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hezzabeth · 5 months

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NANOWRIMO DAYS 1-10

Saying Farewell to Armageddon

Act 1

The first winter

This is not a ghost story. Well, technically, it is, as it involves the haunting consciousness of someone who is definitely dead. Probably dead. Most likely dead. In the far-off future, true death is mostly optional.

This is not a fairytale. Granted, there is a princess in disguise. There is a fair bit of magic. True love prevails. But no, this isn't a fairytale.

Rather, this is a war story.

3834 AD: Ten miles from Skandasaipur, a city on Mars, part of the country of Mangalrajya.

A cold and burnt-red winter. Turquoise snow gently falls in tiny cubes, landing on the rust-colored dirt. In the distance, right on the horizon, there are pillars of smoke. Somewhere a city is on fire. “Aiyo Rama! They better not have burned down the teleportation port again! It makes shipping the ice impossible,” a young woman called Sugafana sighed from deep within her layers of bright purple and emerald green protective clothing. Her companion, a man covered in dark blue and silver, sighed, leaning down on his shovel. “Calm down! We can always drive down to Samarthanagari and use the public pod station,” the man, whose name was simply Jay, said. Sugafana merely grunted with annoyance before picking up her own shovel.

Once, Sugafana had worked in Samarthanagari's best girls' school. Every Thursday and Monday, she would march in through the front gate with her smart green briefcase. The school was now nothing more than a steel shell. “The hair curlers burned that pod station last month,” Sugafana reminded Jay, who sighed. “Just keep digging, Martian snow is going for fifty credits per kilo right now,” Jay pointed out, and Sugafana picked up her shovel before digging into the ground. Fifty credits a kilo. Before the war, Martian snow went for five dollars a kilo. Every Shigmo, children would eat cups full of the stuff flavored with sugar and wild honey.

“I can practically feel your frown from here,” Jay remarked as Sugafana scooped then snow up before dropping it in her bucket. “Prices are getting ridiculous! Barf cheene ghan used to be super cheap, and now vendors will have to charge ten credits to make a profit,” Sugafana growled with annoyance. “And it’s just dry sugar ice,” Sugafana finished as she stuck her spade into the snow again. “Correction, it’s dry sugar ice that some people believe has magic powers!” Jay cried in a sing-song voice. “And do you believe that?” Sugafana sarcastically asked. Jay shrugged. It was the sort of shrug Sugafana had seen many times over the past two years they had spent ice farming. A shrug that indicated Jay wasn’t willing to really believe in anything. Sugafana struck the ice again with her shovel, and there was a sudden faint clinking sound. “There’s something here,” Sugafana said, feeling faintly surprised. “You probably just hit some black ice, the snow fell during the night and the field was empty yesterday,” Jay pointed out. No human alive would dare to go out into the snow at night. The icy winds would tear through layers of protective clothing freezing blood in its veins. “The appliances wouldn’t come out here, no energy charging grids for miles,” Sugafana pointed out as she leaned down to push the cubed snow away with her gloved hands. “I heard the richer appliances have started using humans as portable batteries. They make the humans run ahead of them on treadmills,” Jay recalled as he shifted, standing behind Sugafana. “And who told you that? Your gossiping premika?” Asked crisply. “I told you before, Minty is not my girlfriend,” Jay said wearily, and Sugafana gasped. An eye was staring back at her in the snow. A shiny golden eye. “It’s an android,” Sugafana said, pushing more snow away to reveal a lady's face. A long and elegant face with Cupid bow lips and a stately nose. “Hit it with your shovel,” Jay ordered her. “I said Android! Not appliance! Androids don’t have artificial intelligence,” Sugafana snapped with annoyance as she quickly used her shovel to clear more and more snow. “They don’t? I thought all electronics were determined to turn us into slaves,” Jay remarked as Sugafana unearthed golden shoulders covered in a magenta silk shawl. “My transportation pod uses an electric battery, the lights at camp use electric wind power, and none of them have killed us,” Sugafana pointed out, and Jay raised a gloved finger. “None of them have tried to kill us yet,” Jay merely replied. “Just help me! Baba Tarak will find us a buyer who will pay a small fortune,” Sugafana said, and Jay kneeled down next to Sugafana, his gloves brushing against the snow. For a moment, their eyes met. It was amazing, Sugafana thought, what a person could tell just by glancing at someone’s eyes. Sugafana had never seen Jay’s entire face. They always met five times a week on the fields in their uniforms, helped each other shovel the snow, and then said goodbye at the migrant camp's gates. It has been that way for years. Once or twice, Jay had been foolish enough to ask Sugafana if she wanted to stand together in the food ration line. She always said no. It was easier that way. Still, Jay’s eyes were so dark it was almost impossible to see their pupils. They did, however, crinkle in a way that whispered they were kind. “That’s peculiar,” Jay remarked, breaking away from her gaze. His hands had uncovered a peculiar glowing lump that extended just below the android's chest. “It looks like a perfectly normal maternity droid to me,” Sugafana replied, brushing more snow off its legs. “Is that what they look like? I’ve never seen one in real life! Most women had their babies in my town the old-fashioned way,” Jay remarked. “I used to walk past a boutique selling them on my way to work! I never saw actual pregnant women in the city,” Sugafana replied as she cocked her head to one side, trying to find the android's barcode. “Strange, there’s no identification,” she said to Jay. “And what does that mean exactly?” Jay asked.

