Written by:

SavannahSage#7603

Long ago, when the Arkaines were not many, but few, there was a tale told of their Master of Dreams.

For when Kamales and Valones created the Arkaine, in their image, they could not truly know the nature of the world to which they would put their creations. Sita was a beautiful, but harsh, place for these creatures. Though they were gifted with the power of the gods, they toiled in their lives to make something of the gifts they had been given. Throughout the years of their life, they felt devotion to their gentle creators, and their leaders who guided them ever further in their path. But, the longer one stands in the light, the larger their shadow must become.

There was a force on Sita. A force that the Arkaines could not anticipate would ever leech into the happiness they fought to create for themselves. It was a sickness of the mind, one that began slowly. Fussy babies, ones who cried sleeplessly through the night. No amount of consoling could calm them. Then it began to travel to children, who said they saw shadows in the campsite, late at night. Fearsome monsters made of darkness, with dripping fangs of malice and poison. The adults and warriors of the village thought nothing of the nightmares experienced by children, and quickly quieted their fears with gentle words of encouragement. "It's only a dream. Nothing can get you. Sleep."

By the time these dreams, and nightmares, began to reach the adults, it was obvious something was quickly becoming wrong in the Arkaine homeland. The children who had been afflicted by these night terrors were no longer sleeping the night, terrified to close their eyes less their demons sneak up on them. They quickly became sick, and the adults of the village began to realize the problems they faced. Their children were getting weaker with each breath, and there became a disturbing trend of watching their lifethorns dull before their very eyes. The Prophets and Tribe Leaders did all they could to seek remedies for the sickness that was spreading across the children, using every herb and spell they could. Masters of precognition stared into the crystal for days, unable to ascertain an answer, while those skilled in telepathy did their best to assuage the fears of the children, urging them to sleep.

Nothing seemed to work.

Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, warriors and healers alike were forced to watch as their children, their families, began to grow sicker and sicker, weaker and weaker, until it seemed as if there was no hope left for them..

Until one night.. A faithful Arkaine by the name of Nihil was one of the first to begin experiencing the dreams. Though he claimed to see the same visions as the children, he was laughed off, and ignored. Nihil was an albino arkaine, without pigment to his skin or his crystals. He was plain, colourless, and he was unable to do as many of his arkaine brothers and sisters were. He could not bask in the light of the sun, and instead took solace in the light of the moon, when many slept. He was an outcast.

He claimed to have seen the visions, shared them with the children, and witnessed these horrors digging their fangs and claws into them as they finally managed to sleep. He watched as they stole the light of the lifethorn from the children, but he himself was ignored from their ire. Perhaps because he was awake?

Despite his warnings and his pleas, Nihil was ignored.. until it became obvious there was no cure for the sickness that plagued the children. With no option, the Tribe turned to Nihil, an otherwise outcast, and beg him to tell them again what he had seen. He told them the stories of the things that hunted under the light of the moon, hidden in the shadows of the mind until the dreams came out. He was sure they had infected the dreams of the children, leeching their health and life away night by night. The Elders and Leaders were confused. How could they fight something in the mind of their children? If they kept them awake, they would die from exhaustion, but if they allowed them to sleep to try to recover their energy, then these supposed beasts would continue to bleed their very spirits dry.

Nihil, however, had a plan.

Although he could not run and jump and hunt in the light of the sun like his Tribe, he did have something he could do. He told the tribe of his ability to separate from his body while he dreamed under the light of the full moon. There, he could sail through the skies and to the representation of Valone herself, and enter the World of Dreams.

He was sure these beasts were hiding there, a plague that had infected the once hallowed ground. After all, who could stop them if there were none that could reach them? To the Tribe, these things were simply shadows. Shadows that they could not see unless they too were dreaming, and if they fell asleep they were at the mercy of creatures that knew how to navigate that world. But Nihil had spent his life learning to go there willingly, to control his actions, and even gain powers that he said could help.

So it was that under the light of the full moon, Nihil was surrounded by the warriors and healers, fathers and mothers, as he rested in the tent with the sick children. The top was left open, allowing them all to bask in the light of the full moon, and the Tribe watched as the gentle, warm white glow of Nihil's lifethorn began to cover them all. The light's intensity increased so much that it became obvious that the children's shadows were not their own. They were twisted, snarling monsters with red, glowing eyes and poisoned fangs. They bit fiercely at the lifethorns of the vulnerable, refusing to let go.

It was then that Nihil's light became a reflection of himself, and it was flying. One by one he thrust his hands into the monsters, replacing their darkness with light, and one by one the children's anguished, paints faced began to relax, and they fell into a deep slumber, filled with dreams.

Nihil, however, did not wake up.

The tribe watched as the light gathered around the children, touching their heads one by one, and the dream of Nihil smiled at them all. Then, instead of returning to his body, Nihil's self began to fade, disappearing into a thousand little lights that scattered up into the sky, and disappeared into the moon.

His body was dead. The light was gone from his life thorn, and he was cold, as if he had been there all night.

It took days for the children to reawaken, and tell the adults what they had experienced. For days they'd been choked, pinned down by a black sea that threatened to swallow them whole. Then a light had come through, and swept away the sea into dark wisps, replacing it all with a wonderland fit for the imagination of children. What shocked the tribe the most, however, was the lingering memory the children had, of an all white arkaine, sitting in the center of a grove. He had comforted them all, told them that there would no longer be any nightmares here, and told them it was time to wake up, one by one.

From then on, there were no more nightmares amongst the Arkaine. Because Nihil, the Master of Dreams, watched over them all, under the gentle light of the moon.