Levi watched silently as the boys strode into the playground. They lined up like an arrow, or a flock of geese, cutting their way through everyone. Not that they needed to. Everyone who had any smarts scuttled out of their way as they approached. And he was everyone. Just like everyone else, he ate in the cafeteria, wolfing down his lunch to get to the playground. Just like everyone else, he rushed to the playground to get a chance to play on that coveted, shiny, blue and red playset. And just like everyone else, he played in the sandbox or on the blacktop, eyeing with envy the group of fifth-and-sixth-graders that would come and take it over. He cringed as one of the boys in back kicked a second-grader out of the way. Pure, childlike fear lanced through him. He stood guard over the stair entrance.
“I-I-I saved it for you…” he stuttered. He immediately hit himself mentally for sounding so stupid.
The leader, Ryan, smirked at him. “Thanks. Meet us at my house at four. Be there on time, or…” he held up the back of his meaty hand and Levi flinched.
Ryan shook his head and chuckled, his brown-black gelled hair staying as stiff as a tree. Two redheads followed, one with freckles, one with different colored eyes. Two skinny blondes trailed them, one tall and one short, and two fat boys brought up the rear. The color drained from his rosy cheeks, the life out of his limbs. Levi felt as if he was drowning in his embarrassment.
 
Her little hands squeezed his neck as she pushed him under. She smiled as he struggled in the rose-scented bath water. Their matching blue eyes met, his filled with hatred and fear, hers with glee, both so pure as only children’s emotions so young as to not be opened to the world can be. She watched as the four years of her twin’s life drained out of him, and laughed.
 
Levi entered the dark room, treading softly, his green eyes wide and darting around in fear. He was more nervous than he’d ever been in his life. But that wasn’t a long time, considering that he was only nine. The room was lit only by candles scented with euphoric oil. It dulled his senses and made his head spin. Seven grey-cloaked figures stepped out of the shadows and took a candle, illuminating the insides of their hoods. His small, thin body shook like a twig. The middle figure lifted his hood back, and the others did the same. Ryan approached him. He glared from under thick eyebrows at little Levi with muddy, clouded eyes and put a hand on his shoulder.
“You have been chosen at this young age to join our highly esteemed Order of Realms,” He said solemnly. “This order dates back long before we were alive. We are the youngest chapter, and some of us will be moving on the before long. There are many of us in this Order, and all have become successful in the world. None have been chosen at your age. Yet we have found you worthy of this honor. Do you understand the great honor given to you?”
“Y-yes…” Levi stuttered, barely above a whisper. He heard snickers from a few boys.
“You must partake of our rituals, and follow in our ways. Our order produces the most successful of people, and the road is long and harsh. You must not stray from the path. We may be highly esteemed, but not everyone recognizes us and what we stand for. You will, under no circumstances, have an easy way through this order. There will be many trials. Yet, through all of this, you must uphold our standards. Do you understand the burden upon you, and the responsibility placed with you?”
“Yes.” The big words flew right over his head.
“Your initiation will begin at dusk. Until then, you will observe our rituals in silence.”
They blew out their candles. Levi heard a click and the lights flared on, then died down to a not-so-blinding level. The boys shrugged off their cloaks and sat back down.  This was Ryan’s bedroom, a large, spacious room with everything a boy could want. Toys littered the floor, a huge plasma screen with every game system available hooked up to it was mounted to the wall, cushy floor chairs and beanbag chairs were scattered around the room, an enormous water bed was up against one wall, and the latest-greatest Alienware desktop and laptop sat on a huge computer desk, humming away at each other. Ryan’s parents were rich beyond belief. He supposed ‘loaded’ was a better term, now that he was with big kids and they used it.
The boys settled in with glass bottles in brown paper bags and cigarettes that smelled sickly sweet. He sat down unobtrusively in the corner and watched them, hugging his knees. He had wanted to be part of this group so badly. Everyone did. They were rich, tough, and didn’t have to do anything to get good grades. Their parents paid to have them and their friends get good grades. They could get away with anything. Not that Levi was a bad boy. He generally sat by himself in the cafeteria and played in the sandbox or on the blacktop like everyone else, and like everyone else, watched Ryan’s group on the playground with envy, wishing to be a part of it.
Now that he was a part of it, though, he wasn’t really sure that it was the right idea. Their words were really big, and he didn’t really like what they were doing. Smoking was bad, even if it wasn’t tobacco. He was also pretty sure that what they were drinking wasn’t Coca-Cola. He sat there anyways, alone with his doubts. He didn’t know much about how older kids played, so he attempted to squelch them. Maybe this was how they played. Still, though, he was taught that this was wrong. As long as he didn’t have to do it himself. Maybe, if he had to, he could pretend.
The sun sank too slowly for his liking. But, eventually, the time came to go. He watched as everyone staggered up, talking and joking with slurred speech. They stumbled out to the street, Levi trailing behind. They made their way through the neighborhood and to the forest. Levi wrapped his thin arms around himself as fog swept in. He was damp, cold, and didn’t know where he was going. The older boys stumbled along in front of him, too loud for his liking. They were drunk, as he realized, and high. He didn’t know you could smoke anything but tobacco, but whatever it was could make you high.
The moon shone bright, its silver rays dripping through the trees. It splashed on the fog and made it look like thickets of shining white blades, ready to slice him in two as they reflected the light. They pricked him with a thousand cold tips as he pushed his way through. This was wrong. But he had no idea where he was, or how to get back. He had no choice but to trust them. They were his only way home. He cried out as a thorn from a rose sliced into his hand.
 
