Dreams

by Ashley in a balloon; the only way is up.

Prologue

Cecilia Kevin found herself in a dark room. So dark, that she couldn’t see an inch in front of her face. She wasn’t afraid though; Cecilia knew that this meant a god or goddess wanted to talk to her. It happened often, gods and goddesses speaking to Cecilia in her sleep.

“Cecilia…” a sweet feminine voice called from a distance, “Be prepared for tommarrow.”

“What’s going to happen tomorrow?” Cecilia asked curiously.

“A life-changing happening. Accept the change, and don’t worry,” the voice said gently. The black faded into white.

Part 1

The slight glimmer of light that shown through the curtains of the beach-themed room was all that Cecilia Kevin needed to wake up for school. With blonde hair, a fairly buff, and fair structured face, Cecilia is, in many eyes, plain. This made it hard for her to fit in her tree village’s society, and made it harder for her to wake up with a smile. She rose from bed and slipped her pudgy feet into waiting slippers. She grudgingly sulked into the light blue uniform and grabbed Teti, her beloved snake. Upon walking into the kitchen, she was greeted by her brother Abacus.

“Haha! It's about time you got down here! You are SO late for school!" Abacus teased her.

Cecilia glanced up at the clock, and with a swift gasp, she darted out the door, backpack and Teti in tow. She grabbed the nearest vine she saw, and swung off! As she swung through the tree village, she thought about what the Gods and Goddesses had told her in her sleep that night. 

Upon landing, so absorbed in her thoughts, Cecilia slammed into a dark-haired light-skinned male student. In the blink of an eye, she was up again and filled with embarrassment.

"I am so sorry! I wasn't paying attention; I should've watched where I was going...or landing in this case." She thought that her apology was good and sincere enough, but all this boy was doing was laughing! Having little patience and a short temper, Cecilia was immediately angered and kicked the boy and marched defiantly off.

As she started heading towards class, the horror came. She hadn't kicked just any boy; she kicked Travis Hill! Travis, also know as the jock, famous composer, and ladies man, was the biggest, most popular kid in school. Travis, though he was a girlfriend named Iris, is known for picking on all the girls he lays his eyes on.

"It's ok." she tried to tell herself, "He was being a real jerk anyway with all that laughing." The thoughts weren't too calming, but they worked for the time being.

Once in class, Cecilia took her seat and waited silently. The teacher was starting on a lecture, when a senior came in saying she carried important news to pass on. "Fellow classmates, I have important, yet disturbing news to tell you. The wise Old Woman, leader of our village, has passed on."

The room immediately filled with worried chatter. Just then the P.A. system came on and the principle informed the students that school was to be dismissed for the rest of the day.

Cecilia walked out of the school gates and was greeted by a riot of people, all vying for the Old Woman's place as leader. A few tussles later, it was finally decided that everyone's name would be put in a hat and they would draw one name. 

The names were all in and it was time to draw. The oldest man in the village, at age 72, would draw. He lowered his hand into the hat, swished all the fragments of paper, and lifted a single piece out. He slowly unfolded the edges. "I would like to announce, that the new leader of our village with some practice and training, will be Cecilia Kevin!" 

There was a murmur from the crowd and then all eyes went to Cecilia. Some people, at that moment seeing how young she was (only 15 years of age), already started scheming with their neighbors about how to get her out. She was (unknowingly) approached by one of these schemers, who told her that she needed to go on a journey for two months and learn about the world so that she would at least be a decent ruler. Cecilia, still in shock, left right away, receiving only some food from her family, and a rope from Abacus.

Right when she was about to leave the village, she heard rapid footsteps behind her and turned around. It was Travis Hill.

“Hey!” He huffed, “Wait!” Cecilia rolled her eyes at him, turned around, and kept walking. Travis said a little louder, “Hey, I know you’re kinda mad, but I just wanted to say—“

“Don’t waste your breath Travis Hill,” Cecilia said coldly without looking at him, “You’re just trying to be friends with me now because I’m going to be a ruler.”

Travis stopped. “That’s totally not true!!” He yelled at Cecilia in the distance.

“Give me a break!” Cecilia replied in a shout. She heard the rapid footsteps again, and turned around to say ‘leave me alone’. However, before she could do that, Travis had already stolen her first kiss. When their lips parted, Cecilia exclaimed, “Ugh!! You idiotic… twisted… bad-humored… jock!!” Cecilia pushed Travis to the floor and ran deep into the woods, full of embarrassment and tears from all the sudden stress being put upon her.