#nano 2023 #nanowrimo #life on mars #write a novel #writing #speculative worldbuilding #speculative fiction #science fiction #scifi #sci fi and fantasy #original character #original story

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darkhangels · 1 year

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4. fragile dreams

enjoy the silence masterlist

morpheus x f!reader

warnings: swearing

words: 3834

Trying to process everything that had happened between, rogue nightmares, talking ravens and being held by the God of Dreams you jammed your keys in the door. When you walked into your apartment you heard chatting voices and squinted under your harsh lights, not expecting them to be on. Chucking your shoes off you noticed two pairs of shoes at the door. Lorna's and Veronica’s.

You stepped into the kitchen and were greeted by the couple sitting at the table. “Hey!” Lorna beamed at you, Veronica waving at you.

Veronica was an almost complete opposite to Lorna appearance wise. Veronica had rich dark skin and thick long onyx hair that shines under the light. She had a toothy smile and a warm exterior. From the moment you met her you had liked her, loving the way she brought optimism wherever she was, especially to your best friend who had needed her.

“Hey guys” You welcomed them.

Lorna cocked her head to the side. “You’re early today, did the bus driver speed home or something?”

Your glance turned to the window and the rich darkness of the night, remembering the man whose presence you had been in only seconds ago. Your forearms still buzzed from his touch and you hated how much you ached for more, you were just touch starved is all. “Bus was late,” you muttered mindlessly.

Lorna's face scrunched in confusion. “Huh?”

You snapped out of your daze and turned back to your friends. “I mean, I left work early, got a different bus”

“Oh” Lorna nodded, still watching you with a slightly concerned look on her face.

You grabbed a glass of water and perched on the counter before practically sputtering out your water in remembrance. “Oh my god! I totally forgot to tell you guys my mums getting married” You laughed.

The pair's eyes widened. “What?!” Lorna screeched.

Veronica lurched forward in her chair, almost falling to the floor. “You’re kidding?

You shook your head between giggles. “Nope her and Mark seriously, some point in December, big family wedding” You debriefed the two.

Veronica smacked her forehead with her hand, flying back in her chair. “No way? A family wedding, yeesh, good luck with that”

Lorna nodded in agreement with her girlfriend “Yeah seriously, good luck”

Sighing, you set your glass down and crossed your arms “I can’t even remember the last time I went to a wedding” Your head tilted ever so slightly “Well over five years now”

“Yeah it was, you remember Phoebe from school?” Lorna chimed in “She got knocked up by this like thirty year old pilot and her parents are like, super religious so they had to have a white wedding”

You gasped “Oh my god yeah!, The wedding was super tense” You smiled fondly at the memory of you and Lorna sat at the back of the ceremony silently sniggering.