She held the new dagger in her small hands, entranced by the light that reflected of the shining silvery blade’s surface, the light captured in the rubies and sapphires on the hilt. She traced the rose etched into the blade. She wanted to try it out on something. She searched throughout the palace and awaited something potentially fascinating to present itself to her wide, blue eyes. A noise caught her attention. She followed the young wails of hunger and soiled cloths to the nursery. The new baby was crying. It wanted Mother. She wanted Mother, too. But Mother was never around. She held the dagger up to its throat and told it to be quiet or someone would hear. None of the slaves were around to mind it, and it was very insensible to be crying now. She brought the dagger down a bit, but it cried harder. She sliced all the way through. Now the baby was dead. How was she supposed to know that it would die from that? She was only six, after all. But she watched in fascination anyways as the blood bubbled out and pooled on the white cloth. It was great entertainment, and she laughed.
 
“Go on thththe bridge… idge…” Ryan slurred as he gestured towards the classic, narrow bridge that was always in movies when people had to cross a canyon.
“I don’t want to…” he whispered.
“He doesn’t wanna!” he shouted, a little too loudly. He turned to Levi. “Hah-why don’t you wanna gho across the b-bridge, Leh-leh-leh-Levi? Arrrrrr yew CHICKEN?” The boys burst into laughter.
“I’m NOT chicken!”
“Thhhhhhennnnn go! Ha-ha-ha-Halfway acrosh!”
“Hey, Ryan!” The redhead with the freckled face whispered, none too softly, “didja make those wooords zhup yerself tah get the shtupid kid tah do-do thish?”
“Nah…” Ryan attempted to whisper back. “I got ‘em off thee interne-het!”
Levi shook like a leaf. His knees knocked together so hard he thought they would give way beneath him. He stared at the bridge and the outline of a city behind it, shrouded in fog. He didn’t want to go. Not really. But he willed himself to go, to prove those boys wrong. He told himself that they had never done this before, and were trying to scare him. He stiffened, threw back his shoulders, balled up his little fists, and walked slowly up to the bridge. He hoped that he looked braver than he felt. Inside his head, a voice was screaming for him not to go.
He stepped onto the bridge. It was rickety and swung wildly. Between the slats, he could see the steep cliffs plunging ever down into oblivion. A red glow came from the very bottom, and the smell of burning wafted up from beneath. He was afraid that he was going to fall. He looked back at the boys. They stood stock still, sobered immediately and rigid with fright. Without even knowing it, he had gone over halfway across. The tall blonde stuttered and pointed.
Levi turned around slowly. What he saw made him scream. Standing in front of him was a giant. It was stitched together with thick wire using parts from different people, animals, monsters, and machines. It thudded heavily when it walked, and he could hear the metal gears clanking with every step. It picked him up and slung him over its shoulder, heading towards the other side of the bridge. The giant’s metal scraped painfully against his front as he struggled to get out of its grip. He gave up, allowing the Frankenstein-thing to carry him into the city.
