Chapter 2
two
. . .
Isyss
Isyss hummed to a sweet tune as she drew circles with her long crystal wand.
Each motion she made was in sync with her tune.
Trailing behind each circular motion was glittery teal light that swirled into a fog and slowly opened up, revealing a portal.
The first portal she crafted showed a young brown girl soaring through the air on a cloud.
Her arms stretched out wide as she stood on the edge, feeling the wind in her hair.
Isyss smiled and placed her hand over her heart.
It was sweet dreams like this that made her heart whole.
She pointed her wand at the portal, as it closed up and vanished into thin air.
Swirling her wand, she crafted another portal that opened up, and a middle-aged man in the forest sitting by a campfire came into view.
He leaned over in this chair to get closer to the fire, reaching for his oven mitt to tend to his meal.
Over the fire was a cast-iron skillet filled with fish he caught himself.
Isyss smirked to herself, watching as he began to remove the fish to prepare his meal.
“This dream cycle may not be so bad after all,” Isyss said.
Watching over dream walkers as they slept was her duty, so when one had pleasant dreams, it made her job a little easier.
Over time, she had often needed to protect them from their shadows within.
Dreamers, gifted with clairvoyance and the ability to astral travel, sometimes encountered beings from lower dimensions or confronted shadows born from their own unconscious minds.
In each instance, she had guided them toward more pleasant dreams or fought off the entities they faced.
This dream cycle, however, had been calm and pleasant.
She was impressed by how peaceful things had become in the recent months.
Isyss used her wand to cast her last portal of the dream cycle.
She continued humming the same tune as the last portal opened.
There was a young dark-skinned woman dressed in tattered clothes.
She wore blue jeans and a pink blouse that hung slightly off her shoulder, blood splatters covering the front.
Coming out of the woods, she ran frantically to the nearest road.
“Please! Please!” she hollered. “Someone help!”
She shouted, hoping to find someone on the nearby road. Tears streamed down her face as she turned her head every which way, hoping to find someone or lights coming down the road from a nearby car, but there was nothing—no one.
Falling to her knees in the middle of the street, she burst into tears. Her cries turned into screams that echoed throughout the forest, a scream that was rattled with deep sorrow and pain.
“Gemini!” she cried out. “Come back to me!”
As she wailed, a black mist began to swirl around her, but she was too buried in her tears to notice.
The mist swirled through her long, purple curls, beginning to curve and float around her body.
Before the woman could register what was occurring, the dark mist formed into giant figures that circled her.
As the air grew thick, her cries dissipated, bringing her attention to her surroundings.
Looking up, she noticed the six prominent shadow figures and gasped.
She held her chest, wanting to scream, but nothing came out—the only thing she could do was stand on her feet.
With no hesitation, she took off running down the street with hopes of getting away.
“No, no, no!” Isyss said frantically. “Not again!”
Isyss took a deep breath, knowing what she had to do. This has been happening almost every night to this woman, so she was used to having to weave new dreams for her, but this time it seemed worse.
Closing her eyes, Isyss held onto her wand with both hands and began to hum her sweet tune louder.
As she sang, her voice rang throughout her space with an octave so high that only the fae could hear.
The angelic tune rang out, her mouth open wide as dream sigils began to float out and into the portal.
Each sigil, illuminated with a bright white glow, encompassed ancient light codes that would help rewire the dream that the walker was having.
As multiple sigils of different shapes and sizes made their way into the portal, Isyss began speaking light codes, her mouth moving at a rapid speed. Each word was coded with light and the power to diminish the shadows showing up within the dream.
The woman continued to run frantically down the street, and she looked over her shoulder to find each shadow disappearing into thin air. As she continued to run, the environment around her changed. Taking in everything, a large garden filled with tulips, lavender, and red roses came into view.
A confused look appeared on her face. She leaned over, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath.
After a moment, she took a deep breath and allowed herself to take in the air around her.
Walking through the garden, she felt the wet grass beneath her feet and took her time taking in the green trees and bushes around her.
Coming upon a field of lavender, she fell into the grass and rolled around smelling the flowers.
A smile filled her face as she took in the familiar scent.
Before Isyss could complete her light codes, she noticed that the woman had gone from embracing the lavender around her to falling fast asleep amidst the garden.
Isyss began singing a soft tune and continued to watch, ensuring she was safe.
After watching her get comfortable and adjust herself a few more times in the garden, she closed the portal.
“This is deeper than I thought.” Isyss took a deep breath. “I will have to spend more time monitoring her dreams to get to the bottom of this.”
Isyss dips her toe into the pond, checking to ensure the temperature is just right, the way she likes it.
“Mmmm..” she hums, placing the rest of her foot into the water. “Perfect.”
Stepping fully into the pond, she allows the warm water to envelop her.
As she walks further into the pond, it swallows her curves whole, coming up to her shoulders.
Embracing the warmth of the water, she lies on her back, allowing it to carry her.
Her lavender iridescent wings are in full bloom as she lies in the water.
Each one lay flat, holding her up like a floatation device.
Her long white locs surround her body, and she leans into relaxation.
Isyss begins to hum her favorite tune as the water welcomes her in.
As she sings, the water that surrounds her lights up with neon swirls of light.
Her voice echoes throughout the forest, and the trees that surround the pond begin to sway.
Light orbs dance in the air to the beat of her high-pitched voice.
It is a tune that not only she enjoys but also makes nature come alive.
Isyss is at such peace when she’s alone in nature.
She has been taking on a lot, between trying to uphold the standards of her father and trying to please her sisters.
Being the daughter of the Lord of the Veil isn’t easy.
With it comes much duty, requirements, and a certain level of stress she’s tired of handling.
Though she enjoys watching over dream walkers and assisting in weaving pleasant dreams, she can’t help but think much of this is her father’s desire for her.
Her father has been putting so much pressure on her to be like her sisters, but she doesn’t want to be—she wants to be herself.
Her sisters are dream weavers, and they don’t make it easy to follow suit.
Her eldest sister, Isabella, is the perfect one—daddy’s little angel.
Anything he wants, she does. He wanted her to weave more dreams—Isabella did it.
He wanted her to find her fated mate—she did that, too.
Her father always used Isabella as an example for her and her middle sister, Ivy, to follow.
“Why can’t you just do what I say like Isabella?
” Isyss says, mocking her father. She is tired of hearing Isabella this, Isabella that.
“Since she’s so damn perfect—why don’t you have her weave all these dreams herself?
” And, how the hell is she even going to find a fated mate if she’s stuck in Lumaethera most of her time, weaving dreams and tending to every other thing her father would come up with?
Besides that, Isyss really desires to use her voice to heal nature.
She loves breathing life into the trees, grass, and water with her voice.
The melodic sound she places behind her native tongue makes everything come to life.
Not only her sigils and light codes, but life outside of the dream realm.
She wants to exist on her own terms and not be controlled by the life that has already been set for her.
She is never going to be good enough for Titus, Lord of the Veil. There are times when she just wants the father she had when she was a little girl. He was softer, more gentle, and their relationship was easy. Now that she was twenty-four, he was putting more pressure on her than she could bear.
Isyss sighs. She won’t allow thoughts of her family to ruin this one moment of peace, the first she’s had in a while. As she continues to float in the pond, she hears a rustle in the bushes. Sensing a presence, her wings begin to twitch—she isn’t alone.
“What was that?” she wonders softly.