Chapter 183: Grace
I stared at my mate, my mouth hanging open. I was dreaming, wasn’t I? I mean, I guess it wasn’t that weird that he was here. My mind knew he was important to me. But this dream felt different. Everything felt ultra vivid, almost like I had a new perception. Even the colors looked different, like they were more vibrant or there were more of them or something.
My mate of all things, looked out of place as he walked through the field of wildflowers. His shirt was white and flowy, like a pirate, and he wore a pair of jeans that fit him perfectly.
“What are you doing here, Rhys?” I asked forgetting about the woman for a moment.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” He said, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously.
“I don’t know.” I answered. “I dream of this place sometimes.”
“You’re here because I called you here,” The woman answered.
“You’re the Moon Goddess, right?” Rhys asked.
I had already surmised that, but he needed it to be clearer.
The woman slighted her head slightly. “I needed to talk to her.” The Moon Goddess gestured toward me. “You, I didn’t invite, but her soul brought you along anyways. She seems to think you are a good mate.”
“I try to be,” He answered with a frown. The Moon Goddess didn’t think he was a good mate? Isn’t she the one who paired us together? Shouldn’t she have a little more faith in him? Did my mate have these same doubts? I loved my mate, but this conversation had me confused.
“You do,” She agreed. “I’m just not sure it’s enough.”
“Why are you attacking Rhys?” I demanded. “He has been nothing but kind to me.”
“He needs to be prepared.” She answered simply, completely unbothered by my outburst.
“For what?”
“There is so much that is happening that you don’t even know about. What you two are doing is not enough. You need to work faster.”
“Faster?!” I demanded. “Or you could just tell us what’s going on!”
“There is very little I am allowed to say,” The Moon Goddess answered sadly. “I am already pushing the rules by bringing you here. I can’t say too much.”
“Why are we here then?” Rhys asked, wrapping his arm around my waist protectively. This dream was getting weirder and weirder. I could feel the pressure of his arm like he was really there.
“Because I need to tell you that something is coming, and you have to be ready. Don’t let your guards down. You have to be ready.”
“For what?” Rhys asked, his voice rising in frustration.
“It’s coming,” The Moon Goddess whispered, “It’s coming.”
And then she disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing in her wake.
The ground beneath us began to shake, and I looked at Rhys who had a bit of panic in his eyes.
“Have you been here before?” He asked with an urgency that I felt myself.
“I don’t know. I want to wake up.”
“I think we have to survive here before that’s a choice.” He answered, his hand skimming my hairline in a gentle caress.
“But it’s just a dream!” I argued.
He gave me a funny look but nodded.
“Still don’t want to die in a dream,” He said quietly as the sky darkened.
“It’s just a dream.” I said again, but with less conviction this time. I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince, him or myself.
“I think we should go into the woods. That’s where I came from.”
I frowned. Where he came from? We were in a dream... We didn’t come from anywhere. The Moon Goddess was just a figment of my imagination, showcasing my anxieties. Clearly, everything was proving to be just a little bit too much these days. We did need to be careful, but to think it was real was crazy. Dream Rhys was just that. A dream. But maybe because of that, he was right. Maybe we did need to go into the woods. Or maybe that was a trap. But as I just told Rhys, this was a dream, we couldn’t actually die in a dream.
The sky grew dark, and the vivid colors made my head hurt.
“What in the world?” I gasped as what looked like rainbows shot through the sky.
Rhys followed my gaze, and he clenched his jaw.
“Gracie, let’s go.”
He didn’t give the chance to protest as a growl came from somewhere in the field. Rhys just grabbed my hand and took off running. I had been training, but I wasn’t as fast as Rhys. I wasn’t sure even if I trained my whole life if I would ever be able to match his speed, but I tried. He kept a pace that I could almost keep up with, though it did sort of feel like he was dragging me.
The growls kept getting closer as we were engulfed by the forest. We were all but surrounded. It wasn’t just one creature chasing us, there were multiple, and they were everywhere. They must have been lurking low in the wildflowers. Is that why the moon goddess left so quickly?
“Rhys?” I called out nervously.
The creatures were only steps away. They were so close... We had to fight... We had to take a stand, or we would be at a further disadvantage than we already were.
He understood me in a way only he could. Or maybe it was just because he was a figment of my mind. He stopped and began to partially shift. I had never seen him do that, but he hadn’t hesitated.
“False gods become real gods when people start believing in them.” A voice chanted from somewhere deeper in the forest. “Are you a false god or a real god?”
Something lunged at us from behind Rhys. I saw it coming a second before it happened. I threw myself at Rhys tackling him to the ground, and everything evaporated like we were never even there.