The life of a Dreamcatcher

The life of a Dreamcatcher

Of all the places to meet someone it was Starbucks that the girl had chosen to meet. It was part of a chain of small stores, not the most ideal of places but it was preferable. Inside the rich smell of coffee beans mixed the warm smell of fresh pastries.

The girl had come earlier then necessary and now she regretted it as she sat nibbling on a cinnamon roll. The dark hood of her hoodie was flicked up, covering her features quiet well. The door opened to let a young man with a tousle of thick blonde hair through. He wore a somewhat conservative jacket over a pair of dark denim jeans.

The girl waited until he had ordered some coffee before waving him over. He looked a little surprised y her get up and perhaps a little nervous as well. Glancing around he made his way over and took the opposite seat.

“Hi, my name is Richard Cooper, the journalist from Times magazine. And you are?” he asked getting right down to business.

“Call me Vanessa. Now what I’m about to tell you will seem unreal. Like something from a storybook. I’ve read your articles and you seem to be very open minded about things, correct?”

“Well, yes I find it’s easier to get good stories that people will want to read if you don’t focus on just one thing.” He replied leaning forward. Already his notepad and tape recorder were out.

“Good, now to assure you that I’m not making any of this up I’m going to show you something.” Vanessa hesitated while Richard leaned back, suddenly unsure. Finally though she pulled down her hood to reveal a pair of wolfish ears atop her head. Her amber eyes glittered as they assessed his reaction carefully.

“That is unreal!” he muttered to himself. Vanessa flicker her ears in response earning a low whistle from the reporter.

“What are you?”

“I am a Dreamcatcher,” Richard raised an eyebrow, “It’s a borrowed name.” She added.

“But it’s a fitting name seeing as it is Dreamcatchers who hunt down the creatures that go bump in the night, so to speak. We are the peacekeepers, the policemen, of our world.”

“Hang on, what do you mean ‘our world’ exactly?”

Vanessa gave a small knowing smile, “Our world is one you can’t see. Because we don’t want you to see it, And when I say ‘we’ I mean creatures from your stories and more. A few of the more commonly known ones being vampires, werewolves, fey, est. Yes, Mr. Cooper, they are real. Your old fairytales and stories are based off of real creatures that once lived alongside humans. For millions of years we have been here, growing alongside humans. And for a while we did so peacefully. Together we built great cities, established trades, found new places. But then doubt and mistrust was slowly stirred in the hearts of man. Humans, being the skittish creatures that they are, started to believe that we were conspiring to over take them. And of course that led to full-blown panic, which in turn led to the war. For over 300 years we fought.

“For over 300 years there was so much death and despair. The once great cities that stood as symbols of our alliance, burned and crumbled. Homes and lives were destroyed. Hope was something that you would be hard pressed to find during that time. No one believed that the war would ever end. And if it did then it would only be because there was no one left to fight it. But it did end though, even if only for a short while. It had left the land scarred and broken, but that was not the only thing left in near ruin. All the races, including man had nearly been wiped out. It was during this time that the Elders decided that it was time to leave. After they consulted the Travelers they started to put their plan into motion,”

“And what are the Elders and Travelers? What are their jobs in your society?” Richard interrupted scribbling something down on his pad.

“The Elders are a select few from the major races. They are the oldest and wisest. It’s their job o make the big decisions that effect everyone. They are also the ones who decide how punishments are carried out. The Travelers on the other hand have the rare ability to ‘travel’ from one place to another.”

“Like teleportation,”

“Yes, something like that. Only a Traveler can go to different dimensions and such. Now the Elders wanted gather the remaining survivors and ship them off to somewhere safe. Away from here, and that place was Alore. I remember that day quiet clearly, I was just a young pup then-”

“Whoa whoa slow down a little, you say that you were there? But that was ages ago!” The reporter looked at the girl in utter disbelief. He began to wonder if this was really just an elaborate joke.

“Yes it was, and that’s the funny thing about a Dreamcatcher. We aren’t exactly physical; more or less a Dreamcatcher is basically what you would call a soul or a spirit. We are rather hard to kill; in fact it’s near impossible unless you know the technique. But it has been long forgotten by even the Elders. So in essence a Dreamcatcher can live forever, moving from on body to the next.

