The fourth chapter in the adventures of Meagan the Valkyrie, who really hasn't done all that much yet... except get in the hospital. If you read this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you comment, I love you (in a friend way)! It really brings a smile to my face to see the comments and number of views on Vizzed. I don't really like the ending to it, but I wasn't really sure how to end the scene anyway.



Nightmares

She was standing in the Meeting Hall again, as if nothing had occurred. Looking to the west, she saw the blackness of night, and to the east the glimmer of dawn- or perhaps it was dusk; she couldn't really tell. Meagan was at a loss as to how both scenarios could appear on the same sky at the same time.
No one was in the Meeting Hall. She walked towards the back of the library, unsure of why she was going there. Meagan soon reached the sealed door behind which were the Dark Tomes. The guards were nowhere in sight.
“Go on,” a familiar voice breathed, though Meagan couldn't place where she had heard it. “Open it.”
Meagan slowly turned the golden doorknob, and pushed, then pulled. The door didn't budge. “Again,” commanded the voice. It wasn't the same voice as before, in her other dream. This was a voice she was certain she had heard somewhere in reality, a voice she had been comfortable around and had trusted. If she felt that way in real life, than the voice surely meant her no harm in her dreams.
Meagan tried again, whispering words that came unbidden to her lips. There was a soft glow, a blast of wind, and the door opened.
Meagan stepped through, feeling mixed emotions: fear and guilt, for breaking the rules and entering forbidden ground; a strange pleasure that she wasn't sure what to think of; and a curiosity about what she might find. Her first reaction to the room was surprise. She had expected to see rows and rows of books, but she saw only a large, cavernous room with a single book lying on a pedestal in the middle.
She felt as if everything was not as it should be. There were definitely more than one Dark Tome, yet she still drew near to the forbidden fruit in front of her. It was bound in black letters, and gilded gold letters spelled out its title: Unattainable Desires. It was a simple title, but not one that Meagan particularly liked.
“This book,” whispered the voice, “can show you how to attain your deepest wish, your lusts that can't be met. Go on, touch it. Even a Valkyrie can perform the rites written therein.”
Meagan did so. The book lethargically opened, flipping its pages slowly while Meagan touched the edges, barely making contact with it. It must have been flipping and turning for at least ten minutes, though in dreams time is always rather queer. When it finished, Meagan eagerly gazed at it. She was disappointed; it was blank. She stared at it in disbelief, then gave a small gasp as words slowly formed. She read aloud as they crawled across the page, like black spiders of ink.
“The making of oneself whole...” Meagan looked up, surprised. “This is healing! What could be so evil about that? If I were to make myself whole, I could fly!” She continued reading, and though she found no words that were explicitly offensive or spoke of any forbidden methods, a chill settled over her. She had no doubt that she was doing something wrong. Meagan could restore her wings, become whole, but there would be questions. People would wish to know how such a miracle had occur, for miracles, though often sought out, were rare. They wouldn't be able to prove she had used forbidden methods, but they weren't imbeciles. They were bound to guess. No one would look at her the same. She'd be alienated, shunned.
If she were to make herself whole, she knew no one would accept her. Was it a price she was willing to pay for the pleasure of flying, a joy she had never even known?
A thought entered Meagan's mind, and she shut the book. The voice sighed. “You didn't even read how to do it,” it complained.
“Were lives necessary?” Meagan snapped. “Would I have to sacrifice others for regaining what I deserve, what's mine?”
“How did you guess?”
“I have a good memory. In class a few years back, our teacher told us how all the Dark Tomes involve necromancy and practices including living sacrifices. I forgot about it until I thought about how I could be shunned for using forbidden methods. Only then did it occur to me what methods those might be.”
The voice laughed. “Touch the book again,” it suggested, “and you'll see what necromancy truly is.”
“Why should I?” challenged Meagan.
“Don't you wish to know how to obtain your second desire? Or even what that is?”
          “No!” Meagan shouted, but something inside her was burning with questions. Her first desire was fairly obvious, but she didn't have a clue what her second might be. She figured it would probably seem obvious after she knew what it was, but at the moment she had no clue. After several moments of wrestling with herself, Meagan touched the book again.
This time the book flung open immediately, making a sound that echoed and multiplied in the quiet, giant room. Meagan was surprised to see the words were already on the page as well. “The reanimating of the deceased.” Meagan paused. “That's... bringing someone back to life.                     Who would I...?” A nagging suspicion formed in the back of Meagan's mind.
