Insomnia Cure (Job/Solo)

Job Link

Approval

Sorano gazed over the job board, dark eyes scanning the difficulties, ranges, and types of jobs. It was always interesting to see what people needed help with this time – usually it was just the normal stuff, defeating dark mages, stopping burglars, or impeding illegal trade. Naturally, there were always the more illegal jobs to choose from in the basement if she was feeling particularly feisty, but never had the letter mage really felt an urge to take a job from there. She was a cautious person by nature, and the prospect of potentially losing her status did not appeal to her, not at all. Instead, she would draw from the highest paying of the jobs offered, and take it. Most of them she could handle – often, she would find herself close to the brink of death by the end of it, but she had learned by now it was something that came with the trade. Be a big bad mage who killed evil people and solved problems, and you were bound to get stuck in all types of crazy situations. Tonight, funnily enough, one of the jobs that appeared on the list of highest paying was one that didn’t involve any physical battle. Instead, the client was asking for what seemed like a test subject?

The description told of a strange tale of men who became stuck in nightmares forever, unable to wake up, and a scientist known for her strange research subject of some sort of elusive “dreamland”. Never had Sorano heard of the term used outside of fairy tales and metaphors, and as such it was definitely something she was skeptical of. Additionally, the idea of being put under by some stranger was not the most appealing to her. Having someone inject strange magical chemicals into yourself was not an appealing thought to anyone, besides perhaps a few adrenaline junkies. Yet at the same time, Sorano’s ever-curious and intellectual side of her mind wanted to see what research this scientist had done, and whether they were valid or just nonsense like the description suggested. Additionally, it paid very well, being ranked as a 100 year job. It was definitely a surprising rating – before, Sorano had taken 100 year jobs before, but they involved keeping back goddesses or fighting seven extraordinarily powerful creatures, one after another. Both resulted in saving the entirety of Earthland, and as such, this job certainly seemed quite insignificant compared to them. Even so, why not get more money for less work? Ultimately, the letter mage was fairly sure she could handle herself if it came to it. She was strong enough to take care of herself, as an S rank mage. It shouldn’t be too hard to recover from being put under, with a little manipulation of energy fields. She could always bring Hoshi along if she had to, as back-up. The exceed was still recovering for their last two jobs, both 100 years that involved saving the entire world.

Giving the feline the task of simply watching out for strange things and playing back-up should be less stressful on her, right? It was a plan. Selecting the job, Sorano watched on as the desk fairy signed her up, connecting the job with both the guild master and the scientist. It was settled. Turning, the letter mage made her way through the guild hall. She didn’t think she’d need anything too special if the entire job allegedly happened within her dreams, but it was always good to be prepared. Walking up the flight of stairs to the second floor, she strode past the library and the small sitting area to find her own office, stepping inside to see her home away from home. While the guild master did indeed own one of the cozy apartments across the street in Fairy Hills, much of her life was spent within this room. The couch settled to the side was where many exhausted nights were spent, and a small closet in the wall contained basic changes of clothes in case she needed to go on a job, like right now. Changing into more flexible clothing – a pair of sweatpants, t-shirt, and sweater – Sorano reached up to tie her hair back into a ponytail. She should be prepared for either laying down for a very long time, or a battle situation. Having chopped off much of her long hair in a job awhile back, the ponytail was short and bristly, her stray strands falling down around her face. It was an unfamiliar look to the letter mage, but not one she completely disliked.

Turning away from the mirror, Sorano then tugged on a pair of sneakers, and grabbed her job satchel. Pulling mirrors off assorted hooks on the wall, the letter mage carefully attached them to her clothing, hiding the thin strips in her clothes, strategic locations that would allow her to quickly extract weapons. With that, she was ready, leaning out the window to look up at the small perch Hoshi had made for herself outside. “Hey, Hoshi. I’m gonna be doing a job, you mind coming as backup, just to keep an eye in case it turns out to be sketchy?”

The exceed blinked sleepily, pink tongue running across her lips as she gazed down at her friend. So soon? They had only just returned from their job traversing across the main islands of Fiore, so it was surprising that Sorano would want to go off again. But then again, why would it be her job to dictate what she would do? Shrugging, the exceed slipped onto her paws, jumping gracefully down and into the office. “Sounds good to me, let’s go!” She was definitely still tired from the previous job, but not so much that she couldn’t play simple backup. What sort of assistant to the Saint of Tranquility would she be then? Following her guild master out the door, the tabby leapt up to rest on Sorano’s shoulder, purring gently as they made their way outside the guild hall. Sorano flicked open the job sheet she had printed out, and let out a soft sigh. It seemed that her preparations were largely in vain. The location of the job would be the Neutral Grounds, where magic did not apply. What an absolute shame. Showing the location to Hoshi, the exceed wrinkled up her nose at the prospect. Going to the Neutral Grounds was a horribly unpleasant situation for her. After all, the exceed could not fight at all without magic. Her Aera and Natural magic that gave her any purpose and importance whatsoever would not be able to function in that ethernanos vacuum, meaning she was just any other cat off the street. It brought up old fears that Hoshi thought she had banished already, and the feline squeezed in closer to Sorano.

Feeling the relaxing stroke of her companion’s hand, the exceed tried to calm down. It would be okay, right? “Well, what are we waiting for! I’ll take you there, since I can’t fly in the Neutral Grounds, anyways.”

With that statement, the exceed lifted Sorano into the sky, and off they flew. Upon reaching the border of their destination, Hoshi set the girl back down, not wanting to see what would happen when she entered and her wings stopped functioning. The exact location was a laboratory deep in the technology sector, which might be difficult to find. The place was a popular area for technology-based scientists, researchers, and inventors to conglomerate, and laboratories could be found almost anywhere. Hailing a normal taxi instead of a magical lift, the two boarded and let the robotic driver know the address. The ride was smooth, though slower than they were used to, and they reached the location without a hitch. After paying the amount of jewels to the robot, the girls made their way into the building, riding the elevator up to the designated floor. It was a small place, obviously with a very low budget. It was clean enough though, and looked professional with name plaques and a few humble rewards and certifications posted up above the reception desk. Upon hearing the dinging noise as the mages pushed open the door, the frazzled-looking woman glanced up, instantly rushing forward as the mages came in.

The scientist had heard of a child wizard saint before, but seeing Sorano in reality was still quite the shock. It felt somewhat wrong to put a child in so dangerous a situation – did the guild master even understand the severity of the situation? She shook her head briefly. Now was not the time to worry. No one had deemed her quest worthy of picking up, and she would have to depend on the girl that stood before her now. “Hello Sorano, right this way, please.” She picked up her lab coat draping it over her shoulder quickly and tossing one at the letter mage as well. “Don’t want to accidentally stain your clothes with some sort of chemical in here,” was all that was said before the woman opened a door, leading Sorano into a small, hospital-like room. Here, there was a single bed in the middle, with various machines and wires and tubes connected to it. It was not the most reassuring of sights, but so far it wasn’t that different from a normal room.

“Here is where you will be going under. I will ask that you try to save as many people from the king of Dreamland’s grasp as possible, and if you can, defeat the king and his four Counts as well. Based on my research, which is not crazy no matter what the authorities think, there is another world in dreams that can penetrate our own dreams and cause nightmares, trapping people in sleep forever. I have already had several test subjects fall victim, and I know such a thing must exist.”

Sorano nodded neutrally, thinking the view was logical. Moving to the bed, she ran her bracelet over it, detecting for any signs of unnatural chemicals. Overall, it looked pretty and was reported as fairly standard. Most wires were for monitoring her condition. “Alright, let’s get started, then.”

The girl got into the bed, Hoshi watching on nervously, and after connecting her up to all the machines, the sleeping chemicals would be injected and Sorano fell away into Dreamland.

