Hundreds of shiny golden butterflies made it impossible for the beast to move forward, fixing themselves on its body until they held it as if all together were a net that imprisoned the monster. They seemed to be possessed by an invisible force, taking hold of them and pitting them against the hideous monster. and for some strange reason, I felt as if I had seen before those beings of splendorous brightness that illuminated the entire rooftop. It was a strange connection.
"What is this?" I looked at them without believing what was happening, I couldn't believe what was happening at that moment. "Is someone manipulating them?" the butterflies kept appearing.
From my hands a golden light began to emit, in them had appeared the symbols of dreamcatchers, one in each hand that shone with intensity. In front of the monster was a perfect circle with a web-like weave. And from this appeared many butterflies, which attached themselves to the beast until it became immobile.
"Am I the one who is summoning them?" I asked myself as I was impressed by the golden light that emerged from my hands, forming a circle that floated in the air from where the butterflies had appeared.
But my concentration was obstructed by the sudden appearance of a person. He had jumped from the front building to the rooftop where I was standing without the greatest of effort. The fellow unsheathed a sword in mid-air from what appeared to be more like a lamp with a protruding blue flame. The stranger's weapon ignited the instant he stepped out of that mysterious object. Standing in front of me, noticing that he was wearing a jacket with a hood on it like that guy in my dreams. Looking at how he looked I noticed that he was dressed just as I had dreamed: black coat, boots, jacket and leather gloves. Even the height was the same. But he didn't turn his eyes towards me, his gaze remained fixed on the creature bent by the butterflies.
"Had he become real too?" thought I at that moment, "Am I in a dream? Why can't I wake up?" The questions echoed in my mind.
The stranger looked at me for a few moments without letting me see his face under the hood, he looked at me as if he was trying to notice something and then looked again at the monster who kept struggling to try to free himself.
"I apologize for not having found you before this beast appeared. -said the mysterious boy boldly wielding his flaming sword "I would have prevented you from going through this horrible moment."
That was the first time I had heard him speak, in my dreams he never uttered a word. From the time he appeared until the combat with the beasts was over, he always remained in a funereal silence.
"Wh... who are you?" I hesitated as I tried to speak to him. "What is that horrible monster? What the hell is all that's going on here?"
I launched my questions without avoiding to show the terror and confusion I had, all this seemed like a crazy nightmare, I wanted to wake up.
"My name is Zeylan Levi and I am a guardian of dreams," he answered observing the beast without lowering his guard, the creature growled desperately giving me a scare, my heart began to accelerate and beat in a hurry. "The beast you are seeing is a Noctophagus, a nightmare escaped from the mind of a dreamer. It will not hesitate to devour us once we wake up in the midnight realm."
"So... I'm not dreaming, is this real?" I asked puzzled by his answer, feeling my heart beat fast and the coldness run down my spine again.
"No, this is not the reality you perceive with your unawakened senses. Once you awaken in the Midnight Realm this world and yours merge into one." He responded me.
I was surprised and dismayed by all that revelation, I questioned myself if all that time in which the nightmares became recurrent "was I traveling between my reality and the reality where those monsters existed? would all this be possible?" my mind refused to accept that what I knew as real was only a part of what it really is, there was another reality like the one I was living in which a creature would devour me for being aware of its existence. Then a doubt crossed my mind making me tremble and increasing my fear even more.
"If... If I die in this moment, will I also die in my reality?" I asked as I watched the monster struggle against the butterfly prison.
"There is a possibility, you would become a nóctal; beings consumed by nightmares and darkness but you do not worry, my duty is to protect those dreamers who awaken from wakefulness like you."
The boy went to where the Noctophage was, he raised his weapon in front of him in the direction of the beast and wielded it with great force making his horrible adversary roar with more fury than the previous times until that insane noise echoed in my head, I covered my ears with my hands, I could see how the luminous symbol that summoned the golden butterflies disappeared little by little, leaving the place in darkness where only the flames of the guardian's sword and the moon illuminated the place of the encounter.
The boy went to where the Noctophage was, he raised his weapon in front of him in the direction of the beast and wielded it with great force making his horrible adversary roar with more fury than the previous times until that insane noise echoed in my head, I covered my ears with my hands, I could see how the luminous symbol that summoned the golden butterflies disappeared little by little, leaving the place in darkness where only the flames of the guardian's sword and the moon illuminated the place of the encounter.
"I was the one who had made them appear!" he had convinced me, I noticed that the drawings in my hands were disappearing in a few seconds.
The guardian of dreams, watched the monster defiantly between was what he can see with the light of the fire in front of the darkness that enveloped us. His gaze seemed to speak for itself; he was not afraid of it at all.
"Now it's my turn to act!" he exclaimed as he lunged at the beast in an impressive leap.
He made a quick swing of his sword directing a slash at the monster, but it nimbly dodged it. It reared up on its hind legs launching a few swift swipes at him, who parried them with his sword swiftly. When the monster left its flank uncovered, the guard made a slash at the beast's right side, causing it to lose its balance and fall to the side, grunting in pain.
"You should go back to the hole from whence you came, spawn of darkness," he exclaimed as he saw the beast rise again."
The Noctophage roared in fury, moving into an attack position, reminding me of the move it made to attack me from the balcony in my apartment.
"Zeylan, look out!" I screamed in fright when I saw the monster lunging towards him, extending its claws in his direction at an incredible speed.
He reacted immediately by interposing his sword against its claws. The momentum threw him against the meshes that bordered the rooftop, staying a few meters away from the beast. I stood at the back of the beast, who was preparing to lunge at the boy with a lethal claw that could end his life. Again I slowly watched again as the beast launched with all its might the attack against the guardian, who had let his guard down because of the impact against the fence.
