My birth was foretold in a blessing many ages ago when great god and goddess, Yang and Helena, came to visit Luminous. I was born with the ability to control and manipulate the holy power of light. With that light came the ability to dream walk.

  I remember meeting her for the first time in my dreams. We quickly became friends. My father was rather pleased that I always went to bed on time rather than staying up late like other kids at that age. What he didn't know is that my best friend only appeared in my dreams.

  We met when we were five. She was learning how to control her dream powers and fell into my dream with her mother in tow.

  “Be careful sweetie. You can't run off like that.”

  Little me was mesmerized, seeing the dream and star goddess and her daughter.

  “I'm terribly sorry little one.”

  I was too awestruck to speak.

  “Mommy, I wanna play with him. He seems nice. Can we play pleeeeease?”

  The goddess sighed and let her daughter play with me, a simple mortal child. The girl ran up to me.

  “My name is Dawn! What's your name?”

  “T-Tsubasa...”

  “That's a cool name!”

  I was a terribly shy child, always clinging to my father as my mother passed away from illness when I was three. He always told me that I must learn to handle my shyness to be an effective ruler.

  Dawn and I played in the dream space almost every night under her mother’s careful watch. We played many games such as pretend adventures and tag, I pretended to rescue her from a monster and we pretended to fight monsters together. Her mother definitely helped with her ability to manipulate the dream space. Because of Dawn I was able to gradually open up and be less shy.

  “Do you wanna do an exploring game?” I once asked her.

  “Yes!”

  “What should we explore?”

  She thought about it for a moment.

  “A jungle? We can find ruins and see if there's any treasure!”

  “Or discover new people!”

  “Or both!” We said in unison, causing us to giggle.

  Helena laughed a bit.

  “You two are simply adorable!” She used her powers to create a jungle for us and made us look like real explorers. We headed off into the dream jungle.

  It was like this every night, constantly playing and spending time with each other. When we were awake, I was on Luminous training to be king, and she was in heaven training to be the next dream and star goddess. I went to her temple once a week to pray and worshiped her.

  My father was a kind and loving man. I still remember his broad face, hazel eyes, and kind smile. I've taken over the throne after my mother passed. Luminous doesn't do father to son when it comes to royalty, we do ruling parent to first born, so we’ve had plenty of ruling queens in the past. My father was just the regent until I was old enough to rule by myself. He married into my family, so he was king only in title. He was able to give input and have some say in important decisions, but other than that it was mostly King-consort. When twins or triplets are born, it's the chosen heir that inherits the throne and it has led to some serious drama like attempted murder and fights. We keep that under wraps as we don't want the people to worry or choose sides. Discord among the people is the last thing we want.

  However when we were eating dinner one evening, he stated that he wasn't feeling good, he stood up only to collapse on the floor, convulsing violently before bleeding from his mouth. Some servants and I immediately ran to his side. His body was limp.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “Poison,” a servant said.

  “He can't be dead!” I cried, desperate. “Dad can't be dead!” I tried shaking him, begging him to wake up, hoping that he would miraculously open his eyes and say that he's okay. A servant had to lead me away while I cried out to my dad. We never did find out who poisoned him. We assumed it was the rival family. They coveted the throne for generations. What's worse is that they worship the god of darkness. To think we let them be nobles in our court.

  I cried on and off all day. Funeral proceedings happened a week later. Around the same time, Dusk was taken by Yin. Dawn and I comforted each other during these hard times together.

  I had no regent lined up, so at the age of fifteen, I was on my own. I had advisors to help me make wise choices. It's hard when you're forced to grow up in the waking world. In the dream space while asleep, I had virtually zero worries. As long as Dawn was with me, all my problems melted away. I was steadily falling in love with her.

  “Lord Tsubasa,” one of my servants said, while I was in my blacksmith's workshop. It was a fun hobby for me, making weapons and armor. I was taking a break outside to cool off in the autumn air. I was 17 at the time.