1,727 / 12,500 words

Mura Kensho

Sleep fell over Sorano, and soon enough, her eyes opened to a sea of blurred, dull colors, filling her vision in all directions. It felt like she was floating out here in the middle of nowhere, just barely existing in a world filled with unidentifiable objects. Slowly, however, darkness came over her again, sweeping the girl away into the unknown depths of her mind. When she woke again, the letter mage found her eyes opening up at the ceiling. Somehow, she felt light, far lighter than usual. In fact, the movement of her limbs didn’t even register any sort of feeling in her. It was like watching someone else’s hand rise up before her face, opening and closing the palm slowly as she tried to figure out her current situation. Like in most dreams, everything felt kind of fake, closed off to her, but this was somehow more vivid and clear than the blurred images that rushed through her head in sleep. Whatever that scientist had injected into her was definitely enhancing her focus and control over her surroundings. Sitting up in the bed she realized she was sitting in, Sorano glanced around her, trying to get a grip on her current location.

To her surprise, the building she was currently in was dilapidated and worn down, dark and filled with cobwebs and mold everywhere she looked. It was a strange place to wake up in, certainly not something she would have expected in any of her own rare dreams. Those typically included familiar surroundings – the guild hall, Magnolia, or her own rooms. While the letter mage had been in plenty of broken down mansions before, this place felt somehow different. Unlike the strange, foreign feeling she had in such places, the girl felt oddly at home among the caved in ceiling and dark room. Well, if this was a Nightmare as the scientist said…what was going to happen?

The answer revealed itself quickly in the form of a slow creaking sound below the letter mage, the sound of a door opening. Somehow, it was like she could feel the opening of the door throughout her very limbs, as though the house was a part of herself. Frowning, Sorano stood up and made her way out of the room, finding that she was so light that her feet didn’t even put any pressure on the ground. At first, she thought nothing of it. It was a dream after all, things were often different. But it was when her hand went right through the wall that she knew something was up. Moving faster, the girl practically floated down the crumbling staircase, only to suddenly crash into a very familiar figure. Well, the face was certainly a familiar one, but the way he acted was far from it. A high-pitched scream bursting from his throat, Mura Kensho scrambled backwards, stumbling on the ground in some sort of desperate move to get away from her.

Sorano frowned – what was wrong with him? Reaching forward, she tried to call him back, but it was no use. The man scrambled back through the halls, fumbling for his blade – a blade that he would find to be missing, causing another flash of fear to crash across his features before he burst out into the hallway. Sorano floated after him, opening her mouth to call him back. “Hey -hey, Mura? What’s wrong?”

But soon enough, it all came upon her. The way she floated, her ability to go through walls, and the other floating figures that began poking their heads out of the doors of the hallway. Ghosts. She was one, and the entire place was infested with them. She had somehow gotten into Mura’s worst nightmare, being chased down an endless hallway by ghosts who he had no way to defend against. It seemed that the comfort of Kyuken and Zirconis was nonexistent here, and the mage had no blade with which to defend himself with. Truly a troubling situation.

Thinking fast, Sorano scribbled a word into the air, relieved that her magic still worked in Dreamland, and teleported in front of Mura. Spreading her arms out, the letter mage quickly cast a barrier spell, the shaman crashing into it and falling to the ground, stunned. “Mura.” Sorano stretched the barrier out to encompass herself and dream Mura, keeping out the rest of the ghosts. Reaching down, she pressed her pointer and middle finger down into his skull, relief flooding through her that her hand was able to become solid for the moment. It seemed that the pain briefly brought him to his senses, as her ace blinked slowly in seeming confusion before glancing up at her and letting out a yell again.

“Mura, calm down. It’s just me, okay? I put up a barrier to keep the other ghosts out.”

The letter mage’s reassurances didn’t do much though, when she herself was a ghost. “S-Sorano, w-why are you a ghost? What h-happened?” Mura’s exclamations were very valid points, and as such, the letter mage just shrugged. “I actually do not know the answer to that. But you can calm down, because I’m still Sorano, and I’m not going to become any more dangerous or evil just because I’m a bit more floaty now.” If she was going to help people get out of their nightmares, why not start with someone familiar?

Lowering herself to the ground, she crossed her legs in front of her, casually tossing her hair behind her shoulder in the process, a familiar move she hoped would help the shaman come to his senses. Around them, the ghosts continued to calmly mill around, a few coming over to give them some curious looks. “Try to calm yourself down, Mura. You’re good at meditating, aren’t you?” Sorano would pull her teammate through the familiar process of getting one’s breath back down to normal, and despite his initial hesitance, the shaman would seem to calm down after a bit. Of course, when surrounded by ghosts, it might be a bit of a difficult task to do, but eventually he succeeded in besting his nerves. “In the end, Mura, look around.”

Sorano gestured at the faded figures walking around, little malice in their movements. “These people are all ghosts. They’re merely people who have already died, right? Just other people. Even if you cannot beat them with a blade, you’re a smart person. You can use your brain, right? You know how to get out of this situation.” She gave his shoulder a firm pat, eyes emotionless as always, and this time he barely flinched away. Now being calm enough to assess the situation, he widened his eyes in surprise. “Wait-what? I’m dreaming, wait a second…!” Even as he spoke, Mura’s form faded away, the ace whipping his head back and forth in realization as he awoke from the nightmarish vision.


2,875 / 12,500 words

Mia Liu

After the nightmare Mura experienced, Sorano found herself whirled back into that strange floating state with dull colors pulsing around her, feeling like she was just another part of some bigger machine. But it faded more quickly than last time, the fog of darkness quickly tugging her into yet another dream. Opening her eyes, Sorano was instantly shoved aside by a group of women, chattering fast and quiet under their breaths. Fancy, ornate fans dangled from their elegant fingers as their eyes darted back and forth, looking as if they were doing something they shouldn’t. Out of the snippets of conversation she caught, the words “arranged marriage” and “that Liu girl” could be heard, something that quickly explained a bit of the situation. Looking down at herself, Sorano was clothed in a quaint, delicate white dress, with lace and ruffles A basket of flower petals hung from her arm, and her hair was done up in an ornate bun, curled wisps hanging off the sides of her face. She had arrived at a wedding.

She slowly stood up, feeling scared she might mess up a part of this complicated costume she had been put into. She had to find the person whose nightmare this was, and help them out of it. Considering the conversation she’d just heard, the letter mage could guess that the nightmare was arranged marriage. The problem was, whose arranged marriage? She walked down the hall, following the hustle and bustle of caterers and event workers putting up fancy decorations all over the building. A few bridesmaids would give Sorano a quick wave, but she ignored all of their greetings. Whoever these people were was none of her concern right now. She had to pull this person out of their nightmare as fast as possible.

It turned out though, that the target of this dream was even easier to find than expected. An isolated door stood at the end of a hallway, with several women sitting outside, including one who looked particularly regal, the strict expression on her face suggesting a sort of higher authority than anyone else there. From inside the room, however, a faint sobbing could be heard, causing Sorano to pause in her tracks. Was that where the victim was? But as she placed a hand on the doorknob, a sudden voice would stop the girl in her tracks. “Sora, darling. Where are you going? You know that no one is supposed to go near Mia right now. She is very unstable at the moment.”

The regal woman from before eyed Sorano with an icy glare, sending chills down even the emotionless girl’s spine. But at the same time, she was quickly processing the information. Mia, huh? She did know one person named Mia, though whether it was the same Mia or not could be questioned. Mia Liu, the woman who had recently joined Fairy Tail was definitely a possibility for this event. Thoughts whirring through her mind, Sorano nodded and bowed slightly to the woman, and walked out of the area. The moment she was out of sight, however, she wrote out her teleportation spell, moving herself easily into the room. This ability was really turning out to be quite useful, huh?

