Faerie Wings III: The Nightmare of Dreamland: Part Four

      The next morning, Illere and Brillare met Sirena and Ardore, who was the Top Fire faerie, outside the doors of Fyora’s office. The four faeries had agreed to meet each other at the office doors rather than the golden gates of the royal palace. “Thank goodness you two made it,” said Illere.

      Ardore rolled her eyes. “Why must I waste a perfectly good shopping day to have a meeting with Fyora?” the Fire faerie demanded.

      “This meeting is important, Ardore,” Illere insisted. “We need to talk to Fyora today and see if we can get access to her private library.”

      Sirena turned to Brillare. “Is Kira still asleep? Has she woken up yet?”

      “I’m afraid not,” Brillare said solemnly. “Her mother has promised to alert us, though, when Kira wakes up from her slumber.”

      “I could go for a nap right now, actually,” Ardore yawned. She twirled a strand of her dark brown hair with her finger and glowered at the other faeries. “You know, this would be a lot for productive if Fyora would hurry up and open these doors. If she doesn’t, then I will have to burn them down instead.”

      “Have patience and everything will work out fine,” Brillare reminded her.

      “Perhaps Fyora is busy doing some paperwork? Or maybe she’s reading?” Sirena suggested.

      Illere looked down the hallway and saw a petite Air faerie with round spectacles walk towards them. “Look girls, Ms. Livonia is here! Maybe she can tell us when Fyora will be meeting us.”

      Ms. Livonia was Queen Fyora’s personal secretary, and she was the one who decides which visitors to the royal palace were allowed to meet with Fyora and how long their time with her may be. Usually, the five Top faeries didn’t need to speak with her because Fyora would summon them to her office herself. But since Brillare had sent a notice to Ms. Livonia the previous day, the secretary was now in charge of setting up a meeting with Fyora by choosing a date and time that would not conflict the Faerie Queen’s schedule.

      As she approached the four waiting faeries, Ms. Livonia patted her blonde bun and said, “Good morning, girls. I see that all four of you are here to meet with Her Majesty today, correct?”

      The girls nodded. “And how long must we wait, ma’am?” asked Brillare.

      “Oh, I’m afraid Her Majesty is too busy to have any visitors today,” said Ms. Livonia. “So you girls would need to reschedule for, I believe, sometime next week.”

      “Next week?!” Illere gasped a little too loudly.

      “Ma’am, we can’t possibly wait a whole week to speak with Queen Fyora because of a sudden emergency we have now,” Brillare explained. “Please, is there another way that we can speak with Her Highness?”

      Sirena whispered, “If you make everything work out, I’ll throw in some cookies!”

      “I honestly don’t care what happens,” said Ardore. She looked at her hot pink fingernails, not even bothering to plead with Ms. Livonia.

      Ms. Livonia shook her head. “I’m terribly sorry girls, but I’m afraid whatever emergency you have must wait until Her Majesty is ready to see any visitors. Right now she is heavily preoccupied with her own personal affairs, so do show some courtesy and leave the premises at once.”

      “To think I thought she could actually help us out!” Illere grumbled as the faeries left the royal palace.

      Sirena decreed dramatically, “No cookies for her!”

      “I wonder what sort of affairs has tied up Fyora’s time for a whole week,” Brillare said thoughtfully. “This has been, after all, the very first time that Fyora has declined any visitations in her office.”

      “Maybe she’ll tell us she’s been up to the next time she sees us,” said Illere.

      Brillare shook her head. “Remember what Kira’s mother told us: We must all be respectful of Fyora’s privacy.”

      “But now what?” asked Sirena. “Should we try seeing her again tomorrow?”

      “I think we should all go to the library at Faeriewood Academy right now,” Brillare suggested. “There are lots of textbooks and spell books there. Perhaps one of them will tell us something about Dreamland.”

      “It’s worth a shot,” said Illere.

      “Well I think it sounds like a total snooze-fest,” Ardore said with an arrogant tone. “You three can go to your precious school library while I go check on my boutique!” Before anybody could stop her, Ardore had already flown up into the sky and towards Faerie City.

      Sirena shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, she would have slowed us down, anyways,” she said casually. “Now come on you two, let’s go to Faeriewood Academy!”