The haphazard monster clumped through three or four streets and into an open area, rather like a parking lot, where it unceremoniously dumped him on the ground and against the wall. It grinned at him, a lopsided smile full of metal, human, and animal teeth, not quite fitting right in his jaws. Levi heard a clack-tap, clack-tap coming from the entrance and turned his aching head slowly. A thin figure strolled over to them. He looked like Freddy Krueger, except thinner and more angular. He had green-brown, stringy hair that almost touched his shoulders, a protruding chin, a hawk-like nose, and thin, crooked, spidery hands. His eyes were a sickly green-brown. They reminded him of Ryan’s eyes. He smelled terrible, like rotting corpses.
“What did you bring me thisss time?” his voice was thin and grating.
“Look, Boney! I gotcha a nice, juicy kid!” the big creature smiled a big, dumb smile.
“You idiot! Did you go over the bridge?”
“No, sir! He was already on our side! Stupid kid!” they both laughed.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” the Krueger-copy strode slowly over to inspect Levi. He licked thin, cracked lips with his blue, slightly swollen tongue and smiled a hideous, yellow smile. He reached out with his spidery hands but stopped short and turned to look where he came in. A short figure in a long, black flowing cloak glided towards them, the smell of roses proceeding it. He couldn’t see inside the depths of the figure’s hood, but he assumed it must be just as scary as the rest. Boney stood up and backed off.
“Jack! What are you doing here?” He hissed. The figure stood still, not speaking. “I know I owe you for last week, but Jack, I sssssswear, I was going to pay you back! But as you sssssee, I’m a little busy at the moment, Jack, sssssso if you’ll exsssssscuse me…”
The figure turned its hood towards him, then turned back and pointed at him. The hand and fingers were delicate and graceful, with fingernails painted black with red tips and long and pointed like claws.
“Oh, Jack, he came over the bridge! What wasssss I sssssupossssed to do, Jack?” The figure dropped its hand. “No, Jack. I found him, he’sssss mine! I’ll pay you back, Jack. But I MUSSSSSST have the child!”
Boney gestured and both he and the giant started towards the figure. The figure started to shake. The cloak stretched and disappeared behind it. In place of the cloaked figure was a twelve-foot-tall Werepyre. It seemed to be a girl, given large hips and breasts, which were barely hidden by an Egyptian necklace in different colors of gold, heavily encrusted in jewels. She was all black with sleek fur, a bushy tail, and a blue-black spinal crest. Her jaws parted, exposing two rows of sharp, bloody teeth. The golden rings filling her huge ears jingled and tinged together as she flattened them against her neck. She snarled, and her glowing blue eyes turned red. Her hand-paws flexed, wicked, bloody claws flashing. Her black leathery wings extended to block the entrance. She padded slowly forward. She was very jackal-like in her appearance.
Frankenstein took a swing at her. In one fluid motion, she sidestepped, grabbed its arm, and threw it against the wall. It hit the brick with a heavy thud and a loud clang-crunch of metal. It slowly got up and lumbered over again for another swing. She leapt on it and tore it apart, not wanting to play. Bloody, sharp gears and body parts riddled with shards of metal were strewn all over the ground, like rose petals. Boney sneered and crouched low as he ran out the alleyway. She turned back into the dark figure and started towards him.
 