Sure enough, curled into a corner of the room, dressed in a beautiful flowing wedding dress with jet black hair pulled back into an ornate hairstyle was Mia Liu, the woman who had recently become one of the girl’s guildmates.
Her face was hidden from Sorano at the moment, but the girl could recognize the familiar hair and aura, pulsing with the signature she was gradually getting used to seeing in the guild. Slowly, the letter mage approached, trying to make as little sound as possible to disturb the crying woman. She didn’t know how Mia would react in so emotionally unstable a situation, after all. Messing up a move here could be disastrous for pulling the mage to her senses. “Hey, Miss Mia?”

Sorano reached forward tentatively, wondering whether it would be appropriate for her to touch the woman’s shoulder right now. Lifting up her head, the unwilling bride-to-be glanced up with a blotchy, red, tear-stained face to see her flower girl – except, it wasn’t her flower girl? What was her guild master doing here? Sorano carefully lowered herself to the ground as well, arranging the voluminous skirts around her so they didn’t get in her way, and setting the basket of petals on the ground next to her. “Hey Mia, what’s wrong?”

While the letter mage had a pretty good idea what the woman’s nightmare was from what she’d seen so far, it might be good for Mia to let things out, tell her story to somebody, even if it was her flower girl/guild master. The woman sniffled a bit, but seemed to have gotten more aware, as she glanced about her suspiciously. The blue eyes focused on the girl in front of her, and a new sort of iron and authority came into her voice. “What are you doing here, Sora- ?” What was she even supposed to call this kid? It was obviously her guild master, down to the flat, emotionless voice, but the clothes she wore were obviously for the position of flower girl, who as far as she remembered, was supposed to be her little cousin Sora. Well, Sora would do for now, she supposed. What was even happening now?

“Try not to question it too much, Miss Mia. Can you explain to me what’s going on though? I would like to get a better grip on the current situation, if that’s fine with you.” The guild master spoke at a calm, reassuring pace, giving Mia time to process each word, to show the woman that she was here to help, and to coax some sort of response out of her. Hopefully she could get across – Sorano was still not totally used to how Dreamland worked, but if she was lucky, her usual approach to things would be adequate enough to calm these poor people down.

“What? That doesn’t really answer my question…” Mia sighed, hiccupping as she swallowed back her fading sobs and swiped vainly at her face. In a split second’s decision, she decided to just go along with it. It was better than thinking about what was to come, after all, the faceless man waiting in her life ahead of her. “Mother decided that I should marry the son of one of our family friends, that it would be the best thing to secure a strong relationship going on into the future. I don’t know why she would ever think that to be a good idea, but there’s no arguing against her once she’s set her mind on something…doesn’t help that father is supportive of this idea, too. Dropping out now would only look even worse…it would crush our family’s honor, and as angry as I am right now, I don’t want to do that to my parents.” Choking back a sob as she spoke, Mia dropped her head into her arms, muffling the heartrending sounds with the fancy fabric of her wedding dress.

“Well, Mia, you’re a mage, aren’t you? You have a whole guildful of resources and people who are likely to support you, and help you out when you need it, not to mention your own formidable abilities. Why are you scared?” Shrugging, Sorano stood up, flicking a spell at the door to open it. Instantly, the Liu mother was on her feet, striding towards the entrance, stopping in surprise at the sight of Sorano. The letter mage sucked in a breath, pulling in the power of the air around her and letting it out through her words. “Hello Mrs. Liu, my name is Sorano Granon, and I am the guild master of your daughter’s guild. Please, please sit, I’d like to talk to you about a certain issue.”

Entranced by the power that radiated through Sorano’s voice, the regal woman slowly took a seat on one of the chairs in the room. “See, Mrs. Liu, I’m afraid that your whole arranged marriage scheme here is simply not going to fly with our guild. Fairy Tail is a guild that supports mages of independent and free will. One of our own being involved in an arranged marriage goes against those very values, and as such, we would have to remove Mia from our roster. And do you know how bad that looks, when a guild as flexible as ours has to remove a person from our roster? Her chance of getting into another guild will be severely lowered, thus greatly damaging her reputation. As a result, I urge you to reconsider this. What would be more important, securing already-strong family relationships, or essentially blacklisting your daughter from clients all over the Fiore, and even the world?” With these words (helped along by some magical enforcement), the regal woman blinked, doubt suddenly entering her steely gaze.

Mia’s eyes widened in surprise, and she glanced over at Sorano, her fear starting to fade away even as the letter mage gave her aura a brief look. “Now wake up, Miss Mia.” Patting the woman on the shoulder, Sorano watched as she faded away, disintegrating into waking.

4,419 / 12,500 words

Kitalpha Aurence

Fading into the next dream with barely even a moment of respite, Sorano found herself jerking upright in a crowd of people, instantly jostled away by a blonde woman, rushing through the crowd frantically clawing at her face, eyes opened wide, yet unseeing. Was she blind or something? Chasing after her, the letter mage shoved through the crowd of people milling down the street, trying to keep the blonde woman in sight. She seemed to be shoving people down left and right, causing the uproar of curses and angry shouts that only made the woman even more frantic. Yelling something inaudible at someone she shoved past, the blonde crashed into the front of a building, cursing loudly before frantically tearing down a street. Ignoring the irritate mumbles of the people around her, Sorano ran after the woman, following as she stumbled into a park, heaving and gasping before collapsing on the ground, letting out a growl of frustration.

Sorano quickly settled down next to her, making a guess that it was this woman who she was supposed to help out of a nightmare this time. “Hey, miss, are you alright?” Posing the question in hopes she’d get an answer, the letter mage instead watched as the woman jerked up and away from Sorano’s voice. The letter mage stopped, sighing as she realized that she hadn’t let the woman know she was here first before speaking. No doubt she’d shocked the other, not the best choice to make in her current state. “Ah, my apologies, I hope I didn’t startle you too terribly?” Gently reaching forward, Sorano placed her hand on the woman’s knee, kneeling down herself in the grass. “I saw you running back there, what’s wrong?”

The woman shuddered at the girl’s touch, scowling intensely, yet at the same time looking really quite spooked. “Nothing’s wrong! Nothing, nothing, nothing’s wrong at all, just leave me be, okay?” Snapping and briefly recomposing herself, Kitalpha shook off Sorano’s hand, pushing herself off the ground only to crumple again as a horde of kids ran by, yelling and laughing loudly as they ran onto the playground.

“What the hell, this is insane,” the blonde muttered. Yet despite the dismissive tone with which she spoke, Sorano could see her hand trembling as she put it to her face, groping around as if making sure all her features were still attached. “Just woke up one day, and suddenly I’m blind. I can’t see a single fucking thing, what the hell.” She let out another roar of frustration, slamming her fist into the ground before flopping down on her back, frustration oozing out of her every pore. Not just frustration – pure, unadulterated fear was also running loose in her aura, but the blonde was doing a good job of hiding it. It seemed that this person’s fear was the fear of blindness, huh… Sorano put a hand to her chin, thinking over what she could possibly do to reduce this woman’s panic. She seemed strong, someone accustomed to fighting, and possessed the aura of a mage.

Couldn’t she just…find someone to heal her, then? Sorano frowned, and extended her own aura toward the woman’s trying to get a better picture. “Well, miss, have you tried seeing a healer yet?” Kitalpha turned her head in the general direction of the younger mage, though her eyes peered off somewhere into the distance behind her. “What do you mean, a healer? I’m never going to be able to see again, what use would a healer be? Can’t see the people, can’t see the buildings, can’t see the trees, can’t see the stars, can’t see nothing. It’s completely blank.” Her voice cracked sharply on the last word, and the woman abruptly jerked her head away from Sorano, hiding her face.