  “Yes?”

  “The priest has come to visit you.”

  “I'll be there soon. I have a project that's almost finished. Please inform him.”

  “Yes sir.”

  I went back inside to finish what would eventually be my signature weapons, a pair of swords, made of a titanium-mystral alloy. The handle is made of golden mystral and decorated with turquoise crystals on the ends of the handles. I was teaching myself how to battle with two swords and utilize them with my light powers.

  When I finished my blades, I went back to the castle, taking them with me. I didn't look very kingly, with soot and sweat on my skin. I saw the priest at the entrance.

  “Blacksmithing again?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see. The daughter of the stars has a gift for you.”

  “A gift?”

  He opened a small box and inside was a beautiful necklace, made of platinum and with a small sun charm made of gold on it. I took the necklace and admired it.

  “It's beautiful...” I said, mesmerized. “I love it!” I had a huge smile on my face.

  “I'm glad you do. She will be happy to know.” The priest smiled. “You know, she has taken quite a liking to you.”

  I blushed. I kept my spending time with her in my dreams a secret from everyone.

  “I offer my thanks to her. Oh. Here. Give these to her. I know she's learning how to fight with knives.” I hand him a package of throwing knives that I forged. “Please make sure she gets them.”

  The priest stared at me for a moment before accepting.

  “I'm sure she’ll love them.” I could tell by his voice that he wasn't very convinced. “Have a good afternoon, your majesty.”

  “I'll come by the temple at my usual time tomorrow.”

  He left the castle. I left to put the necklace in my room then took a desperately needed bath. The servants kept it nice and warm and I went in. I scrubbed myself with soap and just relaxed in the bath for a while. Next thing I knew I fell asleep.

  Dawn was already waiting for me in the dreamspace, I'm just glad I was clothed in the dreamspace. My heart fluttered at the sight of her, long black hair fading into blonde, clear blue eyes, light skin. She looked pretty sad. Seeing her sad made my heart ache.

  “Hello Dawn.”

  She jumped a bit and turned towards me.

  “You startled me!”

  “Sorry. You seem down. Are you okay?”

  “Just...” I knew what she was thinking.

  “You miss your brother.”

  Tears were welling up in her eyes as she nodded. I hugged her. She hugged me in return, sobbing. I comforted her. I hated seeing her so sad. She truly loved her brother and the god of darkness had to rip him away.

  I wiped her tears with my finger and we were looking into each other's eyes. I swear I could get lost in her beautiful blue eyes. Slowly we leaned in to each other and kissed for the first time. We stopped after a couple of seconds. Then we started making out. We stopped after a minute.

  “I'm sorry. That wasn't appropriate of me,” I said, ashamed.

  “No. It's fine. I've been wanting to tell you that I liked you... a lot.”

  I was elated by the news.

  “I feel the same way!”

  We kissed again and hugged each other.

  For the rest of my stay in the dream space, which was only about ten minutes since I was in the bath, we spent time walking on paths and frolicking in flower fields.

  As soon as I could sense that I was waking up, I kissed her goodbye and I was awake. I finished bathing and left the bathroom to get clothed again. As soon as all that was done. I went to my study and addressed the concerns of my people.

  For the next three years, Dawn and I were dating. I could never see her while I was awake, but I always went to her temple. The priest was made aware of my secret relationship with Dawn and was sworn to secrecy. Officials were hounding me to find myself a wife, but was firmly set on only marrying the woman I love, even if she can't come to the mortal worlds just yet. I would've waited forever if I needed to. My officials wanted me to at least name an heir once I got it through their heads that I'm not marrying anyone on Luminous.

  Behind the scenes a coup was forming, and I was none the wiser. While I was with my court, discussing the preparations for the yearly arts festival that would be happening within the next month, I felt a searing pain in my chest.

  Next thing I knew I was at the gates of heaven.