“Welcome back,” a voice said as Skylar opened her eyes.
Skylar turns around and sees Sandman along with Pego floating around him. He waves with a smile while she pulls down her hood.
“Well, I’m back. Like I’ve been forcefully pulled from my sleep since the past month,” Skylar replied in an irritated tone.
“Something happened at school?” Sandman asks Skylar as Pego flies on her shoulder.
“No, but how long will my dreams be like this? I mean, it’s like I’ve been awake for the past four weeks now,” Skylar says while playing with Pego using her index finger.
Sandman walks around Skylar and starts looking up as if counting something. Skylar looks at him as she slowly starts to get irritated. Sandman stops and says, “Up until we beat the Melinoë”.
“Mileno who?” Skylar replied, curious to who he speaks of.
Sandman raises his arms as the sand in the distance starts to shake and rise. He closes his fist and a large image forms from the sand. It looks like a woman with long legs and arms, very thin and frail. Atop her head is a headdress that has four spikes that resemble horns. Her hair is long as well as her face, while her large eyes look menacing, very thin and beady like a snake’s. Her hands look like they grew claws instead of fingernails and she’s wearing these long garments that covered most of her body but her chest.
Even though this is just a sand image, Skylar felt a cold shiver down her spine just by looking at it.
“What is that? Skylar asked with a distressed tone.
“That is Melinoë, the goddess of nightmares and madness; queen and master of the damned,” Sandman said in a serious tone.
“Goddess, like an actual god?” Skylar said with eyes wide open.
“Yes. Melinoë is a very reasonable goddess, though at times, she loses herself to her darker half,” Sandman says as he approaches the sand sculpture.
“I thought we were up against these phantoms. You can’t possibly assume I can beat an actual god!” Skylar exclaimed.
“The Scythe of Eons knows no bounds. It was created for the very reason of suppressing the darkness within this realm. Be it a god or a phantom, its purpose is to bring balance and restore the natural order in the realm of dreams,” Sandman replied as he started walking around Skylar.
“What is this realm to begin with? How come these phantoms can interact with humans?” Skylar asked with deep concern.
Sandman molds a chair from the sand beneath him and sits. He makes himself comfortable and takes a deep breath, signaling to Skylar that this is going to take a while.
He says that the realm of dreams is a plane of existence that anyone or anything has access to as long as they can dream. It is a place where hope and ambitions take shape and where each dream can take life.
While most dreams come from the living, there are times when souls or spirits linger within this realm. Some spirits will themselves take shape in the realm of dreams hoping to find what they are seeking or longing for.
“What?” Skylar said out loud, utterly confused by the information she heard.
Phantoms, on the other hand, manifest from the spirits of the damned that are lost within the void. These are the spirits that have not been offered the passage through the river Styx and have no access to the Underworld.
These dastardly spirits are most, if not all, murderers in the past. They have not been given proper burial rites. With no coins to offer Charon for guidance and passage through the river Styx; they were sent to the river Cocytus to be punished for the rest of eternity.
Skylar’s distress becomes apparent. She puts her palm on her face in all the confusing details. Her head bowed; anxiety starts filling her head with thoughts of failure and death.
Pego looks at Skylar with sadness from his eyes, feeling the fear in her heart.
The river Cocytus is said to be relentlessly unforgiving because of its wicked nature. The waters do not freeze but are as cold as the deepest oceans in the world. These souls are eternally pelted by hail everyday as punishment for their sins as they journey through the freezing water. Their wounds never heal but they do not die. They are filled with holes all over as their weak and frail frames make it harder for them to traverse the river. The sheer and relentless cold makes their wounds sting apart from being stricken by the stone spikes beneath the river they stand on.
"That's... horrific," Skylar says as she shakes her head in disbelief.
Melinoë oversees these evil spirits as their queen and guide. But now that she has lost her light, they run amok. With no one to keep them at bay, they leave the river and wander around the world searching for purpose or retribution against the eternal pain they have suffered within the river.
Some of these spirits become malignant, disillusioned, and angered with exhaustion. They start to be filled with malice and rage which transform them into vengeful spirits. Those who lingered into the realm of dreams transform into vicious phantoms that seek life from those in their sleep.