Sorano reached forward with a delicate hand, gently resting the tips of her fingers on the older woman’s arm. “I can try to help you recover your vision. There’s a lot of advanced magic, and advanced magical technology out there. I don’t think there’s any sort of blindness we can’t fix, or at least find a solution for.” Even now, her mind was generating all sort of ideas for how to create vision for the poor woman. It would require quite a lot of specific writing, but it was definitely possible. Magic today was capable of so much, that it was almost ridiculous that someone would be afraid of it. But Sorano wasn’t here to judge today – she was supposed to help this person out.
With a soft sigh, she reached her hands up to gently but firmly grasp the sides of Kitalpha’s face. As expected, the woman instantly jerked backwards, yelling a string of curses before stumbling onto her rump, scowling darkly in the general direction of the letter mage. “What makes you think that is ever an okay thing to do to anyone?” she snapped, wiping her cheeks on her sleeve as if it would remove the memory of Sorano’s hands on her skin. The letter mage would merely sigh, starting to trace out a spell in the air in front of her. “Anyways, ma’am, I’ll be crafting a spell now to help you get your vision back. You might not like it, but I’ll be helping you no matter whether you offer consent or not. Naturally, consensual healing is always much more comfortable for all parties involved, but sometimes a mage has to do what a mage as to do.”

This brought the woman some pause at last, the blonde blinking slowly, processing what Sorano just said. “Wait…you can heal my vision? Are you for real?”

Sorano sighed softly, continuing to scribble away through the air. Several paragraphs of text had already been noted down at this point, due to the letter mage’s extraordinary writing speed, and the words were beginning to pulse slightly, collecting ethernanos both from the atmosphere and the letter mage’s own storage of power. Kitalpha seemed to sense the gathering of power as well, stiffening at the unfamiliar energy. But before she could protest, Sorano had slammed the spell straight at her, enveloping her face with the spell that essentially created invisible eyes in the same place as her current ones, and that were connected to the movement of her current eyes. In other words, basically restoring her vision, except through magical instead of biological means. It meant that she would probably want to stay out of magical voids, but her vision was restored, nevertheless.

Blinking in astonishment, Kitalpha gazed around her in shock, eyes landing briefly on Sorano before the woman faded away into awakening.

5,523 / 12,500 words

Terith Blaire

Again, Sorano was quickly propelled into her next dream in the blink of an eye, appearing in a strange, smoky room that smelled strongly of magical drugs. Don’t ask her how she knew what magical drugs smelled like – underaged children weren’t supposed to know, but the letter mage instantly recognized the tantalizing scent. A scowl appearing on her face out of instinct at the unwelcome scent, Sorano lifted an arm to cover her face, only to find that there was no sleeve available to muffle the scent with, just bare skin before her eyes. Checking out the rest of her attire, Sorano stiffened. She just got a much better idea of what this place was supposed to be. Scanty fabric covered her body, the flimsy material barely hiding parts of her that she would much prefer remained private. Touching her face, she could feel thick layers of makeup, caked on heavily with little regard for the comfort of her skin. Giving the place another look-over, Sorano sighed deeply. Here she was, at a brothel, apparently. Oh boy, whatever this nightmare was, hopefully it wouldn’t involve anything too horribly graphic that needed doing on her part.

With a strong groan, the letter mage stood up from the plush cushion she laid upon, meandering through the smoke hazed room. As she moved out into a much larger area, she could see wealthy-looking men with ladies at their side, sprawled across various lavish surfaces, chatting away with conversation that should probably not be repeated here. Yet there didn’t seem to be anyone visibly spooked or horrified – no sign of the deadly fear that had gripped the other two. It was then, however, that the door on the other end suddenly opened, letting in feeble light as well as admitting a figure that matched the description perfectly. He was a rather tall, fairly good-looking young man with blonde hair, clothed in a cloak that looked suited for traveling. Ushered in by someone who looked an awful lot like a pimp, he sort of just staggered briefly before freezing, visibly sweating, even through the fog of drugs.

The door was securely locked behind him, and instantly all the woman around the room stood up, their clients escaping in puffs of smoke. Hallucinations? Just effects of Dreamland? Sorano did not know. However, as the man started to shrink away from the various sexy women that strode up to him, she gained a decent understanding of the situation. He was either deadly afraid of sex, women, or something along those lines. This…this was not something the letter mage was at all equipped to deal with. Moving in with the rest of the women, she managed to get a better look at his face, and froze in surprise. This…wasn’t this that guy she’d done a job with at some island? Sorano momentarily staggered back, feeling quite uncertain whether it was proper as an underaged girl clothed in highly inappropriate garments to approach a business partner.

But, well…if she was going to get him out of this nightmare, she’d have to help him out somehow. Slowly, feminine hands would creep towards his body, and Torian – right, that was his name, began stumbling backwards, fear oozing from every part of his aura. Slender hands grasped onto his wrists, pulling him closer into the ever-increasing sea of scantily-clad women, sexual charisma overwhelmingly powerful in the room. It was good thing that the letter mage was more asexual than anything – for anyone else, such a situation might seem rather inconvenient for them. Instead, Sorano squeezed in with the mass of the women, clawing her way awkwardly toward the front. Time to figure out how to help this guy get over his fear. First of all though, she’d have to find out what exactly about this situation was so frightening to him. Was it the lack of consent? Was it sex? What it simply the presence of so many of the opposite sex bombarding him at once? Projecting her voice into his mind, Sorano spoke. “Hello, Torian. I see you’re in a bit of a bind, aren’t you?”

Instantly, the man’s head jerked up, and he gazed around in surprise for a moment, finding no source of the sound. “I am currently speaking with you telepathically, don’t worry about trying to find me. I’m going to try to help you out here, okay sir?” Hesitantly, the man would respond in a halting voice. “U-uh, I don’t know who you are, b-but, uh, help would, uh, sure be a-appreciated.” The soft, stuttering response conveyed more than enough for Sorano to grasp, and she sighed in relief, only to be jostled aside by a particularly voluptuous woman only a moment later. “However, I’m going to have to ask you what exactly about this situation particularly concerns you. Then, I’ll be able to craft a solution for the issue, is that alright?”

Torian responded slowly, once again. “Just…f-femme fatales… they kind of… s-scare me.”

The halting confession would be responded to with no ridicule from the emotionless letter mage, who merely filed the information away for future reference. Well, this certainly was not going to be an easy nightmare to solve, huh? Sorano had little to no experience with dealing with such situations, nor did she have too much wish to ever learn. But something would have to be done, and sitting around here doing absolutely nothing certainly was not about to work. With a deep sigh, Sorano teleported quickly to the space right next to Terith, sharply elbowing away some of the women nearby. Roughly grabbing the petrified man’s elbow, she switched a setting on her shield, extracting it from seemingly nowhere. Dreamland logic. Instantly, everything around them stopped, and Sorano tapped the man on the shoulder. “Alright, let’s go this way now. Try not to crush any fingers, that might be unfortunate.”

With that, she led Terith out of the tangle of women, and into the inner room. On the way, she cast a quick spell to manifest some clothes that were more respectable onto her body, letting him sit down on one of the cushioned seats. “You know, sir, you are a mage. If you tried learning some non-harmful magic, you could easily avoid these situations.”

Slowly, Terith would stop shaking, instead grasping his head within his hands as he tried to slow his breathing back down to normal. Man, this guy really was one of a kind, huh? Luckily enough, that seemed to be enough for him to get over the nightmare, the man blurring away out of the dream and back into reality only a moment later. Sorano would find herself fading away as well, swallowed up into yet another dream.

