Dreamer

1.

Broken.

That's what some used to call me.

And, that's what some think of me.

They say nature balances things, or that nature needs to be balanced, but why is there is an exception.

Me.

If nature did need to be balanced then, I shouldn't have come to this world, then again, maybe it's all part of nature's plan, as my late father would say.

Funny right?

But it isn't.

The song of a thousand worlds which my grandmother usually sings plays in my head, as I murmur it out noticing to keep my voice at minimum.

"Athena, you don't know the length of how your gift goes, and you don't know how special you are." The words of my grandmother echos in my head like always when I sing her song.

My grandmother is never wrong, but she is wrong at one thing. Telling me that I'm special, when in fact I am a taboo that shouldn't have been born.

"Even when the storm comes, appreciate it because storms reminds us that we're not alone, but there's a greater force out there, God." Another of grandmother words ringing in my head.

If storms do remind us that God is out there, then could it be that he may have forgotten me? Perhaps I did something in my past life, so tanirshing that I shouldn't be recognized.

If so, that would explain why I am the way I am, and why my mother calls me a witch and others see me as a broken human being, which is so much better than what they call me now.

A psychopath.

"Athena, let me tell you one thing. Why do you think the greater the wealth the more the responsibility? It is because with power comes a price, but one thing to know is, power is power." A statement of grandmother that is till date I do not understand till date.

I am far from powerful. I am weak, pathetic, and pitiful, and you think if I had a power I wouldn't change that? Rather what I have is a curse.

A curse that fills me in when I sleep, a curse that frightens my soul to the core, a curse that attacks me both day and night, and a curse that may be the end of me.

Dreams.

But this aren't just dreams, they are nightmares, nightmares that feels so real and scary that I cry from my sleep praying that they never come true, but as usual, I'm forgotten and they do come true.

Some of them.

Grandmother calls them premonitions, and father called them a gift, while my mother calls them a curse, and for once I agree with her.

I stare at the clock on the wall, seeing it's past 2 in the morning, as I assure myself I can hold on till the dawn rises before sleeping. But, when you haven't gotten sleep in two days you end succumbing to your body's demand.

Like mine does.

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

My head moving from side to side, as I stay glued on the bed, my body trembling as it shakes with fear. Fear of what's above me, fear of the what's coming for me, fear of what it is going to do.

The large reptile pinning me to the ground as I shake and beg, but nothing utters out of my lips. My body limp, but my mind awake as it tries to send signals to my body, but no avail.

My heart rate increasing by the second, as I feel like I'm going to pass out any moment. My body feels sedated and tired as my mind tries to keep awake, hoping I would wake up.

The animal growls in my face, as tears runs down my eyes, with my lips being mute. The scary animal definitely not registering what is happening, digs a claw into my left breast making my lips open and cry in pain. My body shuddering as it spreads through my body, and soon I'm brought into another world, yet forgotten what has just happened.

My barefoot legs walking on their own in the illuminated room, as I hear voices talking and move closer to where it is coming from. "We have to find whoever it is, Time is running out." my eyes glance at a female around my age or older speak.

"I know that, but it's not that simple. How do we even find whoever it is when we don't even know if it's a she or him,"Another speaks this time. A male with brown hair, turning his back to me replies the female.

"The king is dying and we need he or she to save him, so we have to do whatever it takes," Another male beside him speaks having blonde hair, as I watch all of them, clearly oblivious to my presence.

Each of them holding weapons of unknown to me. The female wearing a glittering necklace that pulls my attention to it, as one of the male having a tattoo that trails down his arm, and the other wearing a bracelet around his wrist.

The king? 

Who is the king?

Who are they?

And what are they talking about?

Where am I?

"We don't even know if he or she is alive. As Octavius said, such power can kill them or run them mad if they're not found at the right time," The same female talks again, as my ears perks up wanting to know who you're talking about.

"Don't say that Aurelia. As it is we have no choice," the same males speaks.

Aurelia?

"So what do you suggest we do Orion?" The blonde boys asks the brown haired boy.

Orion.

The boy with the bracelet.

"I know a way, but... " Orion stops talking as he looks to his side one after the other.

What is he looking for?

"What's wrong?" the other male asks seeing his dismay, but he doesn't say a word as he keeps looking till he finally turns to face me.

My heart envelopes by this sudden strange feeling it gets as I'm looking straight at this boy that I have never met, but seem to feel warmth towards.

His thick eyebrows furrowing, with his lips part open slightly, as I watch him not able to remove my gaze off this boy I'm seeing.

