potent. It’s as if this whole time it’s been waiting for me to accept who and what I am. Hopes. Wishes. Magical things. I’m one drop of ink in a vast ocean of fairy tales and fantasies. I feel them all. Every last fucking one in the cells of my being. They wrap themselves around me in a heady buzz forming a warm glow over my skin. The pain in my side vanishes along with the echoes of agony from the others.
“What the fuck?” the stranger yelps in shock, stumbling away from me.
I feel different.
Powerful.
The very fabric of reality quakes in wonder at my awakening. There are castles inside my bones. Daydreams and night terrors running rampant through my veins. My soul is a map of destruction and pain.
Who am I now?
The question gives me pause. I don’t know anymore. Something new. Someone different.
Rising to my feet, I’m in time to see my attacker notching another arrow in his bow. He’s inconsequential. Nothing but a nuisance.
With a lift of my finger, I fuse summer laughter with childish horrors. They merge in a ferocious pulsing sonic wave of disharmony, sending him airborne across the meadow. With a quick glance, I see no sign of Illusions and Nightmares, but I know where they are. In this housing of flesh and bone. Three made one but somehow still not whole. I’m more than the three of us now. Something beyond what I was in the beginning.
Reborn.
The air thrums with the sound of movement. Turning to the side, I dodge the deadly arrow. More follow in quick succession but never meet their mark.
“How…how are you doing that?” My assailant rants mouth twisted in a snarl; eyes incredulous.
His questions mean nothing to me. In one thought, I’m before him. Cloaked in an aura of frightened shadowy thrashing hearts and sparks of a thousand white beating wings. Chaos and beauty. Death and creation.
“I see you,” I rumble, narrowed gaze locked on his. “This is my domain. Sleep is mine. You dare come here and think you can just take it all away? I will pull your dreams apart. Taste the weakness of your shallow life and leave my mark.”
Fear.
It freezes his expression for a second before he drops his bow and goes for the knife on his belt. Knocking it aside, I thrust him backward until his arse hits the ground. Using my knee, I pin him in place.
Plunging my fingers into his right eye socket, I get a grip on the orb inside. It doesn’t take much to pluck it out. All the while he screams, straining against my hold. Examining the gooey mass in my palm with detached interest, I release him.
“You’ll pay for this.” His howls, blood seeping through the hand pressed to the side of his face to cover the empty hole. In a blink, he vanishes.
Studying the messy mass in my palm, I’m caught up with the fascination on how it works. Grants sight. Connects so snuggly inside a head.
A tiny whimpering noise distracts me. Discarding the eyeball, I stand searching for the source. There among the long lush green grass lays a form.
A female.
Pain flows off her thick and fast. It makes me feel uncomfortable, but I’m not sure why. The human isn’t my concern. It shouldn’t even be here, that I know for certain. My realm only deals with them in slumber. Wounded as it is, it won’t last long. Even now, its life force dims, leaving its fragile casing.
Turning away from her, I start to move toward the house. That at least is familiar. Home. A source of comfort. A familiar presence. The realm of sleep calls to me. I need to fix things. Balance the order and chaos.
Go back.
The voices roar out in unison from within. Images flash through my head in quick succession. A sweet smile. Blue eyes as blazing as the sky. The touch of compassionate hands. Love swells in my heart so violently it feels like it might explode.
“Robin red breast.” The name falls from my lips, recognition kicking in so hard it has me doubling over in pain. How could I have forgotten her? The one person who has ever given me hope. Something to fight for.
Whirling on the spot, I’m across the distance separating us before I can think. Dropping to my knees beside her still form, I reach out a hesitant hand. A red stain mars the front of the pretty white summer dress she wears. The shaft of the black