She was excited. Her father finally let her participate in an execution. She was masked in solid gold, like the boy. She knew that if she lost, she would die. But she was twelve. She already knew about death. The greatest excitement of the execution, though, was the mystery. Who was that boy behind the mask? She shrugged and took her stance, twin scimitars in hand. The boy carried a short sword. At her father’s command, they began. She was the wind, moving so swiftly that she was a blur. She was the Nile, a force not to be denied. She soon had him unarmed and underneath her. She lifted her mask and ripped off his. He was her eldest brother, the one to inherit the throne. The audience leaned forward in their seats or from their feet, eager to see if the Daughter of the Gods would really be so ruthless as to kill her own brother, knowing what she was doing. His eyes went wide with fear as he saw the glimmer of bloodlust in her own. She picked up a white rose from the ground and drove both blades through his heart. She pulled one out and dripped his blood onto it, painting it red. She took it to her father, and he smiled at her in approval. She turned to the crowd, raised her swords, and laughed.
 
The figure let her cloak drop to the ground. Levi looked up at her, awed and frightened at the same time. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her face was that of someone only sixteen, round, soft, and smooth. Her red-pink lips curved up around white teeth and a pair of fangs, pushing her rosy cheeks up towards her eyes. Those eyes were entrancing and frightening. They were glowing pure, sky blue, with slit, snakelike pupils and long lashes, framed in Egyptian-style eyeliner. Raven-colored hair cascaded past her waist like a waterfall. Gold rings clinked from her pointed ears. Her sun-kissed skin was mostly bare, with a red corset top covering the bottom half of her large breasts and very short, black shorts covering her wide hips and round behind. Her platform boots went up to her thighs. She held out her hand.
“Come, Little One,” she said, her voice sounding like that of a thousand people speaking at once. “I won’t hurt you. What’s your name, Little Light?”
“Leh-leh-leh-Levi…” he stuttered.
“Levi? Joined in Harmony… Come, Little Levi. Come with me. I’ll keep you safe. My name is Hamunaptra. You can’t stay here. They’ll eat you.”
“How do I know YOU won’t eat me?”
“I don’t kill or eat children. I even protect them from those who kill through nightmares. Come with me, and I’ll explain it all to you.”
She picked him up and he wrapped his arms around her neck and legs around her waist. “Where am I?”
“You’re in the City of Nightmares, Little Levi. This is another world, one that you weren’t meant to be in. You see, here is the source of all nightmares. You’ll find creatures here that you only see in your nightmares.” He looked around at all the creatures staring at him. He remembered some of them and shuddered. “Many of them will try to kill you through your dreams. And some, like me, will keep you from dying. Those that do enter your world through your dreams and kill and eat people before going back through your dreams again. It’s more honest and fair. Here we are.”
She turned him around. A big, open grass-covered area was filled with what looked like stars. They glowed blue-white and danced and streaked across the air. They were like stars. Some glowed red and menacing.
“What is this place?” his eyes were filled with wonder.
“This is the Field of Dreams, Little Levi,” she explained. “Right now, in your world, it’s morning time where you live. Your parents are wondering where you are, and Ryan and his friends are panicking because they saw you being taken. Here, once every full moon, the Dreams shoot back into the sky, like stars, and allow humans to cross into our world. The red ones are those having Nightmares. You can touch the Dreams if you like. I suppose it’s like touching the stars.”
Levi reached up and grabbed a few. They glowed in his cupped hands and zoomed around in panic. They tickled as they hit his hands. He giggled and threw them back up, his eyes wide with wonder. He yawned, suddenly sleepy. Her voice had changed and become like that of a songbird’s, lulling him into a sense of comfort and security. He nestled back into her arms and she flew to her manor house just outside the city limits, her black wings beating gently.
Levi woke up in a soft, comfortable bed. New clothes had been laid out for him. He put them on and walked down the spiral staircase, the smell of bacon leading him to the kitchen. He sat down at a long table and, magically, the empty plate in front of him was filled with all kinds of breakfast foods, wonderful to smell and taste.
He heard a great clamor coming from the front. He ran towards the noise, swallowing his mouthful of scrambled eggs, and stopped short. Hamunaptra was fighting off many nightmarish foes, all trying to get in the house. She looked over at him, glowing eyes filled with fear for him.
“Run, Little Levi!” she shouted as they spotted him. “Hide!”
He didn’t need to be told twice. For the three and a half weeks, he explored the manor, hiding whenever he needed to. Somehow, he always found his way back to the kitchen, where delicious food would appear on his plate, and his bed, where he would fall into weary sleep. He just wanted to go home. But he always found Hamunaptra, and they were always able to spend a little bit of time together. They grew to have a strong attachment to each other, and she loved him as her own son. He loved her, too, but often thought of home.
One night, or when the night was darker, he couldn’t sleep. He snuck over on soft feet to her room. He heard loud voices. One was hers, and one sounded like a thousand deeper voices. He assumed that it was her mate, Darren.
“Darren, please! Please let me keep him!”
“You can’t, Rose! He’s just a CHILD! He’s too pure! And you’re attracting all of these creatures who could rip you both apart if you keep him.”
“If he goes back, he’ll be corrupted! I can’t let that happen!”
“It’ll happen sooner if he stays here! Look, my love, you don’t want him to have a childhood anywhere near to ours, do you? You want to give him the best childhood possible. He can’t have that here. I know it’s hard, but you have to take him back. Shhhhh… Shhhh…”
He tiptoed back to his room to the sounds of Hamunaptra’s quiet sobs. He shivered and crawled back under the covers. Almost immediately, he fell asleep.
 