6,643 / 12,500 words

Markus Eldridge

This time, she was instantly plunged in what looked like the aftereffects of a giant earthquake. Rocks and rubble laid about everywhere, with a sky painted gray with smoke, and all surfaces covered in ash. Occasional bursts of explosion could be heard from time to time The very air seemed to shift occasionally, and Sorano could hear faint cries of fear and horror in the distance. It looked like this place used to be…Magnolia? Oh, dear, this was interesting. Moving through the burned and charred streets, Sorano would try to locate the source of the nightmare. This time, it was quite difficult, as the aura of fear could be felt all around her. Everyone here was fearful of their lives, the lives of their loved ones, et cetera. It was not going to be an easy task to pinpoint one particular aura that reflected pure and unadulterated fear.

Perhaps she should start by finding the source of the destruction, then? If the fear was of a certain monster, then that would be where the target was to be found. The letter mage sprinted through the streets, glancing through rubble and piles of destruction to try and locate the source of the anguish. Slowly, the screams got louder the more she ran. Sorano had noticed that running in this realm of the dreams was something that was much faster than normal, as she dashed through the collapsed alleyways to come to ruined park.

Skidding abruptly to a stop in the center, she stared with a soft frown on her face at the figure wreathed in darkness, standing in the center of the park with shoulders hunched over, dark energy radiating all around him. Was that…Markus? Sorano walked over cautiously, slowly expanding her own aura so her presence very slowly came into Markus’ range of sensory. It wouldn’t do well for her to shock him right now, right? So she had to approach slowly and with caution, as though the man was an injured creature. Yet her still turned around abruptly in surprise as Sorano approached, face closing off from her as he backed away. But despite his efforts to hide it away, the letter mage could still sense the strains of deathly fear radiating through from under the dark whorls of energy that spun around him. This was certainly…something she did not know about her guildmate before.

“Markus…Markus, what happened?” Sorano’s voice was neutral and non-judgmental as usual, but somehow the man before her seemed to take it as a personal attack, flinching away even as the shadows around him pulsed outwards indiscriminately, blasting away everything they hit. It was an unearthly sight, and the guild master could see that Markus didn’t have very good control of whatever this ability was.

“Get away from here…Sorano…please…” His voice was hoarse and tired, as if he had been screaming for a long, long time. Dark circles made his eyes look eerily skeletal, a terrible sight to behold. His body seemed thin and malnourished, and despite his strong stance, it was obvious that whatever power he was holding was taking a toll on him. Markus Eldridge was someone who needed help, and who needed help as soon as possible. He couldn’t continue on like this, both for himself and for the people around him. Was this his fear? Was Markus afraid of himself? Of what power laid within him?

The letter mage knew for a fact that this was not a nightmare that could be fixed and solved in a blink of an eye, no way. This was a fear that would take long training and years of torment to overcome – she herself still experienced some of the urgency that came with having to keep her emotions under check, and it would be five years she’d been repressing them soon. All she could do was alleviate the fear and pressure, and get Markus under control for now. Would it be prudent to bring this up with him in reality? She did not know, but Dreamland Markus was the one that needed help now. Strolling closer to him, the letter mage extended a hand, touching one of the tendrils of darkness. Instantly, it recoiled before spreading out again, not necessarily doing any damage to Sorano. Feeling the energy with her own aura, it seemed surprisingly neutral. But it was obvious that it was the darkness that filled Markus that had caused all this destruction.

Reaching outwards with her mind, Sorano’s eyes blanked out as she pressed deep into the presence of whatever entity was controlling the shadowy streaks that whirled around her guild member. Instantly, the second she became immersed in this memory, Sorano’s mind blanked out. None of her rules applied here, for this was a state of pure chaos. Lack of reason dictated this creature’s actions, and they stood neither for or against good or evil, creation or destruction. It simply did as it willed, and let no one control it. Instantly, Sorano jerked out of that strange environment, shaken by the mind of whatever entity had come over Markus. “Why aren’t you going?” As the letter mage glanced back up at Markus, the man was slowly drawing away, face pained and exhausted. She couldn’t let him get away so easy though – no way. Standing up, Sorano moved forward, grabbing his wrist with her own delicate hand.

“I can help you out here, Markus, just this once.”

With that statement, Sorano slipped into his mind, feeling the warping and shifting shapes of the chaotic energy. Sending her voice out into that mass of sheer energy, the letter mage made a polite request to the chaotic entity to take a break. “I don’t have anything to offer, no incentive. But just for now, would you mind taking a rest?” After all, it seemed to be feeling fairly neutral right now. And if the being was truly neutral and chaotic, it probably would have no real objections to leaving for now. In fact, just after she said it, the pulsing energy stopped for a moment, wavering in place for a moment before consenting, dispersing from the forefront of Markus’ mind. Additionally, it would also take with it a large amount of Sorano’s stored ethernanos, but that was something the letter mage could deal with.

Sinking to his knees to a sigh, Markus collapsed slowly onto the ground. “Hey, Markus. I doubt you will remember this, but when you wake, if you ever need help with this, please don’t feel bad about asking me for help. My door is always open.” With that, Markus’ body faded away into nothingness, and Sorano was whisked off to the next nightmare.

7,757 / 12,500 words

Nessa Cordelia Lux

This time, another scene of death and destruction could be seen. Smoking walls surrounded Sorano, as she stood in the middle of a room, screaming and shrieks of death echoing all about her. The ground was stained with so much blood it seemed impossible to move anywhere without drenching a foot in the red liquid, and though they were hard to make out, the letter mage could see horribly mutilated bodies sitting around her. Glancing around, hoping to see some sign of life, Sorano’s caught on a giant hand reaching down throughout the city, picking people up and crushing them within its huge, scaly claw. Letting out ferocious roars every now and then, the very ground trembled with each step. Suddenly, the splashing of feet on the ground behind her called over the guild master’s attention.

She whirled around, eyes widening when she saw Nessa slip on the ground, collapsing in an anguished wail. Her normally white and pristine garments had been stained crimson with the blood that filled the ground around them. Sobbing uncontrollably, the woman cradled her face in her hands, screaming before glancing up into the air and crying out in horror. Instantly, she was on her feet, lurching desperately at the sky. Turning her head back to the front, Sorano sucked in a breath at the sight of Arcadia, valiantly blasting ice magic at the grotesque beast. Yet, even as the letter mage was about to join into the battle, the claws gripped the young girl in a single crushing move, the sharp sound of bones cracking and blood dripping down from above causing Nessa to sink to the ground again, falling from the sky. Wheezing desperately, Sorano could catch snippets of incoherent pleads in between her sobs, and even the guild master was rather disturbed by what had just happened.

From what she could see, this was Nessa’s worst nightmare – losing all those around her without being able to intervene. Even as she looked up, she could see Aven charging up into the area, placing a reassuring hand on Nessa’s shoulder. A frustrated yell burst forth from his mouth, and he slammed his cane down on the ground, casting his signature circles to attack the monster. By now, it seemed both Nessa and Sorano knew what was about to happen, bost hurling spells out to help Aven at the same time. A blast of ice instantly froze one of the giant arms, tendrils of ice exploding in puffs of icicles and climbing up the scaly limb to keep it in place. Nessa had let a burst of starlight loose as well, causing the beast to stumble back temporarily. Aven could now attack with less worries, really letting loose. But due to the way Dreamland worked, it was not going to be enough.

Even as the thought left Sorano’s brain, the monster’s other claw came around, whacking him away and leaving the man in a heap, smashing up against one of the half-scorched walls. Nessa crumbled to the ground now, the fear having affected her so much she could no longer move. Just slow, silent sobbing as she laid there, sprawled across the ground. “Why?? No, please stop it, please! I beg of you, make it go away, I can’t bear it anymore, oh my god!!” Sorano sprinted across the bloody battlefield, crouching down to place a hand across the starlight mage’s back.