"Come on Mera do something or that boy will lose his life!" I said to myself trying to think of something I could do without messing everything up.
My hands began to light up little by little, reminding me of what I had done before; it seemed as if my body was giving me the signal I needed, I remembered that I had made that dream catcher appear next to the butterflies to hold the beast back. If I did it again I would avoid the attack and he could counterattack later.
Without hesitation I raised my hands in the direction of the beast, seeing how at once the golden symbol reappeared in the air. Something in my subconscious was telling me what I should do but I was not entirely sure where this power came from; it was as if within this reality my will became real, determined and looking at the Noctophage full of courage, I began to wish with my heart that the monster would stop then I saw how the huge circle obeyed what my mind dictated until it was fixed just behind the monster.
"Appear!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, letting my subconscious carry me away.
From the symbol of the dreamcatcher appeared huge chains that entangled the animal's claw, stopping it almost at the moment it would impact the boy's neck. I saw the image of a being similar to a human and of considerable height with a naked torso; he had a decorated helmet where his shiny hair stood out and a color similar to the sun, in his arms were wrapped the chains with which he held the beast.
The guardian reacted after a few seconds of admiring what he had achieved, wielding with fury the flaming sword of blue flames, has rushed towards the beast beginning to impact hundreds of cuts at high speed, this time he had hit all the cuts against his enemy while he roared with every wound inflicted by the weapon until he writhed in pain.
"Disappear in the confines of wakefulness dark spawn!" he shouted, glaring at it and sheathing his sword without taking his eyes off it.
I watched as the monster began to split into slashes, at the same time that the blue fire enveloped it and burned it until it fell and scattered its ashes on the ground. The being had left the symbol in the air disappeared at the moment the horrible creature was destroyed, the boy, making sure not to find traces of his enemy, stared at me until he remained motionless before his peaceful gaze, I immediately turned back to convince myself that there was not another monster behind me ready to attack me immediately.
He walked towards me, lowering his hood and allowing me to see his features in more detail with each step; firm chin, stylish brown hair, shaped nose and blue eyes. When he was in front of me a silence reigned between us as our eyes stared at each other and the glow of the dreamcatcher illuminated us. Then, understanding that the danger was no longer around us, Zeylan took my hands and observed them and then lowered them.
"What is your name?" he asked me suddenly.
I did not know how to start talking to him, everything was so unreal that I could not ignore the fact that I could be in a lucid dream.
"So... I am Mera Albaceleste" I said hesitantly.
"Mera, you don't have to be afraid anymore" he said, fixing his blue eyes on mine, "You've been very brave tonight. And with all the danger you have risked, you had better try to forget everything that has happened. For your sake and for the sake of those around you forget this happened."
"How could I do such a thing?" It was the first time something like that had happened to me while I was in a nightmare, I thought I saw a gesture of concern in his gaze. But when I tried to give him an answer, I began to feel dizzy; my strength was fading and my eyes were closing, the last thing I remember was lying in his strong arms and seeing how he held me silently as if he expected me to fall in that state.
"It was a great effort you made to perform that summoning... it was beautiful to see a dreamcatcher power like yours Mera."
That was the last thing I heard him say. I closed my eyes and began to have visions that confused me; in front of me I had a girl who looked my age with pale skin, blonde hair and equally pale lips and her cold gaze on me. She didn't look well; she seemed worried.
"Be strong, face them! Protect your own, your allies and yourself. The darkness of the night will chase you, they will not rest until they find you, they already know who you are and how useful you can be to them; they will not give up until they can catch you... just like they did with me" she exclaimed before I could ask her any question.
I noticed that something was grabbing her and dragging her into the darkness; the girl extended her hand waiting for me to hold her, but the threshold that surrounded her did not allow me to do so.
"How can I save the others, if I don't know how to save myself," I shouted from a distance, feeling helpless and wanting to cry.
"Trust in the young man who guards your dreams," she said with half of his body fading into darkness. "Only then will they be able to save everyone from the Eternal Night."
Seeing that his face was lost in the darkness, I tried again to pass through the threshold; jumping with all my strength towards it, I felt myself falling into the immense darkness as if it were an endless precipice, until I could see the four glowing eyes of the noctophage that emerged at the bottom of the abyss. The beast opened a huge mouth to swallow me as it made a piercing scream.
"Aaahhh!" I screamed loudly and terrified.
I felt someone shaking me by the shoulders, while in the distance some voices called me, making me regain consciousness.
"Mera wake up, come on Mera!" That feminine voice was calling me desperately.
I was short of air, I was sweating and feeling my heart beating fast, I tried to open my eyes with fear of finding myself again in another horrible insane spectacle.
"Calm down mana[1], it was just a nightmare" another female voice spoke to me.
Those voices were familiar to me, realizing almost immediately that they were my two friends and roommates; Remina and Anetta. I opened my eyes just as one of my friends turned on the light. They looked at me worriedly, placing themselves on each side of the bed. They hugged me, trying to comfort me, which was what I wanted most at that moment.
I looked at the room and each of the pieces of furniture that the monster had destroyed without being able to believe my eyes; everything was as before, the window, the curtains, the bed, the door of my room? They were intact? it seemed as if nothing had happened. A glow attracted my attention almost immediately. I looked at my hands and felt my heart stop for a few short seconds. There were the dreamcatcher symbols, glowing almost invisibly, disappearing, preventing my friends from seeing them.
"It wasn't a dream..." I whispered without believing what I was seeing.
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