Once upon a Dream

Jan 25, 2020 | Fantasy, Literature

I have dreamt of a fox who was looking at me. I tried to reach out, but my arms were not long enough or it was too far… I can not say. But I know that it was telling me something…

It was no battle, but a massacre. Yet the warrior survived… Sought refuge in the forest, at the root of a great tree. He was wounded, bleeding. Suddenly it started snowing; slowly the forest and the warrior got covered in white snow…

The warrior woke up. He was weak. Upon opening his eyes he got stunned, by the sight.

A fox was standing in front of him, just looking at him. It still snowed…

“You are the fox from my dream… Did you come to help me?”

The fox looked away, maybe it wanted the warrior to follow.

“I can not get up, I am too weak. It is my punishment for fleeing the battlefield, to die here, miserably.”

He tried to reach out, to pet the little fox, but it was too far away. He tried and tried, but he was proven too weak. He started to accept his fate. Tried to call out to the fox.

“Come here please, help me…”

But it was just standing there and looking. And the snowfall did not seem to come to an end…

“Come here please… Let me hug you, let me feel your warmth… A little comfort at the end… Please do not deny it from me…”

Then the fox turned and ran away…

“No! Please no! Where are you going? …”

The warrior started to give up on the little creature.

Hours have passed. The snow started to fully cover the dying man. But then something happened…

“You are back…”

Said the warrior with his last glimpse of hope. He was near to the gates of an other world. But the fox has returned. And got something for the warrior. Slowly it approached the man. In its mouth there was a rabbit. It brought food to the dying man, so he can get back his strength. The fox gave it to him and lay on him to keep him warm, to give him a chance to get his strength back. The warrior ate the rabbit whole. He needed the all the strength he could muster up. The fox started to lick the man’s wounds. Then the warrior hugged the little fox. They were there till nightfall, when the snowing ceased.

And Darkness falls upon the earth…

The warrior had regained strength, he stood up. The fox remained at his side. A Shadow has fallen upon the winter forest. They had to flee… run away.

They run and run. So fast, so nothing could get them. The fox was leading the way, and the warrior ran at its side. They were avoiding trees, and husks. Silence was in their wake…

Behind them the Darkness devoured everything. No tree, no rock… nothing could stand in its way. It tried to grab them, touch them, but they were faster. They just ran and never looked back. Many times, it was only on a tiny luck that the Shadow could not touch them. Sometimes a tree held it back for a second. An other time it was a rock or a well-timed jump. It almost reached them.

But they could run away. Managed to escape. The fox led the warrior to a clearing where the light of the Moon could touch them. It held back the Darkness, fought it back… Banished it back to where it came from. The Moon has cleansed the forest as it emerged from behind the clouds.

The fox stopped and sat down for a moment, it was looking at the warrior. Then as the light of Lune touched it, the fox transformed into a beautiful maiden. Her hair orange, just as of a fox’s fur. Her eyes like amber. Stepped towards the warrior. She closed her eyes, the warrior did too. Then gently, with warm love, she kissed the warrior…

Sometimes it is hard to distinguish a dream from reality. And sometimes it is better not to try at all…