"Orion...Orion what's wrong?" Aurelia asks, as they all look towards where his gaze is at.

"Nothing... um..nothing.. I thought I felt something...or someone," he says as my heart start to race. "But it's nothing, let me continue with the briefing," he says as they all turn back to the position I met them at.

"How do we know when we find him or her?" Aurelia asks, making me notice her bright brown eyes.

"Octavius said he or she will Carry the mark," The boy with the tattoo answers.

"What mark?" Aurelia asks again, this time with changing expression.

"The mark of the demon king," and the is the last I heard before my ears begins to seem incoherent to their words, as my body starts to fade and I'm awaken by a trembling body and a sweaty head.

I breathe heavily, as I place my hand on my forehead only to feel the sweat on my fingers, while I try to remember what has just happened.

I look up to the clock with shaky breath, seeing it is 8 in the morning, and I had slept and dreamt for six hours, to which I don't remember.

As usual.

And even if I do remember, it's pieces and vague and it sometimes takes hours or days to remember some of the dreams.

I get up from my sweaty bed, going into the bathroom as I strip off all my clothes. The water runs through my body as I hold myself tight, still shaken and scared of the dream I had.

My heart suddenly stops, as I inhale a deep long breath causing me to start coughing as soon as my heart begins to beat again, while I clutch unto it.

Not again please.

My eyes starts to become watery as tears stroll down, as I indeed know what is to come and the sudden lost of heartbeat I just felt.

Something iss coming.

Or,

Something is on its way.

Something bad that I don't know.

I clutch on chest tighter, as what happened felt as though my heart was being pulled out from my chest, before I decide look down at chest.

To my biggest bewilderment, there stays a red circle mark on my left chest, which has patterns inside of it, patterns that are too small and incoherent for me to figure out.

"Oh God, oh God.... What is this!" Tears start to roll down my cheeks, as I begin to scrub and scrub on it, wanting to take it away, and I sigh once I see that it is starting to fade and is hardly there anymore before my hand comes to rest, but my mind still races.

It's not the first time something like this has happened, where I find marks on my body when I wake up, and vaguely remember how I got them, just like the one on my thighs and back.

I wash my body thoroughly, before exiting the bathroom before a rush of migraine hits me, and I hold my table to keep my balance.

The scene being like a movie as I remember some particular events that happened when I slept, most importantly some particular faces and names.

Aurelia and Orion.

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

"Aren't you eating breakfast?" mother asks me from the dinning table.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you." I tell her as I begin to walk towards the door.

"Athena," mother calls me as I turn.

"Yes mother?"

"Jackson is dead," my face turns pale, as I digest the words of my mother.

What?

"How... How.. "

"They don't know." mother cuts me off. "You know, you said something bad was going to happen," mother gets up from her, as my lips begin to tremble knowing I did tell her that some days ago. "Why didn't you tell me it was him?" she asks me, as I stare at her in horror.

Jackson was a close childhood friend of mother, who was very nice to me and always treated me like a daughter to him.

"I... I didn't know...  I didn't know it was this," I tell her honestly.

"Would you stop stuttering!" mother yells as my lips go shut. "What good is your stupid gift as your grandmother would say, when you can't even know what is going to happen?" she asks me, as tears begins to wallow up in my eyes.

"I don't control it, and I don't know how it. It's just a feeling, I didn't know." I tell her, knowing that no matter how I explain she is never going to understand it.

"A feeling huh? A feeling that is so useless, then what good is it?" she asks again, but this time I remain silent.  "You know I'm not supposed to feel this way, but I don't know why I feel he died because of you," and the tears sprung downwards.

"I didn't have anything to do with it,  I swear. If I could change it I would, if I had known I would have done what I could, but I didn't mother," I tell her.

"Of course, you never know. Just like your dad, you never know! You only had this big bad feeling that something was going to happen and it did. Your father, now Jackson?" she utters bitterly as my heart clenches with pain.

"Is it my fault?" I say, as painful tears slide down my cheeks. "Is it my fault that I am the way I am? Did I choose this? I never wanted to be like this and you know that. You know I wasn't always like this, then why, why would you blame me for people's death that even you knew I loved. If I could trade anything, just anything in the world for this curse, I would mother, I would, because I already hate myself the way I am," I tell her not knowing where the courage came from for me to say this to her.

"So it's my fault then?" she asks me with raised eyebrows.

"No, no I didn't say that, that's not what I mean, I'm sorry." I begin to apologize.