Veronica's jaw dropped. “No shit, that really happened?”

Lorna turned to her girlfriend “No seriously, it did”

“I wonder if they’re still together” You pondered.

“They have like five children now” Lorna laughed.

“Five?!” You and Veronica screeched at the same time.

You remembered what Phoebe was like at school. She was a self proclaimed slut, genuinely. And that's no hate to the girl, as long as it's happy, safe and consensual, you didn’t give a shit. And yet despite everyone in the school knowing of her reputation, her parents thought she was the perfect virgin child. And now she has five kids.

And it dawned on you yet again. You weren't a kid anymore. You saw it everyday on Instagram, Facebook or whatever. Old school mates having children, getting married, getting top jobs. It wasn’t the days where you would worry about who was getting with who, or skipping double science in the bathrooms. People were having careers and families, all that adult shit.

You had graduated a long time ago now and what did you have to show for yourself? You worked at a coffee shop, you were single, simply floating through life. Nothing to drive for, nothing to strive for. You just remained stuck, never moving forward.

I mean seriously, what were you going to do? Work at the coffee shop till the end of your days? And you gulped harshly, gripping onto the surface of the counter, your palms dug into the harsh wood.

“You okay?” Lorna softly asked.

You looked up to your friend and gave her a smile that didn’t quite reach your eyes. “Yeah, just makes you think, y'know?”

Lorna gave you a sympathetic smile. Or was it a pitying smile? You struggled to tell the difference nowadays. You pushed the existential mess down and decided to worry about it later.

“So, you’re coming to the Halloween party on Saturday right?” Veronica asked, swiftly changing the conversation.

You scoffed and threw your head back. “Hell no”

“What? Why not?” Lorna whined.

And you didn’t have a solid excuse. “Well because-” You started and desperately racked your brain trying to think of an answer. “I don’t have a costume”

Veronica wagged her finger at you. “Bullshit, you bought that sexy vampire outfit last year but you didn't wear it and now it's hanging in the back of your closet”

Shit.

“Well uh-” You stuttered. “I’m not gonna know anyone there”

“You’ll know us” Lorna shrugged. “Resistance is futile”

“Ok cool so now that’s sorted we’ll pick you up around 8”

You unwillingly smiled as you looked at your friends' hopeful faces. “Okay”

The two girls screeched as they embraced you in a hug.

You practically skipped into bed, way too excited (admittedly nervous, what if your nightmares came back?). Thankfully sleep came easy as you practically crumbled into the soft embrace of your bed.

-------------------------

When you open your eyes. You were in a vast library, filled with books, books and more books. You gaped in awe. It was an English teacher's wet dream.

A throat clearing sound drew your attention, you followed the noise to the table in front of you, on top sat Matthew. “Hey kid, you made it!”

You couldn't help the grin that grew on your face. “Good to see you again Matthew”

He cawed in response and you swung in the spot you were standing on. You awaited to be told what to do but with no avail you cleared your throat. “So, what is the plan exactly?”

“Research, lots of it” A voice called.

It was the woman from before with the pointed ears, holding a stack of books in her arms before gracefully loading them onto the table. “This library is incredible” You gasped at the woman.

A tight but warm smile grew on her face. “I’m honoured you think so, it holds every book ever to be written”

Your eyes practically bulged out of your skull. “Ever?” You whispered.

“Ever” She responded smugly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t introduce myself before. I’m Lucienne the royal librarian”

You greeted her and told her your name, you liked this woman.

“She’s also practically like Morpheus’ right hand man though Dream is too proud to admit it and Lucienne is too kind to say it”

Lucienne's smile evaporated as she glared at the raven. “Thank you for your input Matthew”

Lucienne pulled a chair out from under the table and you copied her actions, settling down into the furnished pine seat. You hastily grabbed one of the thick books the librarian had brought with her and began your quest to find any kind of answer.