She turned slowly, ready to confront the phantom she was certain she would find. It wasn't much of a surprise to see an apparition of the Chief Sorceress standing behind her- after all, what other dead person did she know?
“You can do it, Meagan,” she said, flashing a smile. “You could learn to do it, and do it again and again, so that if your loved ones pass… you can bring them back.” Unlike real life, in Meagan's dreams, her smile was cold and twisted, with a subtle hint of malice. Her eyes were no longer like dense violet fog, but frozen, indigo crystals of ice. She was pale, a ghostly pallor that seemed unnatural and frightening.
“Bringing people back is wrong!” Meagan cried defensively. “It's against the law, and it's unethical and immoral!”
           The strange apparition placed her hand Meagan's shoulder. Meagan shuddered as she felt warmth drain out of her body. She could almost see it dissipate into the air in front of her. “You have two options, sweetheart,” the dream Chief Sorceress whispered. “You can try, and I'll erase anything people don't need to know... or I'll erase you.”
       “You're just part of my dreams,” Meagan said boldly. “You can't hurt me at all. Besides, the real Chief Sorceress would never be so cruel or heartless.”
The fake laughed. “What do you know? You knew her for all of two minutes. How would you know what she did to get that high up? Chickens and the righteous don't climb ranks that easily.”
“Is bringing her back my desire or yours?” Meagan shouted. “You probably rigged the book!”
“Who cares? We'll both be happy when you do, and so will your friend Ayana and countless multitudes.”
         “I won't do it. Death isn't some disease you can just cure.”
It seemed as if a mask fell from the fake's face. Her cool, indifferent, and cold demeanor became wrathful and, somehow, just plain wrong. “As I said... erase the evidence or erase you. It was your choice.” She drew her hand away from Meagan's shoulder and crossed her arms, chanting. Meagan was able to see the warning signs of a spell and quickly dodged to the left, narrowly escaping death by fireball.
The fake scowled, then spoke faster, creating a whirlwind of words and a flurry of fire. Fireball after fireball hurtled towards Meagan as the young Valkyrie yelped and ran every which way, desperate to avoid them. The fake grew more and more irritated with each shot, throwing caution out the window to deliver faster, more damaging attacks. It became more and more difficult for Meagan to dodge, and each one fell closer and closer to its mark.
After several minutes of not hitting anything she intended to, the fake decided for a change of tactics. She ceased firing for a moment to aim at Meagan's fleeing form. She hissed different words, words that sounded slippery and were dripping with evil intent. Instead of a giant flaming inferno, a thin streak of ice snaked towards Meagan and crawled under her feet.
Meagan slipped with a cry and fell, landing on her stomach. She continued to slip and slide on the icy surface, unable to get up. She gasped as her leg was stuck fast. Looking over her shoulder, Meagan saw her leg was encased in bluish ice. She pulled desperately as the fake walked towards her.
Cupping Meagan's chin in her hands, the fake smiled eerily. “Some nightmares aren't supposed to end, sweetheart,” she whispered. “At least, not by waking up...”
          Meagan closed her eyes, not wanting to witness the final blow. She could hear the fake chanting, could feel heat racing towards her...
Suddenly, she was wrenched free and was being half-pulled, half-dragged. Meagan opened her eyes and started running after her rescuer. The fake either wasn't giving chase or was preparing for a giant spell to end both of them. Meagan's savior turned to face her. “You have to wake up now!” she cried.
Meagan was startled. Her rescuer looked just like her- a perfect copy, except for the deep, void-filled purple eyes. She even had wings- straight ones, Meagan noticed with a hint of jealousy. “Wh-who are you?” Meagan stammered.
“Never mind that!” the girl said. “You've got to wake up. You've crossed the threshold in your dreams, and you've got to go back! You've got to wake up!”
The fake Chief Sorceress was coming towards them. The girl who looked like Meagan sighed and shook her head. “It's sad. We're all getting desperate.”
“What?” Meagan raised an eyebrow. “Is she really the Chief Sorceress?”
“Merely a changeling; she's impersonating her because that would be the most effective form for her to take at the moment, that's all.”
“Most effective?”
          “It was most likely to get you to bring someone back. It never works, ever, but it opens the threshold just enough for one of us to get out.”
“Out of where?”
“The dream world.”
“Who are you?”
“You. The dream version of you. You know how in dreams, you're not yourself, or you know things you don't in real life? That's me.” She shook Meagan roughly. “Wake up!”
          “How?!”
          The changeling was coming ever-closer while they ran. Dream-Meagan shouted something unintelligible, and a wall sprang up, shielding them from the changeling. She may have had Meagan's looks, but not her limits.
