Along time ago, I had resigned myself to the fact that every night without fail I would dream the exact same duplicate dream, and tonight had been no different. Since I was young I had had the most vivid of dreams some of which told stories, others were completely nonsensical, and some turned out to be vague predictions of the future.
Since the day I first set eyes on Casius he had become a regular in my reoccurring dream. The main thing that truly puzzled me about this particular dream was it’s relevance, or lack of, surely if it kept returning it must mean something? My dreams in the past had always-slotted easily into one of three categories: story, prediction or utter nonsense. Yet this dream wasn’t defined enough to fit in any one of them. My awakening thoughts often lingered on its significance and the more I dreamt it the more puzzled I became.
As always I was stood alone in a small opening deep within the greatest depths of the forest. It was night though it was not dark as the moon sat above me in its zenith, graciously sharing its light with me. The air is light as the forest cradles me safely within its arms and the trees do not speak only swaying softly in the light night breeze. Even the birds seemed to appreciate the beauty of the moment, as they too were silent. It was neither warm nor cold. I felt my breathing fall into cadence with the rest of nature. The snapping of a twig broke the silence though it did not cause me alarm. It seemed that even my dream-self had come to understand the predictability of this dream. Casius entered into the opening we exchanged smiles though neither of us spoke. With my eyes closed I tried to commit every minute detail of this moment to my memory. My eyes did not open as he took hold of my hand or as his sweet breath tickled my neck as he leant in to kiss it. I let the smell of his skin consume me as I fought the urge to step back and take another look at him. As I pictured him in my head I heard him whisper I love you in my ear and I couldn’t fight the urge anymore but as I opened my eyes I was shocked to find that there was nobody there and the world had begun to spin around me. My eyes shot around frantically, both my dream-self and I knew that something was wrong, terribly wrong.
When the spinning finally stopped I felt the air of the forest rapidly turn to ice. I felt eyes bearing into every inch of my body. Wolves entered into the opening, more than I could count and they were much bigger than I could have ever imagined. They stared at me as they each growled their low murmuring growls. I felt the presence of something behind me and I turned to find Casius stood there with a fierce look in his eyes, which made him an almost stranger to me, and as he threw me backward not a tinge of regret clouded his eyes. The forest began to rage and scream out at me to run. I felt too afraid to move. The wolves had gone now though I could still feel eyes looking out from the depths of the shadows. A soaring pain tears through my back and stomach though when I look there is nothing there. Casius falls limply to his knees clutching the sword that had pierced through his stomach and I realised that it was his pain that I felt. As I knelt down beside him he immediately pushed me away,
“Leave” he pleaded, “you must go now,” his words were filled with such conviction that my legs had almost taken me there and then but my heavy heart was stronger. The forest fell into an abrupt silence and I could feel tiny vibrations on the forest floor as someone or something approached. A chorus of hisses erupted in the trees and as I look up I am faced by some three-dozen vampires all waiting expectantly, all waiting patiently. I began to listen more intently now and I picked up on the beating of countless hearts and I began to panic in the knowledge that none of which came from the vampires. The trees plead with me in whispers to run, run as fast as I could.
“Please go,” whispered Casius, “do it for me.” I hesitated slightly before I allowed my legs to take flight, carrying me through the forest as my heart was breaking inside my chest. I gasped for air as I realised that I had forgotten to breathe. The pain was spreading as my heart shattered like glass slicing me from the inside out. It was all beginning to feel much more real then it ever should but there was nothing I could do about it. I had become trapped within my dream having to wade it out until it came to its natural end, if it had one at all. I could sense that death was nearby and with each passing second it crept ever closer to me.
As I got closer to the edge of the forest a mist made it difficult for me to see my house though I didn’t stop running until I was safely inside. I called out for Meredith, for Edgar for Cassandra,
“Anyone home?” the house was unnervingly quiet, and I was completely alone. I could feel the air of the house closing in on me as I became aware that something was approaching.
They were coming for me and they weren’t going to stop until they got what they came for…
My eyelids shot open more suddenly than I could have anticipated; I stared up at the artificial stars on my ceiling, reeling from my dream and trying to calm my breathing back down to its usual steady pace. I lay in a cold sweat with tears streaming uncontrollably from my eyes. I looked around my room expecting to find something out of sorts yet I noticed how everything was in its place, just as I had left it. Even so, everything around me felt wrong and unfamiliar. Even after I managed to settle my breathing into a more regular rhythm, which my heart was much more acquainted with, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of something being terribly wrong.
As I shook off my remaining fatigue I became reacquainted with the world outside of my dreams and for once I was pleased about it. As I became fully in tuned with the real world I began to hear hushed voices coming from downstairs. I immediately threw my bedcover aside and jumped to my feet causing a swirling motion in my head as the blood rushed to it.
