Willow Bloom and the Dream Keepers

by E. V. Farrell

  Avari looked into the eyes of High Chancellor Antoy for only a few moments before nodding with recognition. Willow was certain they communicated telepathically.

  They rushed to the Dome Room where Guides and their Light Keepers, the Consuli and all personnel directly involved with Dream Keeping stood waiting for an official statement.

  “I wonder what’s going on,” Willow said. She noticed Jessie waving from across the room. Willow waved back and Jessie began to weave her way towards them through the packed room, Atlas in her wake.

  “Hey guys,” Jessie said. “This is crazy, right? Pretty safe to say that ‘we are living in interesting times’, people. Thanks heaps, Confucious.”

  Avari pointed to movement in the crowd. “They are here.”

  Two High Chancellors cut a path through the gathered community to a designated area at one end of the room. Willow recognised High Chancellor Timboon’s pure white hair. A small pulpit appeared from beneath the floor and he stepped onto it. He rose above the gathered people. “Sal-e Dan, everyone,” he announced. “We have detected new damage to one of the protective fields surrounding the path of travel between Thera and Earth. Repairs to the field are in their early stages, however we expect them to be completed soon. With precautionary checks to all the Doorways underway, all Light Keeper duties have been suspended until further notice. Please, do not allow yourselves to become troubled.”

  High Chancellor Timboon then closed his eyes; when he reopened them moments later, his purple eyes were glowing. “Dream Keepers, you know what to do,” he said. “Now is the time.”

  The Dream Keepers bowed their heads with closed eyes. Raising their heads moments later, they reopened their eyes and every Mondrian had luminous eyes, including Avari. The room was awash in purple radiance.

  Willow and Jessie stood in curious silence along with the other Light Keepers. This was clearly a Mondrian custom that was not normally observed by visitors.

  A few minutes passed and the glowing eyes of the Dream Keepers gradually returned to normal. High Chancellor Timboon gazed upon the crowd. “Dream Keepers, on behalf of the High Council, I would like to thank you for offering your time and your inspired ideas. Until this matter is resolved, we ask that you all stay within the grounds of Mondria. We will keep you informed of our progress. Sal-e Dan, everyone.”

  “What just happened?” Willow asked the moment the High Chancellors had left the room.

  “It is how we extend our ideas to a central energy source,” Atlas explained. “We are born with this ability. Whenever we feel inspired we can offer an idea. The central energy source then stores our ideas to assist with the functioning of our world, to the benefit of all.”

  “That’s so cool. So what did you just input – to this energy source?” Jessie asked.

  “As spatial rifts and protective fields are not my expertise, I focused my energy towards the formation of a favourable solution,” he said. “My energy signature gathers with other energy signatures at the central energy source, which, in turn, enhance the momentum for solutions to arise.” He smiled at Willow and Jessie. “I know a solution is on its way.”

  “So it’s like the Mondrian version of a think tank,” Jessie said.

  “It is more than that. It is not just a matter of thinking, whereby you gather thoughts and ideas together,” he said. “It is more concentrated. We focus on the stillness and emptiness just before an actual idea arises and comes through as a thought. The result is what you would call ‘inspirational thought’, or ‘deep thought’, perhaps.”

  “You mean like when you get good vibes and you suddenly have a flow of ideas coming through?” Willow offered.

  Atlas turned to her. “Yes, that would be more accurate.”

  “Back home we have a thing called crowd sourcing,” Willow told them. “But we do it through our computers.”

  “I have heard of this,” Avari said. “Perhaps one day you will no longer need a physical device.”

  “Maybe,” Willow said. “So where is this central energy source?”

  “It is within our city.”

  “And what does Sal-e Dan mean?”

  “It means, ‘I see you and the Light that you are’,” Avari translated.

  “I like that. Beats ‘hello’.”

  The crowd gradually thinned out. “Well,” Jessie said, “seeing as we can’t go home, we may as well do something. Any ideas?”