“Nessa, Nessa, please, listen to me for a moment, okay?” The white-haired mage looked up at her briefly before sobbing into the younger girl’s lap, having given up all pretense of courage.

“Nessa. I understand this is your worst nightmare. This is the worst thing that could possibly happen to you. And I myself am horrified too, honestly, this is terrible. But even then, people like us? We can’t stop right here. We have to keep trying to save our friends, our family, and all those who are close to us. Can you do that, Nessa? Can you get over your fear for a moment, and fight for them? I’m certain we can at least put up a valiant last fight, yes?”

The rushed words spilled from Sorano’s mouth as she continued to rub the older mage’s back, trying to transmit some of her own calm to the dreamer. Nessa sniffled softly, not moving, before she spoke up again. “It…it’s not possible, Sorano. Thanks for trying, but thre’s no way. I’ve tried so many times, with so many people. It never turns out okay, never…oh god, when will it end? It’s never gone on for so long before, Sorano, can you make it stop, please?”

The letter mage would proceed to sigh, and state the obvious. “Nessa, in the end, the only who can end this is you. You need to take control, and fight the fear no matter what. As long as you keep fighting, as long as you keep up that spirit…I’m certain this will end someday, no?” She let her fingers curl a spell into the fold’s of nessa’s ripped and stained dress, looking nothing like its former beautiful and pristine state. Instantly, the blood and gore vanished from her clothing, the fabric mended and flawless as if newly made. Curling off her skin in thin strips, the blood fell down around her, leaving the woman looking fresh as a daisy. Blinking up in surprise, Nessa weakly allowed Sorano to help her up, stumbling slightly before her feet gained purchase on the ground again. “Thanks, Sorano…but there’s no way, can’t you see? It’ll just go on forever, no matter how hard I try. Before long, you’ll be killed too…and everything will start up all over again.”

The letter mage tilted her head to the side though, before jerking a thumb at the approaching beast. “You can do it, Nessa, one last effort, I promise.” With these words, Sorano sent a blast of spears at the creature, tearing apart its scaly flesh, and before long, Nessa would join in as well. Satisfied, the letter mage watched as the white-haired woman gained more and more confidence, fighting stronger and stronger with each passing second. In a matter of moments, she faded away as well, waking up to reality and sending the dream Ivy flying off somewhere else.

8,805 / 12,500 words

Arcadia Fairchilde

This time, Sorano reappeared in the middle of a mass of hot, sweaty bodies. Screaming could be heard, along with loud music blasting out throughout the area she stood in, people dancing along and jostling her from side to side. A strong smell of liquor was present in the air, and she stepped in something rather unappealingly squishy after being shoved over to the side. The room was dark, dimly lit with weak, colorful lights, and it was easy enough to piece together the facts – she was at some cheap nightclub, where young people came on the weekends to dance and drink their worries away in sad, drug-induced hazes before going home and regretting it. In case you couldn’t tell, the letter mage herself was not the greatest fans of said locations. She wasn’t one to drink – any tampering in her mind could be deadly, and isolation was the girl’s best friend. Having always been more of an introvert, she had a strong hatred for crazy, loud, and crowded places such as these. But here she was, stuck in a filthy, crowded nightclub, looking for a single person whom she was to help out of their Nightmare. Whatever their fear was, it would hopefully be easier to deal with than the rest.

Shoving and pushing her way to the side of the room, getting knocked aside and hit in the face on multiple occasions, Sorano gasped as she leaned against the wall, sinking down in relief. The feeling of finally being able to get out of there was most comforting to her, despite the fact that there was still a large amount of people yelling and shuffling along in front of her. There was no easy way out here, that was for sure. But at least she had a tiny bit of room to extend her senses, searching for an aura that reflected the fear she’d seen in previous nightmares. Sure enough, most peoples’ minds were polluted with drug-induced happiness or depression – the only aura stained a dep, dark red was hidden in the center of the mass of bodies, shuddering with inky fear that threatened to overcome their senses. A closer look showed that the mark was that of Arcadia’s – the dragon slayer who was her own guildmate.

The girl was being tossed about the room, staggering from side to side as she desperately tried to find a moment of pause, a few seconds of calm to allow her to recover. Being knocked over onto the ground, Arcadia let out a soft shrief, covering her head with her hands. Instantly, Sorano was on her feet, reaching down to her buckler shield and flipping the hourglass stored on the inside of it. Instantly, time stopped, everyone around the letter mage frozen in place. Sorano slipped through the frozen forms, sighing softly as she edged by the people to find the little dragon slayer, equally frozen in the fetal position.

Struggling, Sorano would eventually lift the blonde up from the ground, hefting Arcadia’s prone form onto her shoulders. Awkardly stumbling her way back out of the crowd, the letter mage leaned her against the wall, just as time unfroze and began to progress forward as normal again. Arcadia opened her eyes slowly, seeming surprised she wasn’t being trampled all over. Looking around, she flinched away from the group of clubgoers who had drifted uncomfortably close to them now. Glancing over at Sorano, who was now resting against the wall, the blonde mage scooted back quickly, seeming to almost be slightly embarrassed.

“Sorano? Is that you?” There was a soft quaver in her voice, and the girl seemed to be conflicted between drawing closer to her guildmate or getting away. Sorano would nod kindly, giving the girl time to get used to the situation, and to calm down her breath, even if it was for only a brief moment. Slowly, Arcadia scooted back towards the guild master, albeit still looking quite shaken at being in the same space as so many people. “I-I’m really scared of crowds…I’m not sure why, they just sort of…confuse me, and I feel really claustrophobic.” Sinking down to curl on the filthy ground in the corner, the dragon slayer hid her head away in her legs, breath coming in desperate gasps as the people around her streamed by, occasionally drawing far too close for either of their comfort.

“Yeah…I understand that, Arcadia. Crowds aren’t really my thing either. Just so many people in one place? It really feels quite chaotic and dirty, and I always feel a sense of loss when I enter one. It’s fine to be afraid – as long as you can stay strong long enough to get out, though.” Sorano sighed, and tilted her head back up against the wall, looking into the flashing strobe lights that were suspended from the seemingly endless ceiling. She had to pick her words carefully here – she didn’t want to damage the girl’s already weakened psyche any more than it had already been.

“Here, I’ll help you get out, okay?” The letter mage took the dragon slayer’s hand in her own, sucking in a breathful of ethernanos before speaking, first instructing the girl to close her eyes. “Imagine you’re walking through a long, dark forest, and finally, at the end of it, you can see a faint light, and the chirping of birds echoing through the air. The smell of flowers greets you as you walk forward, the crunch of leaves and mulch on the ground lightening up as the woods thin out, leading you into a wonderful, green meadow, filled with flowers of all types. It’s a lovely sunny day, and the air is fresh, and nature surrounds you all around, not a person to be seen.”

Sorano’s magic would translate these words into what seemed like an illusion for Arcadia, who would be able to suddenly see every word the letter mage intoned with shocking clarity, feeling as though she really had been removed from her nightmare. In fact, when the spell ended and Arcadia’s eyes began to open again, she was already fading away, having been comforted well enough to be able to escape her nightmare.

9,838 / 12,500 words.

Julius Seas

This time, Sorano awoke to find herself experiencing quite a nice change of pace. Gone were the scenes of destruction or the disgustingly loud and crowded clubs – here she could hear the soft sound of waves lapping up against the shore, the sound of tropical birds calling, and the gentle rattle of a breeze stirring through the leaves of palm trees. At last – a location where she herself could take a break. Opening her eyes at last, the letter mage sat up on the sandy shore of some unknown island in the middle of the ocean, looking out and seeing sapphire waves and clean, white sand filling her vision. Behind her, a thick, vibrant jungle stretched outwards as far as the eye could see, and the temperature was just right. What could someone possibly be afraid of here? Perhaps perfection? Because that certainly seemed to be what this place represented. Hell, if it weren’t for the fact that this was a location in Dreamland, someone could probably start a resort here and make some pretty good money.