Watching all the action unfold from her cloud high in the sky, Love, Goddess of romance, was angered by what she saw. "Travis Hill...falling for Cecilia Kevin?! This is impossible!" You see, Love is selfish and often times unfair too. She puts two people together based on looks, or similar backgrounds. Seeing this, in her words, ugly match made her cringe.

“He is supposed to fall in love with Iris!"

At his point, Destiny, Truth, and Fate come in. Destiny, Goddess of war, argued that mortals can belong to each other, even if they come from completely different backgrounds. Truth, God of justice, agreed with Destiny, but was careful with his words, so not to get under Love's wrath. Fate on the other hand, God of fate, agreed with Truth, that only perfect couples should be made. Love, heated with anger made a vow to make Cecilia's trip miserable. 

Reaching the border of the forest after a long day's trek, Cecilia fell peacefully asleep on a rock slab. Once again in her sleep, the Goddess Destiny managed to reach into her thoughts. She told Cecilia of Love's wrath and to be very careful. She also told her to come to "the island with honesty". Cecilia woke up and remembered Destiny's words.

"I need to get to the island with honesty." she repeated to herself. Not sure of which direction to head, Cecilia made up her mind to just start walking. It could be anywhere; she just needed to avoid standing still.  Unfortunately, along her path, she encountered Love, and her thousand islands.

Without any sort of greeting, Love shouted out, "I challenge you...to find the thousandth island of my thousand islands." Cecilia, wanting to prove herself, and hating having Love think of her as a mere mortal that is even below most mortals, accepted the challenge. "Here is a small boat. Don't get lost now!" Love laughed bitterly. Love flew off, leaving Cecilia on the eerie shore with a small boat and an oar. Much to her fear, she knew she had to get going, so she pushed the boat into the shallow water, got in, and was on her way. 

Cecilia was in a totally different world out there among the thousand islands. One island she saw had fish jumping out of the water and gulping down eagles that hovered over. She looked onto the land of that water and saw buffalos gnawing on trees filled with ants! She started to get goose bumps and rowed faster away from that island, until she reached one that was normal, with eagles gulping down fish and buffalos grazing on the plains. She moved past that island when she saw Truth's island. It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. The trees grew tall and thick with green leaves. The bushes had flowers that were an array of colors. She went to go and explore the mysterious land. She looked at this one poisonous berry bush that had berries that were hot fuchsia. The color intrigued her and when she went pulled apart the bush to see the middle of it, where the cluster of berries was, she saw a hatch in the ground!

"What is this?” Cecilia wondered curiously, “Is it safe?” So Cecilia pried open the hatch and climbed down onto a steep ladder that hung there. She finally reached the bottom and could not believe what she saw. It was an infinite room! It had clear glass floors and was a live, animated diagram of space! It had all the planets, rotating around the "sun". It took her a minute to remind herself that she was actually inside a room and not outside because of the size. Out of know where, Cecilia hears a low gasp. It was Truth! He was looking straight at her in surprise.

"What are YOU doing here? Mortals are not supposed to be here!"

Cecilia blinked twice and finally answered, "Destiny told me to come here." Truth rolled his eyes, displeased that Destiny would plan such a thing without telling him. He sat there for a moment and pondered the thoughts in his head.

He said quietly, "Cecilia, you need to go to Jordan, a town at the border of Kerken. A citizen there will help you." With that, Truth's image started to fade away, and he disappeared. 

Love was furious! She had a million words to spit out! In her wrath, she decided to take it out on Travis. She sent the air serpent (a huge flying snake) down to poison him by giving him a poisonous drink disguised as a glass of punch. After that was done, she came down to Cecilia, on her new journey, and gave her an ultimatum.

"You have a choice Cecilia; you can either get the antidote for Travis and save him, or, I can make you a famous hero that will be remembered for the rest of time." Love said, her eyes fiery with devilish excitement. Cecilia knew which she was going to pick all along, but still sat there and thought about it.

"I am going to get the antidote for Travis." she said defiantly.

"Alright then." Love waved her fingers and there was Travis! He looked fine, and rushed over and gave Cecilia a big hug! Love disappeared, and left Cecilia and Travis alone to start their journey to Jordan.