  “We could go to the History Room,” Avari offered.

  Atlas looked surprised. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I am sure,” she said. “We have full access granted. I will inform you of the purpose when we arrive,” she told him.

  Avari opened the door to the History Room and several groups of brightly robed Consuli spontaneously looked up from their work.

  “Talk about attracting unwanted attention,” Jessie whispered to Willow.

  Jessie kept turning her head from left to right and then up high. “I’m in heaven.” She nudged Atlas. “Why haven’t we come here before? I had no idea this room even existed until now. Come to think of it, I’ve never been to this part of the Halls before, either.”

  Avari put a hand on Atlas’s arm. “We do not usually include this area when we give tours of the city,” she responded. “Access is by prior approval only.”

  “So how did you get approval then?” Jessie asked.

  “Allow me to explain. It is our way to be guided by the flow of events,” Avari said. She looked to Willow first, and then to Atlas and Jessie. “I sense very strongly that meeting you both again, and under these circumstances, has created the opportunity for your involvement with the Prophecy.”

  Jessie looked confused. “Prophecy? Like a real one? That’s why you’re here?”

  Willow nodded. “Yes, a real Prophecy. And yes, that’s why we’re here.”

  Jessie turned to Atlas. “Did you know about this?”

  “I am aware of its background.”

  Avari gave Jessie and Atlas the details of the Prophecy and the Quest that Willow now found herself on.

  “Wow,” Jessie said. “All I can say is, I’m happy to be included. And I love books.” Her gaze went skyward to the upper levels. “Where are you supposed to start in here?”

  Willow stepped away from the others. She wanted to practice her focusing skills and didn’t want any distractions. Closing her eyes she tried to recall the feeling she had had the previous time. She visualised the History Room with all of the books that surrounded her on all twelve levels. When she opened her eyes, she let out a gasp. “That’s different.” There wasn’t one book standing out; instead, all of the books were now more vibrant – brighter than they had been moments earlier. How was she supposed to find anything now?

  She scoured the book shelves, hoping that at least one book would stand out. But, by the time she had come full circle, not one book had clearly shown itself. The skin beneath her pendant started to prickle. Her fingers wrapped around the pendant instinctively – and she somehow knew what to do. Again, Willow closed her eyes and this time she focused on her breathing too. With each breath, she could feel herself going more and more inwards. To where, she wasn’t sure, but that didn’t matter right now. She just knew that it was working.

  “What the hell …?” Jessie murmured.

  “She is using her heightened senses,” Avari said quietly.

  “Yeah, I can see that.”

  Opening her eyes, Willow could see that the pendant was glowing, and for the first time, it was also releasing a gentle pulse into her hand. She scanned the books again. “Yes!” she breathed. On the first level, third shelf from the floor, a red book gleamed more brightly than the others and had an energy field like gold dust surrounding it too. “It worked!”

  “Aah, hello. Someone care to explain?” Jessie asked. “I didn’t think the pendant worked outside of official duties – or that it glowed like that! I’ve only ever seen it glow in the bonding ceremony.”

  Willow overheard J
essie and returned to where they were standing. “It’s new to me too. That’s the first time I’ve ever used it like that.”

  Jessie gazed at Willow’s pendant. “What did you do? And more to the point – how did you know to do that?”

  “I don’t know; I just knew,” Willow said. “Strange as that sounds … When I held the pendant I could almost feel the books, if that makes any sense – from somewhere within my body. Don’t ask me how.” She pointed to the red book. “So I need to go up there. There’s a red book that’s really glowing at me.”

  “Seriously? That’s so cool.” Jessie’s fingers toyed with her own pendant. “I wonder if …” Closing her eyes she thought about the room and each level of books and scrolls and tried to feel the books. She peeked to see if her pendant was glowing, but it wasn’t. She searched the book shelves intently, just in case. “Oh well,” she said. “It was worth a try. Maybe next time. I’ll just have to get my books the old-fashioned way for now.”

