I was startled awake by the roar of waterfalls... I blinked my eyes open I looked to see, not the day or night sky, but nothing. The English dictionary defines nothing as "nothing, not a single thing", and this was not a single thing.
For other people, cold sweat would run down their necks immediately. But as I sat up, I felt warm and at peace, because in my eyes the dark has never been the villain.
My parents and relatives only ever ended their stories with the light triumphing over the dark. Never does darkness prevail over light.
"Why? Why did the light triumph over the dark? Why isn't it the other way around?"
"Because," they would say, "the light is the hero, the dark is the villain, the light is good, the dark is bad."
That makes no sense. Who came up with the idea? The dog is warm; it always stays with you wherever you go. You can always find the dark, whether a shadow or the night sky.
So when I looked around this dome of darkness, I felt not scared, but at home.
I tore my eyes away from the dark sky and looked around to find myself on a man-made ledge overlooking an enormous castle. It had blue dome roofs and giant glass windows. It was built with pale bricks of sandstone and marble. The castle seemed to be built on the edge of a secular waterfall, with pathway bridges going all around the edge so it still let the water fall down.
Down into a deep dark hole that looked like it would go down to the planet's center.
I rose to my feet. Strolled over to the edge of the pathway and looked down into the hole.
The white eyes stared back at me—hundreds of thousands of pairs of white eyes.
I jumped back scared for a second.
One part of my brain wants to run away. But the other part was curious to see what they were.
My curiosity took over, and I moved back towards the edge.
I cautiously leaned over and once again looked down into the dark hole.
This time when I saw the eyes, I did not jump back scared; instead, I studied them. At first, I thought it was one whole creature with millions of eyes. But when you looked closely, they were all individually black creatures, with two pairs of eyes.
Each of the eyes had emotions. The emotions that were in the black creature's eyes reminded me of the Tocims on my family farm. Emotions of loyalty and faith.
"The dogs are always loyal to their leader," said a whisper in my ear.
I whipped my head around and came face-to-face with a woman.
The Moon Goddess.
Her beauty was even more grand than what I was told. Her white, sharp teeth shined as she smiled. The grey eyes that she looked at me with reminded me of the three full moons that shined that night. The Grey Wolf's ears upon her head had a slight twitch to them every second or so.
I was frozen in place, stunned by what I was seeing. The Moon Goddess was here, right in front of me, speaking to me. Why was the moon goddess here with me?
"Those creatures down there can be trained like dogs with the right master," she said in a soft, airy voice.
My confidence was too big because the next second, words slipped through my tongue and out of my mouth without a thought. " But… are they dogs?"
"No," she replied with a smile.
Then there was silence between us.
I am so confused. What should I say? What should I do? Should I bow? Should I say hello? Say, Thank you?
I was still frozen to the spot when she let out a deep sigh.
"Please don't think of me as some great being who is supposed to control you and give you orders." She said, "Think of me as a friend."
But why did it feel like we were not friends and never going to be? I thought to myself.
"Now, let me explain all of this," she said while opening her arms to the dome of darkness.
"I have decided to give you a mission," she said with a grin.
"You?" I question.
"Well, me and the great creator, yes."
"Why?"
"Well, one, we chose you because you're the best fit, and two, you slept under the full moons." She explained.
"But," I began to protest.
"No buts," she said with a stern voice. "Now, your mission is to find this place."
She pointed towards the grand castle towering above the hole.
"Find this place, enrollment school for magic, and learn magic."
"Is that all?" I asked cautiously.
"No, sorry. That's the speech I give to the others." She said apologetically. "You must also tame the darkness, tame the creatures."
With that, she turned and looked back down at the creatures watching us.
"What?" I said confused and scared.
I turned my head to look back up at her, but she wasn't there.
There was nothing. It was back to nothing.