Chapter 6: The Dream That Stirred the Thread
Luna was six when her dreams began to bleed into reality. They weren't like nightmares—those came too, jagged and painful—but the dreams she remembered most were strange. Deep. Prophetic.
She would often wake up whispering truths she shouldn't know. Her mother's forgotten spell sequence. Her father's misfiled research paper. Sometimes, even what would be printed in the next issue of The Quibbler—before her father had even written it.
At first, Selene and Xenophilius thought it was coincidence. But Luna's mother soon realized: her daughter was walking through dream-threads that wove past, present, and possibility.
One night, Luna jerked awake, breathing hard. Her room flickered faintly with blue light. She held her arms tight around herself, rocking slightly.
"I saw Mum die," she whispered, not to anyone, but to the shadows that clung around the edges of her bed. "But she didn't."
The system stirred.
System Prompt: Dream Loop Triggered
Temporal Consistency Check: 74%
User Emotion: Anxiety – High
Regulating with Magical Core Pulse...
...Stabilized.
Luna exhaled slowly. She blinked, once, twice, and whispered, "You're learning too, aren't you?"
Her system responded, not in words but with calm silence—a shared pulse. It was almost like a heartbeat, one that didn't quite belong to her body but now lived inside her magic.
She walked to the window and opened it. Cold night air greeted her, bringing scents of moss, ink, and moonlight.
"You're watching, aren't you?" she asked the stars. "All of you."
There was no answer. But the wind shifted, brushing her hair back as if in acknowledgment.
Selene found her an hour later, asleep by the window, her wand—crafted by Luna herself from driftwood and starlight-infused stone—resting against her chest.
Later that week...
Luna sat by the fireplace, watching the flames dance. She had begun recording her dreams with charcoal in thick, crumpled journals. Some of the pages shimmered faintly when touched—latent magic, perhaps.
"Why does the dream keep repeating?" she asked aloud. "It loops. Mum is always dying. Or vanishing."
Her system pulsed.
Dream Stability Diagnostic
Temporal Flux Signature: Present
User Perception Aligned with Temporal Fracture
Probability: 62% (Timeline Diverged)
Recommendation: Continued Observation. Suppress External Interference.
"Then I did change it," she murmured.
Her dreams weren't just reflections anymore—they were resonances.
That night, she saw something new. In the dream, she stood in a forest glowing silver under twin moons. The trees whispered names of spells she hadn't learned, and beyond them, a river ran backward.
In the center of the dream was a woman cloaked in feathers and flame.
"You pulled the thread," the woman said. "And now time remembers you."
Luna tried to speak, but her voice was muffled by wind and starlight. Instead, the system translated her intent.
Query: Are You My Past or My Future?
Response: I Am the Cut Thread.
System Synchronization Increased: +3%
She awoke with a sharp gasp, her room swirling in a dance of blue lines, like veins of time etched into the very air.
Selene arrived seconds later. "Luna?"
"I saw her again. The woman in fire," Luna said, curling into her mother's embrace. "She said the thread was already pulled."
Selene said nothing at first. Then quietly, she asked, "And you… did you feel afraid?"
"No," Luna whispered. "I felt expected."
The following week...
Selene and Xenophilius crafted a new dream ward for Luna's room. Unlike traditional dreamcatchers, this one was layered with protection runes, ancient lullaby charms, and a fragment of Luna's own childhood laughter—bottled during her first birthday and hidden away for this moment.
That night, the dreams were quiet. Not absent—merely observing.
But the system knew.
System Log: Dream Signatures Detected – External Observers (Unverified)
Spatial Sensitivity: Tier 2
Temporal Resistance Building
System Integrity: 46% → 49%
The thread had been tugged. Time was shifting. Luna had seen her mother die a hundred times. But now, she was choosing something different.
The dream would not control her. It would inform her.
And if reality bent as a result—so be it.