      When Kira opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that the scenery around her had changed dramatically. Instead of lying on a bright green meadow adorned with wildflowers, she found herself in the clearing of a forest, her surroundings filled with tall, dark evergreen trees that stretched towards the sky above her. What in the world? Kira thought as she gazed up at the gigantic trees.

      The trees were so tall and bushy, they were able to completely block off the sky, making it appear as if it was the middle of the night. Kira approached a tree and placed her hands on its trunk. The tree felt cold and, for some strange reason, it smelled like maple syrup. When she saw Aiken approach her from a distance, she sighed with relief. “Where are we?” asked Kira. “Why am I not in that grassy meadow anymore?”

      Aiken walked right towards the tree Kira was standing beside and said, “It was a change of scenery created while you were sleeping.”

      “A change?” gasped Kira. “So you mean…?”

      “This place has somewhat a mind of its own,” Aiken cautioned. “It can manipulate one’s mind to enjoy the scenery as it morphs from a meadow to a prairie, from a forest to frozen tundra. In Dreamland, anything that can be thought up can appear here.”

      “That sounds impossible,” Kira insisted. “I first thought this place was just a dream that I made up myself, and then you came along and claimed this is all happening for real. And now I’m being told that this…this place has a mind of its own? How is that even possible??”

      “It’s the spell of Dreamland!” Aiken hissed. “The creator was the one who decided to make this place what it is, and they’re also responsible for trapping us here in the first place! Even Fyora, your precious Faerie Queen, knows all about Dreamland!”

      Kira shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. “I seriously doubt it. If Fyora does acknowledge Dreamland, then why hasn’t she ever told me? Why keep a place like this a secret?”

      “I don’t know,” Aiken admitted, “though I have my guesses. One guess is that the inhabitants of Dreamland are not those the Faerie Queen would likely associate with in her lifetime. Secondly, I don’t believe that anybody, besides those in Faerieland, could ever fully understand why Dreamland was created in the first place.”

      “Then why was–” Kira began, then stopped when she saw a tall, grey tornado make it’s way through the forest and towards her and Aiken. Seeing all the trees in front of her lose their grasps to the earth and fly up towards the whirling twister was frightening, yet it didn’t stop the Top Air faerie from flapping her wings to lift herself up towards the sky. Why aren’t my wings working? Kira wondered as the tornado slowly inched closer towards her.

      Aiken grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the tornado. “Just run as fast as you can!” he ordered as he ran, picking up speed while Kira huffed and puffed.

      “I’m…getting...dizzy…” Kira stammered breathlessly. Nonetheless, she continued to push herself as she followed Aiken through the dense forest, attempting to dodge the various trees and branches that stood in their way. After Kira was certain she would faint from exhaustion, the scenery around them began to dissolve and then, as if by magic, they found themselves standing in a meadow filled with various types of flowers. “Safety…at least…” Kira bellowed as she collapsed to her knees, gasping loudly to catch her breath.

      “In Dreamland, one is never safe,” Aiken muttered.

      “Why?” asked Kira. “How come we…were almost…crushed by that…sudden tornado?”

      “Because whoever is controlling this place has a twisted mind,” said Aiken with disgust. “Whatever they deem fit as a proper punishment will appear here, at any time and any place. They can manipulate one’s senses, change the scenery frequently, or even change the weather conditions to make the climate unbearable.” He shook his head and spewed with boiling anger, “And Fyora, Queen of the faeries, allows it all to happen.”

      Kira stood up, too stunned to speak. If Fyora really had prior knowledge on Dreamland, then why would she allow the land's inhabitants to suffer? What other facts about this place should she be aware of? And if Fyora wasn’t the one overlooking Dreamland, then who was and where were they right now? “Um, Aiken,” said Kira hesitantly, “if you don’t mind me asking, what other things should I know about Dreamland?”

      “For starts,” Aiken began, “you’re actually awake. Pinch yourself and you’ll see that you won’t ‘wake up’ from this dream.”

      “Okay,” said Kira, and she casually pinched her arm two times. She looked around and her eyes widened when she realized she was still standing in the flowery meadow of Dreamland. Aiken was still there next to her, and she was still wearing her sparkly teal dress. Like she had been told numerous times before, Kira was, indeed, wide awake and not sleeping at all.

      To Be Continued…