Mother runs a hand through her face as she sighs in defeat. No matter what happens, no matter how she blames me, yell at me or tell me how much of a curse I am, she has never once raised her hand to hit me, to which I'm thankful for.

Mother isn't a bad person and she never will be, but ever since my dad's death I became a stranger to her, everything crumbled and I was no longer a daughter in her eyes.

"Just go, go to school. That's practically the only thing we have control over right?" she says to me as another set of tears roll down, but I wipe them off. I pick up my bag that had fallen while crying, and open the door.

"Stay at your grandmother's tonight," she tells me, as I muffle down a cry and close the door.

Why?

Why?

Why does it have to be me?

Why do I have to go through this?

How long do I have to take this, before I finally give up?

How long do I have to hold on, before death finally takes me?

How long?

The tears continue to roll uncontrollably as I wipe them still, while walking to take the bus. My school, St John high school is a bit far from my house and takes about twenty five minutes to get there.

Thankfully, I haven't had any other dream since on Friday where I saw those people, and it sometimes happens that way, to which I'm also thankful for.

The mark on my chest didn't go away, which scares the s**t out of me, because everytime I scratch it off, it pretends to go away only to come back bigger and scaly. The growth is slow and only when you pay attention like I do, would you notice.

Time passes and I'm at school, walking down to my first class which is History. To my luck, I'm not late and able to meet up before the bell rings.

I sit in the class as Mr james begins to teach about the ancient times, somehow perking my attention. "At the center of Greek mythology is the pantheon of deities who were said to live on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. From their perch, they ruled every aspect of human life. Olympian gods and goddesses looked like men and women, though they could change themselves into animals and other things and were as many myths recounted, vulnerable to human foibles and passions."

'His pen would fall.'

My eyes widen at the sudden thought that just came to my head, as I look around trying to see if someone said that or if my head is playing pranks with me.

What the hell.

I continue to listen to Mr james, as the pen he is holding, falls to floor and I watch like a horror movie come to life.

Oh my God, oh my God!

My breathing start to get erratic, as I look around.

How did I know that?

What is this?

I try to calm my breathing down by listening to Mr James who apologized and picked up his pen before carrying on.

'Birds'

The same strange thought again in my head, as my palms starts to get sweaty and I begin to panic.

Please don't be true, please don't be true.

"Excuse me, please." Mr james's voice brings me out of my trance, as I turn to look at his direction to see he is going to the window, where a bird keeps on using it's beak to perch the glass.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

God please help me!

What is this?

I'm not doing this, so how do I know?

My breathing starting to get faster and faster, as I begin to hiccup and soon start to become short of breath. "Miss Brooks, are you Alright?" Mr Clearwater water asks, as he is beside me without me even knowing.

I gulp, closing my eyes tightly wanting to get my breathing back to normal. "Uh-oh she has started," I hear someone say from the back as I continue to shut my eyes tighter.

'Him'

'Him'

'Him'

'Him'

Who is him?

Who is him?

Stop!  Stop!  Stop please!

"Look she's trembling," another say, as my body starts to feel all hot and suddenly it all stops. The thought, all the words, stopping at once as I exhale deeply before opening my eyes.

"I'm fine, I'm fine...Thank you," I say to Mr James.

"Are you sure?" he asks again.

"Yes, I'm fine sir," I give him a weak smile as he nods and goes back to teaching.

"Sorry to interrupt Mr James." Principal Dane comes into the class.

"Oh that's Alright. Do you need to see me?" Mr James asks.

"No not at all. Actually, you have a new student," she says.

New student?

"A new student? But we're almost half way through the term," Mr James complains.

Exactly, I thought they don't allow students after three week of resumption.

"Yes I know that, but this is a straight A students and would be able to catch up," Principal Dane says.

"Alright." Mr James agrees making Principal Dane give him a light smile.

"Mr Smith, come on in," principal Dane calls out looking at the door. I watch closely as the person who she called Mr Smith walk into the class, as leather boots are what greets me first, followed by a pair of bracelet and brown hair.

Oh my God!

Orion.

3rd person's POV

Octavius watched as the three left, knowing that what they are indeed searching for was something far greater than they could ever imagine.

But that was something for the future, as of now, neither did the three of them knew that finding her was going to be the easiest thing, than what they thought.

Octavius continued to watch them, knowing that this was going to change everything, and even if a war managed to not break out, it would be only for a while.

After all, she carried the mark of demon king, but she is also their savior.