a dream is the place where a wish and a fear meet
From ‘Shantaram’ by Gregory David Roberts
*
Liv shambled down the brown-red rocks, an inhospitable ocean spreading out in front of her. Further out into the bay, an enormous killer whale flew out of the water, creating a fountain of sparkling droplets. It cleaved the surface as gracefully as a naiad and disappeared into the deep. On the horizon, where the blue sky transitioned into the infinite expanse, a mighty ship with white sails appeared. Liv stepped close to the water’s edge and dipped her hands into the lukewarm sea. She sipped the water but spat it out before she could swallow. It was so salty that it made her mouth hurt.
She had no idea how she had come to the coast, but the nature’s vivid colors told her she was in the same world she visited every night. It was a magnificent summer day. She tried to relax, but discomfort nagged in the back of her mind. In her dreams, dangers threatened everywhere, and she was always ready to run. She feared that she would never wake up unless she kept her guard high. This damned world, she thought, and inspected the fresh scar on her arm. She had no scar in reality, nor any memory of acquiring it in her dreams. For a moment she longed back to her childhood, when she dreamed as a normal person.
After a quick break, she continued along the coast for a few minutes, then turned inland into a sparse pine forest. Mushrooms and bright red berries grew there, but she feared they were poisonous and did not dare to eat them. Everything was calm, and she allowed herself to relax. Reverence for the unexplored world around her washed over Liv and aroused a thirst for new discoveries. She became impatient and moved faster, as if something was pulling her forward. The sun was not warm, yet it burned her neck and made her sticky with sweat. She tucked her hair behind her ears and shrugged by doing so. It still came as a surprise every time she touched them. Her ears were long and pointy, while in the awakened world they were wrinkled and deformed, and she always hid them beneath her hair.
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She wandered upon the ruin of a fortress. Green moss covered the gray stones and soaring firs rose from the old moat. Branches pressed against the wall’s remains, as if nature tried to repel the unknown construction and reclaim the space for itself. The wall was thick and had small square embrasures on its side. She supposed the fort had been difficult to capture once, but now a part of the wall lay collapsed in a pile of rocks which she climbed over without effort. More trees grew inside. Apart from an abandoned well, there were no signs that neither humans nor Beings had ever dwelled there.
In a glade stood an elf with his eyes shut and his arms outstretched. He was tall and slim, his white face so smooth that it gave a blurred impression. His dark-hazel hair was wet and reached below his shoulders. It was the first time she saw an elf up-close. He was humming a melody with keys foreign to Liv. She could not tell when it started raining, but she noticed heavy droplets cooling her warm skin. Mystery drenched the scene, but she sensed that she had come upon him in an embarrassing situation. Instead of appearing magical, something in the elf’s expression made her believe he did not know what he was doing.
The sun found its way into the glade and burned her neck once more. He opened his brown eyes and let his hands fall to his side. They stood still for a long time, Liv’s dark green gaze attached to his. Neither said a word, both too surprised to talk. She had never met anyone in this world before and suspected that he was not used to seeing others in his dreams either.
A strong wind blew up and brought with it a scent of gunpowder. Something moved behind her. She turned around, ready to run in case it was a trap. Through a slit in the wall, she glimpsed a white foggy shape. Before she could look closer, a high fir tree fell over her. Liv threw herself to the side and covered her face as the branches brushed against her head. She staggered to her feet and massaged her shoulder. The elf had disappeared, and the storm was now so violent that every single tree would crack if it grew any fiercer.
She rushed out through a hole in the wall into the forest. The sun faded in the sky and everything that remained was biting darkness, but she ran on anyway.