Part 2

When they got to Jordan, it was almost appeared abandoned. There was no one on the streets, and there wasn’t any noise except a loud ruckus coming from the bar. Travis and Cecilia walked into the bar, and were greeted by an old stranger.

“Hello young ones,” the stranger said, “What brings you to Jordan today?”

“Oh, well… I’m traveling to see the world to become a proper ruler of Mericules, as unbelievable as it sounds. This is my acquaintance Travis Hill,” Cecilia said truthfully.

The stranger laughed, “Well, aren’t you a honest lady!”

Ten soldiers swaggered walked toward Cecilia, Travis and the stranger, and, judging from their appearance, were obviously drunken. “Hey, look, it’s a pwetty lady...” one of the drunks said, wrapping his finger around Cecilia’s hair. Alarmed, Cecilia grabbed the man by his arm and threw him to the floor.

Everyone that saw gasped, and quickly got out of the soldiers and Cecilia’s way. The other drunken men, driven by fear and anger,, yelled at Cecilia, “What the hell are you doing?! Are you stupid or something?!”

“Am I stupid?” Cecilia repeated indignantly, “What do you guys want?” The men snickered, and the man who was thrown the floor got up.

He said, “Only you, my darling…” The drunk man reached out to touch Cecilia, but Travis, who was furious, punched the man in the face.

“Get away from her!” Travis growled. The man moaned, and his high friends were shocked. Before the nine other soldiers could attack Travis, the old stranger walked in front of him. “Mister, you shouldn’t—“ Travis started.

The stranger scorned at the soldiers, “You should be ashamed of yourselves. Getting drunk, trying to flirt with a girl who’s practically a kid, and then getting beaten up by another kid. Why don’t you do your job for once, like protect your country? ” Though Travis and Cecilia resented being called a kid, they admired the stranger’s peaceful yet forceful matter.

“What do you know, you old sag!!” One soldier heatedly shouted back, and launched after the stranger. The soldier punched the outsider in the stomach, and the outsider collapsed on the floor, spitting blood.

Travis and Cecilia’s hearts dropped, and angrily looked at the soldiers. Without warning, Cecilia kicked mercilessly at the soldier’s right thigh, breaking it. The soldier screamed in pain and fell down next to the stranger. Understanding Cecilia’s intentions, Travis started to fight the other soldiers. Cecilia and Travis swiftly went from one soldier to the other, breaking their arms and legs by kicking, punching, and throwing them against the walls and ground. Crowds grew, watching quietly in complete awe. After thirty minutes of street battle, all the dumbstruck soldiers were in deep pain, and unable to move.

Travis and Cecilia dusted themselves off, the audience boomed in cheers and joy. Cecilia turned red with flattery and embarrassment. Travis carried the old man by his shoulder and Cecilia quickly joined him in finding a place for the stranger’s wounds to be attended to. A woman let Travis put the outsider on her bed and Travis and Cecilia stepped out to let the women of the village tend to the old man.

After a few hours pass, Cecilia started to get nervous. “Travis, he looked like he’s in his 70s. He might not make it…” She looked at her feet and put her fist against her lips apprehensively.

Travis patted Cecilia’s back. “He’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “He also looked like a pretty healthy and tough guy.” Cecilia rolled her eyes at him, like she did in the forest right before she left. Travis put his hand on Cecilia’s shoulder, and sensed that she was more relaxed now. He couldn’t help but smile.

Before Cecilia could ask about Travis’s suspicious smile, a woman with a pale face shakily came out of the bedroom to report to them. “H-He’s fine now. Do you w-want to see him?” the woman asked. Though confused by the woman’s stuttering, Cecilia nodded. The woman led Cecilia and Travis into the room, and Cecilia let out a sigh in relief. The old man was sitting up on the bed and looked even better than he did before. The women in the room left quickly as soon as Cecilia and Travis came.

“Don’t be concerned about them,” the stranger said as he stood up, “They are only shy.”

Travis asked, “Shy?”

The stranger replied, “Yes. Of me.” The stranger stood up and took off his cape, revealing clothing made of the finest materials in the world. “I am the King of Kerken. I was undercover to follow my disobedient soldiers and see if they were to plan a mutiny.” The King bowed. “Your kindness has left me in your debt.”

Cecilia quickly said, “Oh, um, your highness, you don’t have to bow to me or Travis, and you don’t owe us anything!”

The King laughed, “How can I not owe you something? What shall it be? Riches?”