You looked at the thick stack and the one in front of you and suddenly felt so small. “I mean, where do I start?” You muttered, feeling so completely out of your depth.

Lucienne looked at you over the top of her glasses. “First skim and scan, anything to do with nightmares or dreams not being influenced by Lord Morpheus, we go from there”

You let out a sigh of relief, taking in the librarian's advice and your eyes fell to the yellowed pages in front of you.

It felt like an hour had passed when you finally finished that book only to find Lucienne had finished three of them in the time you had read one. With a huff you sat back in your chair and crossed your arms.

“So” Matthew coughed. “Is his excellency joining us?”

Lucienne didn't look up from the book she was reading at an unnatural pace. “He said he would but you know he likes to keeps his own timings”

“I’ll say” A gravelly harsh voice called. Your head swivelled to the direction of the noise. It was a pumpkin. A walking, and apparently talking pumpkin, his face was carved with a sly design and he wore blue overalls.

“Mervyn, meet our guest” Lucienne simply stated, still not looking up from her book.

Mervyn surveyed you with slanted eyes, well, holes? “Ah, you must be our rogue dreamer”

You quickly tried to cover your shock with nervous smile. “The one and only” You chuckled.

“We hope” Matthew cawed.

Mervyn reached for his pocket and pulled a cigarette and lighter out. “I’ll tell ya something, I’ve got a couple of words about our excellency, He is a cruel leader, He has me cleaning up all this rubbish day after day as if he couldn't just flick his wrist and whoosh! It's all fixed”

You turned to Matthew, your forehead creased in confusion. “Mervyns basically the groundskeeper of the dreaming” He explained.

“Ah” you nodded in understanding. “So, can he really do that, just flick his wrist and whoosh” You said mimicking Mervyns earlier words and miming the actions.

Mervyn took a long drag of his cigarette. “Oh yeah he can, he creates and can uncreate anything in the dreaming. And despite all that he still has me picking up his crap!” He exclaimed.

“That's hardly fair” You frowned.

“I know, glad some think so” He said, exaggerating the way he said some and directing it at Lucienne.

The librarian turned to Mervyn and sighed. “We all have our jobs in the dreaming Merv, whether we like it or not”

Grumbling and putting his cigarette out Merv turned the way he came in and exited the library. You bit back a laugh. Who knew a pumpkin could be so sour? You looked back at your reading, skimming and scanning as Lucienne instructed, trying to find anything useful.

Yet your brain couldn't help but focus on some of the things Mervyn had said. Dream really controlled everything in the dreaming. He was an all powerful being and you knew that already but still, you found yourself intimidated and wondered what the hell you were doing? Why had you decided to help? You could be warm and cosy in your bed right now…well technically you still were. But this had to have been a better solution to the nightmares right?

“Don’t worry about what Merv said” Your head snapped up to Matthew “Dream despite his exterior does want to help you, he’s just extremely protective over his realm”

Lucienne looked at the bird before looking at you and nodding in agreement.

Eyes softening you gave both of them a smile and went back to your reading. Before another thought popped into your head. “I mean how should I address him though because, Well I mean he’s not technically my lord is he? Though I suppose when I dream he is, So do I call him dream, Lord Morpheus? My king-?” You spiralled anxiously.

Matthews and Lucienne's' gaze switched to something behind you and you mentally cursed yourself, praying that it was just Mervyn coming back, though you knew it wasn’t.

“Any would suffice” The soft deep voice declared from now beside you as he strolled to the table from which you sat on.

He looked at you expectantly with a glimpse of amusement in his eyes and you paled, your mouth drying by the second. “Good to know” You squeaked, looking up at him though not quite meeting his eyes in your chair, wishing to have dissolved into the floor as your cheeks flushed an obnoxious scarlet.

Dream turned to his librarian, ripping his eyes away from you “Anything, Lucienne?”

Lucienne shook her head and bit on her lip deep in thought “No, my lord, whatever this is it's extremely rare”

A short agitated breath left Dream's lips and he turned back to face you. “What about you?”