“But why do they attack those who dream? Why try to take their lives?” Skylar asked with deep concern as pego on her shoulder starts biting Skylar's hair.
Sandman stands up and approaches Skylar. He explains that only those who live can dream. Dreaming is a truly powerful force within itself as it is filled with life. Hopes and ambitions, subconscious thoughts, fantasies, and the like are filled with energy that comes only from the living.
"So, dreams are a sort of energy emitted only by the living?" Skylar asked.
"Yes, it is a powerful force that is filled with positive energy, energy so powerful that it can break the limits of any humans mortal limitations," Sandman said in reply.
By being able to take hold of both dreams and dreamers; empowers a spirit. Having enough dreams, there will come a point where a spirit is able to touch and manipulate the tangible world and possibly be, once again, a part of those who live.
“So that is why we must be the guardians of those who dream and be the ones who protect the dream world and the tangible world,” Sandman concluded.
“I… That’s a lot to take in,” Skylar replied, feeling exhausted.
“Yes, that is why we must start as soon as we can, before the moon bleeds,” Sandman said as he stood up.
“Why? What does the moon have to do with anything?” Skylar asked.
“A red moon signals the peak of Melinoë’s darker half, her powers will become immense and will heighten phantoms abilities, making them more rabid,” Sandman replied with deep concern.
Skylar starts to breathe heavily as she feels burdened with this whole ordeal and questions if she can even slay a single phantom. At this point in time, she has yet to encounter a real one. The past month has just been focused on training her how to use the scythe and sparring her against sand phantoms.
Pego sits atop Skylar's head brushing his head against hers, trying his best to comfort her even though he's too small to properly do so.
Sandman notices Skylar’s distress as well. He sees the cold sweat running down her neck. Skylar suddenly looks exhausted as if all life has left her body. He approaches her and places a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry you must go through this, but there’s no one else who could. The Scythe of Eons is never wrong. Once it has chosen its companion, it’s bound to the reaper’s soul,” Sandman said, trying to comfort her.
“It might be wrong this time. I don’t even know why it thinks I could do this. I’d take having a nightmare every night than to have this responsibility,” Skylar said gloomily.
“Trust the scythe. Believe in it as it believes in you. Remember the first time when the scythe lent you its powers, it puts its trust in you, understanding that you can harness its abilities,” Sandman said.
Skylar takes a deep breath and nods half-heartedly. She feels that she’s trapped in this situation against her will, but she has no one to call for help. She has nowhere to go, and she knows that every time she’s summoned by Sandman, she’ll be transported to this desert.
“Now, I must teach you how to tap into the realm of dreams,” Sandman added.
In fine detail, he tells Skylar to focus her mind and extend her hand outward with her palms open. Skylar needs to channel the scythe’s power and let it course through her. She closes her eyes, trying her best to focus. The scythe’s energy envelopes her, making her slightly twitch.
“I’m starting to feel it. This energy, the energy I felt before,” Skylar said as she breathed heavily.
Small circles start to appear in front of her hand; trying to grow but then reduces back to its small size.
“Focus further, Skylar! You’re almost there,” Sandman cheered with deep reverence.
Skylar tries harder. A large circle starts to appear beneath her feet, glowing white along with strong energy coming from it; blowing beneath her. She starts gritting her teeth. The circles start growing as lines start to weave from the sides of the circle, connecting them.
Skylar screams as she forces all the energy out of her. She starts to levitate, her hair blowing upwards from the force being created beneath her. Runic symbols start to form within the circles as the lines slowly start to form a door, but suddenly, it closes. Skylar opens her eyes, shining in red, looking shocked. The circles disappear and Skylar powers down. She loses all her energy and faints to the ground.
“She still cannot utilize the whole power of the scythe,” Sandman said to himself.
“Hopefully, I can prepare her better once we try again next time,” Sandman added as he sat beside Skylar.
Skylar wakes up to a bright and sunny day. Feeling the effects of her training last night, she feels a bit nauseated. With her head feeling heavy, she tries to stand up but collapses back to the bed, spreading her arms out. She huffs and closes her eyes once again.
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