Chapter One {WIP}

[Bailey Rosegale]

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[atrb=background,http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/233/a/4/table_middle_by_evello-d47b74f.png] Heaven's only moments away from sleep, my grandpa once told me. He also told me that I slept so much that I was probably an angel just longing for a way home. No one believed that, of course. I never did anything good. Or bad, for that matter. In fact, I didn't do anything at all. I slept every chance I got, and when I was awake, I was so sleepy that I would often fall asleep in the middle of something important. When I was five, the doctor diagnosed me with narcolepsy. Of course, my parents took this as a horrible thing, as they always overreacted to everything, and demanded that I stay away when I could. They tried everything; caffeine pills, coffee, chocolate, anything that would keep me awake. None of it worked, though. If anything, all the caffeine made me feel even more sluggish than usual. By the time I was 7, I had to be put in a special school because of my irregular sleeping schedule. I learned slowly because I was very sleepy. My life was a blur, just a mix of sleeping and struggling to be awake. When I turned 16, my parents took me to the zoo. My older brother, Arthur, had my arm in a death grip in case I fell asleep or had a cataplexy attack. As we traveled through the zoo, I was only interested in a couple animals; a white tiger they had named Ren and two owls; one was a snowy owl and the other was a black owl, but I couldn't tell what species it was. The two owls sat close to each other on a thick branch that had been placed in their enclosure. The white one watched me with two big, round, perfectly blue eyes, while the black one watched with big, golden-amber ones. I was intrigued by the two creatures and the tiger, but I didn't know why. I had seen pictures of owls and tigers before and never noticed them, so why these three? We left the zoo, and I was uninterested in any of the other animals. I drifted in and out of sleep, walking, as Arthur guided me. Arthur was the best big brother in the entire world. He was smart, handsome, and polite, and we loved each other like a brother and sister should. We didn't fight much, simply for the reason that, because of my narcolepsy, I couldn't become too emotional. If I felt any emotions that became too strong, I would have a cataplexy attack or fall asleep. Neither one would be good. Also, I slept so much that we didn't really have time to fight. He had dark blond hair with bright blue eyes and stood at a very tall height. He was lean but strong, and basically the picture perfect guy. I was glad to have a brother as wonderful as him. The day that I started my major dreams started normally; everyone sat around the table, eating breakfast. I picked at mine like I normally did, just barely downing my eggs before my head began to droop. "Siloqiu," My mother said, and my head jerked up. "I'm awake," I mumbled. "Where's my... Um... Backpack?" "By the front door, sweetie," My mother told me. "Sally will be here in ten minutes to pick you up." "Oh," I glanced at the clock, squinting because my eyes were feeling heavy. "I thought it was thirty minutes... Must have fuzzed out again." I sighed and stood, walking over to the front door and hauling my backpack onto my shoulder. It wasn't very heavy; only about 5 pounds, but it was heavy for me. My muscles were weak because of numerous cataplexy attacks every day. "Do you want me to wait outside with you?" Arthur asked. "Nah," I mumbled. "I'm fine." Slowly, I ambled outside, giving a plaintive yawn before sitting on the swinging bench that was set up in our front yard. My sandals skimmed the surface of the lush, green grass, and my dark brown hair was blown back as a breeze rushed through. I had always liked the shade under the tree, even though it had been very... My mind wandered slowly, and then I slumped against the bench, falling asleep once more. Twists of elegant, glimmering silver bars stretched in intricate curves and designs across my vision. As far as I could see, the shining silver wall of twists and turns was there in an empty, white wasteland. I blinked slowly, still trying to get my bearings. Something told me that I wasn't going to be getting out of here any time soon. Suddenly, I noticed something on the other side of the silver bars; two owls. One was white with icy blue eyes and the other was black with golden eyes. They both blinked as one and ruffled their downy feathers as one. It was like looking through a mirror. "You are Siloqiu,"

[/i] They said in sweet voices at once. Their voices set me on edge, making me nervous. "Siloqiu, will you help us escape? Set us free?"[/i]

Slowly, I said, "How can I do that?"

"Tell us our names,"[/i] The owls hissed. The hair on the end of my neck rose, and my eyes widened. Fear. "And we will reward you with the power to control your dreams..."[/i]

"Control my dreams...?" I asked curiously. "How would I do that?"

They grinned, which was strange because they were owls. Sharp teeth showed beneath their lemony beaks. "You will find out, if you guess our names." They let out a light chuckle. My vision blurred drastically, and I stumbled back. Moments later, I was staring up at a white ceiling, confused...


