Wednesday 9 April 2014

A Dreamcrafter's Friendship

As the dreamcrafter swam in his room trying to concentrate his powers on summoning a perfect daywalker, his new friend, one of the lowlies, began to shake the delicately balanced fluid dreamshields held outside the crystal crust of his room. He knew he was just moments away from his new creation but the persistent shaking was rendering all his concentration null. The dreamcrafter didn't want to stop since his unceasing accumulation of concentrated willpower had been gathered for many a moons and to let go now would mean the loss of much treasured starlight which took centuries to finally stream in through the golden orifice at the pinnacle of the wormwood tower. He summoned an ancient instead whose aura was known, from the Book of Dreams, to create an illusion of non existence for lowlies. However, little did he know that the ancient was one of the Devonian which consumed concentrated willpower to carry out the tasks given to them. On being drained completely of his willpower, the dreamcrafter fell to the ground and the ancient, having no willpower left to consume, tried to escape breaking open the crystal crust and letting in the persistent lowly.

The dreamcrafter opened his eyes slowly, his head was spinning and his whole body felt numb. He had radiated far too much energy on his previous summoning and lay on the floor unable to move. He rolled his eyes sideways to see the lowly swimming in his reserve energy absorbing the life seeds. Having no strength to raise his voice in protest, he let out a weak "Stop". The lowly looked down upon him with an unapologetic expression. He had not heard the protest. The dreamwalker winced thinking about the sirens he had to vanquish to retain the energies he stored for rainy days, when summonings like these went wrong, all to be absorbed by an unthinking lowly who danced above his dying body.

Solna finally dimmed, much to the relief of the dreamcrafter, and put on her riding robes as she set out to meet her siblings at the ends of the world. The lowly knew that Mundo would soon open the stargates and if he didn't leave, the energies he had absorbed would be drained out as lowlies were vulnerable to starfire. Whereas dreamcrafters thrived on starfire and starlight. Dreamcrafters houses were always adorned with crystals and gems constructed in intricate framework designed to capture starlight which made it dangerous places for lowlies in the night. Without thanking the dreamcrafter for the energies, he lowly quickly picked up his cape and set off for his home beneath the Wormwood Hills. Lowlies and Dreamcrafters, or lowlies and any other race, were seldom found to live in harmony. It was only in rare circumstances where a dreamcrafter would associate himself with a lowly either because he was too kind or because he saw something he needed in the low dwelling creature. With this particular dreamcrafter, he wondered how he ever landed himself in such a situation where a lowly would stomp into his house uninvited and absorb the energies he had stored with much effort. In any other dreamtower, the lowly would have been thrown down the hill for such lack of respect. However, this particular dreamcatcher could not see himself punishing the lowly for such acts because he had already considered the lowly as a friend.


Mundo had been generous that night and released more stars into the skystream much to the dreamcrafter's delight. As he prepared the pool for collecting the seeds, a siren suddenly drifted into his room through the broken crystal crust that he had forgotten to fix. Having not enough energy to defend himself, he let the siren absorb the first chalices of seeds he managed to gather. With a wicked smile, the siren drifted off into the brine portal right in front of the broken crust. He realised he had to immediately repair the crust lest more sirens rob him of the life seeds. He quickly entered a lucid dream and willed the crust fixed. Out of thin air, the ancient Devonian had returned and was trying to enter undoing his work. At other times, manipulating dreams were easy for him but in his weakened state, he knew better than to fight an ancient so he forced himself to awaken. He looked at the crystal crust. It was not completely fixed but that would have to do. It would at least keep the sirens out till Solna returned.

The night had been uneventful, with the crust damaged and his health in decline, he was not able to traverse any dimension. And though Mundo had been kind, the seeds he had gathered were by far minute compared to what he had lost the previous day. And so, as he stood at the pinnacle of his tower watching Solna don her finest robes and dance for the pleasure of all creatures, a strange sight caught his eyes. Down below the hill, he could see a pack of hungry lowlies head towards his castle. He couldn't believe his eyes. After greedily absorbing all of his life seeds while he lay writhing in pain, the lowly was bringing over a whole pack of lowlies. Knowing that his crust was weak, he opened the gate not wanting the dreamshields to be disturbed. He absorbed the life seeds he gathered during the night and emptied the pool, then he entered the dream matrix swimming in it pretending to perform another summoning. The lowlies entered without a word and made their way into the pool. The dreamcrafter instead of summoning was extracting starfire which was still channeling through the crystals so that they wouldn't enter the pool. On finding the energy pool empty, the lowlies grew infuriated and walked out of the gates. The dreamcrafter knew he would never let the lowly step foot inside his castle ever again knowing that this lowly was never a friend but a hungry lowly who consumed his energy whenever he entered the dreamcastle. When the lowly reached the lowest level of the castle, he sneaked in a robber minion into one of the rooms with the intention of letting the minion steal the seeds while the dreamcrafter was busy summoning. Fortunately, the Devonian ancient was dissipating into shadow in that ver room where the minion was hiding and pulled in the minion into it along with him.

As the lowlies ran down the hill, enough energy had been restored and the crystal crust was fixed once more. He was never befriending a lowly ever again. There are some who can be rescued with love and kindness but there are others who are spawns of the dark and can never be made into what is good for they were never meant to be good. The dreamcrafter finally realized why he was destined to be alone. He realised that for friendship, even though fake, he had a price to pay in a world where nothing was his own.