Leynth

Leynth had long known that dreams were fragile little things.

Leynth’s dreams were meant to start small and grow, slowly weeding out darkness and replacing it with warm light. He would guide someone through the whole night as they slept, working through their fears, making them change into more manageable beasts, or fade entirely into the ether they had come from. He would always leave a feather from his multitudinous wings when he left, discreetly places on his ward’s dream form, to protect them in the future. Because of this, Leynth was known and loved wherever he went, as someone who did not just stop a nightmare, but replaced them with a cultivated field of calming dreams.

And while he could not help everyone, it was enough to see small children smile when he changed their terrors into joy. It was enough to comfort a grieving widow, to give them a fulfilling goodbye to a loved one in their dreams and help them realize true peace, true acceptance. Those always took some time, and they were always changed, but there was always a quiet peace after he had visited them. His greatest fear and greatest challenge was nightmares borne from war, of blood and death and visceral things. He couldn’t wipe those away always, they spread and infected like a poison against his dreams - he would always try, and as of yet, he hadn’t failed. Maybe he couldn’t do as much for those few who called on him with that held in their hearts and minds, but he could help more than any other source they had found. That was by far enough payment for him.

But one day, he met a wandering soul that he... could not handle.

A lone skydancer, with far-off eyes. He said that he hadn’t slept in weeks, and he looked every bit the part. Leynth sat with him and invited him back to his tent, made him food, and then told him that he could help. The skydancer seemed to half hear him, most likely just too tired to acknowledge Leynth’s words fully, but he smiled nonetheless. Leynth took him in and held him gently, lulling the wandering soul to sleep with his lullabies. He took a breath and let himself go, entering into his mind to find what kept this poor one from peace.

It was blank darkness. Leynth had never seen an emptiness quite like that before, and he was taken aback. There was a small wavering light in front of him though, and he moved towards it, singing to draw it near. His assumption was correct, it was the dreamer, but... it was too small. It was as though his spirit, his being itself, had been eaten away to just a flame. Leynth picked him up and held him close, finding just the faintest light coming from him. Drawing in a breath, he began to sing once more - the light began to grow and his wings unfurled. The light spread over his feathers, and he felt the world begin to take form around him. All he had to do was plant a seed from this light, and he could get the world to grow into a peaceful dream, instead of this eerie void.

And he saw. Leynth saw the world turn red behind his eyes, and felt fire in his veins. He saw the world alight about him, beasts made of blood and rotten pus slinking at the edges of his vision, his worst fears churning his stomach. The soul in his palms flickered, something, and he held it close, too afraid to move. His song was swallowed by bellowing, a black mass whirling about his vision, making him doubt who he was, who he had ever been.

The soul within his arms suddenly changed. It flashed black, engulfed his arms, burning and changing its light into a horrid black flame. Leynth was terrified, trapped, and burning - and then it whisped in front of him, the spirit. It grew eyes, more than made sense, more than even a mirror, and smiled with all its rows of teeth. he felt fangs along every inch of his body, tearing away his wings, his dream form being drained of every light he had.

It was over in an instant when he awoke, a pained cry tearing him awake. The skydancer stared at him, eyes wide and unseeing, shaking. Leynth was terrified. He had never known a fear like that, had never had a nightmare try to devour him. Leynth did something he’d never thought he’d do, too scared to do anything else, too unable to do the only thing he’d ever been good at, too overwhelmed to even speak to the shell-shocked soul in front of him.

Leynth ran.