forgotten dreams

      With a heavy sigh, Rumi covers her head with the blanket, leaving a small gap for air to circulate. She knows that the blanket won't save her, but she still hides under it, hoping that no one will come to her dreams tonight. However, her prayers go unanswered, and she finds herself back in the throne room, reminiscent of the ones she's seen in fantasy books. Once again, a massive shadow sits on the throne, watching her with a smile, asking her questions, telling her stories, and then stepping down from the throne, grabbing her hand firmly but gently, without demanding an answer. The shadow leads her to the throne, sits next to it, and places her on the throne. Rumi doesn't resist. For some reason, she knows it's futile. Soon, the hall is filled with other shadows. There are many of them, too many. They all whisper, and they all look at her. They have no faces, and they certainly don't have eyes, but she knows their gazes are fixed on her. Some hoot at her, while others bow down. There are those who sing and cheer. She doesn't understand them anyway. The king of this place just smirks. He raises his clawed hand, more like a paw, and the hall falls silent. He whispers something to her, asks her something, hugs her, and even kisses her, like a father she's seen in movies, and then he gently picks her up in his arms, holding her close as he descends from his throne and walks proudly through his domain. She can't remember or distinguish them, but she knows that everything around her is in ruins and filled with pain. For some reason, it doesn't feel wrong, and for some reason, Rumi thinks she's been here before, and that she'll end up here in the end. She tries not to think about it, just like she tries not to think about a lot of other things. Meanwhile, Teri is chirping happily to her, insisting on something. She doesn't care anymore. Closer, she only watches the landscape change, float. Rumi enjoys this place, and this is perhaps shared only by her companion, who, in fact, reads a monologue rather than a dialogue. She doesn't care about many things, and this is one of them. For some reason, Rumi thinks that Celine would have been against it. She seems to say it out loud, as the shadow freezes, grumbling something displeased at the name. She manages to make out only one thing that strikes her. "A thief." It's a harsh definition, but somehow it doesn't seem unfair. Rumi thinks that maybe Celine did steal something. But what? The answer is right there, but she can't find it. Finally, they reach the edge of the island. She looks down. The crimson abyss has already opened its arms to embrace every unfortunate soul in this cursed place, but for some reason, the souls choose to suffer instead of finding the peace they desire. It doesn't seem surprising. The shadow laughs, tells a story, and then turns around with a click, heading back to where it all started. Rumi thinks this happens every night. A human night, in their world, not this one, because it never happens here. Only the crimson twilight marks the time of day here, only the relentless wind defines the season. It's a terrible place. It's terrible, yet it feels so familiar, as if it's where she belongs. Rumi thinks that if she were to wake up, she would never want to come here. However, in her dreams, she is drawn to this prospect, as if one aspect of her is dominant here, while another aspect is prevalent during her waking hours. It's terrifying, as she struggles to reconcile herself. The shadow seems to hear her. The king of this place grins, caresses her gently, even kisses her, and whispers to her, and now she understands what he is saying.       — "People are mortal, and one day only you and this place will remain." Rumi doesn't argue; on the contrary, she's looking forward to it. She wonders if, in hundreds of years, her human nature will die, like everyone she knows. She wants to know the answer to that question. The Shadow hears it too. Laughing, the King kisses her again, encouraging her. He hears Celine's reproaches and regrets. He hears the King of Grief and Death laughing and caressing her. It's ironic. She will wake up and choose Celine anyway, but the shadow does not rush her, he patiently awaits the day when all the human in her will recede, when the prodigal daughter will finally return home and embrace her father, and then she will delight him with the world she has conquered, and they will celebrate their victory on the bones of others, as is fitting for true demons, those who have been, those who are, and those who will be, those who rise above humanity, renouncing the worldly and embracing the sweetness of power. Her father is truly patient. One day, his patience will be rewarded. Rumi opened her eyes, yawning, watching the sun slowly rise into the sky. She didn't remember what she had dreamed, and it had become a habit, but for some reason, after her dreams, she felt a mix of joy and deep sadness, as if she were losing something important in the morning, something she couldn't find anywhere or in anyone, and it caused her great distress. She never told Selina about her dreams or the emotions they evoked. For some reason, Rumi felt that her mentor would not understand or accept her, and would only reject the poor child who had already suffered enough in her short but sad life. Selina didn't accept her, couldn't accept her, didn't want to raise a half-demon, and only the vow she had made to her friend forced her to endure the situation. However, Rumi had no doubt that for the former hunter, every moment spent with the half-demon, the abhorrent creature that destroyed everything, was a true torture that she accepted as her burden, something she had to endure because it was her path. Rumi tried to find out about her father, about her nature, about demons in general, but her mentor interrupted her, not allowing her to even think about it, convincing her that demons were evil, and that was all there was to it, and once they had finished what they had started, once they had done what all the hunters had been doing for centuries, it would be over. Rumi wanted to challenge this, she wanted to ask how the mentor knew, perhaps Rumi, like the other evil spirits, would go to the realm of demons, where she would be doomed to spend eternity suffering and coexisting with them. What if she was more demon than human? What if she turns bad, goes crazy, and tries to destroy everything that the hunters have worked for for generations? How can the mentor know that everything will end well? She doesn't know, though, and she just follows this utopian idea, oppressing Rumi more and more, forcing her to reject a part of herself, but even after all these years, there's a voice within her that seduces and beckons, promising that she has the power of birthright, and that she can prove that Selina was wrong, that she was mistaken in believing that Rumi is more human, that she can easily suppress her nature. But for now, she ignores this voice, as well as the one that sounds vaguely in her memories at night. She will avoid the problem for as long as possible. There's nothing else she can do. Rumi hears her teacher's voice calling her to come down for breakfast, so she quickly gets dressed and happily runs to her teacher's call, choosing to ignore the smiling shadow that briefly appears in the background, watching her daughter with excitement and wondering when she will get tired of playing. The girl doesn't notice this, nor does she notice many other things. She doesn't notice her teacher crying in the night, begging the ancestors for strength and pleading with all the gods to spare the poor child. The girl doesn't see the demons surrounding her, always and everywhere, watching her, playing with her, supporting her, and smiling at her. The girl doesn't notice how her own reflection sometimes flashes a smile, breaking free from Rumi's dependence. She doesn't notice how her dreams cease. She doesn't notice how her body overflows with power, how demons increasingly fill the world, or how the king watches, waiting for his princess to arrive. She tries to ignore it. Because what she sees scares her.