"Get Away From Me!" She shouted at me as she ran through a door.

"Anna!" I screamed at her. I tried chasing after her, but by the time I got through the door, she was already gone. "Dammit!" I mumbled to myself.

I looked at my surroundings, the castle behind me stood tall and proud, the sun beamed behind it, while it's shadow left the city in front shaded in darkness. The cloud this place was on was surrounded by the things I called my "Friends." All this time I had believed they were helping me, guiding me, when they were only using me for their scheme this entire time. In an hour, their plan would commence, and if that wasn't enough, every time I thought of what they were about to do, it filled me with guilt knowing I'm the one who came up with it. Part of their plan had already started, I could hear people screaming, I could see houses explode, and I could see the army of shadows slowly but surely approaching from the distance. I knew that no one, not even the king, would be able to stop them and that mere fact made me sick to my stomach.

One of the shadows walked by me, it looked at me like I was one of their own. Like I had killed possibly thousands of people and earned my place as an eternal shadow, and in a way, I did. I had indirectly caused the death of millions, or at least I would soon enough. Suddenly, a feeling coursed through my veins. It started from my feet and went all the way up to my head. It was a feeling I hadn't felt in a long time. The feeling is one of which a child would feel waiting for their dad to come home. The feeling is one where the world has abandoned you, and as if they knew, your best friend pops out to cheer you up. When there is no chance to win a battle but you still continue marching on only to win. The feeling I felt that faithful day was hope.

I jolted awake, something about that dream had scared me. I wiped my forehead, when I put my hand down, I could see sweat glisten in the sunlight coming from the window. When I took a closer look at my surroundings, I realized I wasn't in my room, instead, I was in a classroom. A projector hanged from the ceiling, a video about fantasy conflicts shot out of it. Kate sat in a desk next to me, Daniel next to her. I also saw the disapproving glare of a teacher that was directed towards me. He sat behind a proper desk and was in his mid-forties.

He paused the video and started to rub his forehead, "Mr. Frost, I don't think it's wise to sleep on your first week of school, is it?" he said, causing everyone besides Kate and Daniel to stare at me. Kate looked annoyed while Daniel was smirking.

I was speechless. I barely had enough consciousness to understand what was happening. "I-" was all I could mutter out.

Kate sighed, "Look, I don't know if anyone's told you or not, but he has chronic nightmares. He hardly gets enough sleep at night. In fact, " she looked over at me, "Judging by his expression, he just woke up from one," she said. I slowly nodded, she looked back over at him, "So if you could let a few naps slide here and there, it'd be greatly appreciated," she said. I knew why she was so annoyed. At nearly every school we've been to the same thing happens. I doze off, the teacher gets mad and calls me out for it. Kate always defended me.

Judging by how his eyes got wider, the teacher was just a bit shocked, "Oh, well excuse me," he looked at me, "I'll let you sleep on the unimportant lessons but right now you need to pay attention," he sympathetically said. I nodded in response.

The rest of the class was fine. I eventually regained my memories, although at a slow pace. We had only been in school for a week at that point so I followed Kate to our classes, I was still unfamiliar with my schedule. That's one of the good things about foster care, me and Kate had always been put in the same classes since we started school. For some reason, they like to keep siblings together. When I actually started paying attention again we had been in math for half the period, the lunch bell would ring soon.

Our math teacher gave us independent work to do but she was laid back so she let us talk. I was about two-thirds done when I looked over at Kate, she had already completed the entire thing. "Jesus Christ Kate!" I said, "How'd you finish so quick?"

She shrugged, "I've always been good at math," she looked over at my paper, "Especially better than you," she said.

"I'd say we're pretty equal."

She had a playful smile, "Maybe, but I'm the one who finished first."

"Oh shut up you," I said looking back down at my paper. I thought for a second before looking back at her, "Hey Kate, I just realized I never told you thank you," I said.

She didn't look up from her desk, "There's no need, I know you'd do the same for me in a heartbeat."

"Despite your wishes, I'm still going to say it," I said with a smile.

She looked up at me and gave me her best intimidating glare, "Oh you better not," she said.

I got really close to her ear, "Thank you," I whispered.

