The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 14
Etsop opened the back door of his store. It led to a tunnel of sorts, where the ground was black, and the only light was a small dot in the distance.
Fairy tales are real.
Rose Briar is a diabetic college student without insurance. She’s been scraping by through a combination of maxing out credit cards and relying upon the kindness of strangers.
Unfortunately, she’s spent every dollar at her disposal. There’s no money left to buy her life-saving insulin.
Without her medication, Rose falls into a diabetic coma. She tumbles into a deep slumber and wakes up in a fantastical place called the Dream Realm, where fairy tales and legends of old are still very much alive.
She has one chance to wake up.
She must trek across the world, visit the most powerful object in the land, the Obsidian Spindle, and entreat with the fates; the only beings powerful enough to send her soul back to Earth.
But evil forces don’t want her to leave. They will stop at nothing to capture her and make sure she never goes home again.
Now, with the help of her half-gorgon girlfriend and a mysterious red rider, Rose must race across the land fighting dragons, monsters, and the forces of the Wicked Witch, Nimue, in order to reach the Obsidian Spindle before her body dies on Earth and she’s trapped in the Dream Realm forever.
Will she be able to wake up? Can she survive? Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.
Etsop opened the back door of his store. It led to a tunnel of sorts, where the ground was black, and the only light was a small dot in the distance.
“Where are we?” I asked, breathlessly. The darkness weighed on me so heavily it nearly brought me to my knees.
“The Nightmare Realm. It is a gateway between Hell and Earth, and the only place I feel at home.”
“The Nightmare Realm?” Jamil asked.
Etsop nodded. “Just like dreams, nightmares exist outside of the universe. However, while the Dream Realm is fueled by happiness and light, this place is fueled by darkness, and that darkness is growing more powerful by the day.”
“Why?”
Etsop shrugged weakly. “There used to be balance between the realms of light and dark, but now the door to the Dream Realm is closed to all dreamers, all dreamers except your Rose apparently. Everyone else, well, they have no choice but to end up here, in the Nightmare realm, fueling Epiales, the trickster god who rules here.”
“Is that why everything is so messed up on Earth?” Jamil asked.
“Messed up?” Etsop asked. “I quite like it here.”
“Well, I’m sure it’s great for a demon, but like…have you looked around at everything that’s happening on the news? It’s like the whole world has gone mad.”
“Feels the same to me as it’s always been,” Etsop replied. “But if this place has gone to pot, then it is a good bet that nothing will get better here until the balance is restored. Of course, I relish the darkness, so I hope it consumes everything.”
“Enough,” I said. “I’m not here for a history lesson. Why am I entering the Nightmare Realm?”
“It is the quickest way through to find the door into the Dream Realm. Doors connect the Nightmare Realm to Earth, as well. They won’t open for most, but I have been given special dispensation from the dark lord.”
“Why?”
“I was his lover once, before I was trapped in this hideous body. Epiales felt pity for me, so he allows me travel between his realm and Earth.” Etsop placed his spindly hand on my shoulder. His fingers glowed for a second, and I felt a warm energy flow down my back. “I have given some of that power to you, for a time. Use it quickly, or you will be stuck here forever.”
“I will try. Where am I going?”
“Do you see that?” Etsop said, pointing his spindly hand toward the light.
“Yes,” I said. “It’s about the only thing that I can see in this dark.”
“Don’t take your eyes off of it. That light will take you to where you need to go. When you get there, speak with Mydnyte, concubine of Nox. If she deems you worthy, she will open the door for you.”
“And if not?”
“Then, she will eat you whole.”
“Binary,” Jamil said, behind me. “I like it.”
I turned to her. “Are you sure you won’t come with me?”
“After hearing that, yeah, I’m doubly sure.” Jamil nodded empathically. “Besides, I have work to do, and classes to attend. Plus, I can check in on Rose if I go back.”
“Can you take notes for me?” I said, hugging her. “Please?”