"Hey, Qiu," Sally's voice jerked me from my dream mode. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I said shakily. "I'm fine. Just fell asleep again."

She smiled at me sympathetically. "All right, well let's get going, shall we?"

Slowly, I nodded, and allowed her to help me up. She led me to her van, which was parked at the end of the driveway. Fighting my sleepy eyes, I tumbled after her, yawning widely every so often.

I barely remembered getting in the car, let alone driving all the way to the school. I repeatedly fell asleep and woke up the entire ride. Narcolepsy was torturous like that. When you fall asleep, you go through a stage called NREM, or non-rapid eye movement, where your brain activity slows greatly. After about two or three hours of NREM sleep, your brain activity picks up again, and you enter REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. However, when experiencing narcolepsy, you go into REM sleep almost immediately. This means that when you wake up and fall asleep, you can't really tell if you're still dreaming or not, because REM comes and goes so fast.

Once we got to the school, I was allowed to sit at a table and eat a real breakfast (because I rarely ate mine when I first woke up). I ate slowly, half-awake the entire time. My eyes stared blankly at my food as I put some scrambled egg in my mouth. I glanced around the pastel cream room but didn't have the energy to take in details.

"So what do you want to do today?" Sally asked.

"Sleep," I mumbled through my eggs. She laughed and I just kept eating. I couldn't laugh or else I'd have a cataplexy attack. I couldn't get too emotional or my muscles would stop working and I would just go limp as a ragdoll.

"So," She murmured. "What do you really want to do today?"

"I could read for a while," I looked up at her. "But I wanted to look up owls and tigers."

Her expression grew interested. "Why?" She asked me.

"Well..." I sighed slowly, gathering myself. "We went to the zoo the other day and I saw two owls and a white tiger. I don't know why, they just interested me..."

"We can certainly get that done," Sally assured me. She helped me away from my empty plate and led me to the computer station, where I promptly fell asleep for a few moments before managing to open my eyes long enough to look up a video of a white tiger. I found a documentary on it and began to watch it, but I kept drifting in and out of sleep. Finally, my eyes closed and REM sleep began.


I saw the silver cage again, and the two owls behind it. They both blinked at the same time and gave their creepy smiles to me. "Are you going to help us, Siloqiu?"[/i] They asked pleasantly. Despite their honey-soaked voices, I couldn't help but feel anxious about being near them.

"Yes," I muttered.

They smiled wider. "Tell us our names, Siloqiu, and all that power can be yours for the taking..."[/i]

I looked at both of them, slowly and silently. My heart pounded in my chest like a drum, and I found the two words slipping from my lips as though I had known all along, "The white one is Onna... And the black one is Phoenix..."

The second I said it, both owls shattered like they were made of glass and a bullet had just pierced them. Sparkling dust shimmered down, making me squint through the diamond rain to see the two figures that now stood before me. I was amazed how well my dream vision seemed to be; I could see them both clearly, even better than I could see in real life.

The white owl had changed into a tall young girl. She had pure white hair that flowed in a perfect swoop over her shoulders and over her chest, down to her waist. A tiara with two polished, white wings for decoration sat on her head, made purely of gold with decorations of ivory and pearls on the wings. It encircled her head like an elegant twine, marking her as royalty. Bright, cobalt blue eyes looked at me with wide curiousity; the exact same eyes as the white owl. The girl, though tall, was quite thin. She had a very slight curve to her, with barely a chest and practically no hips. Her face was delicately, heart-shaped because of the way her hair swept backwards and up from her hairline, and curved around her soft, blushed cheeks. Her lips were full and the perfect color of reddish-pink, which made her pale, porcelain skin seem even more flawless. Her nose was small, slightly upturned and round. She wore a long, white, sleeveless dress that had small, intricate gray designs on it that looked very similar to the silver gate. Around her shoulders was a plush coat, a huge puff of fur on the collar that surrounded her bare shoulders. The coat reached down past her feet, creating a small train behind her.

