Nightmare's Betray

A Story by Ace Jaxon

Harlow is just a girl that wants to save her town and her brother. She will do anything, but things go wrong.

The darkness had filled the land long ago, the land Harlow grew up in. Because of this darkness filling the land, the townsfolk would often whisper rumors, old folk stories meant to scare children. Yet, she wasn’t afraid of the rumors of the townsfolk and refused to believe if someone went outside after hours their fate would be sealed to the demons which lurked around the street corners. This was the day she would choose to fight the darkness and reclaim the world, rather than stay home like another scared little child. Because she chose to believe that Hallow’s Creek was once a place of hopes and dreams but soon turned into the realm known today as nightmares.

Her blonde and almost silver hair had started floating along the ice blue room, while she packed her bags for a quest of vengeance. Harlow had been planning this trip for months ever since the other children at school claimed her belief was not worth believing in. She had finished getting ready for the trip when she paused for a minute thinking about what would happen if her belief ended up being true if the evil could be stopped if there was a way to save this town from the demons lurking in its streets. With this, she rushed out of her room and down the weathered stairs. Her parents had tried to reason with her, but she raced around them, no longer caring for their concern, and out the rusty door.

It was a day out, yet the sun didn’t shine. The townsfolk gave her awkward stares, even the other children from her school who she once trusted as friends. Among these individuals was her younger brother, Judas. He looked conflicted in the way he seemed to stare at her and to his friends. Harlow didn’t even give him a second glance as her hair blowing behind her in a crashing wave of chaos, a feeling she often felt in this town. Ignoring her feelings, she headed towards the gate leading to the stone mansion, oh the stories it held. So many from fairy tales to old history. She wasn’t close at all, it had taken most of the day to try and get her way through town and the winding fields of light yellow wheat that blew even throughout the smallest of breezes. The smell of smoke from the cottages in Hallow’s Creek reminded her about the dangers she may face now. Once Harlow made it to the gate, she knew exactly what was to come for the demons of her fair town would be out now. She knew what was coming, something she’d been waiting for all her life. Putting her hair up into a sloppy bun to prevent it from getting caught on the tall fence, she jumped the fence and felt a small little twinkle of freedom but also guilt. As she felt the urge to turn back and go to be with her brother, the fog settled in, sending a shiver down her spine. Ignoring the fear and using her new-found adrenaline rush, she sneaked along the twisty hill trail hearing whispers along the way.

“No wonder the elders called it the trail of whispers, It’s creepy.” Harlow thought aloud.

“The trail of the whispers is near…continue on young traveler…..if you so chose…”The whispers went quiet.

“What the?” Harlow paused for a moment and looked around, when she saw nothing she grabbed a small lantern out of her bag and lit it continuing along the winding road, ignoring the whispering.

“So, you chose to continue Harlow!”A little genie which looked like Harlow lifted her eyebrows up and her eyes widened. This caused Harlow to jump back and drop the lantern on the ground causing the glass to crack on its left side as she breathed heavily holding her hand to her chest, covered in dark leather to shelter her from the cold of the night.

“Who are you?” Harlow’s voice continued along the road with the wind. Harlow glanced to her left and to her right trying to find where the other voices are coming from as she brushed a loose piece of her fire-lit hair out of her thin, but soft face.

“I’m all of your evils.” The tiny Harlow smiled.

“What do you mean?” The genie saw Harlow was confused. With her purple glowing magic, she took Harlow to the lands of the past with the sun still shining above all else.

“Why did you take me here, wait, where is here?”

“You see Harlow, this is a place of hopes and dreams. I took you here to see the evil you performed so many times. A performance of magnificent lies.” Harlow looked in the direction of the evil creature.

“How do you-”

“Simple! I know because I’m Lies, the thing you wished you never did.”

“Well, in that case, Lies can you explain?”

“Why of course I can!” Lies was pounding with over joy. She showed Harlow a past friend. The past friend was one that Harlow lied to over and over again. The past Harlow had gone to talk to her about something personal, now she looks back on it the whole thing was stupid. The lie had gone down as the thing she hated the most. The scene ended there, but Harlow remembered it ended differently. She knew the past friend had not forgiven her, but that wasn’t how the scene played out in front of her. Come to think of which the sky was bright in this vision, which isn’t how the scene was in reality.

“Lies this isn’t the whole truth, nor the correct one! Nothing besides my friend and I is correct!” Harlow was enraged and confused, her voice rose as she ranted on to Lies.

“Well, of course, it’s not. I am the thing that never tells the truth after all. You see now you have defeated me by telling me there was a lie that wasn’t you. Have fun with your next test.” Lies voice hissed out after she disappeared. Harlow was bewildered and paused for a moment before picking up the broken but still lit lantern off the old dusty ground. Harlow looked around for Lies wishing to know where she had gone, but with no luck, she pulled herself together the best she could and made her way further down the whispering trail.

“She’s getting stronger…...must defeat her…...release another piece of the past….” The whisperers sent chills throughout the night. Harlow didn’t respond to the whispering when she arrived at a fork in the road and chose to turn left along the road. Harlow sighed as she trudged through the dirt and mud the lack of sleep during the day making this journey more difficult than it should have been.

“Why hello, Harlow.” A beautiful and tall figure greeted with a heavenly smile.

“Hello?” Harlow slightly tilted her head, pushing more of her hair behind her ear as it fell, lifting her lantern trying to get a better view of the dashingly handsome creature. The creature tapped his long shiny nails on the already broken glass of the lantern.

“Let’s speed this up, shall we! I’m Deceit, I’ll tell you plain and simple that I am quite easy to defeat.”

“Okay?” Harlow’s eyebrows furrowed as Deceit took her by the hand, his nails cutting into the skin of her hand. Just as Harlow was about to pull away, her vision became clouded with a puff of red smoke and suddenly she was in a place which seemed otherworldly.

“Where am I now?” She was getting quite angry at all of these strange demons. Deceit was trying his hardest to not show his plans. So far, it was working the girl had no idea what was coming. Deceit took her to one of her old dreams where her so-called friends from grade school had killed her with the help of Lies. Harlow was now remembering what this was. She looked at Deceit and tried to pull her hand away. The scene of murder played in her head, which was one of her first nightmares. A nightmare where all of her friends betrayed her. After that dream, she refused to have friends.

“It’s nothing more than a dream, that’s all it ever was!” She repeated over and over again. She felt like she was getting choked again, the same way her best friend Summer had. Harlow felt Deceit’s hand leave hers and realized her eyes were closed. Harlow opened her eyes to see nothing happening, but a cold lifeless corpse on the ground. The corpse was Deceit who had a note in his hand. She went to grab it carefully avoiding his sharp claws. When nothing happened she opened it with care.

It read, The last challenge awaits you. The things you have learned all over again may or may not come in handy. Who knows? After all, you can’t always trust me. Good luck with Fear. He was never like the rest of us! Harlow sighed wanting nothing more than to turn around and go home. She was exhausted, but she knew if she wanted to prove something, then she had to keep going. She had to keep going despite her fear, despite her exhaustion, she had to keep moving forward, and that was exactly what she did. She didn’t know who Fear was, all she knew was she needed to continue. Harlow made it to the front entrance of the mansion when out of nowhere a shriveled hag appeared.

“Hello Harlow, hello Harlow, hello Harlow!” The hag was like the whisperers, but scarier. Fear was a monster, a powerful one. “Are you scared of me, are you scared of me, are you scared of me?” The hag’s voice seemed to echo over and over again on itself.

“No!” Harlow tried to act confident, but the shaking of her voice made it difficult to hold her composure. She looked away her jaw tightening and her hand carrying the lantern was shaking furiously.

“Now, now didn’t anyone teach you it wasn’t good to lie?”

“Your voice, it suddenly-”

“Changed, yes I know!” Harlow looked at her pocket where she had placed the note from Deceit. She realized what it had meant about the lessons retaught to her. This fight was to be one of hope and dreams, no longer of nightmares. With this final thought, Fear was turned to nothing but ashes in the wind, only enough to burn. But always shrivel out before a fire is made.

Harlow zoomed through the mansion to the stairs, and up them. She made it to the top floor to release the sun, caught so many years ago. The room was circular and had four windows in it, one facing each direction: North, South, East, and West. The room was simple in design and in the center was a hole in the floor above the hole was where the sun stood proud but chained. Her jaw dropped, she couldn’t believe the sun was stolen from them. She had assumed the sun needed to be created or some other stupid thing, perhaps the old stories meant to scare children away were real and the reason to how she was still standing. Perhaps the pain and sorrow and neglect she felt was for a purpose, perhaps it was because she had nothing she could lose, no friends, not a family who would care, no one to rely on except herself, with this her heart was filled with determination. She arrived there to be faced with Lies, Deceit, Fear, and the whisperers. This was when they took the chance to fight her all at once, but something stopped them, a glowing light appeared around her and two figures appeared. One glowed of the yellow sun, while the other a soft collection of pastel colors one reminding her of how people look towards the sun for hope and how a person’s dream is made of many colors.

Hope and Dreams fought for her giving her time to do things she came to do. She ran to the sun in the center of the room and placed her hands on the chain holding it captive. The sun rushed out of the mansion and took its rightful place in the sky. Everything started to grow again, the animals came back, and the people were no longer starving. Lies, Deceit, and Fear had been destroyed in the release of the sun. The whisperers turned back into nothing but old rumors, and the town of Hallow’s Creek returned to its old self, one that was lost thousands of years ago. Harlow had become the big talk in the town, everyone knew her now. They viewed her as a rebellious hero. She went back home to her old rundown house. She ran back up the creaky steps and opened the door to her room. She took note of an old worn-out piece of paper lying on her wooden desk. Harlow walked over to it and opened the folded mystery. The note read, Harlow Tenbrook, this is not your final battle you will have more to come. Beware the creek of nightmares for it might be the death of you. Who knows maybe death will be nice to you unlike all of us. Mark my words you shall be betrayed by the one person who cares. Have fun. Lies, Deceit, and Fear shall be on your trail of final words.

“I thought they were all dead.”

“Well they aren’t Harlow, and it’s clear that they’re after you.” Judas came up from behind her.

“What do you want Judas?” Harlow’s expression was a tight twist of a grimace and her normally warm brown eyes were cold and dark looking almost like a dark abyss.

“I just came to tell you the obvious, and to say that if you go down deadman’s road I’m coming with.”

“No. Judas I can’t trust you. If the note speaks the truth then you’d be the death of me.”

“Fine, then I’ll just have to follow you.”

“I’m not even going, this isn’t my fight. Last time it wasn’t either, last time it was something I believed in!”

“Harlow you out of all people should know that Hope and Dreams only protect you. Which means you are the only one who would survive. Without you, we go back to a land of nightmares. Do you really want that?”Judas yelled out of pure injustice.

“No I don’t want that, but that might be how it turns out. I can’t handle my past anymore! Stop acting like I’m bringing injustice to the world by saying I won’t help!” Harlow shouts back.

“You’re supposed to be some savior of this town!”

“You want me to go! Fine, I’ll go but you have to promise not to.”

“I promise!” He was lying through his teeth like normal, but Harlow didn’t pay any attention to it and simply re-packed her bags. She left on her quest to the creek of her doom. Harlow didn’t know what was to happen. She was afraid of the unknown. She kept reminding herself she couldn’t trust anyone, not even her brother. Harlow wanted to think her brother was unlike his name. Though he proved every time to fit his name to the deepest cores. The creek was the farthest thing from town. It was past the stone mansion and the woods. It was hidden by a cave of monsters. Harlow had arrived at the mansion and stopped for a sip of water. Leaning against the stone walls she drank. Once she was done she continued her long walk in the deep darkness the sun would be back up in only a few more hours, but she knew it would have to be dark out for the job to be done.

Harlow knew not to let fear get in the way, so she made her way to the woods. She would have to remind herself to get a base out here if she was destined to be the hero of the people. She still didn’t trust the mansion which had held the sun for hundreds of years. It only gave her a feeling of hopelessness and dread. She had no clue whether Hope and Dreams were friends or foes. Maybe they were the betrayers and not Judas like she had thought this was Harlow’s only hope. Harlow could handle getting betrayed by strangers, but not by Judas. Harlow loved Judas too much to lose him like her only friends.

Judas was following his sister, his only thoughts were why was she so fast. Harlow looked back which made Judas flip into a nearby bush to hide. She turned forward once again and pressed on. Once Harlow was far enough ahead Judas pushed himself off the ground and looked around for a minute in the calming darkness. He had a softness to his rounder cheeks, his face was in a concerned appearance, while he was looking around in the darkness, his sister hurried ahead and was gone as if she was never there, to begin with. Once he turned to look back for where his sister was, he started hearing a cool and smooth voice with a delicate touch. Then he heard something’s claws scraping the bark of a nearby tree. He turned his head towards the sound, gulping his heart pounding loudly in his head. The noise moved from in front of him, to beside him in a matter of seconds.

“Hello, Judas… How is my little friend doing?” Deceit said with a cold smooth voice, Fear was beside it.

“Who are you?!” Judas said with a cold disgust in his voice.

“Well I am Fear and he is Deceit.” A harsh raspy voice came from the short hag beside the tall, thin, and curvy Deceit.

“Why are you talking to me?” Judas’s voice shakes as he looks at the beautifully feminine male in front of him and the short hag beside him. He didn’t know exactly what they had done to Harlow before, but he did know he shouldn’t trust them, but his curiosity got the better of him. Deceit smirked and ran his claws softly over Judas’s cheek causing him to pull away slightly shivering from the cold.

“Aww come on be a nice little kitten for us and tell us whatever we want to know, alright? Us talking to you isn’t what’s important right now, right Fear?” Deceit’s voice had a velvety sound to it causing Judas to get lost in it for a moment. Judas immediately snapped out of it and shook his head.

“I don’t know any information.” Judas pleads and Deceit grabs his face by a hand holding it in between the sharp nails on his right hand’s thumb and pinkie causing Judas to bleed a little. “Ow, hey stop that!”

“Deceit stop that!” Fear hissed out. “We can’t damage the knowledge keeper!” She hit Deceit’s shin with a branch she was holding and he hissed out in pain.

“Well, how do you suppose we get what we came for?” He barked back holding me still by my arm after I tried tugging away.

“Simple we expose it to him. He obviously doesn’t remember who he is, otherwise, he would be hugging you after all you two were lovers in our world.”

“Yes, but Fear if he doesn’t remember could it be that Trust chose another to be present in, like Harlow perhaps?” Fear simply shook her head.

“Don’t be silly Trust never leads, he is often too afraid to be hurt.”

That was the last thing Judas heard before the sun rose and Deceit and Fear disappeared into a pile of ashes. Instead of going to see if Harlow found anything he ran towards the direction of the mansion. Judas was breathing heavily and was holding back tears, he needed to explain this to Harlow, but if he did she would scold him for following her to the creek of nightmares. Although he wanted to hide from everything, he also wanted to go to the creek because he wondered if it would give him some sort of knowledge to what Deceit and Fear were arguing about last night. Judas didn’t want to go alone, but also didn’t want Harlow to go with him out of the fear of getting her hurt. He didn’t exactly have anyone to bring with him, his friends from school already think he’s insane after what happened. Although Harlow was viewed as a hero at the town, many still believed it was all a dream, a coincidence that the sun suddenly appeared when Harlow left town that night. Judas was a forgotten soul to the rest of the town, a shadow to Harlow every time, only the hero’s little brother. A useless soul, no one of importance, with this thought, Judas decided to wait at the stone mansion until the sun sets and go to the creek of nightmares.

Waiting for the sun to set was going to take a long time, so Judas after fiddling with the leather bracelet, a light brown on one side and black on the other began to doze off with the smell of summer grass and roses in the air. There in his mind was where Judas began to open his eyes the smell of summer no longer present, nor the lands he knew growing up. Judas looked around perplexed and dazed, wondering where he was. In this strange land, he stood up slowly and saw a figure in the distance.

“Hello, do you know where we are?” Judas called out, going closer to the figure, but no noise seemed to come out of his mouth. As he came closer he could make out the figure, which was, in fact, two figures. One of which was Deceit, but far younger and with a slight blush to his cheeks talking to a shorter figure. This shorter figure looked similar to Judas, it wore the same bracelet on the same wrist, but his face was more angular and was more defined. His hair was a dark ginger seeming almost artificial, but wasn’t, while Judas’s hair was a dirty blond color and his face had no freckles the figure had them all over his delicate face.

“Aww come on Trust, it’s only fair. I did something for you, so you owe me in the future.”

“Fine Deceit, I will come back in the form of a boy, someone close to the chosen one. Me helping you will come with a cost though.”

“Trust what kind of cost?”

“You and I will not be able to identify each other without the chosen one present and I will no longer remember my purpose in the new plan. All we have to do is hope that I and the chosen one open...” Trust’s voice faded off and Judas began to stir awake.

“Wait open what?” Judas woke up yelling this, knocking over his bag and tangling himself up in his cloak. He looked around grabbing his bag, eating a few berries he brought with him as he stood up. The sun was gone now and he wished he would have brought a lantern with him, but alas he never thought ahead. Once his things were gathered he pulled his hood over his head and brushed the dirt off his dark green trousers. His brown-hazel eyes were shimmering in the moonlight but were also glazed over almost as if he was calculating something. Judas was afraid to know what Trust was talking about, he wondered who Trust was in this life and even if Harlow was the chosen one. It seemed as if Deceit didn’t remember anything from that day, except that Trust would come back.

With his racing head, Judas decided to walk through the dark forest and continue on the winding forest road. The creek of nightmares was his goal right now, but he didn’t know why he wanted to go here. Perhaps the note Harlow had received was enough to spark his curiosity and go to the creek alone. While Judas was making his way through to the creek of nightmares, Harlow was inside of the stone mansion looking for some sort of clue to what it did because nothing had happened the night she had gone to the creek, none of the ash monsters were there, not Fear, not Deceit, not even Lies. This confused Harlow as she went through the mansion’s library which seemed to be filled with more spider webs than books. Harlow searched and searched but every time she would come close to finding an answer, the page she needed to read would be missing, torn out by someone a long time ago.

“Ugh, how am I supposed to find anything at this rate!” Harlow growled under her breath and put the books she thought might be useful into her bag. She then proceeded to go to the top of the mansion where the sun used to be held in hopes of something calming, or at least a clue to what could be going on at the creek of nightmares. Harlow sat down on the window sill of the right window in the room, where the hard stone was cutting into her skin slightly, but she paid no mind to it and glanced out the window in the direction of the creek of nightmares. She glanced at the hole in the center of the room and remembered the night where she released the sun and then she remembered Hope and Dreams. Harlow began to wonder if Hope and Dreams would have any knowledge of the creek of nightmares but alas they haven’t been seen since that day, which was months ago. Harlow sighed in frustration and leaned her head against the wall. Where was hope when she needed it?

Judas was back in the location where he had met Deceit and Fear for the first time, which caused him to shiver and pull his cloak closer to his body. Judas took shaky steps down the path carefully cautious to tree roots and snakes. Running into snakes was now a constant fear of Judas because he could never figure out if they were nice creatures or not. Tree roots were a pain to trip over. Judas could feel his heartbeat pick up faster as he got to a fork in the road. Which way to go? Left or Right? He fiddled with the bracelet on his wrist for a while, when two figures appeared one he recognized the other he did not. To his left was the figure he did not know, while to the left was Deceit.

“Hello Judas.” Deceit smirked, his arms crossed over his chest covered only by a suit jacket and a black tie. He was also wearing black dress pants, his skin was a soft mocha and his hair was longer than the last time Judas saw him, meaning these creatures aged faster than a normal person would.

Harlow felt an uneasiness surrounding her and she stood up and began pacing the room. She hoped everything was safe on the home front and that Judas was keeping everything back home running easy. She stopped thinking about home and looked at the ceiling of the room thinking about how she needed someone’s help right now. She needed her brother right now, he always found a way to make some sort of sense out of something like this. He would have been able to figure out what was going on, maybe she should have brought him with on this trip. She dismissed the thought, reminding herself about how careless he was and thinking he probably would have messed something up.

Judas looked between the figure and Deceit and clenched his teeth, his brows furrowing. “What do you want now, and who is your friend?” He looked at the figure trying to figure out what it was.

“Well why would you want to know that?” Deceit gritted his teeth and adjusted his tie.

“Simply because I don’t trust you and I’d rather know both people that I’m talking to.” Judas growled at Deceit and crossed his own arms trying to at least comfort himself a bit.

“I am Lies.” Lies stepped out of the darkness and gave Judas a sly smile. Unlike last time, Lies took the form of a little Judas.

“You people have stupid names.”

“They aren’t stupid Judas, they just aren’t of your time.” Deceit hissed out annoyed by Judas's childish behavior. Placing his hand to his head rubbing his temples Deceit continued, “Honestly I forget how childish boys are at this age.”

“You are right about that and only that Deceit.” Lies came closer to Judas, causing Deceit to get agitated. Judas continued glancing between the two, wanting to understand their relationship with one another.

“Lies back off, he needs to come with Fear and I.” Deceit kept it as a simple need for a task, Judas looked at Deceit suspiciously thinking about how Trust had said Deceit wouldn’t be able to know who Trust was alone.

“Is this about Trust?” Judas asked with large doe eyes towards Deceit. Lies began to laugh and Deceit’s eyes went wide.

“Ha the punk knows.”

“Shut up Lies, Kitten mind telling me how you know who Trust is?” Deceit was rubbing his long, sharp, deadly nails against a nearby tree. Lies turned around mumbling something about how Judas would choose Deceit over Lies and disappeared.

“I’m no kitten and quite frankly yesterday you and Fear wouldn’t shut up about Trust!” Judas was keeping his vision a secret out of fear that Deceit might know something he doesn’t and right now he was one step ahead of Deceit. Judas wanted to be ahead of Deceit, out of fear.

“What do you want with me Deceit? Why am I so important to you and Fear?”

“If you want to know so badly, why not come with me and I can show you?” Deceit’s voice was silky as he gestured to the path on the right. Judas looked at the path Lies took and then at the path Deceit was gesturing to and then to the handsome man in front of him. Judas gulped and pulled his bag closer to his body and walked past Deceit and started down the path.

“Come on kid, could you walk any faster?” Deceit was beginning to get agitated with Judas and was now walking beside him after Judas didn’t speed up he put his hand on the younger’s shoulder. “Stop for a moment, we need to arrive before the sun rises.” Deceit let out a loud whistle, causing some birds to leave from the branches they were perched on and a small dark mahogany carriage to appear being driven by two beautiful black stallions.

“Wow, they’re-”

“Beautiful, yes I know, now hurry along Judas.” Deceit smiled softly and whispered to the horse the destination he wished to go to and then climbed into the carriage with Judas and pulled the doors closed behind himself and the black curtains down, leaving Judas and Deceit in pure darkness.

“I can’t see-”

“Shush now Judas, I don’t want to hear your useless nonsense.” Deceit’s voice was cold and sharp, clearly upset. Judas was wondering if it was because Deceit was told to come and meet Deceit, or if it was because of Lies pestering, or if it was because Deceit truly loved Trust, or perhaps it was for a reason Judas couldn’t even think of at the moment.

As a million thoughts swarmed throughout Judas’s head he didn’t notice he was staring at Deceit, or Deceit was staring back trying to analyze what was going on through Judas’s head. Deceit looked at the younger boy thinking about how he looked so similar to how Trust once did. He looked at the young boy’s wrist and saw the same bracelet on his wrist that used to be on Trust’s wrist.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where did you get that bracelet?” Judas snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the duel colored bracelet and then at Deceit.

“It was given to me.” Deceit nodded not pushing Judas any further about it and looked down at his own wrist with sad eyes. Judas’s eyes followed where Deceit was looking. “Hmmm.”

“Yes?”

“How about you have it? I mean you do look like a man with a good fashion sense and I'm sure you would find a use for it.” Deceit looked up at the smaller boy.

“Are you sure I can have it?” Judas smiled softly and took it off his wrist and leaned across the carriage and took the bracelet and tied it onto Deceit’s wrist.

“Take it as a trade after all you are allowing me to gain information. It’s only fair plus I have some sort of trust in you, even though it’s probably stupid given your name and all.”

“Trust?” Deceit looked at the bracelet on his wrist and then let out a small cry.

“Hey are you okay?!” Judas panicked a little.

“I’m alright I just haven’t heard those words for a long, long time.” Deceit smiled sadly and brushed his tears away.

“Well I’ll gladly trust you if it makes you happy.” Judas smiled, but inside he was unsure if it was a good idea to trust Deceit.

Harlow had a feeling in her chest that she did not like. She got up from the windowsill and made her way out of the stone mansion and started running back to the town. She felt like she needed to get to Judas, she had a gut feeling that he had done something stupid. So she was running to the only place she knew her little brother would be, home. From her adrenaline, she managed to get to the whispering trail before the sun had risen. She continued her long stride to their home, which only resulted in the sun setting before she had gotten back to her house. Once she managed to arrive there, she slammed the door open and without a word to her parents she stormed throughout the house, up and down the stairs twenty times before her mother stopped her.

“Harlow, sweetie what’s the matter?” Harlow’s mom brushed her greying hair out of her face and put her hands down at the sides of her pastel yellow dress, looking concerned like all the times before.

“Where’s Judas!” Harlow was shaking, going into a frenzy and breathing heavily. Her mother shook her head looking quite sad.

“Honey, slow down for a minute, Judas went out following you.” Harlow’s mom grabbed Harlow by the hood before she could run back outside. “Wait just a minute young lady I know you want to go chasing after your brother for whatever reason, but you will stay here for three moons to pass, with sleep before you go out again. Do I make myself clear?” Harlow sighed knowing her mother’s word was law here.

“Ugh, crystal.” Harlow turned around and dragged herself up the stairs and into her bed to get some much-needed rest.

While Harlow had gone searching for her brother Judas, Judas was sound asleep in the dark carriage with Deceit watching him throughout the night. Once the third day had gone by and each sibling got much-needed sleep, Judas and Deceit arrived wherever the two were heading. Judas was awoken by a simple bump in the road.

“Oh good you’ve awoken, we have finally arrived.” Deceit gave a soft smile and opened the black curtain to his right, Judas’s left revealing a stunning mansion not lit by any means, seeming to be a wall of solid black.

“Where is here and how long was I asleep?” Judas seemed in awe at the magnificent mansion to his left, but slightly disappointed. Deceit paid no attention to Judas’s mood and instead decided to answer the boy’s questions.

“This is Proditores Castle and you were asleep for three moons, I did not wake you for you seemed like you needed the sleep.” Deceit motioned for the two to exit the carriage once it stopped in front of the castle. Deceit exited first and held out a hand for Judas to take to get out of the carriage, but Judas refused it and simply got out on his own. Deceit tried to keep his composure, but he was a little hurt about Judas not taking his help.

“Sorry for the strange question, but do you not have any lights?” Judas gulped, crossing his arms and proceeding to rub them up and down, his eyes seeming to be filled with panic as he started to get a little antsy.

“Oh yes, we tend to not have them on unless we are all inside. So let’s hurry and get inside.” Deceit offered to lead the way, so Judas followed him inside the dark castle. Once the two were inside the lights flickered on and Fear greeted the two.

“Oh my? You got him to come here willingly?”

“Not without a price of course, he demanded information.” Deceit looked to Judas and then back to Fear. Judas simply smiled softly at Fear and then began to go back to looking around at everything in the general area, but he didn’t know if he could walk around freely, so he stood like a stick next to Deceit and bit his bottom lip nervously. Fear raised an eyebrow at Judas’s strange behavior then went back to looking at Deceit.

“Is he on our side or not Deceit?”

“Fear he wants information and I’m sure that once he has that he will see no reason to not join our cause.”

“What cause?”

“Shush sweetie, mommy and daddy are talking now.” Fear said in the sweetest and softest baby voice ever.

“We are not his mommy and daddy Fear.” Deceit gritted his teeth and ran a hand through his hair.

“Well anyway, Judas go into the other room and sit on the couch and try not to break anything please?”

“Fine, but I expect a full meal. I’m starving.” Judas went off into the other room and sat down and went through his bag trying to find anything of use, such as a weapon. If Fear and Deceit thought he would trust them at all, they were sadly mistaken. Fear and Deceit instead of going into the lounge on the right where Judas was, they went to the strategy room on the left.

“Fear what have you heard from the North East? Is Lies really choosing to fight with Hope and Dreams over us? After all these years?”

“Was he on the left path of the road?”

“I’m afraid so…”

“We have to assume it's an act and he’s on our side after all his name is Lies.”

“Yes, but the war is coming soon and if we can’t find Trust then we have no hope of winning.”

“Deceit we have to win, no one else knows what Hope and Dreams did, no one but You, Trust, and I.”

Harlow had woken up and immediately pulled a brush through her hair, getting dressed in dirt brown trousers, a white button-up v-neck, and her famous black boots. She packed her bag with enough food to feed both herself and her brother, knowing he was probably starving. She looked outside through her small bedroom window and sighed. By the time she had awoken it was around midday. She was worried sick about Judas and wanted to do nothing more than to help him and bring him home because he had done something stupid, she knew it. All she wanted right now was to be with Judas and no longer be involved with this mess, she wanted a break from all of this mess because none of it made any sense to her. Why was all of this caused by her, why was she of all people chosen? These were the questions Harlow found herself asking instead of how to find Judas or if he needed saving. She grabbed her bag and tied her hair back with a soft brown rope and tied the laces to her boots and took in a deep breath and climbed down the stairs.

Judas began to doze off, while waiting for Deceit and Fear to finish their conversation. He was fast asleep when Deceit and Fear walked into the room. Deceit was surprised the boy could still sleep even after he had slept for so long, which caused him to be slightly worried. Fear looked up at Deceit in wonder. She did not say anything and instead walked past the sheep wool couch and into the other room to tell a servant to prepare a full meal. Deceit chose to sit in a rather large chair adjacent to the couch which was also covered with sheep wool. He rubbed his temples and tried not to look at the younger boy who looked so much like Trust. The simple thought of his old lover making his eyes water some. Fear walked back into the room and took notice of Deceit’s tears, and out of caution she chose to not say anything and instead went to the shelf behind the couch where Judas was sleeping. She brushed her index and middle finger against the spines of each book and pulled of a book with the title The Night of The Betrayal.

“Deceit, give this to the boy when he awakens, and don’t be disappointed if he isn’t what you think he is.” Fear gave Deceit a sad look before tossing the book his way. “And don’t forget to tell him supper is prepared for him.”

“Fear, why are we giving him this book, doesn’t it have the story of Hope and Dreams in its pages? Also I will never be able to find Trust without Trust’s help. The boy said he would trust me. And I shall dine with him tonight.”

“Deceit I know you mean well, but you said you would provide him information. All I’m doing is making it easier on us, if he wants information he will have to read for it. And very well, have a good night. Make sure he stays away from the meeting room, we don’t want to kill him, do we?”

“Goodnight Fear.” Judas found himself stirring awake at the sound of Deceit sighing, he flickered his eyes open and looked at the older man in the chair near him.

“Deceit…” Judas lets out a yawn as he rubs his eyes tiredly.

“Oh you're awake, here,” Deceit hands Judas the book Fear gave him, “Supper is prepared if you are still hungry otherwise I will be dining alone.” Deceit stood and offered Judas a hand off from the couch.

“What is the book for?” Judas stands, putting the book in his bag and following you into the dining hall. The dining hall was a large room, with floors as black as an abyss, walls as tall as large oak trees the color of red wine, and a chandelier who’s lights were candles and were glowing brightly. The room was decorated with roses in various places, mostly on the large dining table, made of mahogany that sat in the center of the room. Judas was in awe at the dining room’s massiveness and glory.

“Well don’t just stand there Judas, take a seat. The book is the knowledge we promised you, but you have to work for any knowledge. Nothing comes without a price you know.” Deceit looked down at the ground a little sad and made his way to the dining table and took a seat at the head of the table. Judas followed suit and took a seat to his right, and proceeded to start eating. There was bread, berries, lamb, and rice. All of it looked appealing to Judas’s empty stomach. He was chowing down with little to no shame, which caused Deceit to smile softly at him.

“I hope you are enjoying the food, the servants took extra care in making our meal for the night.” Judas was embarrassed, thinking that he was eating too fast. “No need to slow down, if you are hungry, you are hungry nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Stop being so nice to me and please tell them that it was lovely, and that I enjoyed it. Honestly, I should probably get going.” Judas rubbed the back of his neck shyly.