“I’ll try. No promises. You probably won’t come back, anyway.”
“I’m coming back.”
Jamil chuckled. “I like your confidence. I’ll do what I can. Promise.”
I turned back to the door and took a deep breath. “Then off I go.”
“Remember,” Etsop said. “Don’t lose the light, or you will be lost in the Nightmare Realm forever.”
I took a step out of the door and it slammed closed behind me. I wanted to look back, but knew in doing so, I risked losing the light. Something squished under my feet when I took a step, but I kept my eyes on the light.
With every step deeper into the darkness, my skin grew colder until even the swaying of my arms was agonizing, like my limbs were succumbing to frostbite. The wind whipped around me, and I saw in it twisted and demented faces, no doubt the faces of damned souls caught in the Nightmare Realm.
They whispered and chattered to me. “Give up.” “Stop.” “You will never be worthy.” More and more of them floated into my ears and weakened my resolve, but I kept pressing onward toward that light in the distance.
“Watch out.”
I had hardly even processed the voice when, just like that, I tripped over something. I snapped my head up and looked down the tunnel, but the light was gone. I pushed myself to my feet, scanning the darkness all around me. “No! No! Bring it back! Bring back the light!”
The cackles of the damned filled my ears and my soul grew heavy. They were right. I would never be worthy. I should just stop here. I should curl up in a ball and fade away.
“Enough!” I heard in a booming voice. I recognized it instantly as my mother’s.
I whipped around. “Mom?”
Out of the darkness came a glimmer of light. First, her long snake-like tail came into focus, and then her scaly arms, and finally, her head, replete with a dozen snakes ten times longer than mine. Long fangs peeked out beneath her lips. She flicked one of the snakes away like stray bangs and murmured, “Seriously, they are so annoying. All they do is bicker all day.”
“Mom!” I shouted, running toward her. My arms wrapped around what I thought was her waist but all I felt was cold air, and I stumbled through the ghostly form of her.
“Don’t run too far from me. You have no idea how hard it is to find anything in the Nightmare Realm. Take my word for it. It’s very difficult.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, I’m dead, my love, and the dead have to wind up somewhere, don’t they?”
“I suppose so, but I didn’t realize the Nightmare Realm was the afterlife.”
“This wasn’t my first choice. I hear that in Hell, they let monsters torture the dead. That would be much more fun. Unfortunately though, when you die in your sleep, there are only so many options.”
I had never known how my mother died, just that she was taken by monster hunters. They only ever found pieces of her body. The rest of her was skinned for parts. Gorgon tails alone are worth $100,000 on the black market.
“I didn’t know. They only found part of your body.”
“I’m not surprised. Butchers they were, the ones that took me. Not much I can do about it now.”
I sniffled, trying to fight back my emotions. “They’ve come for me, too, several times.”
My mother put her hand to her mouth. “Oh, child. I’m so sor—”
“It’s fine,” I replied, choking back a tear. “It’s our lot in life, right?”
She sighed. “I never wanted that for you. I thought—I thought maybe with a human father you would—have a chance at a normal life.”
I bit my lip. “Yeah, well, normal went out the door when you died—But it’s fine. It’s fine. I’m…fine.”
Mom caught my eyes. “Don’t lie to me, child.”
I clenched my fists tightly. “Please, just let me, okay? There’s nothing you can do about it, and there’s nothing I can do about it. We just have to deal with our lot in life.”
A slight smile grew across her face. “You truly are my daughter. You’re right. No matter how bad our lot, we must deal with it with a stiff upper lip. After all, I thought I would be in the Dream Realm but—”
“The Dream Realm! That’s where I’m going. Why aren’t you there?”
“Because I died during a nightmarish hallucination. Those that took me needed me alive while they harvested my organs. The magic that courses through our veins becomes less powerful if harvested after death, so they placed me into a coma while they worked. Merciful, that bit, at least I didn’t feel any pain.”
“Don’t give those butchers any credit. But…if you were asleep why didn’t you enter the Dream Realm?”
