Just a Dream.
To say Winifred was scared or frightened would be an understatement.
"A.. a what?"
"Do not get out of this room, darling. I'll be right back." The old man said as he followed the boy immediately but Winifred was not planning on listening. She walked out of the house as she saw a crowd gathering around something or someone at a distance. Other than the crowd or the unrealistic thing she had just heard, she found herself looking around the place she had found herself in.
It all looked unreal, like something out of an historical movie.
As she walked closer to the crowd, she saw a man that looked nothing like a beast being tied down with chains.
Winifred was awestruck as she took a closer look at the man, even in his dirty state, he looked breathtaking. He had the kind of face that stopped you in your tracks.
"You shouldn't be out yet, my lady." Aquila suddenly whispered to her, making her jump in fear.
"Stop sneaking up on me like that!" She snapped.
"I'm sorry." Aquila apologized before following the gaze of her mistress and seeing what she was focused on and how mesmerized she was.
"You know what they say. Angel face doesn't mean good soul. Who would have ever thought that such a breathtaking handsome man could even be a beast, amd to make it worst, a dog at that.." Aquila said again, confusing Winifred who looked like her like she must be out of her mind.
"Dog? What do you mean by a dog? He sleeps with different women?"
"That would have been better, it won't get him killed. It's a man's world afterall, but he's a literal dog, you know what I'm talking about. He's a wolf, a werewolf." Aquila explained.
Winifred busted into a fit of laughter. Even in the confusing situation she was in, she was glad to at least find some humor in it.
"This is so ridiculous. I really need to stop reading those stupid paranormal books. It's no wonder that I'm having the stupidest dream right now, I really can't wait to tell this to someone. It would probably sell as a script or something."
"My lady, it's not a joke... I know that you lost some of your memory as that's what the healer prescribed but still, it's not a joke. Don't worry, she'll soon be here to help you gain those memories back." Aquila said, looking at her mistress with pity and sadness.
"Oh pleaseee! It's not about memory loss. It's about the fact that this is obviously a fictional world, a product of my dreams. It's not real, but while I'm here, I might as well have fun." Winifred responded, still chuckling.
"Dear villagers. We have caught one of the beasts again, this one was seen trying to kidnap one of our people. He was seen shifting from his wolf form to human form. What do we do to him?" Winifred's father, the head priest asked in the middle of the circle eliciting different chants from the audience.
"Kill him!"
"Burn him alive."
"Stone him."
"Feed him to the tigers!"
Winifred was shocked,' why would anyone want to do that to anybody? No matter what they did?' She thought looking back and forth between the prisoner and her supposed father.
"Of course. That's what these beasts deserve, they keep killing us because they think we are weak and powerless, they keep taking our women as slaves, they keep slaughtering us just because they can. They are the agents of hell, and they deserve to die in the most painful way and that, my people, is what we will do. By dawn tomorrow morning, he shall be stoned to death!" The head priest concluded, as the audience chanted with joy and happiness, a reaction that Winifred found barbaric.
"Uhm... is this even legal?" She calmly asked Aquila, who was happy that her mistress was finally talking to her like she used to.
"The first set of priests made the rules of the land, any beast at all, must be killed. They are enemies to humans."
"And how do you know who is a beast and who isn't? That looks very much like a normal human to me, a beautiful one, how are you so sure that you aren't just killing innocent people? I mean, no one is even letting him talk."
"We have various beasts, my lady, Werewolves and Vampires. We used to have a third one about fifteen years ago which was the witches but the last ones are successfully killed. Werewolves have the power to look like a normal human until when they shift, vampires however can't hide that no matter how they try, they are way too white to blend in." Aquila explained.
"Okay, this is some next level shit. Wow, just wow! You all are so superstitious. You just believe in things whether you truly see them or not, that's crazy. Dream or not." Winifred said, shaking her head.
The men had started to drag the man with his chains away as the villagers began to go back to their businesses like what just happened was very normal.
Winifred decided to take one last look at the man and was shocked to see him staring at her. She found herself staring right back as he looked into his eyes.
Emerald green with speckles of silver.
She found herself very engrossed as she looked into his eyes and then down at his lips.
"Help me. Help me, please." Was what his mouth whispered .
"Did you... did you just hear him? He's innocent, he's asking for help!" Winifred rushed out.
"Well, he should have thought about that before killing humans. Nobody's going to help him here, he deserves to be killed." Aquila retorted, throwing a hateful glare towards him.
"I will." Winifred whispered to herself.
And she wasn't joking, she was going to help the innocent man who had asked her for help. She was going to leave a good mark in the dream she was in. She would help him escape, and then she would wakeup from the nonsense world she was in, she thought.
Afterall, this was just a dream.