The temple itself shook and it shifted, the walls were spinning and turning faster than she could process what was happening. It took on a new shape, doors which weren’t present before, stairs which built itself from the bricks under her own feet. Then it all came to a stop.

A large dome now covered the sky, there was a large mosaic hanging on the wall in front of them. There were many floors to the temple now, she counted about five but there could have been more. She was now standing in the end of the room of what looked to be something of a grand hall. The fountain was still there and so were the statues but even stranger was the addition of stone furniture, carpets and hanging pieces of cloth with symbols draped over the railings of each floor.

And in the middle she saw her daughter standing worriedly holding what looked like an old necklace. She was looking all around for something but couldn’t seem to find it.

“Asha!”

Margaret ran towards her daughter, embracing her in a protective hug.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know it would do that, mama!”

After she was sure that her daughter wasn’t hurt, she lightly pinched the girl’s arm in reprimand. “Don’t just start touching things here, Asha. We don’t know what any of it could do.”

Asha winced at the slight pain but nodded.

Margaret sighed and tried to focus on other, more pressing matters. But her daughter, ever an observant girl pointed out her new found vigor.

“Are you all better now mama?” Asha asked hopefully.

“Well, I certainly feel like I have more energy than before.”

“Hooray! I knew they were nice!” She cheered, throwing her arms in the air. Seeming all too proud of herself.

Margaret hesitated to ask, “By who, do you mean the- “

“Fairies!”

“Ah, right. I almost forgot about them for a second.”

It unnerved her how much her daughter was trusting those things. Especially now that they brought them to this strange place with, she was scared to think, no way out. She was sure she told her daughter about a few folktales that had creatures eerily similar them. Specifically, how they should be avoided or left alone. If not appeased before leaving and never turning back.

Asha seemed to understand what her mother was feeling

“It’s okay mama, they don’t want to hurt us or anything. They just want to show us something important “

“Did they tell you what this place was, sweetie?”

“They umm- well they said it was really important. And that we should start looking for something that had been forgotten but needs to be remembered.”

“And then they said that things would start making sense from there.”

“That’s sounds very helpful of them.”

“It should be somewhere around here. . . .” Asha started muttering, looking around the room for something that the fairies might have told her about. Honestly, Margaret is starting to develop serious issues about fairies and the safety of her daughter. After this dream she might start investing in talismans or any sort of items that could keep these annoying things away from her daughter.

image [https://i.imgur.com/jhgmYn2.png]

Somehow, Asha could feel it, something deep inside which told her to follow those fairies wherever they said to go. It felt like a pull deep within her soul, a memory? Or a voice from a really long time ago.

When she woke up in the field with her mother, she was afraid at first. They were just home a few moments ago after her papa got angry again and left her and mama. But now they were in a such a new place that looked so beautiful which made her think it was a dream.

But it isn’t, it’s real.

She was so sure of it.

Then she saw it for the first time, a fluttering ball of light and glitter right in front of her. It told her stories and promised her things. Thing’s which sounded too good to be true, which from what her mother always told her, probably was.

But the way it told her,

This could be her chance to help her mother. To finally be able to do something and protect her.

If this was her chance, she’d take it. Whatever that chance might be.

image [https://i.imgur.com/jhgmYn2.png]

They explored the ground floor first, hoping to find the exit. Unfortunately, the more they explored the more rooms there seemed to be. And all of the rooms had a strange medieval aesthetic to them. Like the ones her husband’s nephews liked to play on their consoles. She was never a fan of video games but she’d read a few history books to be familiar with the historical context of some of them.

The first room they encountered looked to be some sort of office space, a dusty old room with lit candles floating suspiciously in the air. There were four empty tables with empty parchments of paper and inkbottles that still had their quills dipped inside, located in the center of the room and bookcases filled with ancient looking books lined the walls.

“Mama look! Is it ghosts?”

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Margaret blanched at the suggestion. She couldn’t even stand watching horror movies never mind going into a potential, most likely even, haunted room! Back in college she was known as the easiest to scare among her friends and least likely to attend Halloween for anything but the candy.

“Don’t be silly sweetie, there aren’t any ghosts!” Margaret tried to brush it off as if it didn’t scare the living daylights out of her, she couldn’t wait to close the door.

“Maybe another room, it’s just a bunch of dusty old books.”

“What if the books can tell us what this place is? Teacher Beth told us that books are records of knowledge and that’s why it’s important for us to read them.” Asha dutifully cited.

Margaret couldn’t be any prouder that her daughter took the lessons she learned at school to heart. But there was no way she was going in there. Dream or not dream.

“I-I’m sure the next room has books too!” She tried to suggest, her hand already moving to close the door.

‘And no flying candles’

Thankfully the next few rooms had nothing remotely paranormal, at least, she thought so?

They came across a large dining hall with all its tables set and ready. A communal room with unmade beds and open trunks filled with personal belongings. An armory with empty racks and scattered pieces of armor strewn all over the floor, as if the occupants all left in a hurry. It all painted a picture of a place that was once filled with life and had many occupants living it in that suddenly vanished once something happened and they never came back.

She was astonished at the details her imagination provided because Margaret had no idea where all of this came from. This place was a far cry from the architecture her home country had.

At last, they came to the last room in the first floor and Margaret desperately hoped this one had the answer’s they needed for this dream to finally end. Either that or she’d finally grow frustrated enough to wake up on her own.