Meagan kept running, then gasped. “Mom!” she exclaimed. “I see my mom, standing in this circle of light, looking at me...”
         Dream-Meagan whooped. “Yes! You're waking up now! Run towards that as fast as you can!”
Meagan sprinted towards it as the Dream-Meagan fell behind. “I'll keep the changeling off you!” she cried. “If she touches you when you cross, she'll be dragged through too.” Meagan barely paid attention to her. She was almost there.
She jumped into the golden half-light, screaming. She felt icy wrath swarm over her, and fiery anger try to claim her, all at once. It was a terribly unpleasant and painful sensation. She screamed again and closed her eyes, wondering if crossing the threshold would take her life.


When she opened her eyes again, she was lying in the hospital bed, her mother gazing at her with a look of concern on her face. “Mom!” she burst. “Is... is she gone? Am I safe?”
“From what?” asked Mrs. Pronozuk, puzzled.
“Never mind. How long was I sleeping?”
“Ten minutes, according to the nurse. I was only here for the past four.”
Meagan couldn't believe it. Her dream, so long, detailed, and endlessly terrifying, had lasted a mere ten minutes. She sat up. “Why are you here, then? It's...”
“The middle of the night? Jenni had to go to the ER, so once she was asleep I came in to check on you for a few minutes. You were thrashing about so badly... what has your mind concocted now?”
“ER?” Meagan asked, sitting up. “What's wrong?”
Mrs. Pronozuk sighed. “It's Jenni's fever. It's gotten ridiculously high, and she could barely move. I had to fly her the whole way.”
         “Will she be okay?”
“We hope so, but we're not really sure. The doctor says she's run afoul of some type of magic. He told me one could practically feel and see the taint on her, though I didn't see a thing.”
“What kind of magic does he think it is?”
“A curse.”
           This struck Meagan as odd. Who would be powerful enough to cast such a powerful, ER-sending curse? Most curses just produced rashes, a few warts, or sent the unfortunate victim into a temporary state of craziness. Curses were often used by children on the playground, but they were quickly reversed as quickly as they were cast. No child would be able to send such a potent curse to another one. Why would someone even curse Jenni? What would they gain by cursing a happy-go-lucky young girl?
Mrs. Pronozuk noted her daughter's discomfort and quickly added, “She'll be fine.”
Lies, Meagan thought. Even if she did recover, some trace of the curse would remain- curses never completely went away. Jenni would be weaker than the others, or would suffer sudden mini-curse attacks. Meagan clenched her fist. It wasn't fair. It was wrong! It was wrong to curse a girl who did nothing...
To kill someone who was completely innocent.
She saw Ayana the next day. After Nurse River put her through some grueling walking sessions, Meagan collapsed in a chair, conveniently located in the hallway. “I can't take another step!” Meagan complained, breathing hard. She had never felt so tired in her life. Her legs ached painfully, and Meagan was panting to catch her breath.
“Not even to Ayana's room?” asked River, teasingly.
Meagan sat up. “Now?”
          “If you want.”
          River led her by the arm, giving words of encouragement and steadying Meagan when she stumbled. Even so, progress was painfully slow as they inched along at a snail's pace. River smiled and spoke reassuringly at each step. Meagan didn't pay much attention to her, because she was too busy concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.
Finally, they reached a plain, unadorned door that River deftly pushed open. Meagan could see Ayana through the doorway. She was in bed, listening to a radio drama. Meagan stepped in.
Ayana sat up and stared at her, as if not believing what she was seeing. Meagan noticed her eyes were red, and tissues were littered all over the floor. She had been crying. Meagan matched Ayana's gaze and a tense, strange atmosphere surrounded them. After a few awkward moments, Meagan dropped her eyes and stared at her feet. She wondered why it was suddenly so hard to say something to Ayana, to say anything to her old friend. Had a wall grown between them that quickly?
            Finally, Ayana said, “I've been having these dreams, where she's alive, and...”
           “Did she make you touch that book?” Meagan asked.
“What book?”
“The one that shows desires,” Meagan replied, feeling as if she'd made a mistake. It was too late now to go back, so she continued, “In my dream, it was in a vast cavernous room.” She thought it would be best not to tell Ayana it had been among the Dark Tomes.
“She showed it to me,” Ayana confided, “but when I saw it, she brought it up to my chambers.”
“I'm guessing it showed that your desire was...” Meagan trailed off. She wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to say what had occurred in front of River.
Ayana noticed. She acted as if slitting her throat with her finger, and fell down, playing dead. A few seconds later, she acted as if she had been magically revived. “That?” she asked.