“We once had our own bodies,” Vanessa continued before Richard could interrupt with another question, “But those bodies could be killed. And once that happened the soul would have to either create a new one, or move onto a already made one. Creating a Dreamcatcher body is an extremely difficult and tedious task. So instead we have been using human bodies.”

“So you guys are like parasites?”

“We are nothing like parasites!” Vanessa snarled at the reporter, “The Dreamcatcher chooses an unborn child that is compatible with the Dreamcatcher. Until the child is mature the Soul does nothing besides lie dormant. Once the child has reached puberty the Soul awakens and becomes apart of the child. The only influence we have on a human body is physical appearance, and on some occasions, a few mental abilities. Other than that the Soul is really just going along for the ride, the child is in complete control of himself.”

“But how can the kid live with ears sprouting out of their heads! They would be labeled a freak of nature and then the Government would be on their ass,” the reporter objected, horrified.

“The body has a natural glamour, ever since the war glamours have been something that is imprinted into the Souls being. It comes naturally, and sometimes the child doesn’t even realize that something is different. They live their life like they would if they Dreamcatcher had never picked them.

“Now backtracking to your previous question, yes I was there. Because a Dreamcatcher can leapfrog from one body to the next they can basically live forever.” Vanessa paused to let everything sink in, and to give the poor man a chance to ask any questions. Only when he remained silent for a good five minutes did she continue.

“The Elders and Travelers had a large gathering of all those within the general area. They explained their plan to leave Earth. They told us about Alore, about paradise. It almost seemed to good to be true. And of course the word was spread to those who weren’t there when the news was first spoken of. Word not only spread to those who were meant to hear it but also to the tired ears of Man. At first they were overjoyed but then they started to think that we would return with more. And in their weakened state they would easily crumble. It was this belief that led them to launch a final assault upon us in hopes of destroying us once and for all. The Elders panicked and ordered the Travelers to take whom they could and flee for Alore. Unfortunately they were unable to take everyone with them. Many were left behind to be cut down by mans hand. Those that were left behind tried to fight back but the war had left them weary, and believing that the Travelers would never come back, they fell easily under the sword.

“I watched so many die, too young to fight, and too young to understand what had happened I watched the only family I knew die before me. I remember the taste of pure terror as I fled into the trees with hounds hot on my heels. Only then can you understand the fear that a fox feels when a pack of beagles and a herd of horsemen are hunting it down. Only then would you know the panic a rabbit feels when it is holed up in it’s home with no where to go but into the hungry jaws of the wolf.

“The hounds caught me and tore me apart before they could be called off. When they finally were though, I remember looking up to see a flash of dull silver and then blissful nothing. It wasn’t long after that I found a human body that was compatible with me. And so I was born into the new world of man, from there I grew up, lived and eventually died, as all must. My Soul moved through time, some of my lives I was never aware of what I really was while others I was. And as a Dreamcatcher I soon learned of my new duty. To keep our existence and secret. And to hunt down those who would let it slip to the highest bidder. I met other Dreamcatchers like me, even a shape shifter. We formed a team of sorts, every life we lived we would track each other down again. The one thing you never want to do when you can live forever is to form bonds with those who don’t.

“The shape shifter eventually died, he went down fighting at least. He had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, a bullet that was meant for someone else hit him dead between the eyes. He had just managed to subdue the person we were after when he was killed. And it’s a shame really ‘cause if he hadn’t died that day, if he had just lived for a few more days, he could have gone to paradise as well. You see Mr. Cooper; the Travelers came back for those who were left behind so long ago. They never forgot about us back here on Earth. And that is why I am telling you about this, about us. It doesn’t matter any more, there is no one left for man to kill. No one left to start another war with. They are all gone, never to return to this hell hole that we once were happy to call home.” A sad tone crept into the girl’s voice, belying her indifferent look.

“But why are you still here? Shouldn’t you be with the rest, shouldn’t you be in Alore too?” Richard asked confused,

“No, I was condemned to this place. But that’s a story to be saved for a stormy night, and besides, who else is going to enlighten you humans about your past?” With that the girl flicked her hood back up and stood to leave. “Thank you for listening to our story, Mr. Cooper. Perhaps we will see each other again, or perhaps not.”

The man remained silent as he watched the girl leave the shop. Sitting back in his seat he ran his hand through his hair and shook his head.

“They are never going to believe this,” He laughed quietly to himself taking a sip of his now cold coffee.