Moerani

𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡...𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝. 𝑇𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑜...𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡. Moerani has heard this same prayer many a time. Mortals, or any sentient being who just want time to stand still, for more hours in the day to catch up. This prayer was different, it was...insistent, desperate, always close to frustration. It was a haunting plea that was the same request. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝. 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝. 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡... It was obsessive, grating even. Moerani had enough if this one dreamers prayer and decided 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑚, to grant the wish. 𝑀𝑜𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ, 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠, 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒. 𝑌𝑒𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑑. 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑖 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚...𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑑. 𝐴 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑝, 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠. 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑀𝑜𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑖 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑓𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠...𝑠𝑎𝑑, 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚. The year became two, then three...then it became too long. The beautiful dream had faded, it was no longer sad. It was empty. It was nothingness, it was torture. It was a loophole. Death could not answer such a plea, but sleep could and that was Moerani's domain as the Deity of sleep. 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢? 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛. 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑡.