Quest in Dreams

"Don't love me", he warned. "I'm just going to hurt you." it was a faint whisper barely audible. She shrugged it off thinking maybe it was just something someone said. The train station was crowded anyway. "People these days are too dramatic," she thought to herself.

She went home to see her lover waiting at their apartment just standing by the kitchen, "How was your day?" he asked with a small smile and a kiss on the forehead. It was during times like this when she wondered what had she done in her past life to deserve someone such as him.

They first met at a small art museum two train rides away. There was an art exhibition which interested them both. They talked for a while but nothing happened. They just know it wouldn't work out to keep in touch when one or the other travels often. The second time they met was at a large art exhibition at the national museum. Many people attended yet they still met among the crowd of people who visited to see the works. They got to know each other better and decided to try to keep in touch. The following week passed by and he wasn't able to keep in touch. The third time they met was abroad. A museum in Japan, a place whose language they did not understand. It helped them stick together. It was that meeting that led them to this day.

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She woke up to a dream that felt so real that it lingered in her head as the week passed.

She's been having dreams about travelling and finishing quests. Every week she dreams a different dream, but each about a quest. Once the quest is done, she wakes up next to her lover watching her with worried eyes, "What's wrong," he would ask.

"I've been having these dreams lately. I'm transported to a totally different world and I've been asked to do the weirdest things. It's like I'm in some sort of fame," she laughed it out during the first few weeks but as it continued, she grew weary.

In every dream she had to travel to different places looking for pieces of a watch. Each piece was so easy to find yet the people who hold it refuse to give it. She is sent to places guided by different people. Never meeting the same people again.

"I know this sounds crazy but the dreams feel so real. It's like they want me to continue to do these things and I don't know what for" she exclaimed, "I've been getting some scratches here and there on my hands and my feet in my dreams only to wake up with them still there. I don't remember it happening to me at all in real life!" she sounded worried and he wished he could help her in some way. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?" she asked with her eyes filling to the brim.

"No, my love, I don't think you're crazy." he came closer to her and hugged her while putting her head unto his shoulder. "I want to help you, but I don't know how." he said to her as he held her that morning she woke up again for the 6th time from those dreams.

The following week, her dream started with her waking up in the middle of a king sized bed with soft white sheets. The ceiling was glass and she could see only stars in the sky. The walls are white with golden accents. In front of her bed were double doors with golden handles and mirrors that reflected the room. It made the room twice as big as it already was.

The doors opened and a grown lady came in. She looked old and wise, but beautiful nonetheless. Her black hair was styled with diamonds and her eyes were a shade of dark brown. She was dressed in robes of white with some very light blue accents. Around her neck was a watch necklace, glowing brightly in comparison to her clothes. She looked composed and elegant as she walked to stand in the middle of the room, "Do you really think you have what it takes?" she asked. Her voice contrary to her soft appearance was venomous laced with some sort of disgust.

She was clueless. She didn't know this woman but the aura she gave off was familiar.

"I hope you know what you are getting into," she warned. "I summon you to collect parts of a watch." Suddenly, in front of her, a table with the watch she assembled previously appeared.

"Once you assemble this watch," she abruptly stopped. Her composed appearance was crumbling and you could read her like an open book. It was a mix of sadness, hurt and longing. She was slowly fading when tears left her eyes and then she vanished.

She vanished leaving her emotions behind. She felt it all. She layed back down onto the bed and as she closed her eyes she could see the woman and her life flash before her eyes.

She was born to a family that seemed to love her and cherish her. She was provided with everything she needed and everything she wanted. They were proud of everything she did, except one: falling in love.

She was born royalty, and so falling in love with anyone outside royalty was frowned upon by her family. She had an affair and bore a son. Her lover and son was exiled, leaving her in sorrow.

"Wake up," he tried to wake her up, "You're crying." he said as her eyes continued to shed tears even as she opened her eyes.

She woke up looking into her lover's eyes. "You have her eyes." she said.

"Whose?"

"Your mother."

He smiled then asked, "How would you know what she looks like?"

"What does the watch mean?" she asked, "I know it's you who's been guiding me in my dreams."

He sighed, his dark brown eyes starting to shed small tears.

"I didn't know any other way to tell you without sounding crazy," he said, "She started to summon you before I could tell you anything. I couldn't interfere with your dreams so I asked people to accompany you instead. The watch is almost done, there's one last thing you need: the moving hand."

He let go of her and stood from the bed. He went to the drawer where he keeps his own watches and took one she's never seen before. It was old and looked like it could easily break. He opened the watch and took the piece of the moving hand.

"My grandparents can be cruel but not totally heartless. Which is why instead of having me and my father killed, we've been exiled. My mother as a result would interfere with how life worked which forced my grandparents to accept me." he returned to his place on the bed.

"Eventually, they grew to love and cherish me, but not my father. His watch has been broken and his memories gone as he lives here. For a time, I resented my grandparents, but I learned to accept them."

"I love you so much and I don't want us to have the same tragedy as my parents. I want to spend forever with you. You haven't completed the quest yet, but you still have time. You also have a choice. If we want to be together, they can kill you" he paused as tears left his eyes, "if you don't complete your watch in time."

"You can choose not to complete it. They'll erase your memories. It'll be like nothing happened, but they'll complete the watch and once the moving hand stops, you'll die." he cried.

"So please, I am so sorry for getting you into this. But I don't want to see you die. I love you" he said as he put his hands on her face. "I love you so much" he chanted as he closed his eyes and put their foreheads together.

She was also crying. His mother was right when she said that she didn't know what she was getting into. He wasn't kidding when he said his grandparents were cruel. After all she's been through, she still knows that she loves him. That hasn't changed.

She chose to make the watch to become a part of his world.

Finally, she revisited the place she has been summoned to every time she falls into a slumber. This time, she comes awake, hand in hand with her lover and the watch around her neck in the form of a necklace.

"Grandfather Time, it's been a while" he said.