Good Night | Dreamcatcher [COMPLETED]

5

Handong sat with Dami in the old, dusty room. The floor was scattered with spellbooks, and they themselves were poring over two particularly tattered ones. Handong glanced up at Dami, noticing the grey shadows under her eyes.

'Dami,' she said softly, 'we should sleep now. It's important to preserve our strength.'

Handong could practically feel the frustration radiating off her friend as she closed the book, which emitted a cloud of dust as it was closed.

'I don't know about this, Handong. We haven't used magic in years, what if our skills have disappeared?' said Dami, her tired eyes filled with irritation as well as exhaustion. 'I mean, surely we'd be able to feel something, something inside of us? But I feel nothing.' Her stomach rumbled, and she winced. 'Well, nothing except hunger, that is.'

'We'll find a source of food,' Handong promised. 'But we have to rest first.'

Reluctantly, Dami nodded and tried to create some sort of comfortable 'bed' on the floor, using books and bits of paper. Handong settled for a pile of old blankets underneath one of the tables, and lay down there, Dami doing the same with her makeshift bed. As soon as she lay down, Handong realised how tired she was, and her eyelids fluttered shut. Handong didn't even notice herself drifting into unconsciousness, and soon both of them were sound asleep.

***

She was in a place she didn't recognise, yet it seemed so familiar. It seemed to be around midnight, judging by the splashes of stars in the black sky.

Through the thickness of trees she saw a flicker of orange light, and somehow she felt drawn to it. She moved through the trees, pushing past the branches, and as she edged closer she realised that the light was flames.

Part of the forest was on fire.

And there was a girl curled up in the flames.

Handong ran to the girl, channelling her powers so that she could douse the flames. Yet she felt no power within her. She started panicking, and screamed to the girl to see if she was okay. To her surprise, no sound came out of her mouth. She got closer, now close enough to touch the flames around the girl, and saw that they were a perfect circle.

The girl was curled up, asleep, none of the flames touching her. It was too unnatural to be a coincidence. Something, maybe someone, was stopping the fire from harming her. But suddenly, the girl twitched and a flicker of orange licked at her pale skin.

Handong tried to cry out in warning, but when the flame disappeared back into the circle, her skin was untouched.

No burn, no blood, no mark.

Handong was itching with curiosity and fear as she edged round to see the girl's face.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Sua.

Sua was the girl in the flames.

Handong reached over the flames to touch her, emotion welling up inside her, when there was a flash of light and suddenly she wasn't with Sua anymore.
Handong blinked, confused, but soon the realisation came to her. She'd fallen asleep just before seeing these things, which must have meant she was dreaming. This was all a dream, or perhaps a vision. Handong hoped it was just a figment of her sleeping mind.

She swivelled round slowly, trying to make sense of her new surroundings. She was still outside in the forest, but in a different part, it seemed. Handong squinted around, wondering why her dream had brought her here. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary here.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from one of the trees. Handong tensed, immediately ready to run if this person saw her, but yet again, it seemed her dream presence wasn't corporeal. The figure stalked through the trees, her movements slow yet powerful. Her body seemed to slide and ease through the trees eerily as if it were floating. Every step she took radiated power—and a darkness, that made Handong want to be as far away from this place as possible. She was close enough now that Handong could recognise her face, even from a distance.

And Handong breathed a sigh of relief as she realised it wasn't something evil walking towards her. It was Jiu, her good friend who almost was like a leader to her friends. She always guided them in the right direction and was kind and beautiful. She was possibly the friend the Handong missed the most. But what was she doing here alone?

Handong wanted to hug Jiu as she stepped closer, but then she saw the expression on her face. It was cold, calculating... completely unlike her friend. And her eyes... Handong drew in a sharp intake of breath as she saw them.

Completely black. Even the whites.
Handong felt all the happiness drain out of her in a second, being replaced with fear. She knew these creatures. Demons. They were malicious, ruthless, emotionless, and possessed humans to live. What one was doing in this forest, she didn't know.

Why one was possessing her friend's body, she didn't know.

But it made her angry. Her hands curled into fists as Jiu—no, the demon stalked swiftly past her, Jiu's beautiful face wearing an expression void of emotion. Handong swivelled round, following the thing inside her friend and noticing it was heading towards a lake. Then she squinted, and saw the two people lying down by the lake.

Realising that the demon was heading for them, Handong cried out a warning, running towards them. But no sound came out of her mouth, and her feet were silent as they touched the ground.
She may as well have been a ghost. But she kept running, following Jiu, and the demon stopped right in front of the sleeping figures.

She saw the demon's lips move—Jiu's lips— and could hear it breathe before it spoke—

And then she woke up.

Shaking and drenched in sweat, Handong sat up. She was back in the room with Dami, who was still asleep on the floor. She didn't notice the tears pouring down her face until one of them dripped onto her lap. Trembling, she turned to face Dami.

'Dami,' she croaked, her voice breaking. 'Dami, I-I think our fr-friends need help.'