But she had rested for long enough, and now Sorano had to put in some good old work to try and locate the cause of this nightmare, as well as the target. It wouldn’t be as easy this time, it seemed, as there was nobody to be seen from her current position. Instead, Sorano would start walking towards the jungle. The ocean didn’t seem to have anything going on inside it, after all. And the trees that loomed before her were indeed the most intimidating thing in sight, despite the lack of fear they instilled within the girl’s bosom. Who knew? Maybe someone was deadly afraid of trees? Doubtful, but definitely still possible.

The letter mage walked through, closing her eyes and letting her auric vision guide her down the animal-trodden path. Splotches of light and dark showed her where each tree or object was, and Sorano found it quite easy to meander through this way, looking for the telltale shape and layers of that of a human’s. Her other senses were peeled as well, intent on finding out whoever was the cause of the new nightmare she’d been sent into. As she went along, however, the girl noticed something quite strange. Wasn’t that the exact same tree she had walked by before several times already? Checking the aura signature carefully, the fact was confirmed. Here she was, walking around in circles. Truly a foolish thing to be happening. But at least now she had an idea of what the fear was – a jungle that drove those within it to circle round and round forever was definitely not something that one would enjoy. But it did mean that finding the protagonist of this dream was going to be much harder.

Purposefully, the letter mage made a split second decision to cut off from the path, trudging through unidentifiable brush to traipse through the landscape. This way, she might actually cover some new ground, and – oh. There he was.

Sitting there on the ground at the base of a tree was a young boy dressed in ragged clothing, crying uncontrollably into his arms. The sniffles grew louder as the letter mage changed her path, moving towards the poor soul, and eventually, Sorano made her way out of the undergrowth and into the small clearing of space where the child sat, grimy hands rubbing away at tearful eyes. He seemed thin and malnourished, with a shock of dirty blonde hair that needed a good wash and a haircut, and a face red and blotchy with tears. When Sorano placed a gentle hand on his head, the boy jerked his face upwards, lower lip quivering as he tried to hold back his crying.

“W-who are you?” Sorano blinked slowly, taking in his aura. Wasn’t this…Julius? Julius Seas, her old teammate? Upon closer inspection, it seemed that this dream child was a manifestation of Julius’ consciousness in this particular nightmare, having adapted a state that was most suitable for the situation.

“I’m here to help, Julius. Don’t worry. Are you lost?”

Upon hearing the kindly intended question, Julius would promptly burst into tears again. “Y-yeah, I’m lost, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find my way home from here.” Snivelling away, the child swiped roughly at his cheeks with his hands once more, dyeing them an even fiercer shade of red.

Sorano sighed, thinking for a moment. It seemed that all she needed to do was calm these people down, make them feel at ease, and they would be able to escape their nightmare. In that case… The letter mage let her hand smooth down the boy’s shoulder, breathing in and out slowly and loudly to subconsciously coax the boy to do the same. Afterwards, she scribbled a spell out on the sand, gently pressing it into Julius’ thin body with each rub of her hand. His eyelids would slowly droop lower, as Sorano hummed a cheerful tune and her magic did its work. As the boy was only a child in this dream, he was much easier to deal with than some of the adults, who had far more worries and thoughts occupying their minds than one exhausted kid. Easily, Julius drifted off to sleep, and his form shimmered away into nothingness even as darkness crossed Sorano’s vision once more.

10,736 / 12,500 words

Sage Elm

Slowly, Sorano would enter her next nightmare, various colors whirling about her before the letter mage opened her eyes to see the inside of a hallway. Looking about her, the environment seemed to be that of a simple apartment. A couple of doors lined the short stretch of walkway, and outside she could see a small kitchen and living room. Someone’s living space, it seemed. Nothing too obviously frightening here. Walking out into the living room, Sorano glanced outside the window, watching as the rain pelted against the glass. The clouds hung low and ominously – there was going to be a storm soon. Observing the drops of liquid splattering against the surface for a few more moments, the letter mage then turned to explore the rest of the apartment. Hopefully she could find the target without surprising them too much.

Turning into the kitchen, she glanced over at the refrigerator, with a few select pictures of a tall young man with a small smile on his face, standing with what appeared to be friends and relatives. That was probably the owner of this place, then. But whether or not he was the target would be something Sorano was yet to discover. Turning around, the girl walked into the dark hallway, stopping for a moment as light flickered through the house briefly. It seemed that the storm outside was escalating, sending a flash of lightning through the air and illuminating the place briefly in a faint blue-ish hue. Sure enough, a couple seconds later brought about a thunderclap and the resounding roar that Sorano had gotten used to over the years. Thunderstorms were never something that the letter mage particularly disliked. It was fascinating to watch the streaks of electricity, and count the seconds until the roiling clouds brought forth the rumble of thunder. As a naturally intellectually curious person, these storms were always learning opportunities to observe something new.

However, she heard a clattering sound from one of the rooms to her right, and a sharp intake of breath. Someone was in here, and it seems that they were not quite as big a fan of the lightning and thunder as she herself was. Cautiously edging towards the door, Sorano placed her hand on the palm, holding her ear to the door. The man inside was gasping heavily, seeming to hyperventilate as the sound of a pen could be heard, rolling across the ground. A faint rustling sound could be heard as he recovered enough to get out of his seat, crawling awkwardly across the ground until he settled in the far corner, as if trying to hide from the world. So this person had a fear of lightning, huh?

Sorano carefully cracked open the door, revealing a cozy room with a desk in one corner and a bed along the right wall, behind which she could see a head of dark hair. The man seemed to be curled up with his head hidden in his legs, making it impossible for Sorano to see whether she knew him or not – it was unlikely she did, however. He seemed to be the man in the pictures before, and it was not a face she recognized. Approaching him gently, though, Sorano moved around the bed and crouched down on the ground in front of him, tapping the floor gently to alert him of her presence.

Glancing up with red-rimmed eyes, Sage blinked in surprise and mild panic, looking like he wanted to hide himself away again. “Why are you here?” Sorano merely shrugged, tracing letters out on the ground already. Hoshi used to have a deadly fear of lightning and thunder as well, so the letter mage had devised simple solutions to help the exceed get through those summer storms. Before long, a pair of sound-cancelling headphones and a mask that covered the eyes could be seen on the ground before her, the letter mage handing them to the man.

While Sage would hesitate at first, he gratefully accepted the devices, and put them on, reacting not at all with the next few rolls of thunder. As he got his breathing back under control again, the dream faded and Sorano was sent off to the next – and final nightmare of someone else’s.

11,448 / 12,500 words

Reggie Rook

The final nightmare was surprisingly straightforward, and it didn’t take Sorano very long to realize what it was. Opening her eyes to see a beautiful green meadow on a sunny day, the letter mage reached down, letting the grace move through her fingers. It was another very beautiful situation to be put into, with the breeze skimming over her head, the grass tickling her legs as she stood there, letting the sun sink into her skin…oh yeah, and the loud screaming that seemed to be coming ever closer to the letter mage. Her eyes flashed open at the sound, turning this way and that to try and locate the source. And there he was, a wild-eyed teen thrashing and crashing his way through the picturesque scene with a horde of bees chasing after him.

“SAVE MEEEEEE,” he screamed, arms windmilling crazily to the beat of his running, the ominous buzzing sound growing louder as more and more bees joined the mass, “PLEASE, SOMEBODY SAVE MEEEEEE AHHHHHHH!!!1”

It would have been a funny scene to witness were he not headed directly at our beloved Sorano, who instantly teleported as far away as was reasonable, not wanting to 1) get crashed into by some crazy kid, and 2) not wanting to get stung by a horde of angry bees. In fact, to prevent such a thing from happening, Sorano cast a spell on herself, making herself extremely unappealing to bees and keeping them from feeling the urge to sting her. It was another spell she’d designed originally for Hoshi, but also one she found to be extremely useful.

