The Great

My vision began to clear and I felt my disembodied self float into a dream. I looked down and I couldn’t see my body but I could feel my spirit floating around inside my new dream-world. It didn’t look very different from reality, in fact, I was actually looking inside another hotel room. It was quite different from my room, it had blue carpets, turquoise lights, a much smaller bed, and beautiful multicolored walls—plastered with colorful gems. I looked to my side and my heart nearly stopped. It was Aurora’s room. She was sitting on her bed and reading a book. She had her hair in a bun and wore small black glasses. My heart jumped and my eyes fixated on to her. She wore a baggy blue shirt and shorts that revealed her long, lean, and muscular legs. If I had a face, it would’ve been bright red. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, I wanted to stay here, I wanted to keep watching…. Then I heard a voice, “Typical human boy, huh? So ready to mate.” I jumped and looked to my right. Sitting on a chair in the corner of the room was the man from my previous dreams. He had the same gold and white hair. The same cream colored skin, the same fancy rings, and the same smug, confident, intoxicating attitude.

I struggled to speak. “No..not mating. Wait, what, how?” The man laughed and he clasped his hands together. My voice sounded faint and it was hard to speak. I still had so many questions.

The man spoke. “You, Evay Maver, are an interesting human. You’re in a dream, you are right about that. This is a vision from the real world though. Visions of the real world through dreams are made possible by me, and some of my…..brethren”. He smiled and drummed his fingers along the arms of the chair.

I spoke, “Um…well…I have a lot of questions. Firstly, what?” The man in the chair rolled his eyes and laughed.

“Human brains, so slow to notice things. Well firstly, I have visited you to tell you about some changes to come. You’ll be hearing more of me, in fact, you’ll be even better, stronger, and more powerful with me in your ear. You’ll feel like you have the full guidance of my hand, and of course, you will.” I sat there, utterly confused. But I couldn’t stop listening and looking. He radiated power, prestige, and confidence. His presence took color away from the world and the only thing that seemed to shine was him. His golden eyes and bright white hair stunned even the shadows of the earth, and his voice reverberated throughout the air like a cord from a powerful harp. He looked inhuman, too good for one. I hadn’t ever met a god before, but if I were to, this would be him.

He chuckled. Too stunned to speak, I asked the only question that came to mind. “Why Aurora? Why her?” The man raised an eyebrow and spoke.

“The girl? Well she is your mate, no? If that’s one thing humans are unimaginably good at it’s mating. For a young boy like yourselves isn’t this the best thing to spark your interests?” I didn’t have a face, but I still felt extremely red.

“No! Well, yes, but no! I’m just a kid, man! It’s creepy to spy on people, and she needs personal space, and..” I took one more glance at her and ripped my eyes away. The man shrugged.

“Alright, I wanted to show you something you like to ease you in. But anyways, I wish you luck on your journey, human. I’ll explain more later, your confusion is completely justified at the moment. But in due time, in due time.” He began to stand up.

“Wait! Can you at least tell me this?” He nodded.

“Are you…connected to all of…this. My powers, my life, warriors? You’ve shown up and said stuff and now I’m even more confused! I heard you in my other dreams talking about a boy, is that me?” He smiled and I started to snap back into reality.

“Patience. Things are about to get interesting. I shall follow your journey, human. Or I guess I should say, Evay.” I felt my dream go dark, my floating essence was zapped away, and I woke up in my bed, with far more questions than I had when I had fallen asleep.

I rubbed my eyes and sat at the edge of my bed. I took a few deep breaths and looked down at my hands. They were shaking, I was confused, I was worried. It felt like I was a kid again, watching my parents work themselves to death, watching nobles and rich citizens tear our homes away. Then I felt my head snap in two. Agonizing pain hit me as I started to remember….memories that I had hidden away. I grabbed my head and I threw myself to the ground. Sputtering for breath and rolling around, I tried to gather my bearings. I was Evay, I was me, I was here I had friends…

Friends.

I felt myself snap and the memories came. Amie. Amie stood in front of me. A girl, a beautiful girl, a girl with hair jet-black hair, and a nice, wide smile. She wore a peasant dress and grabbed my hand, smiling. “Come on Evay! You're always so scared to go back there. Let’s go see the woods for once.” She giggled and I followed her, smiling, even if I was scared to death of the woods. We stopped at a tall and handsome looking tree. Its trunk was massive and its branches provided shelter to our small bodies and the birds of the air. We looked up in awe and Amie grabbed my hand. “Cool right,” her large, dark brown eyes gently gazed into me. “Told you we should have come here.” I smiled and looked at her. She made me happy, I was happy for once in my life. She was the only thing that made me happy. She was my symbol of hope. Amie looked at me and blushed a little. She gazed into my eyes and spoke. “Evay…when we grow up. Can you promise me something?” I nodded. “Can we do this? Can we come here a lot, and always talk, and always play? I want to be with you, please?” I smiled.

“Sure! I don’t see why not! But I’m hungry, let’s go back. We can do whatever we want, and I’ll always do stuff with you. Promise.” She looked up at me and beamed. “Let’s go.” We skipped back to our village.

Man, little me really knew how to accept a heartfelt message, huh? “I’m hungry,” great follow up…. But then I began to panic. Amie–what happened to her? I couldn’t see it, not again, please, not again. My memories began to shift, tears flowed down my eyes as I dreaded what I would see next. I saw Amie, on the ground, looking up at a guard. A warrior, who gave her an inhumanly evil smile. She looked at me, helpless on the ground. Tears in her eyes, “help me, Evay. Evay, are you ok? Please!” The guard reached down and grabbed her, my heart raced, my eyes screamed, I felt a terrible cry well up in my throat.

“NO! STOP! NO!” I screamed with all my might and suddenly, I woke up. My body jolted upwards and I head butted Aurora, who was shaking me. She fell backwards and rubbed her head.

“Ow…Evay! Are you ok? You were screaming…is your forehead ok? Hey, talk to me.” I was breathing hard, my whole body was sweating, and my eyes felt unfocused.

I looked at her with a worried expression. “Thank you. No, I’m good. Well, now that you woke me up I’m good.” She still looked concerned but helped me up. She gave me some water and I sat down on the bed.

“We gotta get going soon. You weren’t waking up and I heard screaming so I ran in. Hey, what happened? Dreams?” I nodded. Aurora softened her gaze and she gave me her hand.

“I won’t ask you anything. When you’re ready, you can talk. If you ever need us, we’re here.” We walked out the door together and Aurora led me to the lobby. It was filled with people. Warriors, all around the same age as us, were wandering around in little groups. I saw Geon, Savian, and Lila already waiting for us outside the restaurant. Geon looked confused.

“Evay, are you ok? Did you sleep in?” I gave him a weak grin and he shrugged. “It’s all good, Lila had to bang my door down to wake me up.” He yawned and Lila gave me a concerned look. She mouthed the words, “tell me later,” and I nodded.

“Let’s go eat,” Aurora said, “This place looks lively.”

The food was some of the best I ever had. I thought it couldn’t get better than our school food, but it did—by a lot. While we ate I tried to find some notable warriors who were staying here, but I didn’t recognize any. I was more grateful for that though, I wanted to relax right now, which was easier without meeting my future opponents. We ate and all said good night and packed in. Tomorrow we would be off and this time we would arrive at the arena. We would get a tour, a one day adjustment period, and finally, it would begin. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, trying to ease my nerves and avoid any more dreams.