1

Sand, nothing but endless stretches of sand. Sand, as far as the eye can see and beyond. The sun hung low at the horizon, casting eerie shadows on the dunes. All was silent and still.

"Where, am I?" a lean young man with waist-length caramel brown hair held firmly in a tie voiced out loud as amethyst eyes took in his surroundings.

The last time he remembered he was on the train bound for Glennmarie Town. How in Merlin's name did he end up in this godforsaken place?

Unless...

The man named Irvyn gasped audibly as the answer hit him. "Not another dream…" he groaned.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to get out of it unless he was rudely awakened by someone in the physical world. And chances of that happening is very slim, since most of his colleagues knew about his sleeping disorder and insist that he needs all the sleep he could get. Damn them all.

"It seems that I will have to make the best out of this," he muttered darkly and began his trek up a sand mound.

After what seems like hours of trekking, Irvyn soon found out that the land was devoid of life. There were no trees, no animals, well heck! not even an insect could be found. Frustration and fear gnawed Irvyn's heart.

"What is it that You want to show me? I'm getting tired of this!" He yelled to no one in particular as he sunk to his knees, feeling very exhausted.

It was at that moment, his ears caught a faint sound of someone crying. Curious on whom it might be and elated that perhaps he may find answers to why he was caught in this weird dream drove Irvyn towards the source of the disturbing noise. He found a young girl no more than twelve years old sobbing her heart out on the sand. Golden blonde locks that cascaded down her back just past her waist framed her delicate face, now marred with crimson tears; or is it blood? Irvyn could not tell.

Cautiously, he approached the young thing and said, as gentlemanly as he could, "Are you alright, dear? Is there anything I can do to ease your troubles?"

The little girl whipped her head up to face Irvyn, and her azure eyes widened in alarm when she found out that she was no longer alone. With lightning reflexes, she fled from him.

"I didn't know that I was that scary-looking," Irvyn chuckled to himself and ran after the child.

However, he soon lost sight of her. Irvyn cursed under his breath. For someone so small, she certainly was very swift. Dejectedly, he scanned the area in hopes of spotting the girl, wherever she is. But all that greeted his eyes were sand, and more sand. If he didn't like sand before, he certainly hate it now. Unbidden, a piercing scream sliced through the thick silence, drawing Irvyn's attention immediately. A sense of urgency hung in the air as Irvyn made his way as quickly as his legs could carry him towards the scream.

The sight that greeted him was not one that he was expecting at all though Irvyn would have snorted at the cheesiness of the scene which was most probably ripped off from a romance novel (where the hero saves the damsel from evil villains and thus earns the eternal gratitude of said damsel which proceeds to well, you get the picture), had it not been a key to perhaps escape the cage of dreams. Before him were two wizards, each cloaked in black with a hood drawn over their heads, making it difficult to catch a glimpse of their faces. One was holding the thrashing little girl firmly at his side while the other was pointing a wand threateningly at her. Instinctively, Irvyn reached for his wand but before he could cast a spell and save the day, he was blinded momentarily by a flash of bright light.

When his vision finally returned, the two unnamed wizards had disappeared. Shocked with the abrupt turn of events (and the chance to show off his prowess, even if it was only in his dreams) Irvyn approached the girl dazedly.

"What have you done? What is going on here?" he murmured.

His questions were met with silence.

"What have you done!" he queried again in a more demanding tone.

The little girl seemed unfazed, and her eyes were empty as she pointed to her right. A huge arch leading straight into a town square met Irvyn's shocked gaze.

"How on earth…" he started and turned to look at the girl; or rather at the spot where she once stood. The child had mysteriously vanished again.

"This is getting old," Irvyn grumbled but decided to play along and entered the town.

The town square was bustling with vendors, housewives, children and men; just a regular village scene with not a touch of oddity which is odd in itself if one really think about it.

"Hmmm… Perhaps I may get the answers here after all," Irvyn mused and advanced towards the first person he could find which happened to be a sweet young lady selling apples.

"Would you like to buy some apples?" the lady spoke when Irvyn was within hearing range.


"No, thank you Miss. May I know where am I and what is going on here? Why is there a town in a middle of the desert?"


"Would you like to buy some apples?" she repeated, holding out an apple to Irvyn.


"No, thank you. Can you answer my questions please? I really want to know."

"Would you like to buy some apples?" she asked again.