Cecilia and Travis glanced at each other, knowing not accepting a gift from a King would be disrespectful. Money was very tempting, but Cecilia felt like she didn’t need it. What do I need, Cecilia asked herself.

“Can,” Cecilia slowly started, “you give us… a small army?”

The King smiled and said, “Of course! Allow me to give you 25 of my best men, and will fight on your side until the very end.”

A few days later, Cecilia and Travis were on the road again, this time with their army and on the way home. As they walked home, they talked to each other about all the things they’ve been through and enjoyed themselves. But the night before they got back at the Mericules, Cecilia had a dream.

Two birds were resting on a branch, singing songs to each other. Then, one saw a worm in the ground, and dived down to get it. The other bird knew it couldn’t get the worm because it was too far in the ground, and flew away to get food elsewhere. The bird that dived down to eat the worm hit its head instead of getting the worm and died.

Disturbed, Cecilia decided to talk to Travis next morning. But Cecilia stopped in her tracks. What if the two birds were her and Travis? If Travis got that idea too, then he might leave Cecilia, fearing his and her life. Cecilia decided not to tell Travis, but tell him to disguise themselves and the army as a precaution.

“Travis, we need to disguise ourselves before entering Mericules,” Cecilia told Travis, who was sitting near the camp fire.

Travis lifted an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Well, you know, as a precaution.”

“Okay,” Travis agreed, “you’re right. What are we going to be disguised as?” Then Travis grinned mischievously. “Rich eloped lovers and their bodyguards?”

Cecilia rolled her eyes and replied, “You wish.”

Travis said in protest, “Why not?”

“What do you mean ‘why not’?! Who’d believe us?”

Travis laughed, “It can be believable if you…”—he paused—“act it out right.”

Cecilia gave Travis a hard look. “So this is a challenge now?”

“Sure,” Travis grinned.

Cecilia sighed heavily and agreed to Travis’s idea reluctantly. As they entered the village, they had their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders and their 25 men tried to walk normally instead of their normal army march. People whispered to each other in curiosity, but seemed to by Travis’s disguise idea. Cecilia didn’t even want to look at Travis, knowing his victorious smile would make her feel guilty for having doubt in him. Travis was much more reliable than Cecilia had thought. Cecilia and Travis suddenly heard horns.

“Welcoming, the Ruler of Mericules, King Kevin!” At first Cecilia panicked and looked nervously at her feet. Then, when she looked up, she realized they weren’t talking about her.

Abacus, her own brother, walked toward Cecilia and Travis gallantly. His long silk red cape made him seem intimidating and handsome. “Hello, travelers. What can I do for you?” Abacus said smoothly. Cecilia and Travis were speechless, too stung by betrayal and shock to say anything. Abacus smiled, “Come with me to my home.”

Travis quickly said, “Thank you your highness! But only if our bodyguards come with us.”

“Hmm…” Abacus’s eyes narrowed. “Fine. But if they show any hostility of any kind, I will dismiss them outside.” Cecilia and Travis followed Abacus to Cecilia’s tree house, ironically as guests. When Cecilia came in, she saw her female neighbors in the kitchen. They appeared much more tired and aged than she remembered.

Abacus commanded at them, “Make us some lunch!” The women immediately got to work, getting out all the pots, pans, and ingredients within ten seconds. Mortified, Cecilia gave Abacus a disconcerted look. Abacus laughed in reply, “Oh, yes, they’re very abnormally fast slaves, aren’t they?” Slaves? Cecilia thought.

Travis decided to speak before Cecilia would do anything rash. “We haven’t had the opportunity to introduce ourselves. I’m Melvin, and this is my lover Patricia,” Travis said smoothly. Cecilia consequently bowed.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Melvin and Patricia,” Abacus smiled. Cecilia thought angrily, How can he be so kind to us, and so unkind to everyone else here?! That two-faced jerk!

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, King.” Cecilia smiled back, irritated behind her forced sweet tone. Abacus sensed her anger, and looked at Cecilia suspiciously. When their eyes met, he quickly recognized Cecilia’s sharp, deep blue eyes, and saw flames of anger glint at him.

Abacus cried, shocked, “Cecilia!!” The maids in the kitchen gasped and ran to the living room, excited and scared. Abacus’s soldiers ran in to grab Cecilia and Travis, but Cecilia’s ‘bodyguards’ stopped them by knocking them out. Cecilia walked heatedly to Abacus, and punched him in the face.

