Black. Everything around me was completely black.

It was as if I was sinking into an ocean full of ink. Except, I wasn’t drowning, and there was this strong resolve inside of me to swim deeper to…where? I couldn’t remember.

Abruptly, the scene changed.

I was now standing in front of a large window. It was night-time. There was a very thick wall surrounding the building I was in. Thankfully, the window was located in a place with enough altitude to see beyond the wall. Outside, I could see an incredibly large meadow with thousands of flowers. In the starry sky, there were shimmering lights of vibrant colors. They were red, yellow, pink and even green! The lights seemed to dance in the cool night. My gaze returned to the meadow and gasped. The flowers seemed to be carved out of glass! No! They actually looked like diamonds! They were mirroring the colorful sky and sparkling so brightly!

"Beautiful." I mustered the word in awe.

Someone flinched at my side. I didn't realize there was a child to my left. From his startled expression, I concluded he hadn't noticed me either. I took a good look at him. His eyes were bright red and he had raven hair. His skin was dark and he was dressed like it was expected from a farmer's son. When our eyes met, his initial alarm disappeared. He smiled warmly and that warmth quickly reached his eyes.

"You are here." He whispered.

The boy tried to take my hand and I backed away a few steps. It seemed the child had yet to learn how to act like a proper gentleman.

"Little one, you mustn’t act like this with a lady you haven’t been introduced to before.” I tried to explain.

"Really? Oh, but I know you so well." He said proudly with a wide smile. “And we have talked many times before.” He paused. "Even… if you always forget me.” He dropped his smile and lowered his gaze.

‘Oh, I can't see his eyes.’ I was strangely saddened by the fact. But above all, I felt confused by his words.

“Maybe it’s because you're not a real person, but I wish you could at least remember me!" He shook his head. "I know I'm asleep! Then why can’t I control what happens here?!" The boy crossed his arms and put on an extremely grumpy expression. I had to smile at it. Poor child, he must had hit his head with a rock.

"Well tell me boy, where are we anyways?"

He sighed but didn’t answer immediately. He just silently looked at the meadow below us. Maybe he didn't know, I concluded.

"This place... It’s the garden that I will build one day in my palace." He finally replied. I noticed his cheeks had reddened. He looked to the side trying to evade my gaze. I returned to look at the meadow, again. He was so strange. The flowers were there already, weren’t they?

“When the garden is ready, I'll give it to you." I looked back at him and he returned my gaze. All I could register was that he was still blushing.

I was utterly shocked.

"Wha- What are you saying, boy?” I asked him. “You do not even know me."

‘Are children always like this?’ I had to wonder.

"Because you deserve it. This and the whole world." He replied immediately. In his eyes there was a spark of determination. As if he was saying the gospel truth. I didn't know how to handle this situation.

"The audacity of your words is surprising for a child." I regretted that my words sounded so condescending. However, I needed to draw a line even if he was too young to understand it.

"You are also a kid." He said rolling his eyes.

"Huh?" I blinked several times. “Excuse me?”

He pouted. “Take a look, we are the same height.” He positioned himself in front of me.

I watched him and then I looked at my hands. They were so small.

'How strange' was what I thought. 'Am I a child?'

I couldn’t decide if it was normal or not. In fact, I did not remember who-

"Who…Who am I?" I asked out loud.

"I…don’t…know." The boy replied eyeing me carefully.

"Thank you. You are so very helpful." I crossed my arms and frowned. No matter how hard I tried, I could not recall anything. Absolutely nothing. My oldest memory was the blackness before arriving to this place.

"Sometimes,” He interrupted my thoughts. “I believe you're real.” I was sure he saw me frowning but he continued anyways. “Other times, I think you’re just part of my imagination. The strange thing is that whenever I wake up, I always forget that I have ever dreamed about you. In turn, whenever I'm here I remember every single dream I've had."

The boy began to ramble on and on about his theories. I did not pay attention. Honestly, I could have appreciated them… if he wasn’t doubting my existence!

"Wow, how interesting." I said flatly.

He stopped talking and showed his grumpy face again. He looked a bit hurt.

"No! I'm serious." I tried to cover my smile with my hand. "A case like that would be very interesting to study ... and ... I think I like to study?" I tilted my head.

It was very odd. I did not know who I was or what I was doing there. Nevertheless, I felt… calm.

My main theory is that since I never remember anything in these dreams, there are no memories of wounds or…. betrayals to affect me. Not even a memory of my sister warning me about strangers to make me wary. My second theory… is harder to explain, at least for me.

Harder for my heart.

"Hey! If you like to study, come with me!” He said showing his big smile again as he unexpectedly began to climb the window frame. “I'll teach you all about the Northern Aurora!" With agility he turned his back on me, ready to jump to the void.

"Au-ro-ra?" I repeated confused.

"Yes!" he announced excitedly, pointing up towards the vibrant colors in the sky. He grabbed the window frame to steady himself. "It's much nicer to see from outside and I know everything about it!” He was puffing his chest proudly, clearly wanting to show off. I laughed. He was actually a little funny.

"If you please give me the honor, my lady" he said carefully, offering me his hand. Was he planning that we both jumped down from this height? I looked at the boy's extended hand for a moment and then back to his face. It looked like he was afraid I would reject him. He was trying to cover his act with a wide smile, but I knew better. I recognized that feeling very clearly, somehow. I sighed, trying to measure the situation, as much as somebody without memories can do it. I decided that in the end I liked him. Even if he was a crazy boy with a crazy plan.