It took you a moment to register he was talking to you, before you shook your head and looked down avoiding his gaze. “I thought you said you would help?” He coldly asked.

You drew back from his harsh tone in fear, but didn’t back down. “And I’m trying my hardest,” You replied.

Dream drew a breath in and simply nodded. You exhaled, thankful, he didn’t argue any further. But the air was thick and tense and though you understood that it wasn’t your fault, you couldn't help but feel guilty. They were all just scared. Scared of losing their homes, their friends and their lives. Because of your nightmares.

“Perhaps she could use a quick five minute break” Matthew croaked from beside you.

Dream looked down at you and watched your face, his cold gaze softening by only an inch. “Very well, the dreaming is open to you”

You climbed out of your seat. “Thank you, Dream” Making a point of using his name, something unreadable washed over his face before he nodded curtly, setting his face back to the brooding glare it was seemingly stuck in.

You sent Matthew a grateful smile and he cawed in response, before you pushed against the great big library doors and into the rest of the dreaming.

No mortal mind could ever think or make up the beauty that was the realm of the dreaming. Simply being there had a lull so comforting and so calming that the sights themselves could well and truly only ever be seen in dreams.

You found yourself sitting by a flowing sapphire river. Reflections danced under the sun in the gleaming waves of the water. Entranced by the water you finally had a slow and silent moment to think through the events of the last couple of days. You had discovered talking ravens, pointy-eared librarians, walking-talking pumpkin heads, your nightmares possibly causing grave danger to the realm of dreaming and goth lords.

Oh how life can change in the span of 48 hours.

The skin on the back of your neck prickled ever so slightly and you realized you were not alone.

“So many places in my realm, that the human brain would not be able to comprehend and you chose to observe the most mortal thing here” The soft voice called.

A long black coat came into your vision and you were surprised when he sat beside you on the grass resting his arms on his knees, looking out at the river before him. You stiffened ever so slightly, as you always did when beside him, the proximity was suffocating in the best possible way but it was also fearsome and overwhelming, still you looked out onto the water. “I’m sorry to have caused any kind of danger in the dreaming”

Turning your gaze to the man beside you, you chewed the inside of your cheek. “It was never my intentions”

Dream turned to you and nodded before croaking. “I believe you”

As you peered into one and the others eyes a silent exchange was made and you found yourself unwilling and unwanting to tear your gaze away from him

You looked back into the water in front of you, despite it all a comfortable silence engulfed the two of you until you spoke up again “I’ve always liked being near water, makes me feel less trapped I guess”

Dream said nothing while watching the water slowly lap calmly. You bit your lip before speaking. “Y’know when I was younger, I lived in the middle of nowhere, pretty much, the only thing there was like one shop and a river” You paused before continuing, Dream still silently listening, staring into the blue hues.

You smiled, reminiscing on your childhood. “And it was great as a kid but when you’re a teenager you become restless, you feel so trapped” You looked down, now your smile becomes ever so slightly melancholy. “And as a teenager I used to sit by the river everyday and just hope or dream,” You smirked looking at the man beside you. He looked back to you with an amused twitch of his lip before you continued “Just dream of anywhere but there, wishing there was more to see and that I would live a fulfilling life, seeing the true wonders of the world”

Dream watched you now listening intently to every word you spoke. “Then you grow up and you have to work and you move away and that burning need doesn't necessarily go away but it does ever so slightly give up” You looked down and frowned whilst pulling at the skin on your fingernails “and then, suddenly you’re sat by a river, wishing and praying you were a kid again, if only for a second just so you could do it all again, differently”

Your lips twitched up and you realized how awfully depressing that sounded, so you put on a fake confident smile. “But whenever I sit by the water I remember there is still hope, I still have some kind of life to lead, it's just finding the courage to live it”

You beamed back to Dream whose eyes were focused solely on yours, you squirmed under his gaze ever so slightly before relaxing and turning back to the water.

“And do you?” Dream uttered.

His body was completely facing you now, intrigued and curious to learn. “Do I what?” You hoarsely asked, your voice only mere seconds away from becoming a whisper.

