Of all the miserable people in the world, Chiss must have been one of the miserablest of them all. He lived in a place where the nights were long and dark, friends were few and infrequent, and sleep was restless and dreamless. His mother had grown spiteful after his father's death, and forced him to work from dawn to dusk in the dangerous forests to gather food for the family; her, Chiss, and Chiss' brother Toyle.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHBtOLwyk5
Toyle did not work; as the younger child he received what little love was left in Molla's empty heart. This is not to say that he had a happy childhood; Molla was far from a model mother even at her best, which was simply leaving Toyle alone, verbally and physically.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTA5Ad92vaG
Chiss received the brunt of her wrath; it was not uncommon for him to leave for the day's work wearing a coat of throbbing blue bruises. He despised his mother, loved his brother, and wondered about his father. Once, when his courage had not yet been torn apart, he asked Molla about his father; the only response was that he 'dreamt too much'. This very much confused him; after all, everyone knows that dreams only exist in fairytales. Sleep is an empty void.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyPg2WF60d
This is what Chiss believed, at least, before he found the dream market.
It appeared to be like a travelling carnival; what it was doing in the forest Chiss did not know, and did not question when it appeared. The tents offered shade from the unrelenting sun, and the promise of something that resembled entertainment was too much for the boy to resist. He made his way through the striped canvas doors to the largest tent, and gasped in wonder at the curious objects inside.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAxlIuXSBm
Desks upon desks with shelves upon shelves, all packed with shimmering spheres, each filled with a swirling cloudy liquid, different colours whispering from all sides. He picked up a green sphere, entranced by the colour he had never seen before; and jumped as a masked man slithered to his side and named a price.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTl6q4ihEca
'One precious item for a dream, Chiss. One very precious item.'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13mbGIRZE3
Chiss stuttered an in-cohesive reply.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8NDyUv609
'If you have nothing to pay, come back tomorrow. The Dream Market can wait for customers.'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKET1WUyCb
The man took the sphere out of the boy's hands, and he caught a glimpse of a foul and glistening limb underneath the masked man's cloak. Chiss turned and ran back out into the glade, looking over his shoulder only once; the forest was empty.
The boy was curious; a dream market? Perhaps this was his chance to experience that fantastical thing, to leave behind his sorry life if only for a night. But to sacrifice a precious item...704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhLqChZ3NJ
Chiss had very few possessions, and even fewer he could call precious. A few toys would not do, he thinks. Household objects were not precious to him; the only item that he cared for was an old bottle that belonged to his father which carried a strange bitter scent. Chiss found the scent calming; but his desire for the illustrious sphere was too much.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6a0OyvKnG
The next day, Chiss tucked the glass beneath his shirt as Molla sent him to the forest, where the tent with the masked man awaited.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXTOTIhB0N
'I want a dream!' He called. The masked man took the glass from his hands and surveyed it in the light of the globes all around.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmF6SNKeV7q
'Very good...' The man hissed as he pocketed the item. He handed the green orb to the boy; the exchange was complete. 'Tonight, leave the Dream under your pillow.'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSyBmWJk8K
Chiss gasped at the beauty of the thing in his hands; it seemed even more magnificent now that it was in his ownership. He turned to give thanks; but he was standing alone in the damp shade.
It was a game Chiss did not know, with a ball. It was people Chiss did not know, playing the game. And it was a happiness Chiss had never known, in this dream of bygone pasts. A cheer, and tears of joy in his eyes he cannot explain as the ball sails past others into a shimmering net.
He woke with something new in his life: a smile.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSn6BqC2KH
The days' work no longer tired him, Molla's fists no longer hurt him, and Toyle's occasional laughs were ever more brilliant to his ears.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs4Frzh4YeG
For a while, Chiss was content. But only a while.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9195bRuev
After two moons, he could no longer recall the colour of the orb, the colour of the grass beneath his feet in the dream. He could no longer remember the way the ball spun so gracefully, the power he felt in the game. Chiss began to grow bitter once more, even more angered than before the dream; it is harder to live in the night once you have seen the light of day.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQR6pRazJi
As if called, the dream market appeared again. Chiss had no items to give, but he hungered and hungered for another sphere to seep into his mind. He begged desperately, but the masked man always returned the same response; 'A precious item for a dream.'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZa4kIt7kC
'But I have nothing precious left to give!' He cried.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcU9Lv2jdm
'Come with me.'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfNHKcvxwP
The man led the boy to another tent. Here, young children lay with their eyes closed on the floor in rows, dim spheres by their sides slowly brightening.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFK8RoPGLz
'Are they dreaming?' Chiss asked.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72xGzeUH1J
'Yes, and they are happy.'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLupjjvQE1e
Chiss looked upon the sleeping children, unaware that their slumber was eternal and infernal, and knew he had one more precious item to give.
The dream had all but faded by the next morning as he lied so blatantly to his mother about Toyle getting lost in the forest.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hBv0EzVtI
'Now tell me, Chiss, what am I supposed to do with you now? You are useless, useless, useless, and it's all your fault that now your brother is gone too! Useless!' He had long ago learned to accept the stings of her palms in silence, but the tears were uncontrollable. What had he been thinking?704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdmisDqIUA
He stumbled back up into his room in staggered gasps, and collected all the items in his room into his knapsack; just a few bone dice and his snikk knife. Not knowing exactly what he planned to do, he climbed out the window. He did not want to live with Molla alone.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqPS47xon3
In the forest, the Dream Market awaited his last visit.
'Where is Toyle?'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9JjvSh6Wh
'You cannot see your brother again. You have given him to the Dream Market now.'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfU9FUIZpr
Chiss cried in despair. There was nothing left for him here; all he wanted to do was leave this world and escape into another dream. He would die for a final dream; and that, he realised, was all he needed to do.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOXVppTTAd
'Do you want a dream?' The sphere in the masked man's hands was too perfect to resist, and with shaking hands Chiss pulled out his snikk knife and pressed it into his chest with a shout of pain.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNykh2XIa7
He reached into the pulsing wound and gasped as he clasped his fingers around the beating object inside. With a shrill scream he lunged his arm forward, his final offering to the market lying bleeding in his hands.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIox4Us7ob
'Please!' He yelled.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5jhrb9LWMs
But the masked man slapped the object to the ground and dismissed the boy's confused and anguished cry.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHupK01Oe8
'One precious item for a dream.'704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCAPwygiFS
And even in those dying moments the boy did not understand; for every treasured item he gave away, for every fabricated fantasy, for every time he gave up his truth for another's lies;704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0YNXh3L2P
how precious really was his heart to him?