"No thanks, sir!" I fumed. "You want us to jump down together and end splattered on the ground!”

"No! No no! This is a dream!" He tried to explain.

“And you think I’m not real, right?” I countered, arching my eyebrows.

“Well…” He avoided my gaze nervously. I shook my head hiding my smirk. I only wanted to tease him a bit.

Without warning, I spread my light blue wings to their full length. Until then, I had kept them folded behind my back. Flying to the place was a much better idea!

In retrospect, I must admit I could have asked him if he was willing to let me carry him while I flew. I did not. I couldn’t! And it was his fault!

When I fully revealed my wings, and I was about to explain my idea, I saw that his red eyes sparkled with… was that…admiration? His face was so weird. I followed his gaze and discovered he was gawking at my wings! My heart twisted inside my chest and I clenched my teeth. How long did he planned to stare at me!?Without thinking, I grabbed both of his arms and propelled both upwards with all of my strength. I heard him shrieking in surprise. Humph! He should have been paying attention instead of... whatever he was doing. My cheeks were burning. I didn’t understand it.

We were out in the cold night. The wind was hitting my face as I soared with my passenger.

I know I said it was a good idea flying to the meadow. And it certainly was... except for the tiny detail that boys could be heavy. I didn’t know that.

The raven-haired boy was beginning to slip from my hold. I was desperately flapping my wings to regain altitude but it wasn’t working. I decided to go at full speed. We had to reach the meadow quickly before his weight pulled us both down! We both screamed as I thrust forward. He began to kick the air with his legs, surely fearing for his life. It did not make flying easier.

"HEY! We are almost there!" I was flying too low. I just needed to gather enough strength to loop over the wall. Nothing difficult.

"AaaAAA, WE ARE GOING TO CRASH!"

We didn't reach the outside garden.

"I think I managed to take us quite far." I announced as soon as I stopped spitting dust. We had achieved to make a forced landing on top of the thick exterior wall.

The boy had fallen flat on his stomach. When he heard me speak, he got up as fast as lightning.

"Why do you always have to throw me in the sky?!" He shouted at me.

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean always?! We met today!"

"What?! Did you not listen to anything I said?!"

"DO NOT YELL AT ME!!"

"YOU ARE SCREAMING, TOO!!"

"WHAT?!" I was indeed screaming… at the top of my lungs.

I blushed. What was I doing?

"Ahem, what I meant was,” I said in a calmer tone, “please do not raise your voice at me."

He didn’t reply so I raised my eyes and saw that he had been trying to contain his laughter. I made a pout. He burst out laughing, even rolling on the ground.

“Hey! It’s not that funny!” He made me remember when horses rolled on the grass. And I was suddenly laughing, too.

However, I stopped when I saw the view in front of us. The sight of the meadow filled with crystal flowers peacefully resting below the aurora was so beautiful I cannot describe it. Seeing it from outside was really different than from a mere window.

"If you want, I can tell you the story of how the Aurora and the Northern Lands were created, my lady." He said clearly happy by my reaction to… his dream? Future palace? I didn’t care anymore.

"Yes, please do, my lord! I hope it’s as crazy, ahem, I mean as interesting as all of your theories." I looked at him, smirking. He narrowed his eyes and pouted, clearly trying to be angry with me. He couldn't contain his smile for too long. He chuckled. It made me smile warmly at him. Somehow, this happy moment had become very precious to me. I looked up to the colorful night and while he talked, his voice began to sound distant. Very distant.

The world became a blur.

I tried to find anything close to grab and steady myself. Everything was spinning.

Suddenly, I heard a loud thump. I had hit my head with something sturdy. Slowly, I came back to my senses. I couldn’t see anything from where I was but I felt I was laying on something solid. The place smelled a little cramped, but mostly like old books and wood.

I stirred and carefully began to emerged from under several piles of books that were covering my body. I looked around confused but I recognized several of the titles:

“Guide of cursed artifacts.” by an anonymous author.

“Experimental Research on Curses: Effects on the Subject’s State of Mind.” By the great wizard Uman the Black Prince.

“Mind Magic: Principles and Explorations.” by Start Swirl the Bearded.

“Study of Dreams and their Connections to the Mind.” and “The Dream Landscape Theory” both by Ceresse the Bookish.

I was still processing where I was and who I was. I stared at the books for a long moment.

Remembering something, I quickly looked at my hands. They were the size expected of a young woman.

The sound of birds chirping could be heard at some distance and a warm light was beginning to reach every corner of the small room I was in. Dawn had arrived.

I have failed yet again.

Author's Note

I actually wrote this chapter before I have written chapter 5 and 6 because initially my main goal for The Fall of an Empire (Human AU) was to draw artwork, so I just wrote parts of the story (chapters) that could accompany certain artworks. It wasn't until I decided to upload all of this to fimfiction that I decided to write chapters for all the artworks.

Anyways, this is what I wrote in Deviantart at the time I uploaded the story there:

NOTE: So I was thinking that Luna had to learn at some point about dream magic So I want to believe it was here It's up to you how do you interpret this but my notion was that Luna is trying to get to the subconscious mind of sombra to free him from his madness curse. She discovered that one way to get there is using dreams, but is tricky business. She's having trouble taking her whole conscious mind over there. The only part of Sombra that is not contaminated yet is the part of his mind where he is still a child. And the thick wall outside has a meaning, too :3