“Feel trapped?”

You took in the features on his face, your breath halting only for a second before you cleared your throat, snapping yourself out of it. “Here? No, in the dreaming I feel the most free I have felt my entire life” You said looking up into the sky, the warmth rays of the sun hitting you.

“And in the waking world?” The deep voice asked, still looking only at you.

You closed your eyes thoughtfully before answering. “Perhaps”

Dream watched your every move finding himself enraptured, before swiftly standing up. “Come” He commanded. “We have work to do”

You stood up and walked beside him back into the dreaming library.

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When you awoke, you didn't gasp or jolt. You just fluttered your eyelashes open, the most calming wake up you had in a month. And yet you were disappointed when you looked around, now mundane compared to the dreaming room. The last thing you remembered was Lord Morpheus telling you, you had woken up despite your protests, you knew you had to and with a wave of his hand here you were.

Despite your long and hard efforts of research, you still had no answers to what was causing your nightmares, so you supposed you’d be spending yet another night in the dreamings library. Not that you minded of course, in fact quite the opposite you found yourself watching the clock waiting to go home and just waiting to fall asleep.

You spent your nights in the dreaming, ploughing through books beside Lucienne and Matthew, Mervyn checking in every now and then. Your most favourite part however was when you and Dream would be alone, and he’d tour you around his realm. Showing off his finest creations as you stared in awe, wondering how you had got so lucky to marvel at the incredible beings.

And that was where you found yourself now, walking through a field of unique flowers, knowing that Dream would come to find you any second.

The man baffled you. His actions could be construed as cold and callous, he could be stubborn and dismissive, acting like he didn’t want you around, only to seek your presence when you left the library. It threw you into a whirlwind of emotions, very, confusing emotions.

A familiar chill was sent down your spin.

“Everytime I think I’ve seen your whole realm, a new domain pops into view” You beamed turning around to the figure. “It appears rather endless” You whispered mainly to yourself.

Dream strode closer. “It is not, I can assure you that, if you walk far enough you could reach the borders of my realm”

Your eyes snapped up to his. “But who would want to leave, leave all this beauty”

And something changed within Lord Morpheus. He realized all at once that you were getting comfortable and attached to the dreaming. Perhaps it was his own fault, carelessly showing you around his realm not expecting you to do what humans did, adapt and attach. His gaze reluctantly harshened.

“You will have to leave”

You turned to him with furrowed eyebrows, shocked by the sudden harsh change in his tone. “What are-”

His voice cut you off. “When I have solved and corrected this ordeal, you will go back to the way you dreamt before '' He awaited in response but you were too gobsmacked to form any kind of word before he continued. “You will not sit in my library and you will not talk to Lucienne and Matthew ever again”

You stood in silence, recoiling away from the harsh words as tears viciously pricked at your eyes.

“So do not get too comfortable with my subjects or my domains”

With that he turned away and strode back to the library.

When he was out of sight a sob escaped your lips as you wrapped your arms around yourself, trying your hardest to comfort yourself as you angrily wiped at the tears coming out of your eyes.

You knew what he said was true, I mean he had said it before. But you had hoped, foolishly, that he might’ve let you stay. That maybe he had warmed to you, but no. It was all just your mind making assumptions and getting attached.

You were beyond furious at yourself, why had you let him speak to you like that? Why didn’t you fight back? Because you knew he was right. He just didn’t have to be so fucking mean about it.

You weren’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing you upset. So you wiped your face, aggressively getting rid of the tears and let out one long shaky breath, before marching back to the library.

When you had come back Dream was nowhere to be seen, so you simply continued with your research, hoping your mind wouldn’t be too distracted. You put on a fake smile hopefully trying your hardest to convince Matthew and Lucienne that you were okay.

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The next night. You didn’t go to the dreaming. Instead you dreamt of A raven, A sacrifice and A death.

#morpheus x reader #dream of the endless x you #dream of the endless #dream of the endless x reader #the sandman #the sandman x reader #sandman x you #morpheus #morpheus x you

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