Just A Dream...

• Jun Hong Liu, Grade 8, Mercy College
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'The Text Generation 2014' competition

I woke up to see a pair of diamond blue eyes staring at me. "Ahh!" I screamed and backed away, when I looked, I saw a girl around 12 looking at me curiously. After studying her for a few seconds, I decided that she wasn't trying to hurt me so I asked, "Where am I?" The silver haired girl stared at me for a couple of seconds before replying, "My name is Drem, and you're in Aora". I looked up and I saw a fiery red sky with two suns, one was bright yellow and the other was dark red, I looked around me and saw that I was lying in a clearing, surrounded by lush green trees, I heard the gurgling of a stream nearby and as I stood up, the girl asked, "What's your name?" "My name is Will, can you guide me to a town or something? I'm kinda lost" I replied with a friendly smile. "Ok, follow me", the girl replied with a cute smile and ran off into the woods, I quickly followed her.

After running through the forest for what seemed like forever, getting cut by low hanging branches along the way, we finally arrived at Shia, Drem's town. As I followed her through the winding streets, I noticed that all the houses looked like something straight out of a storybook, with straw roofs, whitewashed walls and wooden supports. When we arrived at Drem's two story house, it was just the same as all the others we passed except this one had a balcony and was significantly bigger.

As we entered the house, the smell of freshly baked bread greeted us and my stomach rumbled, I suddenly noticed that I was very hungry and when I looked down I realised I was wearing a dark blue shirt with a brown leather vest, I was also wearing a pair of dark pants and black boots. How did I get here? Why am I here? All these questions raced through my mind as Drem's mum greeted us and Drem explained who I was. Drem's mum was in her 40s and had brown hair and hazel eyes. She was kind and offered me some bread, which I gladly took.

After eating I asked if I could stay for a while so I could get my head together, Drem's mum agreed and said I could take the spare room. After it was set up, they left me alone to get some rest, I fell asleep quickly and in my dream a voice told me that Aora was under attack by vicious orcs and that I have been chosen as the Defender of Aora. When the voice finished, I felt a star being burnt on my palm. The pain woke me but I discovered I was back in my bedroom. When I looked at my palm I saw a black star on it. But how? That was just a dream, wasn't it?