“No need, Fear and I actually want to talk with you tomorrow, and I would love to spend some more time with you, if you don’t mind that is.” Deceit looked at Judas, analyzing his body language, quite curious to see what the young boy would do. Judas looked back at Deceit, trying to get into his head for a moment. He wanted to know why Deceit looked at him with such sad eyes, one would have thought that seeing someone that looked like your old lover would have brought joy, but that’s not necessarily true. The more Judas thought about it, the more he realized that neither would ever be able to identify the other alone, they needed each other's help.

“I suppose I could stay for a little while longer, what’s the harm?” Judas had finished eating and looked towards Deceit for guidance. Deceit had also finished eating and stood looking towards Judas’s curious eyes.

“Well there is a spare room up stairs, I can show you to it, but I imagine you won’t be sleeping very much.”

“Why would that be?”

“You have slept for three and a half days already?”

“Your point?”

“Oh, never mind you silly child. Come along now, I’ll show you to it.” Deceit stepped back into the living room and then into the hallway in between each room, leading Judas up three floors. The stairwell like many other things was made of mahogany and the walls were an off white, almost a creamy color and was decorated with an assortment of pictures many of which were of Deceit and Trust.

“Deceit, why do you have so many pictures of you and Trust on the wall?” Deceit paused in the middle of the stairway and turned to look at one of the pictures of Trust and him outside playing in the snow, his eyes began watering as he began to speak.

“This was the house we all grew up in, it’s my family’s house. My life here was short lived, so all the pictures I have on display are the only thing left from my childhood.” Deceit’s voice broke which reminded Judas of the image of a glass stained window shattering and falling to the floor. All of the individual pieces are beautiful, but also incomplete because no matter how hard a person tried to put the window back together, it would somehow never be the same.

“All of you, does that mean Fear as well?” Judas wanted to lighten the mood so instead of focusing on Trust, he focused on something different.

“Yes, and I think you should be getting some sleep, so come along now.” Deceit’s voice was a mix between beautiful sadness and bitter hate. He led the way to the guest room that Judas would be staying in. Judas entered the small room containing a large bed in the center of the back wall whose color was washed out with brighter and darker splatters of a soft teal, which was detailed with some sort of abstract swirl. To the left of the bed was a small wardrobe which was an off white almost cream color like the walls of the stairwell only its paint was flaking off some revealing a dark black underneath. To the right of the bed was a door, probably leading to a bathroom and in front of the bed laid a chest which was the same creamy color as the wardrobe it was decorated with little horses running along its front, which made Judas think that the room had once belonged to a child of a younger age than Judas. The room had a painting above the bed of Trust petting a horse, while on the wall by the soft brown door was two paintings of horses one with Trust, and one with someone else that Judas could not name. Instead of asking any more questions tonight, Judas decided to drop the subject and thank Deceit for a place to stay for the night and made his way to the bed in the center of the room covered with soft and silky light pink sheets and sat on the bed as Deceit left closing the door behind him. It did not take long for Judas to take his bag off and set it on the wardrobe beside him and he began reading, but he didn’t get very far before he fell asleep once again.

It was dark in the forest as Harlow took careful steps down the winding trail. She should have stopped for the night at the stone mansion, but she chose to keep going nothing would stop her from reaching her brother. She had made it to the fork in the road before she stopped and stared at each direction. She knew only that the left went to the creek of nightmares, but she also knew that it led out of the forest. The question was where did the right path go and would Judas have chosen left or right. Her eyes furrowed and she bit on her bottom lip there was no way for her to know how Judas would have thought about it. If she went left would it be the right choice? If she went right, would there be anything left to lose? Harlow looked to her left and then her right and sighed thinking about the letter that got her into this mess in the first place. She chose to go left again out of hope that Judas had followed her in that direction, she hoped she chose the right direction.

Harlow rushed down the path to the creek of nightmares and with shaky breathing looked around for any sign for Judas, but saw none and ran down the path heading North West. She looked every which way except where she was going. Her eyes were wide and she was sweating. She thought back to what the note said and then began to cry. Where was her brother? Why wasn’t he here when she needed him the most? He always made her smile, always brought her some sort of joy, always making a joke out of some situation even if it was never funny. She could only cry because if she couldn’t find her, what’s to say he didn’t fall off a cliff, drown in the creek, or get lost. He could be starving and there was nothing she could do, so she sobbed and if matters couldn’t get any worse she tripped on a stupid tree root.

“Stop your crying child.” A bright yellow light appeared and Harlow brought her right arm over her face, then the light dulled and it was dark once again. Once the light was gone Harlow moved her arm away and stared at the short woman who had fair skin and sun bleached hair, which was almost white, her lips were what would be described as plump and perfect, and her body while being overweight was the perfect hourglass shape. She was stunning, she wore a simple white dress, and a white rose in her hair, she bore no shoes on her feet and her eyes in the dark were a dark brown almost black. Her eyes appeared to lead one in and almost like a whirlpool seemed to be drowning.

“Who are you?” Harlow got to her feet and leaned her head in, her voice shaky.

“The one you call Hope.” Hope smiled softly and turned around. “If you don’t mind, please follow me.”

“Do you know where my brother is?” Harlow’s voice was sharp and she emphasised the words where and brother. Her eyes were a sharp blue and were filled with a storm of fury.

“Yes. I will explain the predicament we are in at the mansion.” Hope’s voice went dark and cold. Harlow looked at the back of Hope’s head with confusion, but followed her.

“How long will this journey take?”

“Three moons.” Harlow’s eyes went wide and her eyes became an angry grey-blue and her expression went from curious to a scowl.

“I can not go with you, my brother needs me!”