Spelling out another copy of the spell, the letter mage sent it soaring over the field, and watched as the teen’s body glowed a brief golden color before he tripped and fell, only for the bees to hover briefly over him before flying away. “You’re safe now, sir,” she called out, watching as Reggie’s head stuck up out of the ground for a brief moment. “Just make sure to have people cast anti-bee spells on you next time. It’ll be a lot easier for you, okay?”

The boy seemed to nod, but Sorano couldn’t really tell from here. Oh well, at least his nightmare was over. Reggie’s body slowly faded away, and suddenly the letter mage’s vision would be plunged into absolute darkness, the world spinning away from below her as she was swallowed up and transported to some unknown part of Dreamland.

11,859 / 12,500 words

Sorano Granon

A whorl of darkness appeared before her, and suddenly opened up to a place the letter mage never thought she’d see again. A line of familiar desks were arranged out in the room she found herself in, children milling around the room and laughing during their break. Sorano looked down, and sure enough, she herself had a lunchbox open in front of her as well. Carefully segmented rice, vegetables, and plain meat was arranged in the box – a shamefully simple meal compared to everyone else’s. After all, the girl’s parents were dealing with so much that they were unable to prepare a tastier lunch. Sorano’s hands instantly followed habit, and lifted a book up before her as she ate. Reading…that’s right. She’d been a bookworm for as long as she could remember. A small smile started to form at these childhood memories, when suddenly a sharp jab in her shoulder caused the letter mage to drop her book into her food, crying out in dismay. It felt like the letter mage was watching through a lens now, unable to do anything. In this nightmare, the young Sorano of perhaps eleven or twelve years of age could only sit there, tears pricking at the back of her eyes as one of the other kids smirked down at the shy child. “Ha, Sorano’s such a nerd she eats books for lunch!”

With this triumphant declaration, the kids ran off, cackling terribly. The young Sorano’s head dropped in dismay and anger, shoulders shaking as she fished her book out of her food, pulling her handkerchief out to swipe uselessly at the pages. Finally getting it cleaned up to the point where it was somewhat presentable, she tried to block out everyone around her, and focus on the book again. Yet only a moment later, another group of kids stormed past, shoving the letter mage roughly before laughing at the small cry she made when her book tumbled to the ground. One of them lifted it up by a page, just to see Sorano’s dismayed expression. “What a nerd, who cries at a book getting a little roughed up?”

By now, however, the Sorano of the present day and age had had enough. Wresting away control of her younger version’s body from whatever lord of Dreamland was controlling her dream, the letter mage walked out the room, leaving behind her a trail of sudden power and frostiness, the other kids shrinking back as she made her way out the door. Yet the instant her feet hit the ground outside, she shot upwards in height, maturing to around thirteen years of age, blinking out at a white-haired boy who stood there waiting for her.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Sorano!” Smiling broadly, this Sorano could feel herself melting, accepting the gift he proffered out to her with butterflies rising in her chest. In this version of events, it seemed that she possessed emotions, a blush coming up onto her face. Reaching into her bag, she reached for a present of her own, when suddenly Sebastian burst apart before her eyes in a burst of blood, horror crossing her face as Sorano’s real stomach lurched as well at the sight. Instantly, the letter mage forced an iron grip on the Dreamland again, pressing her emotions back tightly despite the triggering experiences she was begin put through. They ran through the dreamscape, only for Sorano to be suddenly shoved back by a crowd of angry, harsh hands.

There was Mura, frowning down at her in disappointment. Rina, not even deeming her worthy to look upon, and instead turning her head away pointedly. Arcadia’s face was screwed up in that of angry tears, while Nessa scowled down at her. Hana, Althea, Aven, Markus…everywhere looked down at her with betrayed expressions, as they continued to push her backwards.

“We don’t want you here anymore, Sorano.” “You’re pretty useless, you know?” “I knew we couldn’t trust you to lead Fairy Tail.” “Who wants an emotionless freak for a guild master, anyways?”

The cold remarks that should be bouncing off Sorano’s emotional barrier seemed to slice in deep, causing the letter mage to stagger back in shock at the harsh comments, desperately keeping herself under control as the crowd of people increased, the guild mark on the girl’s arm slowly fading away the more they shoved, until she teetered on the edge of a cliff, and fell down into nothingness.

A moment later, Sorano was standing up again, a child once more. She stood in the hallway of their old home in the Phoenix Mountains, clutching tightly onto her mother’s hands as she watched the strange woman step calmly through their halls, flashing filed teeth and clutching a wide array of knives between her fingers. “Who wants to go first, hmm?” Monica – that’s right. The woman who had caused the death of her entire family. Unable to look on, Sorano tried to peel her eyes away, only to find them locked into place by the powers of this dream realm. Her mother gave her hand one fina squeeze, before expanding her body outwards in a shimmering white aura, bending her very form to become a shield for her children. Sorano could only watch on as the woman’s physical body grew increasingly weak and battered as her spiritual shield was attacked mercilessly. When the shield shattered at last, her brothers were next, ruthlessly murdered by the maniac of a woman. Sorano watched as her own aura flared up around her, glowing an eerie white that managed to keep the attacker back, even as she watched everyone else around her fall to the grips of death.

“Stop it already!” Sorano could hear herself yelling out, voice raw and dangerously emotional. “This has all happened before – it’s not going to happen again. So why are you even showing it, huh?”

She finally gained the strength to whirl around, casting off the nightmare as a faceless man on a throne rose up to greet her in the darkness. “So you’re trying to stop my advance, hmm, my child?” It was an exceptionally creepy thing to say, and the letter mage drew back at the darkness that spiraled from his presence. “You know, I’ve been saving the best for last…I was just building up the tension with those past few dreams. This one’s the real banger – can you survive it?”

Already, Sorano knew what was going to happen. Instantly, she appeared inside the guild hall, standing in the center, with all her guildmates going about their business peacefully. Already, she felt them falling away – no matter how desperately she clutched at the barriers, they refused to stay up. Instantly, an uncontrollable flood of emotions came out – all the laughter, the tears, the anger, the nerves, the fears…they burst forth from the dam they’d been trapped behind for so many years, and her body simply couldn’t handle it all.

Crumbling to the ground, the emotions enveloped her in a multicolored aura that forced her drained physical body upright, spinning her round and round, trying to get rid of all the excess emotional energy. Experiencing a horrible overload of senses, Sorano would find herself plowing through the tables, leaving a splintered, horrible path of destruction in her wake. Everyone looked like a horrible fear she had to get rid of, including her own guildmates, and there was no way to control any of it. The last shred of her sanity could only watch on hopelessly as the once more emotional Sorano swept through Magnolia, leaving behind her a trail of destruction. Her best friends, her teammates, the old lady at the boba shop who was always there to comfort her…they all fell away beneath the letter mage’s touch.

But ultimately, Sorano had to stop it. With a tremendous effort, Sorano let out a scream from the depths of her mind where she’d been stashed away, slamming outwards all her ethernanos energy to slam the emotional energy back inside herself. Squashing it deep down, the barriers were once more erected. Her emotions slowly began to fade away, and Sorano gasped there, lying on the ground in pain as the dream faded away. Weakly, she lifted a hand, face contorting in pain as she sent a blast of mirror magic at the faceless man standing before her. The piece of glass would do little – after all, its only function was to project your greatest fears back at you. One look, and the king of Dreamland fell backwards, screaming even as Sorano awoke once more, freed from the clutches of the land of dreams and nightmares alike.

13,295 / 12,500 words