“What the hell are you doing, Abacus?!” Cecilia shouted furiously. Abacus swayed a little and glared at Cecilia.

He replied crossly, “What do you mean ‘what the hell am I doing’?! I thought you weren’t going to ever come back, so I took your place!! Duh!!”

Cecilia, unable to hold back the feelings of deep betrayal and grief, punched Abacus repeatedly in the stomach and chest. “Why would you do this to me?!” She wailed.

When Cecilia finally stopped, Abacus fell on the floor, exhausted and in severe pain. Abacus huffed, “Cecilia… I’m sorry…”

“Where’s Mom and Dad?!” Cecilia demanded.

“In exile…” Abacus said guiltlessly.

“What?!!” Cecilia cried, horrified.

Abacus sat up slowly. “I’m… really sorry, sis. I didn’t know what I was doing… I felt… so powerful, you know? I just got… carried away… I guess,” Abacus said, his lungs still excessively needing oxygen from his attack.

Cecilia had pity for his brother, and imagined that it was easy to be cocky with so much power at hand. “It’s fine,” Cecilia smiled with truly good intentions.

Abacus grinned, “Okay. I’ll make lunch to make-up for all of this.” Abacus dismissed the maids, telling them to keep Cecilia a secret so he could ‘make a village-wide surprise party’ for her. Cecilia told her army to go to any restaurant in Mericules and give the bill to her later. Cecilia and Travis waited at the patio table.

“I’m so happy to be back home!! I get to be back with my family… my music… my girl fans…” Travis grinned goofily.

Cecilia rolled her eyes, half-grinning. “Yeah, and then totally leave me in the dust.”

“I’d never leave you in the dust!” Travis said in childish protest.

“Why not?”

“You’re the queen… How on Serenia can I leave a queen in the dust?!” They laughed whole-heartedly.

Cecilia asked curiously, “So I’m not going to be in the dust, where am I going to be in your life?”

“Hmm…” Travis thought, “Well…” Cecilia tilted her head and rested her hands under her chin. “Where I want you to be in my life isn’t really entirely up to me…”

Cecilia frowned, “What do you mean?” Travis leaned in closer to Cecilia. Cecilia hadn’t noticed his wide shoulders and handsomely-structured face were so… Before the thought could develop, Cecilia pushed it out of her mind.

“Do you want…” Travis started slowly, “to…”

Suddenly, Cecilia heard very quiet footsteps coming her way from behind. She turned around and the footsteps quickened. In alarm, Cecilia tackled Travis to make sure both of them weren’t in whatever danger was approaching her. Her eyes widened when she realized that it was Abacus, with a sharp knife stuck out as if to stab Cecilia. Before Abacus could react to Cecilia’s dodge, he flipped over the patio railing and fell to his death.

Worried Cecilia wanted to look over the patio railings to see if Abacus was okay, though knowing deep in her gut that he was a dead man. When she tried to sit up, Travis wrapped his arms around her stomach and pulled her back down on the floor. Their heads banged against each other, and they laughed. She tried to get up, but Travis stopped her again by yanking her arm back down, but this time on him. Cecilia muttered, “Okay, what do you want?”

Travis replied, “I didn’t finish my question yet.”

“Travis, my brother just fell over my patio and probably died. Do I really need to hear this right now?”

“Yes.”

Cecilia sighed heavily. “Fine, what’s the question?”

“Do…” Travis grinned, taking a much longer time that before, “You… Want…”

“Hurry up!!! Geez!!!” Cecilia whined, annoyed.

“To be my girlfriend?” Travis said at a normal pace.

There was a short silence. Cecilia’s face was completely red, and she was glad to be resting on Travis’s chest so he wouldn’t see it.

“I’m not going to wait a week for an answer you know, Cecilia.”

Cecilia’s face turned red again. “Well… Well…”

“Mhm?”

“Well, I was just thinking about how we don’t need to act as lovers anymore.”

Epilogue

Cecilia became ruler, and was a very good at her new job. However, people disliked her because everyone believed that she ruthlessly killed her own brother to reclaim her thrown. Thus, after Cecilia passed on, no one chose to write about her or document her in any way or form, which was the result of Cecilia’s choice between Travis and fame. Cecilia and Travis were very happy together, but didn’t have any children because Love refused to let Cecilia have any. Cecilia lead a happy, fulfilling life with Travis despite all the problems due encountered due to Love, and lived happily ever after!