“Urgu has not opened itself to dreamers in a century. Now every dream is a nightmare, and every dreamer ends up here. Nobody has seen the Dream Realm since Hypnos was vanquished and Hera took over, and her progeny, the Wicked Witch, Nimue.”
“I don’t get it. Wouldn’t people know that there weren’t dreams anymore? I swear I dream all the time.”
“You haven’t lived long enough to remember dreams. None who are alive now do. All you know is what you think are dreams, but I assure you, they are not.”
Mom let out a deep sigh. “There used to be a balance between nightmares and dreams. However, with every passing day the Nightmare Realm collects more of the divine spark and grows more powerful. The balance is weakening, and soon, the Nightmare Realm will overpower everything, including the Dream Realm.”
“That sounds like it’s a big problem, and one that needs to be addressed, but it’s a little over my head right now. Right now, I just need to save Rose. Etsop used a crystal ball to locate her and said that she’s in the Dream Realm. I need to get there.”
“Who’s Rose?”
My mother had died before I started dating. She didn’t even know I was gay. “She’s my girlfriend.”
“Oh?” Mom said. She didn’t waver for a second about my sexuality. She just smiled. “Does she treat you well?”
I nodded. “Very well. I love her. That’s why I can’t lose her.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you are happy.”
“Well, happiness is relative.”
“Treasure what you have. Happiness is a fickle thing. You’ll learn it never gets easier, even with time.”
“That’s depressing.”
“My love, you are in the Nightmare Realm, trying to save your girlfriend. It doesn’t get much more depressing than that.” My mother turned away from me. “If she really is in the Dream Realm, you have little time to lose before the Wicked Witch finds her. She’s obsessed with dreamers and thinks they are the key to changing her fate.”
“And what fate is that?”
“She is fixated on escaping the Dream Realm. Nothing can leave that place, except for dreamers. Nimue has been experimenting on them for generations in order to find a way to leave for herself and her goddess, Hera.”
“Hera, the god?”
“That’s right. The mother of Gorgons. She is the reason we were given this accursed form. Once, we were beautiful—”
“We are still beautiful.”
“Don’t patronize me, dear. I know you don’t believe that.” Again, my mother smiled. “But I appreciate your small kindness.”
“I do think you are beautiful, though. I just don’t think I am.”
“That is more of Hera’s doing. I will never forgive her for what she did to me.”
“How did she get locked in the Dream Realm?”
“She was imprisoned by Zeus for her mischievous ways. Only the Dream Realm and Nightmare Realm can hope to hold a god. The gods do not trust Epiales, and for good reason. He is tricky and a schemer. Even now I feel a plot brewing, but I have not been able to discern its nature. Hypnos was the much more trustworthy brother. He kept Hera contained for eons, until she overthrew him. Still, the Dream Realm has not bowed to her rule, nor have the Fates acquiesced to her demands to return to Earth.”
“They are who I need to see. I need to find Rose and take her to the Obsidian Spindle so I can return her back to her body before it dies.”
“A noble request. If I had one request of the Fates, it would be to kill Hera for cursing us with this hideous form.”
“The Fates can kill a god?”
“They can cut any thread they choose.”
“They really are the most powerful beings in the universe, then.”
“Yes, but even power has its limits, and if you don’t find your girlfriend soon, even the Fates won’t be able to help her.”
“Then I have to go quickly.”
“Quite,” my mother said. “Iam accensas ad ostium revelare.”
A bright light emanated from my mother’s hands. She pushed it away from her body like passing a basketball, and it flew across the darkness. I saw the hideous faces of the damned souls as it skated across the plains. After a second, the light illuminated a door in the distance.
“Find that door and it will lead you where you need to go.” My mother floated in front of me. “Be careful. The Wicked Witch is nobody to be trifled with.”
“I’ll try.”
She gave me a warm smile. “It was so good to see you, my love. Now, go.”
Fairy tales are real.
Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.