The other figure was a man. He stood taller than the woman; she only reached his shoulder. Dark, ebony black hair lay in tidy rags around his face, giving him an animalistic look. Through unruly strangs of black hair, he looked at me with yellowish eyes, rimmed with dark orange and flecked with red. His skin was tan, but only lightly so. His face was angular, pulling high cheek-bones and a dazzlingly white smile in with a handsome chin and powerful jaw. He wore strange clothing that I had never seen before. A deep, dark red shirt he wore looked as though it had been cut apart, but stylishly. The black lining on it was frayed, the sleeves cut to where you could see sculpted, muscled shoulders, curving beautifully down his powerful arm all the way to his hands. The shirt was cut open in the front as well, but was tied together with a small, black, leather string that threaded through two holes in his shirt. The openings revealed a strong torso, perfectly carved chest, and wonderfully obvious abs. He wore black pants that looked sort of like jeans, but more expensive and much more comfortable. Warmth practically radiated from him as he smiled down at me with a wolf-like grin. Some of his perfect teeth were pointed. I noticed, finally, that he also had a tiara-like thing on his head, except his was decorated with two wolf heads, their mouths open to hold a large, deep red ruby in between their teeth, their noses touching. The wolves were decorated with ebony and rubies.

"Thank you," He murmured slowly, reached forward to take my hand. I felt his creamy smooth skin brush against mine as he lifted my hand, watching me with those golden eyes, and he brushed his soft lips against my hand. I felt myself bristle, blushing red.

"No problem," I mumbled, cradeling my hand back against my side as he let it go. The girl gave me a smile, but she looked sleepy. I noticed shade under her eyes; probably dark circles.

"You set me and my brother free," She whispered quietly. "Thank you very much, Siloqiu. You are now granted the power to control your own dreams."

"Isn't this a dream?" I asked slowly.

"Possibly," The dark-haired man told me. He crept closer, but leisurely, as though he was trying not to frighten me. I still cowered back slightly, feeling overwhelmed by his appearance and the amount of power that seemed to radiate from him. "You're not afraid of me, are you?" He murmured to me, reaching a hand up and tucking a strand of stay curl behind my ear.

"No..." I muttered, backing away.

"I am Onna, Princess of the Dream Scapes," The girl in white introduced herself. "And this is my brother, Phoenix, soon-to-be King of the Dream Scapes."

"Soon-to-be?" I asked. "Why aren't you just King?"

Phoenix's perfect lips quirked a bit, emanating a slight frown. "Me and Onna were trapped in this silver cage and couldn't escape until someone guessed our names."

"But wouldn't everyone already know your names?" I retorted. "You are royalty."

"Not everyone knew it was us," Phoenix grinned again. "Just you, my lovely little delicate flower..."

I blushed again, deeply.

"You have to wake up soon," Onna told me, and as if on cue, Phoenix pulled something out of his back pocket. As he held it out to me, it revealed itself to be a gray silk back. Phoenix opened it, showing me 6 tennis-ball sized glass orbs that chinked like rare crystal glass in the silk pouch.

"Each one is for a different area of the Dream Scapes," He directed me. "This one, the light purple, is for the Dream Scapes itself. It will take you to the main square. These others are State of Mind, Dream Territories, Nightmarish, and Crystallis."

"I don't know what any of those are," I argued.

"Well, your partner can explain it to you," He offered.

"My partner?" I asked slowly.

"Yes," Phoenix slipped the orbs back into the silk bag and handed it to me. I took it slowly, my hands reveling in the feel of the glass, smooth orbs in my palm. "Now you need to wake up, Siloqiu. Wake up." He grinned at me, his pearly teeth showing as fang's. "Wake up."


I jerked my head up, taking in a deep, gasping breath. For a moment, I saw a black wolf standing beside my chair, and I froze, staring in horror as it opened it's gnashing fangs and leapt at me. I shrieked and scrambled backwards, falling right out of my chair. I lay on the floor, panting heavily as Sally ran over to see what was wrong.

Just a hallucination. Nothing to be afraid of.

"Are you okay?" She asked me anxiously.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I'm fine..."

I forced myself back into my emotionless state. My body quivered as cataplexy loomed over me like a foreboding thunder storm, ready to strike me at any moment. I took deep, calming breaths and finally got my fear to stop swelling in my chest.

Sally helped me sit up and led me into another room, which held the bed for the sleep studies that I often went through. I curled up on it and mumbled sleepily before Sally realized what I was saying and rushed out to get my book. My eyes stayed half-open, staring at the creamy-colored walls. My heart was pounding in my chest for some unknown reason. I didn't feel anymore fear, but more... Curiosity.

Could I really control my dreams now? It would be interesting, since I slept so much. I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Anything I wanted, I could get. I could have a pet unicorn chicken, for instance.

As I pondered over the pros and cons of having a unicorn chicken for a pet, Sally returned with my book and then shut the door, putting the lights on low.

"Nap time," I said almost bitterly. I opened my book, and I didn't even finish the first sentence before I was asleep once more.
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