Maria was in trouble.
It was getting bad enough to affect her studies, for the first time since she unlocked her light magic she had received a less than perfect grade on a test. It was only appoint off and yet Maria felt like a pane of shattered glass.
Or at least she thought she should.
For months now, she hadn't been sleeping very well. Ever since her rather odd trip to the magic ministry to verify her light magic, she'd been having the same sort of dreams.
Not that they had been bad, in the normal sense. No if anything they had been some of the best dreams she'd ever had, despite their contents.
They started rather similarly, Maria was trapped. Whether it was by wolves in the woods, or strapped down with a scary man, She was always trapped. Strangely she never felt truly afraid, mildly worried yes, but not actually scared no matter how dire things turned.
Then at the last possible moment, before a wolf tore out her throat, or the man sunk his fingers into her skull- She would appear.
A small slip of a girl, with pale skin, and eyes as red as the blood moon staring out from a curtain of snowy white hair.
Dripping with blood.
Small dots of life giving liquid adorning her hair like precious rubies, a trail of blood dripping down the side of her face worn like nothing less than a crown of jewels. Red stains running down a simple dress all the more extravagant for its simplicity.
She was the most Beautiful thing Maria had ever seen. Even as she burst into living fire, pale flames slipped over her shoulder like a cloak of the finest make.
Then the wolves would burst into flames, the scary banished by the firelight.
An oh so gentle hand on Maria's chin, forcing her to look into the red eyes of dying things. Soft hand burning across her cheek, as words shattered into her mind.
"Think it nothing But a Dead Nightmare."
And Maria would wake, something like a sun igniting in her chest, as the phantom sensation of warm hands wet with blood ran across her face.
She hadn't been able to sleep a full night's rest in months, these dreams felt like they were eating her from the inside out. She'd catch sight of something white out the corner of her eye, and her first thought was alway the white girl.
Her homework had the words scratched into the margins, her notes had sketches that never truly matched the beauty she was trying to capture.
Red brought a funny feeling to her chest as red liquid framing ruby eyes appeared to her mind's eye. Yes, these dreams were consuming Maria like nothing less than the hungry void.
The worst part was that Maria wasn't sure she truly minded. Wasn't sure she ever wanted them to end.
Every free moment of her time was devoured by blood stained skin, drawing becoming far more than an idle action. Writing utensils were worn down to uselessness, pages upon pages of parchments covered in failed attempts to catch moonlit enchantment.
Her grades had fallen down to average, as every spare moment was spent in a fervor of amateur artistry. Everything fell to the wayside, even her forming plan to bake pastries for the class was shoved to the side.
Her need only grew every day, to the point she didn't even remember what was going on in class anymore, her hands moving on automatic to complete her assignments using things she had learned years ago.
Then someone noticed, noticed as her mind was sunk in a haze of red eyes, and pale fire.
It was one of her teachers that finally brought her to the side. Sat her down in a musty unused classroom, long disused since the village didn't have enough children. He tried to understand what was wrong, tried to figure out if everything was fine at home.
Tried to help.
He just kept asking, and she didn't know what to say, but he just kept asking. So she finally broke, told him everything about how the dreams had eclipsed everything because she just couldn't sketch the beauty unreal to her own mind let alone someone else.
His answer confused her, and set her down an entirely different rabbit hole.
"I didn't know your family worshiped the twelve phases."
The twelve phases, a religion that had once been prominent in the Kingdom of Sorcier. It had once been the main religion across the entire continent, before the time had worn away at it's strength.
Some Kingdoms still were still followers, but it had become a quiet thing, especially in Sorcier where it had all but died out as mages became more common. It was centered around the moon, with each of its twelve phases being represented in twelve different avatars.
Each had their own domain, and they represented their own phase. However there were other avatars, though rarely worshiped. Such as the avatar of the Blue Moon, the goddess of hope, safety, and brighter days.
Or more importantly, the avatar of the Blood Moon, goddess of war, blood, dreams, and madness. She was commonly represented as a young girl with pale white hair, and bright ruby eyes.
Maria, didn't believe in gods, a common belief in Sorcier… Yet, her dreams never ceased, nor did the need to put impossible beauty onto paper. However, she accepted a small token, a small red coin with a red moon on one side, and a blood covered sword on the other.
That night she dreamed as she had for months, however this time as soft hands touched her face, a small red coin slipped into her hand.
Maria found she could breathe again.