“At the beginning of time, there was a light and a darkness. Perhaps these were created by supreme beings, or beings rose up out of the magical energy to seize control over the power – we'll never know. But we do know there was a Goddess of the Light, and a Lord of the Darkness. As life arose as we know it, the Goddess attempted to imbue it with her Light, at the same time as the Lord tried to corrupt it with his Darkness.
“The legends aren't too clear on exactly what happened, but at some point the Goddess put her Light on the Earth, to be protected by a group of women who she would choose and set apart from the population. They were charged only with preserving the Light, by any means that didn't involve giving in to the power of the Dark. The women have been described in several accounts as being winged figures with magical powers, much like angels. Some have been rumored to have the ability to shape shift into animals, such as Mermaids. These women mostly live apart from the rest of the world, so there's not very many stories about encounters with them.
“The Darkness, however, is not so subtle. Of course the Lord of Darkness would have agents on the Earth as well, to constantly attempt to destroy the Light. And those agents would need to leave their solitude in order to feed, so there are many legends about them. I'm sure you've heard of vampires, werewolves, zombies, and all the other creatures of the night used to frighten children into being home by nightfall. Once, those stories were very true.
“I believe that both the agents of the Light – the Order of the Light, I've seen them referred to as – and the agents of the Dark, who as far as I know have no name describing them, exist in realities parallel to our own. Perhaps it's the same reality, or different ones, but the accounts of them that we hear are from people who have stumbled into other realities. Or during a rare trip to our own reality. Dreams, Eric, are a gateway between worlds. That is why I believe my dream is true, and that we must listen to it.”
“What dream?” Elizabeth piped up, looking at him curiously. “You always have interesting dreams. They make much more sense than mine do.”
William looked at me. “Can I tell her?”
“I'd rather you didn't yet,” I said quietly, glaring at him. Why had he brought that up in front of her? Not that I didn't respect her and her right to know things, but you just don't tell a seven year old that she's going to go live in a world of angels.
“Eric, come on,” He pleaded. “I know you still don't believe me. But at the end of the dream, she gave me instructions. She said that she would cross into our reality in a week's time, and that if we were in Hyde park at ten in the morning, she could come meet us.”
“Who?” my daughter asked, beginning to get impatient. “What are you guys talking about?”
I looked from William, to her, and back again. “Well, it's definite and easy to prove then. We'll go to Hyde park a week from today, and if she meets us there then great. If not, then it was just a dream.”
William looked like he was going to say something else, but then he just nodded. “Okay. Can I tell her, at least?”
“Tell me what?” she demanded.
“Go ahead.”
As he began his recounting of the dream, I wondered what good it would do to give a child fantasies like that. But there was really no changing it now, what's done is done, and I'd just have to deal with the aftermath when it turned out to be false.
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