“He is fine, he is sleeping in their mansion as we speak. He shall be alright for now, but if you do not come with me, terrible things may happen to your brother.” Hope’s voice went from dark and cold to filled with worry and concern, she turned around and looked at Harlow with sad brown eyes.

“Alright, you will explain when we get to your mansion. And I mean as soon as we arrive.” Harlow glared into her soft brown eyes, analyzing them, but found no speckle of guilt, regret, or even a lie. Hope let out a sharp whistle and held her hand up to tell Harlow not to move and she waited for a minute and whistled again. At the second whistle a white carriage appeared, being led by two pure white deer.

“How did you get them trained to do that?” Harlow stared at the two in awe and reached out and petted the closest deer’s soft white fur.

“Dreams is friends with the deer of the winter forest. Come along young child, into the carriage.”

“Dreams- I have a name you know!” Harlow climbed into the carriage before Hope.

“That’s because I didn’t ask for it Harlow.” Hope climbed into the carriage gracefully leaving her white rose from her hair behind on the ground, she sat across from Harlow crossing her leg over her other and leaned her head back sighing.

“Sleep Harlow, it will make it go by faster for you.” Before Harlow could get a word in, she was fast asleep and so was Hope.

By the time Hope and Harlow had awoken three moons had passed, and the air was far colder and outside of the carriage it was snowing hard, it looked like a blizzard out there. Hope opened the door and said something about hurrying to get inside before the winter wolves got to them. Harlow didn’t need to be told twice because she much rather be inside the mansion with Hope than outside trying to fend of winter wolves because from what she’s heard they are no fun to deal with. Once inside the mansion Hope and Harlow were greeted by Dreams and Lies. Dreams was a relatively short man with a strong jaw, but a slightly chubby build. His cheeks were plump along with his lips, his hair was a dark ginger and his face littered with freckles. His eyes were an emerald green and he wore a simple button up shirt and trousers. Lies instead of looking like Judas looked like Harlow and wore the same outfit as her, but Lies cheek bones were higher up and her hair was not as long and was wavy instead of completely straight.

“Hello.” Dreams looked up at Harlow with curious and bright green eyes, and then looked towards Hope and smiled softly. “Did you lose the flower again?”

“Hello…” Harlow looked over to Hope who was seeming to glow happily when looking at Dreams and smiled back at him just as softly.

“Oh, no I did lose it, I left in the woods this time.” Hope giggle a little and went to join Dreams, standing beside him.

“Tell me what I want to know, or I will leave.” Harlow glared at Hope bitterly.

“Calm down Harlow, let us go into the common room and I will explain about your brother and anything else you want to hear about.” Hope led the way out of the entryway with Dreams close behind her, followed by Harlow and Lies. The room they entered was a rich but faded red and was littered with different decorations such as potted plants, paintings, mirrors, and small jewelry boxes. The floor was covered with a wolf skin rug and the couches and chairs covered with the same white fur. Hope took a seat on the couch along with Dreams to her right. Lies took a seat on one of the side chairs, furthest away from Hope, which led two spots to be available for Harlow the couch on Hope’s left or the chair closest to the entrance. Harlow chose the chair still not fully trusting any of them and sat down with less grace compared to Hope and listened to the fireplace crackling to her right.

“Harlow, your brother is currently being held in the Proditores Castle, which belongs to Deceit and Fear. He is being well fed and has anything at his disposal. He shall be alright, but the problem is left with the people who he is in the care of. You see Harlow a war is coming and we do not have much time to prepare. We need you on our side otherwise your brother will turn to the betrayer his destiny is, and the creek of nightmares shall be opened. We must stop that, so we need your help.”

“And you think I’m just going to help you? With such a short and not detailed explanation? You must be crazy if you think just from this I’m going to fight for you? My brother’s life is at stake, and I will not lose him!”

“Calm down child. I will explain if you give me the chance.” Dreams and Lies looked at each other with a rat-like expression in silence.

“Deceit and Fear did something terrible to Dreams and I, we have convinced Lies to join our cause. What lies in the creek of nightmares shall stay there for the sake of humanity, it could destroy our world. Deceit and Fear want to release this monster onto humanity, in hopes to find Deceit’s past lover, Trust. The monster that lies in that creek can smell anything and can locate a specific individual if a ritual is completed. For that ritual to occur, someone must betray their own family and take some of their blood that was willingly given and place it into the creek. And with Judas and Deceit on Fear’s side, they could accomplish anything. Which is why I’m begging you to join our cause, I’m asking you to save your brother on our behalf. For humanity, for family, for friends. Will you join us?” Harlow stared into Hope’s eyes looking for some sort of trace of a lie, but found none. She looked towards Dreams who was looking at the short table in front of the couch with an intense gaze, and then towards Lies who always had a grin on her face. Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about her brother, and the thought of him being lost forever was killing her inside. She looked back towards Hope and took a deep breath, knowing her brother’s life was on the line now, not just her own. She had to do this for her family, for her brother.

“I will join, but the second it’s gone too far, I will quit your cause.” Harlow’s voice was shaking but strong. She hoped for all that is good that she made the right choice, and that she could save her brother from his fate.

Author's Note

Sorry it's a tad long.

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Aradhana

What's next ?????!!!! Did she save her brother? what is it related to trust and why deceit wants trust? and what is the thing that all of them are hiding?? This is amazing despite being long...just loved reading it....can you tell the ending or does it end there ? what next??? this is incredible!!!! such a wonderful work!!! this kept me going with curiosity and suspense till the end....loved it!!!!!!! please tell what happens next...could not hold myself for long now!1 this suspense is killing me!!!!!!!!