https://i.imgur.com/MMt3MrU.jpeg [https://i.imgur.com/MMt3MrU.jpeg]

Ollie stepped through the door and instead of a room, he found himself in another world.

His bare feet felt the caress of fresh grass, on a green terrain of beautiful monotony. However, if below his eyes was an ordinary world, above them, in a firmament without light, without sun or stars, he encountered the unimaginable.

In the place of the stars, thousands of islands floated near and far, occupying a vast infinity of darkness. In their silhouettes, each contained a single building. There were castles, houses, towers, fortresses, banks, and temples. No two buildings were alike, all painted with just one color, a single color that varied between blue, red, yellow, and black.

As if this was not enough, the islands were bind together by dark, thick chains.

Ollie forgot to breathe, it was as if he had entered into a painting of insanity, in place that should not be, but yet, there it was.

“Where am I?”

Ollie was covered by a shadow that ignored the absence of light necessary to cast it. Behind him, an oppressively close island loomed, occupying a large part of the horizon. A familiar blue house reigned over its dark silhouette.

A shiver ran up his spine as he realized a giant, rusty chain connected this disturbing island to his own.

My island?

Yes, he shuddered as he confirmed his intuition, the grassy borders around him ended in a cliff that encircled him, one that marked the limited edge of his small domain.

I have an island.

Or so he intuited. His island was similar to the others, but with a notable difference, the islands around him had only one building, his had four.

Four colors, four corners, four dwellings.

Ollie turned to the tall Merchant of Dreams at his side.

"What is this place?"

"A sphere within another."

"What do you mean by a sphere?"

"The place you believe to be a reality, is just a sphere. One of many" The Merchant gestured. "Within each sphere, there are smaller spheres, like bubbles, bubbles of affinities, thoughts, dreams, and emotions."

Ollie shook his head in frustration, not knowing if it was he who did not understand, or if it was the Dream Merchant who did not want to be understood.

"You did not tell me about a universe of floating islands with chains and colored houses."

"I said that ideas and feelings in the world above, are paths and places here."

Something monstrous moved behind him, and Ollie contained a scream of horror.

Turning around, he faced a giant snail, one that until then must have hidden in his blind spot. With renewed wonder, he contemplated the grand shell that it supported upon itself. There was a door there at its center. The door through which he had exited, the door that contained the majestic candy store, which, although much larger than the creature, fit inside it nonetheless.

https://i.imgur.com/ddrlN2I.png [https://i.imgur.com/ddrlN2I.png]

"What is this?" Ollie pointed at the giant snail.

"This is the Palace of Doors," The Merchant gestured towards the snail. "This is my home."

"This is not a palace, this is a snail."

"That is an idea," he shook the porcelain mask. "The idea that a snail can be a home, and that the feelings it harbors can be rooms and doors, leading to all the memories you own."

Ollie stared at the snail with wide eyes. "How can a feeling be a place?"

“Does your school has a feeling? Does your room and your house?”

They are bad feelings.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Your world makes no sense." Ollie spoke with a sigh.

"You left my world when you crossed that door." The Merchant turned his back to the snail and opened his long black arms towards the island. "We are in your world now."

"What does that mean?" Ollie asked stupefied. "Why can't you give me a simple answer?"

"Because all the answers you seek, you already have."

"I have? I have no idea about anything," Ollie pointed upwards. "Why do those higher islands have bridges?" On the horizon, he pointed to the islands below. "Why do the islands with Black Houses float alone, without chains or bridges?" he perked up his ears. "I don’t think it’s by chance, I think there’s a reason, one that you know, but don't want to tell me."

"The great mysteries of life are not hidden, they are ignored."

Ollie wrinkled his snout. "That’s not an answer."

The Dream Merchant nodded. "Exactly."

I can’t trust you.

"Those houses?" Ollie turned his back to the Merchant. "Are my dreams inside them?"

His eyes swept over the four houses.

The closest was to the South, a familiar old Blue House.

To the West of it, the ruins of a small Red Castle.

To the East, a luxurious and imposing Golden Mansion.

Finally, to the North, on the edge of a hill, a small and crooked Black House.

"Do I have four dreams, then?"

"No." The Merchant waved the porcelain mask. "Everyone has five."

Ollie looked for the fifth house, the fifth color, but found none.

"Your fifth dream is no longer here, Ollie." The porcelain mask spoke with a shake. "Your fifth dream was forgotten so that you could be here."

Ollie thought of Seffia, had he forgotten her? They had promised to write. But no letter was received or sent.

Who forgot whom?

"What’s inside the houses?"

"Four hosts," The ethereal voice spoke emotionlessly. "four lives and four choices."

"What kind of choices?"

"The kind that will define the life you will have." The Merchant gestured to the sweet in Ollie’s hand. "And the person you will be."

Ollie stared at the candy. "Do I give this to my favorite dream?"

"Yes," The Merchant closed Ollie’s hand over the heart-shaped sweet. "But once given, once consumed, there is no going back." his long black finger touched the young Pig’s forehead. "You will awaken alongside the dream you chose to nourish."

"So, I won’t be able to say goodbye?" He asked, lifting his ears.

"Consider each house a goodbye."

Ollie stared at the four houses, already knowing he wanted the Golden Mansion, but for that reason, he wouldn’t go there first, he would give a chance to the other houses, any of them could serve him, any but the Black House on the hilltop.

That one he didn’t want to meet.

"Can you choose for me?" he asked the Merchant.

The white porcelain mask shook. "No, no one can do that here."

Not knowing where to start, Ollie just followed the path.

The small stone path that led to the meeting of the four houses.

In silence, the Dream Merchant walked by his side.

To where the stone path led.

The Blue House.

https://i.imgur.com/t8z93U6.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/t8z93U6.jpg]

"I know this place," Ollie spoke, not understanding how he had not realized it until now. "The color is different, but I lived in a house just like this before I moved to Ilys."

"Here, not everything we forget," the ethereal voice spoke inertly, "will remain forgotten."

This was the house of his childhood.

The house where his family was still whole.

A house he had forgotten.

A house he wanted and did not wanted to return.

Ollie took a long sigh in search of courage.

Then he took his first step towards his past.

He turned around when he realized that the Merchant had stayed behind.

"Aren't you coming with me?" He asked, trying to contain the tremor in his voice.

The Merchant only shook his white porcelain mask.

"Is this where we say goodbye, then?"

The Dream Merchant gave a slow nod.

He turned to the Blue House.

"Keep your sweet until the moment of the final choice."

The ethereal voice of the Merchant spoke from behind him.

Ollie complied, placing the sweet in the pocket of his blue pajamas with yellow stars.

Lowering his ears, he walked alone to the wooden door.

What will I find here?

Ollie would have turned back to ask the Merchant, but he knew that his answers would only lead him to another enigma for him to decipher.

He was alone, as always.

Or maybe not, maybe here where dreams were hosts, maybe here he would find a friend.

With that in mind, Ollie knocked on the door.

No one answered, but the blue door creaked open.

"Hello?" Ollie shouted into the empty room.

Silence was his answer.

It was another door, another door to the unknown.

Once again, he considered going back.

Once again, he remembered there was no back for him.

Going back now would be an even greater madness than going forward.

With an uncertain step, he entered the Blue House.

And as soon as he entered, the door that opened by itself, closed behind him.