She lightly pushed me away, "You're in for a mouthful when we get home." I laughed but then I caught something out of the corner of my eye. A guy was staring at her from the corner of the room. He was wearing a black jacket and needed a shaving. Kate had noticed that I stopped laughing, "What?" she asked.

"I think you have a secret admirer," I said still not making direct eye contact with the starer. Kate was about to turn around, "Wait," I said, stopping her from turning, "If you turn around, he'll stop staring." I pulled out my phone and took a picture of him, "Here," I said handing it to her. Before Kate could say anything, the lunch bell rang. I took my phone out of my hands and ran out of the classroom, "I'll save you a seat," I said to her.

Lunch wasn't too bad. The food sucked but the conversations weren't bad. We sat with Daniel and let me tell you, he was right, a lot of things had changed since I last saw him. He had this huge group of friends that he was lacking last time we were in school together and Daniel seemed to be the talk of the school because of his party. Despite the multitude of friends sitting next to him, he still chose to talk to us. After lunch, nothing interesting happened, at least, not until we walked home and we both know you're not here to here to hear about boring old school, so let's skip there.

We had just gotten out of school. We were walking home and for whatever reason, Daniel had joined us. Turns out that his house isn't that far from the school. Considering that we had to walk through the suburbs, that statement made sense. The part we were going through was rundown, I would have confused it for the slums if it wasn't for the suburban-style houses. Daniel seemed to be on edge, he was constantly scanning the surroundings never letting his guard down. He kept Kate away from the sidewalk. The people walking by us had slightly more dirt on their clothing and more rips in their shirts. One thing was for sure, I felt uncomfortable. Things were calm until I saw a little girl run past us. I stopped following Kate and Daniel and turned to her, she was making distance for someone of her size. Her clothes were stained and tattered from what I could make out. She wore a red t-shirt with blue pants, she had brown hair.

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She took a right and I lost sight of her. Something in me told me to follow her, so I did. I started walking in her footsteps, not even telling Kate or Daniel that I was leaving. It's like something took over my mind, it didn't feel like I was in control. Once I got past the corner she took, I could see a dirt path in between two houses that seemingly came out of nowhere. I don't know why, but I knew I needed to go down it. I started to run down it, something was making me feel like I needed to rush. I kept running and didn't seem to get tired. I noticed the surroundings around me started to get more dense with trees, it was like I had gone down a path that left the city. By the time I needed to take a break, it looked like I was in a forest. I decided to walk from then on.

After what felt like hours, I finally reached the end. An old abandoned and run-down church greeted me, mold and holes covered it. It was impossibly huge for it's age. I walked up the rickety, wooden staircase, it felt like it would collapse at any moment. At the top, I was met with it's doors, they were at least twenty feet tall. I tried to push it open but they wouldn't budge. I looked around for a way in, maybe a broken window or loose wooden paneling, but couldn't find anything. Out of desperation, I knocked three times on the door. I didn't expect anything to happen but much to my surprise, the doors slowly crept open just enough so that someone of my build could slip through. I tucked my stomach in and squeezed in.

It took a lot of force to get my body through that crack, but once I did, I fell to the floor. I heard the doors slam shut behind me. While I was catching my breath, I noticed that the floor looked clean considering the outside. It looked more than clean, it nearly looked brand new. I looked up and was shocked by what I saw. The church looked like time hadn't touched it. The holes that were so noticeable on the outside couldn't be seen. The moss that had covered the outside had been replaced with freshly painted wood. The marble floor looked polished and fine. A huge chandler hanged in the middle, its lights were on. A giant cross sat at the end, it glowed a gold color. The design of the church screamed mid-century Europe but looked like it had just been built. I walked up to the pedestal, unlike what you'd expect, a bible did not sit on top of it. Instead, a piece of notebook paper sat in it's place.

