TheIELighten

Hi all I posted this before on here a couple of years ago in a contest, and I've been thinking lately of lengthening it and turning it into an eBook if there was sufficient interest. Does anyone here see any redeeming value, or should the short story remain just that? Any thoughts would be appreciated.



Enemies for Life: A Short Story

It was the day of my final dreamscape, my last opportunity to prove myself to the Guild, my final opportunity to earn a place of leadership among them. I was paired off with Melina Dreamer, a fair placement, as she was the strongest Weaver at Living-Dreams Academy, and I was the strongest Serragator.

Melina winked at me to show she was ready to begin, and then she disappeared. I had three hours to find her, disable her powers, and bring us both back to reality.

My name is Lumis Serragator of Guild Taurrell, and I always win. Dreams to a Serragator are like stars, when we close our eyes, we see them everywhere. We are born with this ability just as Weavers like Melina are born with the ability to weave. They can bend reality through their dreams, offer dreams to the Ordinaries, as well as create entire dreamworlds for themselves and others to enjoy.


We Serragators cannot weave, but we can always find the truth in the dream. That is our purpose to prevent the Weavers from taking advantage of the Ordinaries or from each other. They have great power and are ofttimes treated like gods. We Serragators exist to prevent them from completely taking over reality and changing it to suit their particular lusts and desires.

Melina particularly likes sunshine, her dreamworlds are bathed in it. To find her all I have to do is look for the world with the brightest sun, when I find it I search inside the world for her. Melina has white-light hair that blends in so well with the suns of her world that it often masks her appearance. This was a mistake I made early on, not being as careful to search for the inconsistencies.

This time I see the green, right away. It’s the same color as the grass, however, it is higher than the grass should be, and if you closely compare it to the actual grass of the dreamworld it is just a shade duller.

“I see you, dreamer. ” The green becomes a dress, then I see her eyes, the milky-opal shade is too low and too opaque to be the clouds in the sky. I have to shift my eyes and squint them carefully to separate her hair from the sun, but I do. From there her arms and her legs and her black ant shoes are all uncovered.

Once I have a clear picture of her in my mind, I can separate her from her dreamworld, and I can send her picture back to the last place upon which she stood, on the cement sidewalk outside Living-Dreams Auditorium. There is a switch inside her I must find. I feel her struggle to hide the switch, bury it deep within her, but I am stronger, quicker, and I find it laying at the bottom of a woven basket behind her memories of her mother.

Once I have the switch firmly in my grasp I flip it, and there is a bright surge as the sun and the sky and the grass all begin to fold in on themselves like an accordion or a stone that sends a ripple across a pond. In a matter of moments we are both standing on the sidewalk of our reality.

Melina shakes my hand, “Good work, Lumis, as always. “

“You need to hide further in, ” I told her, “the farther in you go the longer it will take for me to find you.”

“I will remember that next time,” Melina said, her eyes were gleaming in a suspicious manner.

“Well done, Lumis.” Vice Chancellor Garrez, patted me on the back. ” You have beaten your final challenge in the same commendable way in which you have beaten all those which came before. We only have six seats on the guild this year, and you have earned one of those seats.”

I felt my chest swell with pride as the words I had longed to hear were finally being spoken, and the honor for which I had worked so hard for the last seven years was finally being bestowed upon me.”

I looked over at Melina, who was smiling broadly at me, and her eyes were practically leaking with the gleam. I knew then that something had gone terribly wrong. I looked around my surroundings, carefully, I saw the auditorium, the administration building, the university. I saw my fellow students crowding the sidewalks, relaxing on the lawn, congregating in the parking area.

Vice Chancellor Garrez was still beaming down at me, and the sun felt fiery hot above me. It was only middle Spring, the heat shouldn't be this bad, and then I realized the awful truth ……. Vice Chancellor Garrez was not sweating. If he had been standing under the hot sun of our real world he would have been because he always did. He always carried about a red handkerchief in his pocket, to be conveniently used when needed. There was no red handkerchief in his pocket.

The world began collapsing then, sun and sky, pavement and bricks until we were once again standing where we were, only this time it was cooler and the sun was hiding behind the clouds. My three hours was up and the timer had gone off forcing us two back to reality.

I couldn't look at Vice Chancellor Garrez who pointed out in a painful tone, “She used your expectations against you. She showed you what she wanted you to see, and you fell for it like a level one. You will need to curb that pride if you ever hope to earn a seat on the Guild. Perhaps seven years of servitude to the Guild will help you do that. “

Then he walked away along with every shred of hope I had for a future.

“I’m sorry that you didn't win, Lumis. I know how much a seat on the Guild means to you.”

I turned furiously to face Melina “You deceived me. You won, but not honorably. You manipulated me and you destroyed my future!”

Melina shook her head, emphatically. “I never deceived you, Lumis. You deceived yourself.”

I turned my back on her without a reply, and as I walked away I vowed that one day I would repay her for what she did to me.