She stood still as they wrapped her in the wrappings. Unlike those before, she wouldn’t struggle for her execution. She was a queen, the Daughter of the Gods, and she wouldn’t drop that even in death. She had killed all of her siblings, and her father’s harem. She even murdered her own father. She was eventually found guilty. But she was only sixteen. She didn’t understand how they could do this to her. Still, she went with dignity. They set her wrappings aflame and threw her in her coffin. The last thing she remembered was the smell of roses…
 
The skies were afire with red stars, the streets crawling with creatures. Some were helping them along the way, but most were coming after them. Hamunaptra picked Levi up and ran through the crumbling streets as if she was the wind. She stretched out her hands, and every creature withered in her path or were pushed out of the way with such force, as if she was the Nile. Pain lanced through her side like scimitars, air whistled through her windpipes stung like daggers. Her legs felt as if she was swimming in water, kicking, lashing out hard but drowning.
She took him halfway down the bridge. She saw his mother looking at the bridge eagerly, waiting for him. All of a sudden, he didn’t want to go back. He saw the sadness and fear in her eyes.
“Look, Little Levi, you have to go back. You can’t stay here. You need to live. For me, Little Levi, for me. I have to destroy the bridge. If I don’t, they’ll go over this, and your world will be chaos. I can’t go farther than here, Little One. Remember, I’ll always be with you.” She gave him a necklace with a glowing jewel. “This is my Dream. You can call me with it.”
“Why are roses red, Hamunaptra?” he asked.
“I painted them, Little Levi,” she responded. She pushed him towards his mom and turned away. He watched from the safety of his mother’s arms as she turned into a Werepyre, slowly this time, arms outstretched, until she, the city, and the bridge were consumed in flames.
 
     A week later, he was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep. Tears were streaming down his face, like every night since he came back. He held the jewel tightly in his hands, thinking of her, missing her, wishing he had never gone back. The smell of roses filled his nose.
“Hello, Little Levi,” a voice like a thousand tongues speaking at once spoke into the darkness. “I missed you…”