I picked it up, the handwriting was nearly impossible to make out, but I could still read it. At the top in bold letters, it read, "Readout loud under the item of worship if you seek the truth." I looked over at the cross, it seemed to glow brighter. I focused back on the paper. Below that, a quote was written out. "To work magic is to weave the unseen forces into form; to soar beyond sight; to explore the uncharted realm of the hidden reality." There was no name next to it. I walked up to the cross, it was nearly as tall as the roof. From what it looked like, it seemed to be made of pure gold. I looked around, "So is this the item of worship?" I asked the empty church. The ground ever so slightly shook, but I just marked that up to coincidence. "I'll take the silence as a yes," I said.

I brought the note close to my face, "Okay, here goes nothing," I said to myself. "To work magic is to weave the unseen forces into form," When I finished the first sentence, I could hear the faintest of a hum. It sounded like a few hundred people were ever so slightly using their vocal cords. I looked around, no one else was anywhere to be seen. The humming continued none the less. I looked back at the note, "To soar beyo--" before I could finish, the ground started to lightly shake. While it wasn't strong, I wasn't expecting it so I fell. I noticed that the shaking stopped once I dropped the note. The humming continued though. I picked the note back up and restarted, "To soar beyond sight," I said. The ground started to shake a lot more violently. It was nearly impossible to read the note because of this. The humming turned into a chant, making it impossible to focus. I heald my hand as steady as possible and continued to read. "To explore the uncharted realm of the hidden reality," I screamed over the chanting. Everything stopped. The cross started to get brighter and brighter. Eventually, it got so bright that I had no choice but to close my eyes. The light started to go past my eyelids, it didn't even feel look like I was closing my eyes anymore. Suddenly, it vanished.

I slowly opened my eyelids, the wall where the cross once stood had vanished, replaced by a stairwell down into who knows where. The walls of the stairwell were carved out stone while the stairs themselves were marble. Not having anything else to do, I walked down the staircase. It was a spiral staircase. My footsteps echoed through the cave-like structure and water commonly dripped down on my forehead. I swear in the distance I could hear people talking but it was impossible to make out what they were saying. I kept walking and walking but the surroundings never seemed to change. The voices, on the other hand, started to get more clear the father I went down. Now I could commonly make out the name "Anna" being said. After long, excruciating minutes of just walking, I finally reached the end. I could see two figures standing in front of an arch, light-flooded in from it, I had to shield my eyes since I was still adjusted to the dark. One of the figures where about as tall as a little girl, while the other shared the same height as Kate. From what I could make out, they seemed to be facing the source of the light.

They somehow hadn't noticed me, "Anna, you got to be more careful next time," the taller figure said. Their voice clearly belonged to a girl around my age. "Do you know what could happen if you lead someone back here?"

"I didn't mean too," the shorter one said. Their voice sounded much younger, I'd say around the age of eight.

My eyes started to adjust to the light so I could make out the figures but it was still hard to see what was past the arch. The shorter figure was the little girl I saw earlier while the taller one was someone I had never seen before. They wore silver armor and I think I could just barely make out a sword being held on their hip. I decided to say something, "Hey," I said, they both turned to me, both of their eyes were wide. It was obvious to see that they were both girls. "Do you know where we are?" I asked.

"Shit," I heard the taller girl mumble.

"That's not really an--" Before I could react, a sword was put against my throat. "Holy Shit!" I instinctively said.

The sword was in the hands of the tall one. She put her face real close to mine, giving me a better look at her. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. "Look, I don't know why you're here or who you work for, but-"

"Look, lady, I just followed the instructions on this note," I said pulling the note out of my jacket pocket.

"Let me see that!" she said, snatching the note out of my hand and taking her sword away from my throat. She glossed over it then looked back up at me, "Where did you get this?" she said, her sword still unsheathed.

"In the church," I pointed up at the ceiling, "You know, up there."

"Wait, you saw the church?" she asked but didn't give me a chance to answer. "What species are you?" she asked.

"Species?"

"Yeah, you know, what are you classified as?"

"Uh, Human," I said

I could tell that she wasn't expecting that, "Human!? How did you see the church? It's specifically designed for humans not to see it," she said. She grabbed the little girl by the arm, "Come on Anna, we got to go tell the king," she said, dragging the girl through the arch.

I tried following them but was blinded by the light. My eyes adjusted and I was blown away by what I saw. An entire kingdom laced on top of clouds laid in front of me.