In the world of Aethria, the hero had everything figured out. Every monster slain, every quest completed. On the page, everything seemed to come naturally and the hero had a clear, defined purpose. But here, in his room, Liam Hawthorne couldn’t even be bothered to finish the math homework sitting on his desk. He closed the book and tossed it onto a pile of fantasy novels. His usual escape wasn’t working anymore—not even reading could distract him from the dull reality of starting high school. Liam looked around his room, the walls covered in posters of knights slaying dragons and wizards hard at study, his backpack haphazardly strewn across his desk, the homework he had shoved into it staring back at him, taunting him. It’s not that Liam couldn’t do the work, school had always come easily to him, he never had to study and aced his tests easily, but he’s just grown bored of it all. If he sat down and started the work it would take him no time at all, but it’s the beginning that he would hang up on every time. Liam thought back to his day at school, he had friends, or at least acquaintances, he could still hear Jason laughing at his joke from lunch, but even that felt scripted. The laughs never seemed to reach his ears, like they were meant for someone else, and all he wanted to do was get back home and be alone again. This aloneness was shattered by a knock at Liam’s door and his mother’s head sticking into his room, “Liam? Are you still in here? It’s been hours, maybe take a break.”
Liam rolled over in bed, pushing his face into his pillow, “Sure, Mom.” As if what he needed was a break, this time was his break from everything else. As his mom was about to shut the door to his room, the one redeeming point of Liam’s life came sprinting into his room; Oliver. Oliver was Liam’s 12-year-old little brother and the only person Liam went out of his way to spend time with. Oliver excitedly ran into the room and jumped onto Liam’s bed, “Guess what I had a dream about last night!”
“You ran for President,” Liam guessed.
“NO! I dreamt about a dragon,” Oliver pointed at the dragon poster on the wall. ‘A huge green one, with spines all down its back!”
“And were you a chivalrous knight sent to slay it and save the princess,” asked Liam, the most energetic he had been all day. “No, it was gentle and nice. I wouldn’t want to hurt him, he was just scared.”
“Sure, I bet the dragon was scared of little ole you,” Liam responded rolling his eyes.
“Not of me, but he was definitely scared of something. I don’t know what, though. I woke up before I found out.” Oliver paused for a moment and then said, “Oh, and Dad said you have to take me to the park tomorrow.”
“That I can do, brother, I’ll get you at school and we can walk over together. Goodnight, Ollie”
Oliver’s happy voice flitted back as he ran out of the room, “Goodnight, Liam!”
Liam got up and went over to his desk, which was against a window that overlooked their large backyard. He envied Oliver, of course, he would dream about dragons, and his mind was constantly swirling with adventure and wonder. He smiled to himself and then frowned, in the absence of his brother’s glowing personality, the world felt just a little darker. Liam pulled out some homework for his English class, he was supposed to write a reflection on a book he read over the summer, he looked back at the stack of finished novels beside his bed and then back at the paper, the ideas on what to write about for each book easily floated to the forefront of his mind and the paper was all but written in his head, but he never picked up a pencil. He shoved the rubric back into his backpack and got up to move back to his bed for the night, but something caught his eye in the corner of his vision, a flicker of movement through his window where the yard met the treeline. He went up to the window and peered out into the darkness, he scanned the woods but saw nothing, the night was still. Liam shook his head, fat, lazy, and now seeing things. Great. He was definitely losing it. Then he crawled into bed, and eventually, sleep found him.
