BOOK #3 Dream

Hello , wonderer. I'm glad you're here, I'm sure it took you some time to find me and I'm sure you're looking to find a short story that can calm your nerves. If that's the case then come ,sit down, I have a good one for you.

Tell me ,what are dreams to you? Are they magical places you feel most at peace in, or maybe most of your dreams are nightmares and you don't like to visit much.

Well for me, this distant land was the only place I could meet my husband. Yes I know ,I know ,a 75-year-old woman still talking about love is strange but...It truly was a magical time in my life.

You see, I was born on an island secluded from the rest of the world. My people were a tribe that was one with the earth. We took what we needed and gave back what we could.

We offered prayer to the almighty every passing day and we were prosperous with beautiful cultures and beliefs that never led us astray.

At that time I was still young and youthful, looking at life through a rainbow lens. My youthful spirit could be matched by no one my age, especially the girls who were expected to stay home and learn house chores to please their future husbands.

There was this tradition carried out each year to match couples in the village.

Boys would herd cattle ,dressed in enchanting colored cloths, early in the morning while girls went down to the river to wash the blankets and also cook for the boy they liked, to offer them a meal when they returned in the afternoon.

Every youth at the age of 18 was expected to do this once a year on a certain date.

Those whose gifts were accepted would soon get married afterward,and those who didn't receive any would be allowed to try again the following year.

The boys came home under the full moon and sat around a born fire at the center of the village. The girls would come with trays of food and place them at the feet of their chosen other.

At this time ,there are celebrations by the adults who watch at a distance. Mothers point fingers and celebrate as they see their sons chosen. Fathers admiring their future daughter in laws.

This was a big festival back then, it was the one thing everyone in the village looked forward to every passing year. And soon, it would be my turn.

I was always the problem child however, I never attended embroidery classes, village summits or even had a single boy I liked. Well ,the last one isn't entirely true, but for me, being out in the wild felt more important than worrying about who likes me or not.

Though I felt this way ,my appearance was certainly demanding of attention. The animal skin we wore was certainly revealing, it only covered our waist and chest, leaving everything else in the open.

A slender figure with thick thighs and a round adorable face. You can bet I made them look. I was considered the village beauty ,with every mother and son wanting me in their family.

"oh but she is so carefree, can she even work?"

"She always runs off somewhere whenever her mother tries to teach her."

"It doesn't matter ,once she's part of the family, we will make her the best wife in all of Parite." the older women would say.

Even with those words ,non of them were confident. The reason was,I had already caught the eye of a lion.

Kovu ,the village chief's son was like a prince among the girls. He was handsome , strong and had a body fitting for a god.

He had refused multiple girls that went to him for the past 2 years and of course, everyone already knew why. He's had his eyes on me ever since we were children and promised to wait for the day I would join the ceremony.

It was a promise we made when we played in the forest a long time ago as he made me a ring with a water lily. I honestly still cherished it. I was happy he was waiting.

But as you can guess, the other girls weren't too happy about this. Before the year's ceremony, Mira called me out at the river bank.

"Anika, are you going to make an offering to Kovu?"

"Yes." I replied.

"I heard your parents say you're not interested in getting married, are you sure he'll be happy with you? It's clear you're only doing this because you don't have a choice."

"Who says?"

"Everyone knows it's true, why are you doing this to him?"

"I'm not doing anything to him, and even if I stayed back ,I doubt he'd choose you."

Yes ,even I understood that my words would hurt her but my tongue had grown a mind of its own. When I walked passed her ,grabbed my arm and dragged me to the edge of the bank. "You're so full of yourself, we'll see if you're right about that."

She pushes me off the ridge. I splashed into the river and was swept away by the strong current.

On that rainy day, Mira ran back to the village in tears.

"Help! Help! Anika is going to die!"

She screamed loud enough for everyone to hear her, of course ,she knew no one would find me as it had been about an hour since the incident.

She knew I couldn't swim but she still waited for the rain to stir up the river to make sure.

When the villagers came to help ,it was already too late. I was already miles away. But I could hear Kovu's voice screaming my name in the cold darkness.

Mira told everyone that we were just playing near the river and I slipped ,but she couldn't go after me because she was afraid of drowning herself so she instead went to call for help.

I mean ,who wouldn't believe her? it was an innocent reason.

When I came to ,I found myself in a cave. It was filled with gold and treasure, more than I'd ever seen in my entire life. At the entrance, the water formed a wall.

When I got closer to the wall of water, all I could see was darkness. I ran my finger on it in curiosity then pushed it all the way in. While I tried my best to make sense of this, an enormous eye flashed open right in front of me.

I pulled out my hand as I fell on my behind. What swam before me was the biggest snake I had ever seen in my entire life. Through the entrance I could only see but a part of its face.

It swam to the water wall and folded in on it until it was completely gone. Then a man made entirely of water walked out. As I slid my feet on the ground to push myself away from him, he walked closer and bent in front of me.

His head turned from side to side then he used his finger to write on the dry floor. "Hello, forgive my form, I am forbidden from showing my true face in this world."

Deeming him harmless ,I stood up and carefully dragged my feet a little closer. "W-who are you?" I asked.

He looked down again and wrote, "Where we are now... I am called Dream."