"Look Miss, I declined. Don't you understand what I'm saying?" Irvyn bit back in frustration and grabbed the lady's slim wrist.

To his horror, her wrist melted into sand and so did the rest of her body. The apple fell to the ground with a noiseless thud. "What on earth is going on here? I swear, this is by far the weirdest and creepiest dream I've ever had. And that is saying a lot."

"Dong! Dong! Dong!" The loud tolling of bells at the clock tower broke Irvyn out of his reverie. But instead of dying away, the ringing grew louder and louder till the whole town throbbed with the single deafening note. And as abrupt as it came, the ringing halted. The town was wrapped in an eerie calm once more.

Yet, before Irvyn could recover from his initial shock, the buildings surrounding the square, the people; everything melted into sand and gushed out, burying him almost instantly.

"What?! God... I… I can't breathe… someone… anyone… help…"

"Irvyn! Irvyn!" "Irvyn… Oh Merlin! Wake up!"

Irvyn's eyes snapped open to the sight of his best friend's face hovering anxiously in front of him.

"Oh, Dar.. 'Tis only you. I must have dozed off. What were you saying again?" Irvyn grinned sheepishly.

"I was just asking about the mission when you suddenly fell asleep on me. Are you alright? You were choking on something before I woke you." Worry and concern radiated from Daryl Rivers, who is a young, aspiring Auror that is accompanying the Unspeakables on this mission.

"I..I was…" Irvyn trailed, unsure on how to continue.

"Another nightmare?" Daryl supplied, with a knowing look on his face. Irvyn remained silent and avoided his friend's penetrating gaze. "Care to talk about it?"

Irvyn started. How was he to tell his best friend something that even he himself could not understand? He may very well scare the wits out of both of them if he were to reveal his dreams. Sadly, Daryl can be very persistent sometimes - and the time is now, so keeping mum was not an option. However, if Irvyn played his cards right, he may be able to fool him into letting him off the hook. Hiding a devious smirk, he launched towards Daryl, grabbed his shirt and buried his face into his shoulder for dramatic effect, before whispering as brokenly as he could, "It was dreadful, Dar. Extremely frightful."

With teary eyes Irvyn related his story. "In my dreams, I was walking in a land made entirely out of ice cream and chocolate syrup. And Wow! You know what? The mountains in that land were constructed out of mint with vanilla swirls ice cream, topped with the most luscious cherries I've ever seen, and the river, Merlin! was in fact thick, creamy chocolate syrup. Not to mention the meadows, it was made of seven flavours of ice cream. I actually thought that I had died and went to heaven then. But that's not the point, and I'm digressing."

"Well you see, as I was happily frolicking in my little haven, two huge green monsters which looks suspiciously like celeries appeared from nowhere and transformed the beautiful land into a land of disgusting, rotten celeries! Isn't that awful? And that's not the end of it. They even force fed me those revolting excuse of a vegetable! When I couldn't eat anymore, they pushed all those veggies down my throat, choking me. I couldn't breathe at all. It was horrible. I think my life will never be the same again," concluded Irvyn.

"That's all?" Daryl asked monotonously, easing Irvyn from his death grip on his now rumpled Polo shirt.

"That's all? That's all?! Dar, I'm scarred for life and all you can offer me is a pathetic 'That's all'? What happened to your compassion? Oops.. sorry, I forgot you had none. But you should at least show me an ounce of pity!" wailed Irvyn at the top of his voice, obviously too carried away with his act. Luckily, the compartment they were in was empty save for the two of them; otherwise, Irvyn's outburst was sure to draw unwanted attention.

"Enough!" Daryl snapped, his patience wearing thin. "I'll go check on Miss Jones. She has been in the ladies for far too long. A bit of fresh air might do her some good," he added as he walked towards the end of the train compartment.

"Cheryll Jones, that new intern? What happened to her?" Irvyn resisted the urge to roll his eyes but instead plastered on his sweetest smile.

"Motion-sickness. She had locked herself up in the ladies for about two hours now, vomiting."

"I see. Well, it can't be helped. You'd better run along and cheer her up then. I'm sure she'll be thrilled," Irvyn snickered.

Daryl raised his eyebrows at that statement, and shrugged it off as one of Irvyn's eccentricities. As he exited the compartment he stated quietly, but loud enough for the other occupant to hear him, "You are a terrible liar and an even horrible actor, Irvyn."

The door of the compartment slammed shut. Irvyn sighed. "Only to you, Dar. Only to you."