  “Perhaps we can all find some books and meet over there,” Avari said, gesturing to a long glass table that no-one else was using.

  Willow took Jessie with her to one of the platforms that would take them to the next level up. “Wait to you see this,” Willow told her, and she snapped the rail closed before pressing the number one on the rail’s surface.

  Jessie let out a shriek and quickly lowered her head when she saw all of the Consuli look up at them. She raised her hand in embarrassment. “Sorry.” Jessie turned back to Willow. “Oh my God, I feel like Aladdin!” she said in hushed tones.

  Jessie stepped off the platform first. “I’ll go and browse this way,” she said, and made her way along the right-hand side of the first level.

  Willow headed straight for the red book. Pulling it out, she read the cover. It was titled, Ancient Secrets of the Great Library.

  Willow made her way back to the floating platform.

  There were books and scrolls piled up high on the silvery desk-top and the holographic screen was filled with page references on Maliceius and the Ancients. “You two have been busy,” Willow said to Avari and Atlas. She sat down and her mind drifted to her parents. She pictured them waiting anxiously in the portal for her return. Her muscles tensed briefly.

  Hugo paced the perimeter wall of the portal. Twice now, ripples had spread across its surface, showing signs of weakness. He knew that he would have to search for a stronger portal very soon. He wondered how Willow was doing and how long it would take the Dream Keepers to secure her safe travel home. He glanced over to where Willow’s parents were standing and the tension on their faces was evident.

  The boundary of the portal warped and began to disappear.

  “You know what to do,” John told his son as the final haze of the portal dissolved.

  Hugo grabbed the TriVrata. “Track the Chabels!” he told the vanishing Wood Folk. With his eyes on the Chabels, Hugo hurried off through the woods, his father and Willow’s parents in tow. The Chabels changed direction several times, almost as if they couldn’t quite detect where the strongest portal was located. Eventually, they did lock onto a new location. Catching his breath inside the new portal, he released the TriVrata so it could find its central position at the top of the portal again.

  Jessie finally arrived with her book choice. “I found Darkness in its Many Forms. I’m sure it’s really uplifting – not.” She touched the screen in front of Atlas before placing her hand on the silvery liquid table. “How amazing is that? Don’t answer, Atlas, it’s a rhetorical question.” She sat next to him, opened the cover of her book and began to read quietly.

  A few minutes later, Atlas said, “I have something about a girl from Earth. In the ‘time of broken dreams’, a girl will appear from Earth and light the way. Her Quest will be arduous as she finds her inner strength to guide the way through the ‘shadows of darkness’. Only when the Light of Truth is shone upon the darkness will a new era come forth to the people of Earth.”

  On Willow’s first visit, Viscent Chancellor Aroha mentioned ‘the time of boken dreams’. She recalled when she had first imagined Earth without dreams, and how dark that had felt. What would happen to the Light Keepers, and the Dream Keepers, if Maliceius succeeded? Would they all be enslaved to darkness? It was hard not to feel the weight of two entire worlds literally fall upon her shoulders.

  “Hugo and my parents must be freaking out!” Willow said. “The fact that Maliceius has worked out how to target the Doorways twice now.”

  “He has had a long time to prepare,” Avari responded. She turned to Willow with a reassuring smile. “As have we. Please know that we will find a resolution to the security fields.”

  “I like your confidence.”

  Avari placed her hand on Willow’s shoulder. “Are you ‘freaking out’, Willow?”

  Willow looked away, avoiding Avari’s gaze. “No, I’m not freaking out – at least, not hugely.” She went back to reading her book.

  Avari picked up another book from the stack on the table. “The Dream Keepers’ History through the Tarons. I have a copy of this at home,” she said. “It covers the previous time that Maliceius tried to penetrate Thera in 1-0593. That would be approximately sixty thousand tarons ago – close to one hundred and thirty thousand of your Earth years.”