“Mm-hmm.”
“No. It didn’t. It said I wanted to eat cupcakes. Weird, huh?” Even as Ayana said it, Meagan had a feeling she wasn’t telling the truth. Ayana avoided her gaze.
River sighed loudly. The two looked at her. “I think I'll run and get some painkillers for John two rooms down. You two socialize. Give me a holler when you want to go back to your room, okay, Meagan?”
Meagan nodded, waited until River left, then asked, “Do you think she did that on purpose?”
“Leaving? Yes, I do. She noticed we weren't comfortable with her there. Honestly, some things you can't blab to everyone.”
Meagan nodded. She didn’t think the book in Ayana’s dream was anything the same as the one in hers. That, or she was lying, which was slightly out of the question.
Or was it?
“How is everyone in your family?”Ayana asked.
“Jenni's in the hospital,” Meagan blurted. She didn't know why she did, why she decided to burden Ayana with her family's problems. Maybe she just needed to confide with someone her age.
Someone who knew what it was like to lose a loved one.
Meagan hadn't thought about it before, but she realized there was a possibility that Jenni would die. She didn't know what she would do if her little sister did, but Meagan feared she would either go insane or become a recluse.
Before Ayana could respond, Meagan continued, “She's been cursed. She has a high fever, so it's extremely potent, and I don't know who would curse a little girl or even why, and-” She was blabbing her mouth off, talking faster and faster as she went on.
“Calm down!” Ayana interrupted. “First of all, sit down! Sky above, you look fit to fall over.”
Meagan sat.
“Now,” Ayana said, “let's take this one at a time. This is what we know. One.” She raised a finger. “Your sister is cursed. Two.” She raised another finger. “This is a potent curse. Thus, the user must be abnormally skilled. Three.” She raised yet another finger. “We have no clue who did it or what his motive might have been.”
“That's helpful,” Meagan grumbled.
“Well, what else am I supposed to tell you?” Ayana asked, a slight edge in her voice. “Magic can't tell you who did what and when. Why do you think we have investigators and detectives in the police force?”
“I'm sorry,” Meagan said. “I'm worried about Jenni.”
“I would be too, if it were Monique,” Ayana replied. Monique was Ayana's little sister. Ayana was very protective of her and wouldn't let anything touch a hair on her head. Likewise, Monique was very attached to Ayana and visited every day, sometimes accompanied by her parents.
“Do you know when we get out?”
“Just in time for Bella's coronation and birthday bash,” Ayana replied. “About two days before, I think. That's good, because we'll be in time for the funeral too.”
“Your parents told you about the funeral?”
“Yeah. It's right after Bella's festivities. Kind of a bad time for a funeral, if you ask me.” Ayana reached out and turned a knob on the radio. It screeched and wailed loudly as she turned it until it fell silent. “There we go,” she said. “That's better. That radio was really bugging me.”
“I completely forgot about the coronation. The Circle is really going to allow a thirteen-year-old fairy to rule without so much as a protest?”
            Ayana shrugged. “I don't know about that.”
“Don't they need to get a new Chief Sorcerer or Sorceress?”
“Yes, but they'll stall it as long as they can. They're afraid the wrong one will be chosen.”
“The wrong one?”
“Someone not willing to promote their cause. My mentor wouldn't, because she said they were too left-wing. You know, socialized everything- meds, goods, all that jazz. I don’t care much for politics, but she was really irked by it. I can’t say it bothered me much.”
“But maybe,” Meagan said, “that's the reason they're letting Bella rule. With a young, inexperienced monarch, she might ask for lots of advice. They'd be able to influence her however they wished- a little puppet, so to speak.”
Ayana scowled. “Like I said, I don’t care much for politics.”
“But you’re pursuing a career in the Circle?”
Ignoring that, Ayana asked,  “Say, you got a book? I'll give you my radio while I read it. It'll be a fair trade. Sacrifice for gain, eh?”
Meagan laughed at her joke, and then said, “Sorry, I only have Whispers of Eternity. You can read that if you want.”
Ayana wrinkled her nose as if detecting a bad smell. “Eew, romance novels. No thanks.”
Meagan laughed again, and Ayana chimed in too. For a moment, they forgot all about the things that had occurred just days ago.

Dragonlord Stephi : Nice . Very Nice Excellent job and all that stuff . Keep it up . I'll see if I can get to read 2 more chapters tommorow

A user of this : I didn't know you when I wrote it. But I love it when references pop up. I'm glad you liked it!