Liam stood in an ancient place—he didn’t know how he knew, but he could feel it. The ground beneath his feet was cracked and broken, and the air hummed with a kind of energy he’d never felt before. Above him, the sky twisted in unnatural patterns, dark clouds swirling like ink in water. He looked around, trying to get his bearings, this place was so foreign, yet a small hum of familiarity coursed through him. A large cracking sound rang out from behind him and he turned quickly, stumbling over some debris that was at his feet, he fell to the ground, his hands stinging where he caught himself and the sharp rock drew blood. In the distance, a figure stood cloaked in shadow, its eyes glowing faintly with an unnatural light. Though it didn’t move, Liam felt its gaze pierce through him. He tried to stand up, but his body wouldn’t obey. The creature just stared at him, as if summing him up, then there was another crack, and suddenly all around him, faint echoes of a battle played out—spectral figures casting spells, their hands alight with power as they fought something he couldn’t see. In the center of it all, a barrier flickered, its edges crumbling like sand in the wind. Three figures were standing before the barrier, all seemingly lost in their muttering, staring at the barrier. As he looked closer, Liam saw that the shadowy figure was trapped inside, blasts of what seemed to be pure energy shooting out from it, fighting against the bubble it was being trapped inside. Suddenly all three of the muttering figures collapsed and a glowing symbol appeared above the crumbling barrier, pulsing with a soft blue light, and with every pulse the barrier seemed to grow stronger and stronger, and the shadowy figure inside became obscured from view. Liam stared at it, something deep inside him stirring at the sight of it. Before he could understand why, a voice—soft, almost a whisper—called his name. ‘Liam… protect the ward… protect them all.’ The voice faded, but the sense of urgency stayed with him.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Liam woke with a start, his heart racing. The room was dark, but something felt wrong like the shadows clung to the corners a little too closely. Liam rubbed his eyes, but the dream clung to him, pressing on his chest like a weight. He shook it off, but a faint tremor in his hands made him wonder if he was still caught in that strange place.” He stood up from his bed and paced his room, trying to shake off the dream, but the image of the crumbling barrier and the figure watching him lingered in his mind. It was just a dream, he told himself, but even as he lay back down, the feeling wouldn’t leave.
Liam blinked awake, as the sun spilled in through his bedroom window, a dull ache behind his eyes. The dream clung to him like a fog, the shadowy figure, the crumbling ward… It was all so vivid. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Just a dream. He got out of bed and glanced in the mirror. The dark circles under his eyes made him look even more exhausted than usual. “Just great, another reason not to talk to people today.” Liam got ready for the day and made his way downstairs where his family was eating breakfast. His father was dressed in a suit and tie for his job at the local bank and his mother looked like she just got back from her morning run. “Good morning, Liam,” said his father.
“Morning, Dad”
“Did you sleep alright, honey? I heard you tossing and turning,” his mom asked.
“I slept fine,” said Liam matter-of-factly and set his attention to the bowl of cereal he just poured. As Liam stared out the kitchen window while eating his slightly soggy cornflakes, the shadows in the backyard seemed to stretch unnaturally, like the night hadn’t fully let go. He blinked, and the shadows returned to normal. It’s just stress, he thought to himself. Or maybe one of those weird dreams you get after reading too much. But the feeling wouldn’t leave—it gnawed at him, like something important was slipping through his fingers.
On the walk to school that morning Oliver chattered away about dragons, apparently, he had another dream about them the night before again, his voice full of excitement. But Liam’s mind was elsewhere. The air felt thick like the weight of the dream was still pressing on him. A gust of wind suddenly rustled the trees, making the hairs on his arms stand up. After dropping Oliver off at the middle school, Liam continued on to the high school where his long, boring day would take place. Liam was able to push the dream from his mind for the most part and focus on his classes, he loved learning new things, so the lecture part of his classes always kept his interest. On the walk to math class, Liam looked up and realized he was alone in the hallway, which was strange, because more often than not you are having to shove your way past people to get through, but Liam carried on to class anyway. Liam glanced at the row of lockers as he walked down the hall. One of the locker doors creaked open, then slowly swung wider, like it was being pulled by something unseen. Liam froze, watching the door for another moment. There was no one there. He shook his head, “I’m losing it,” he muttered. But kept walking, trying to shake the uneasy feeling that he actually was going insane, he knew that he had read about people just having mental breaks randomly and wondered if this was what was happening to him. As the final bell rang, Liam packed up his things, his fingers brushing against his books without really noticing. The day had dragged on, every minute stretching longer than it should have. Something was coming—he could feel it, though he didn’t know what.