I stumbled as I slid on my jeans, yanked on the first tee I pulled from my drawer, slid my feet into my boots, and threw on my coat. Instinctively I had dressed for the cold, expecting to be going out into the forest though wasn’t sure why exactly. Even over my elephant-pitched feet as I ran down the stair I could still hear the voices erupting from within the living room. They had been speaking quite intensely until I burst through the door much more melodramatically than I had intended. My eyes flickered to the fireplace where our crystal ward hung; now glowing blood red as its pulsing vibrations sent a shrill ringing into my ears. All eyes were now locked on me, some of them I recognised, fellow witches and warlocks from the other realm, from home, but there was many faces that I did not know and I began to feel embarrassed about my entrance. Their glares descended from me as Alastair came in from the kitchen.
“Ah Ethelda, did we wake you?” he asked in his constant caring tone.
“No, not entirely,” I told him truthfully, “I had this dream-“ I had met Alastair before, he was a very old and wise wizard of high ranking among the Elders and the Host, I was also quite aware of his personal ability to make anyone or anything speak the truth, as much or as little as he desired. I told him and all those who listened, about my dream though not because Alastair made me but through my own free will. He tended to keep that specific ability for the enemy and on the odd occasion, disobedient children, either way he appreciated our privacy.
“But what does it mean Alastair?” A petite woman with electric pink hair asked him slightly agitated.
“Ah Hetty,” he said, “do not fret so much you will end up looking like me, warts and all,” he laughed though Hetty was less than impressed. “I know it’s difficult for you to be in the dark like the rest of us,” he continued, “to have you sight to disappear like this, but that does not make you any less of a witch.”
“I don’t understand any of this, why are we in danger, the ward it glows blood red, I have never seen it that way before.” I quizzed
“As the gatekeepers between the realms, you and your family live her to keep guard over the humans, the crystal ward is full of a mystical power that no wizard, witch or warlock alone could behold. It senses danger, all types and now it glows blood red because we are all in danger. Demons are coming here, whispers through the forests tell us that they search for something but we do not know what. All we know is that we cannot allow them to come through the forest, they cannot come directly into the human realm, it is unpredictable the travesty that they can cause if they pass by us. We must protect the humans at all costs, they cannot know of our existence or that of the demons but most importantly of all we cannot allow them to be harmed.”
The room remained quite as Alastair finished speaking; no one seemed to want to be the first to speak or the first to run a million miles away.
“What are we waiting for?” I said with a little too much nonchalance, I was surprised by my own confidence in this moment, “I want to fight, I want to fulfil my purpose, to protect the humans.” I was sure some were considering I was crazy, I could see others nodding in agreement. Yet all seemed reluctant to leave, to fulfil the destiny we now share together. They looked to Alastair for guidance, our silently elected leader.
“Ethelda is right” he declared, “but this is not only the responsibility of the gatekeepers. We should all be in this together, we must fulfil our destinies as they unravel before us, putting aside our fears and hesitations. Now I cannot guarantee that we will all return here…”
His voice seemed to fade into the distance as the reality began to dawn on me. These people here, people just like me who have powers beyond what even I can imagine, were afraid. Memories in my head began to revert back to the dream that had woken me not half an hour ago. Even in my dream world I had sensed something was wrong. Now I stand in my living room and I begin to fear the same things as the rest of my kind, I fear for my life, for our lives.
Everyone had begun to gather their things together; some had gone down into the basement where, unknown to me there were weapons for such an occasion. Hetty handed me a sharp bladed silver sword, I took hold of the leather laced ivory grip and took a long look at my weapon. I couldn’t help but feel somewhat helpless; I had no idea what I was going to do. Hetty sensed my fear as she took hold of my free hand and looked deep into my eyes, she seemed to read my thoughts and in that moment all I could do was shake my head as a single tear rolled down my cheek.
“There’s no need to worry Ethelda,” she whispered to me sweetly,” you’ll know exactly what to do when you need to, there are great things in your future I have seen it already, just believe in yourself, you possess more power than you think.”
After watching my exchange with Hetty, Meredith marched forward to Alastair, a worried look clouding her eyes as she spoke in an almost whisper,
“Are you sure?” she was choosing her words very carefully, something which I had never known her to do before, “I mean with what has happened lately, how can we be sure,” she glanced over at me, confirming that she was speaking about me, “how do we know she will fight with us and not with them.”
“Surely you will have more trust in your own daughter, Meredith?” now all ears listened intently
“Yes but – she attacked me, her own mother… And with dark magic.” The entire room seemed to close in on me as people gasped, I could feel everyone’s eyes bearing into my skin as they all took a tiny step away from me, afraid all excepting Hetty who stood firm still clutching at my hand.
“We each have the ability to conjure dark magic but that does not make us sorcerers, Meredith, you of all people should know that. But it is not our abilities, which shape us; it is the choices we make. Ethelda is no more of a sorceress than either you or I, are you?” He had spoken to me with his usual compassion yet I couldn’t help but feel like I was standing trial, making my plea of innocence and hoping that the jury would believe me.
“No, I –“ I wanted to tell them all how it was an accident, how I never intended to use dark magic, but Alastair stopped me before I could continue.
“Then if that’s all questions answered and all doubts diminished we should be making our way. Tonight is an important night for us all and we cannot fail.”
And with that we all left. Left my safe warm living room and were going deep into the forest
i read it through and was interested all the way! i wasn't expecting this from the title, well, dream of danger, but not necessarily the whole shebang you wrote out! 
keep writing and have fun!