  It wasn’t long before Avari looked up from her book. “It says here that many tarons ago a secret was hidden by the Ancients and that it was hidden in plain sight, yet not easily seen. Only the eye of the beholder can make things clear.”

  “Hmm, not cryptic, much. Maybe it’ll tie in with something else,” Willow said.

  They fell back into silence, each one reading from different texts – Atlas flicked screens with his fingers from left to right trying to make some sense of the references.

  Willow noticed a Consuli heading towards their table. She tapped Avari on the arm.

  “I am here to inform you that safe passage to Earth has been re-established,” the Consuli told Willow and Jessie. “Please make your way to the Arch for your departure without delay.”

  Avari closed her book. “Atlas and I will record all of the texts that we have here, ready for your return visit.” She stood up. “First, we will escort you back to the Arch.”

  “Willow,” Avari said as they were walking through the park. “I understand that it is your birthday imminently.”

  “How did … never mind,” she said. “Yes, it is. Two days away.”

  “How will you celebrate your birthday event?” she asked.

  “Well, it’s my thirteenth – so I’m doing something a little different than the usual cake and party.” She could see that Avari was curious about the occasion. “It took a while, but I finally came up with a plan. A few friends and I are going to London, which is one of our big cities. We’ll be going to the theatre and then somewhere to eat.” Avari didn’t look confused so Willow assumed she understood what a theatre was. “But to be honest, I was planning on cancelling the whole thing because of the Prophecy. As my next visit coincides with my birthday and I need to be here, searching for clues, party plans will have to wait.”

  “No, Willow, you must not,” Avari told her. “Atlas and I will continue to search for references and clues. There is a team of Consuli who are also assisting at this time.”

  Willow went quiet for a few moments. “Are you sure the High Council will be okay if I don’t turn up?”

  “I am certain that your arrival the following day will be considered with approval,” she said.

  “Okay, if you say so. But I’m coming back asap. I’ll take the first available Doorway on the schedule.”

  Happy Birthday

  “Happy birthday, Willow,” Audrey said to her daughter as she entered the kitchen.

  “Happy birthday, darling,” her father said as he gave her a hug.

  “Thanks, Mum, thanks, Dad.” She could see a big present for her sitting on the kitchen table. With everything that was going on with Maliceius and the Prophecy, she reali
sed she had almost forgotten about getting a present.

  “Wow, that’s a big present!” Willow was looking at a rather large box wrapped in bright red paper. She had to give her parents credit. Even though her birthday was three days after Christmas, they always made sure that it was celebrated separately and not just tagged on to the back of Christmas festivities.

  “Go ahead and open it,” her father said.

  Willow could tell that both her parents were quite emotional. “Are you two ok?” she asked.

  “We’re fine,” her mother replied. “We’re just glad that you are alright.”

  “I know you were worried about me, but I’m okay … see …” she said, looking down at herself. “Now, let’s see what’s inside this box.”

  Willow excitedly began to tear the paper off the box. Unwrapped, the cardboard box gave no clues as to what lay inside. She looked at her parents curiously then ripped the tape from the top seam.

  “My very own saddle! Awesome! Thanks heaps!” she exclaimed. “It’s great!”

  “We think you’ve shown enough commitment to riding so we thought it was time for your own gear,” her mother said. “However, you do need to go and look out the lounge window for the rest of your present.”

  Willow looked at her parents. “Really?” She hoped it was what she thought it would be. What she had been dreaming about for so long.

  A pony stood in the driveway tethered to the fence next to the small field out front. It was wrapped in a green rug and was a gorgeous warm dark chocolate colour, with an even darker mane. Willow thought she was beautiful. “I can’t believe it! Or maybe I can. It’s really, really great! Thank you, thank you! And thank you Dream Keepers – and Light Keepers for making the Light Streams too!”

  “So we take it you like your present then?” her father said with a grin.

  “Like it? Are you kidding! I love her! It is a her …?” she said, looking at her parents to confirm it.