It was well lit, a large chandelier with burning candles hung over the room. This room looked like an old study, there was one desk in the center of the room in front of a large mosaic window. There were cracks in the walls and floors, the room had that smell of dust and debris from years of over use and hints of burned wicks and old paper. There was only one bookshelf and it had only a few books left, half of which looked worse for wear. But more interestingly, the desk had a large leather-bound tome sitting right in the middle.

It was almost cozy.

Feeling confident about this room she went inside with her daughter bounding enthusiastically behind her.

“Don’t touch anything strange alright? Tell mama if it looks important!” Margaret warned, already uneasy at how casually her daughter was starting to snoop around the room. Following her daughter as she did, just to make sure nothing bad would happen this time.

They wandered around the room, taking in the strange sights and the rooms quiet atmosphere. She ran her fingers along the cold surface of the stone walls, the feeling making the dream even more surreal to her.

Every sight, sound and smell, how the light is reflected to the windows, all of it felt so real.

Those painting hanging on the wall looked awfully suspicious and she was tempted to turn them around just so it wouldn’t make her feel like their eyes were following them. The paintings themselves were very detailed and portrayed fantastical figures. A figure with pointed ears and purple skin, a woman with snakes for hair, a mermaid covered in blue scales and a man with fiery red hair crowning impossibly long horns.

They all looked so different, to her and to each other, but one thing they had in common was the expression on their faces. Their conflicted expressions filled with mixed emotions, somber and full of longing, indignant and furious.

When her daughter noticed it, she tried her hardest to try and read it. But she wasn’t tall enough yet so Margaret had her to carry up.

Her daughter reached towards the book and gently touched its center.

At once, the book suddenly burst open with a flurry of turning pages, so strongly it felt as if the book was going to jump at them.

She couldn’t see it very clearly because of how fast its pages were but Margaret could make out well drawn images of events and people accompanied by pages with long written texts in a language she couldn’t understand.

Then it stopped at a chapter decorated in fine engravings. Her daughter’s eyes widened and her finger’s seemed to tremble. She hesitated to turn the page as her fingers landed gently on the images. Her eyes lingered on them. And Asha let out a gentle sigh she didn’t even know she was holding. A look of recognition flashed in her daughter’s eyes before she suddenly turned away from the book and hugged her mother tightly.

“Baby?”

“I don’t want to know mama.” Her daughter’s voice trembled and Margaret could feel her daughter’s warm tears on her neck.

“Shh, it’s okay. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Mama, I don’t want to.” Asha repeated, trying to contain the sobs spilling out of her voice.

“I won’t force you. I promise.” Margaret shushed, rocking her daughter in her arms.

She didn’t know what made her daughter so upset when she was sure neither of them could understand what was written. The images themselves weren’t scary or violent either, they looked like what she had seen in old books composed of fairy tales.

And in trying to understand it, something strange happened again.

There it was. That strange window which popped out of nowhere. But this time it had more to say.

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Once again Margaret’s brows furrowed in confusion at the strange appearance and insinuation of the screen.

So strange. . .

Margaret thought, scrutinizing the sudden floating box in front of her. Waving her free hand in and out to see if she could touch anything. Her hand only slid through but the window remained.

A hallucination within a dream?

Another thing to add in the pile of questions she had.

For now, she had to tend to her daughter and get out of this room. Margaret decided to go back to the living quarters so her daughter could lie down. Gently setting her daughter down on an adjacent bed, Margaret started to fix the one in front of her. Folding the sheets and arranging the pillows.

Once she was done her daughter laid down on the bed while Margaret gently stroked her hair. Humming Asha’s favorite lullaby as the girl’s crying started to subside. She had done this for her daughter so many times now and it had always comforted Asha.

These brief and tender moments that mother and daughter shared were a part of her most cherished memories. And for Margaret, it was one of the few comforts she could afford to give her daughter. She could still remember when her daughter was only a few months old and her husband still joined her in singing to their sweet baby girl, times were happier then. Now they had so few of these moments it was impossible not to cherish them.

Ah, even in a dream she can’t seem to escape reality.

It felt so bittersweet.

They stayed that way for a bit longer. Usually, Asha would fall asleep but this time it seemed as if the thoughts weighing on her mind were too great to ignore. There was still something she couldn’t explain forming on her daughter’s face. Determination and stubbornness despite what her red and puffy eyes would imply.

What could possibly be on her mind? Margaret wondered.

In that moment her daughter looked more mature.

“My brave girl.” Margaret chuckled, placing a loving kiss on Asha’s forehead.

“I’ll find it.”

“Hmm?”

“The answer mama, I’ll find the answer they’re telling me to. And when I’ll do that, we can be happy. I can help you.”

“Oh baby, you already make mama so happy.” She tried to reassure her daughter but her words seem to have no sway.

“Are you going to tell me what it is you’re so focused on?”

Asha shook her head.

“I want to, but I don’t know what it is yet.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s scattered all over the place. So, I have to find it.”

“Then let’s try again later. Mama will help you.”

In that moment Asha gave her the brightest smile. But Margaret couldn’t help but notice the light peeking in from the curtains. The sun was setting and yet there was no indication of her waking up from this dream any time soon. Nor were there any answers that came from their exploration.

It’ll be fine. She told herself.

Yet days had passed inside the dream but there was still no sign of her waking up.