pace. Kilana tried to run after them, to help them realize what was going on, only to find that she was stuck to the wall. She looked at her left arm. Her fingers were quickly being wrapped together by a team of black widow spiders. The same went for her other arm and her feet.
Kilana twisted her head around to see what was holding her to the wall. It was a giant spider web.
The widows then started on wrapping the lower parts of her arms and her ankles. Becky's lamp could still be seen, like the moon forever leaving the night to complete darkness.
As the light became like that of a star again, Kilana started to try and break free of her thread like bonds,
The widows disliked this sudden movement and started to explore the cloth of Kilana's clothes for hiding places.
The large web gave way and Kilana stumbled forward.
The widows, with lack of hiding places and new jerky movements, became enraged. They all stopped crawling around and bit whatever was in front of their faces.
Kilana felt the tiny fangs pierce her skin and she fell to her knees. As the widows ran from Kilana's shuddering form, other spiders swarmed over.
Kilana tried to stand despite the flashes of pain that were shaking her body.
Small green bodied spiders with opaque legs started to drop onto her head as jumping spiders bounced up her legs. Kilana shook her body all over and took off running.
Under her feet she could feel small frail bodies being crushed by her weight. The lamplight was getting closer and brighter again. Wait, it wasn't a lamp's light anymore! It was daylight! Kilana pushed forward despite her body's furious protests. The end was near! She couldn't stop now!
In a desperate attempt to stop her, one of Kilana's legs gave out. She fell to her knees but was up and limping toward the bright sunlight as soon as she was able.
There it was! The end!
Kilana struggled forward. She could hear her friends' voices again.
"There are no spiders." That was Yuki, speaking in the same tone as Claire had.
"They won't hurt you." Erin said in a devilishly low voice.
"Don't' get left behind." Clara, her voice never changing.
"Wait for me!" Kilana cried desperately. "Wait!"
She could see them; they were standing just outside the exit. All the spiders were gone from their unmoving forms, but they were still standing and that's all Kilana cared about. She ran forward, hoping beyond all hope that her friends wouldn't turn and walk away again. They didn't.
Kilana was barely five feet from the exit to her hell-hole when a large black form came down from the ceiling. It came down with all eight of its long powerful legs extended and its mouth open wide. She could see the dull white fangs and the clear venom that dripped off of them so clearly it was as if she saw them up-close.
Kilana's other leg gave way and she fell to the ground. The spider touched down right after.
"They won't hurt you." Erin repeated.
"They can't hurt you." Sarah added.
"There are no spiders." They all said as one.
"Then why won't they go away?!" Kilana screamed as she punched the giant spider in front of her. It kicked up its two front legs and waved them in through the air. Crashing to the ground again, it ran away to hid in a dark corner elsewhere in the tunnel.
Kilana struggled up. All the other spiders had left with the largest one, most lily their king. Her legs were still protesting, but she managed something of a walk as she leaned on the wall for support.
Outside she looked around for her friends. They were nowhere to be seen.
Kilana fell to her knees again. Not because of the poison, but because she felt so alone and dejected. Her friends had probably left when they had seen the king spider come down, so they had left her for lunch. Why? Had they all been lying when they had said that they loved her like a sister?
"They weren't." Kilana looked up to see a dark haired man walking toward her. "They weren't lying to you." He knelt in front of Kilana and took her chin in his hand. It was Todd. Why was he here?
"Where's everyone else?" She asked.
"They were never here to begin with." Todd let go of her chin. "This is a Dream. Nothing that you saw was real. Look, even the tunnel is gone." Kilana turned and, sure enough, all she could see was a solid rock wall.
"Kilana." She turned back and looked straight into Todd's bright green eyes. "You passed your Dream, as your Light I can now bond with you, but you have to see something first."
He stood up and took a few steps back; standing he gave Kilana a smile so small she almost missed it. A strong wind came through the trees behind him and a small tornado of fresh leaves came out and circled his figure, obscuring him from view. When the wind had died down and the leaves had fallen, Todd no longer stood before Kilana. Instead of the tall dark haired man, there was a unicorn with a silver mane and tail and a forest green body. In the center of its forehead was a long spiral horn of light ivory. Kilana looked in wonder at the magical beast. It slowly stepped closer to her as it lowered its head. Once it was close enough, it touched the sharp tip of its horn lightly to the center of Kilana's own forehead.
This is my true form. The unicorn was speaking to her in her head! Todd is not my true name just as that humanoid body was not my true form.
'What's your real name?' Kilana thought.
Moonbeam. He paused as if hesitant, but when he spoke again it was in the same calming voice. Lights do not chose who they will be bonded to just as you did not choose. You were chosen for me, or maybe it was I who was chosen for you but that doesn't matter, because you fear spiders and loosing your friends. Again, he paused. Kilana tried to think of something encouraging to say. It's all right, I'm just having trouble deciding how I want to say this, but I think I have it now though. She heard the unicorn draw in a breath. When I was born, no one believed that I would live because I was so frail and sickly. My herd was nomadic, so not long after I was birthed and was deemed unwell enough to travel, possible forever; I was left behind as my family moved on. My mother stayed with me as long as she could, but when the time came for the herd to move on she made sure I was asleep before leaving with them. I woke just as the last of them were entering a nearby forest. Kilana leapt forward and hung around Moonbeam's neck.
"That's so cruel!" She said angrily.
Yes, but if my family had waited for me to get better, waited until I had gotten a little older, I wouldn't be here. I'd still be part of that nomadic herd, never knowing you, Alicia, or the rest of my new family. My past is what lead me here to my present, and I like this present much more then I'm sure the best of presents would be if my past had been different.
You fear losing your friends, I fear losing my family again. We were chosen for each other because of this one thing we share. Please, allow me to become one of your friends so that if you loose some, you'll be able to remember that you will always have one friend that won't leave you even in death.
Kilana looked at the side of Moonbeam's neck. She knew he was telling the truth, that he couldn't leave her even if one of them died. "Yes, I want to be your friend too." Somehow she knew he was smiling now.
Thank you. He stepped back and what Kilana saw was amazing. Moonbeam was standing proud as could be in front of a deep forest that hinted at the many mysteries it held inside and the sunlight that speckled the grass as it filtered through the tree braches also hit on his horn so that it seemed to glowed with an internal light. He came forward again and horn pierced flesh. Kilana felt no pain as sharp tip touched her heart.
Kilana! You are allowing me to bond with you of your own free will.
For that I will help you return to your home.
The persistence with which you followed your friends has shown me that you are worthy of this gift.
Once Moonbeam had spoken, Kilana heard nameless voices begin a wordless song that filled all of her mind, body, and soul. Below the voices, she could hear Moonbeam singing an alto part filled with friendship and joy.