Chapter Text
The lights were on when Tala got home, which she (only just) realised was because she was in a total frenzy this morning — having slept past her alarm and rushing to be on time for her 10AM class. Within the 20 minutes or so timeframe of packing her stuff and trying to look somewhat presentable, the simple motion of flicking a light switch completely flew out of Tala’s brain. Nevertheless, she was far too tired to worry about the electricity bill and opted for wrapping up her afternoon routine as quickly as possible.
She poured some tap water into her coffee maker’s reservoir and emptied out her last bag of coffee grounds on the paper filter. As that was brewing, she dumped her workout clothes into the washing machine while mournfully making a mental note to stock up soon. Purchasing wants and not needs wouldn’t be an issue if Tala wasn’t an university student living in a 320 square feet studio apartment.
The rest went by pretty smoothly, drink coffee, start and complete her assignments, finish her coffee, make ‘dinner’ (a 10 minute instant noodle recipe she found on the internet), brush her teeth, wash her face. Truthfully — none of that mattered to Tala. She was only really looking forward to being buried under her blankets and–
“Aah!” Tala yelped. “Pakshet, that hurt.” Grabbing a handful of tissues, she dabbed them on her tongue, where there was now a visible bloody teeth indent. The tissues were accumulating a concerning amount of crimson splatters. Though Tala decided that she’ll worry about it in the morning, because hey — at least her mouth didn’t taste like metal anymore?
She balled up the tissues and left them on her bedside table, a safe distance away from her lit candles. The lights went out, the candles blown off, her pigtails undone, Tala was comfortably settled in bed, and began a good night’s sleep.
Tala had a dream. Though it was one far away from ordinary.
She found herself in a seemingly different dimension, one that was an enclosed space yet stretched on endlessly. When she took a tentative step, afraid that she might fall into the blinding darkness and disappear, her foot hit a surface then was briefly enveloped in clouds of black smoke. There was no sky, horizon, or any partitions. This deafening silence surely couldn’t be the work of dreaming, right?
But neither could the terribly gorgeous woman sitting in front of her exist in reality. Two different coloured eyes and a piercing gaze to match were trained on her like a lion watching its prey. Beautiful wavy black hair that faded into a white ombre partially covered her face and scar. Pretty plump lips coated with black lipstick…
My god, even Tala’s own subconsciousness knew she’s gay.
(She also had a terrifyingly hot aura. And Tala felt like her gaze practically chained her to the ground. And there were two rumbling shadow creatures on the massive bed she was sitting on. But she also couldn’t resist attractive women.)
“Welcome, summoner,” the woman spoke, her voice reverberating. “To my domain.”
Oh my god , Tala internally screamed, she has a deep voice —
Wait.
Summoner?
“Haha, though you don’t seem like a girl who would want to summon me.”
She blinked once, twice in confusion. On the third blink, the mysterious woman was a lot closer than before. Scariness level: skyrocketed.
“You wish to ask for the contract, yes?” The woman held out a hardened hand, and a tattered scroll materialised in her palm. She gazed into Tala’s eyes, patiently waiting for an answer.
Tala on the other hand, was bewildered. Contract? Summoning? Domain? There was no way her imagination was that big. The sheer impossibility and absurdness of everything was almost laughable; Tala didn’t think dreams could be this vivid until now.
“Bahahahaha!” Her sudden burst of laughter clearly surprised the woman, as her neutral expression changed into a confused frown.
“Oh I gotta wake up soon. Sunwoo won’t believe me when I tell her about this crazy ass dream,” she pinched her right forearm.
.....
.....
.....
Nothing changed.
She pinched her forearm harder. Tugged on the navy blue t-shirt she wore to sleep. Pulled on a yellow strand of hair.
“Oh dear,” the woman sighed, shaking her head at the shadow creatures laying beside her. “I did hope that this wouldn’t happen.”
That was probably Tala’s cue to say something. Something intelligent, witty, or helpful. Or at least stop gawking at the woman like a fucking idiot. Unfortunately, with a very pitiful zap , her thinking wires were completely fried.
The woman stood up — crossing her arms as she took a very careful, good look at Tala’s face. Although it was rationally impossible, she felt like the woman was looking right into her brain. Silently picking apart her memories and thoughts, sorting through their individual parts, and making multiple conclusions. She sighed again and snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, they were thrown into an entirely different space. Stretches of clear blue and fluffy white clouds replace the void of darkness. The woman’s long silk robe and slippers were replaced by a purple floral button up shirt, black corduroy shorts, and flip flops. Tala was still in her sleeping clothes, except her feet were now cladded with yellow Crocs and there was a pair of sunglasses balancing on her head.
“Ah!” she yelped, shielding her eyes from the unexpected brightness. She blinked rapidly, and once her vision spots were gone, Tala realised that they were sitting around a patio table… under an umbrella… overlooking…
The beach?!
“My name is Hazal,” the woman– Hazal said as she sipped on a mojito. “Now I understand that you must be quite confused as to how you fell into this predicament, so I’ll try to make everything clear and concise for you.”
As Tala watched a shadow creature slowly slither around Hazal’s neck, sauntering across her right arm and peering its great inky head over to lap at the mojito, she realised that they were cats. Awfully big and ominous ones in fact. “And forgive me for the sudden change of scenery. What I am about to discuss will be easier to understand in a positive environment.”
“I am a demon. I was human once, but I now wield control over dreams, as well as many other demons and those who have power in the spirits realm. What you are seeing right now—” Hazal gestured at the horizon. “Is essentially a product of dreaming. I took your memories and formed this beach. Dreams often hold some reality in them after all.”
“Some demons take part in contract work, including I. When I am summoned, I’ll follow my summoner’s bidding in exchange for a price. To summarise it — my specialty is human beings’ deepest, darkest fears and nightmares and terrorising them with it. And you have sought my service, by accident."
She took a long, big sip from the mojito and casually dumped the leftover ice cubes into her cat(?)’s eager mouth. Tala simply blinked, contemplating whether or not she should check in with a psychiatrist when she wakes up. Filipinos were always superstitious folks, but she refused to believe that the white lady her lola scared little Tala with when she didn’t want to sleep possibly, actually exists.
“Unfortunately, summonings cannot be undone. Your best option is to sign my contract, and in— hmm… 4 months or so I will be out of your hair,” a tall glass of Coca Cola materialised from Hazal’s palm. She held it out, “Have this. Maybe a drink will soothe your confusion.”
Tala wordlessly took the drink. She stared into the fizzy brown soda, briefly doubting its authenticity before gulping it down.
A seagull chirped in the distance.
“It tastes… like an actual cola?”
“Of course it would,” Hazal laughed softly. “Most of everything you can see, hear, feel, touch, and taste were taken from your memories. Take a look around, see if you recognise something.”
The gears in Tala’s began to click. They were overlooking Masasa Beach — where she and her family visited a few months before she had to leave home. They were sitting in one of Aiyanar Beach and Dive Resort’s balconies — her tatay had proudly said with his full chest that, they’ll need one of those white pristine American mansions to house all the relatives and family friends who chipped in for their beach trip. Her nanay drank herself full of the mojito Hazal had during their trip.
Aside from Hazal’s clothes and cats, everything within this space really did come from her memories.
“I did dabble a little bit here and there, if you’re wondering. Anything can exist in dreams, and my will is able to take advantage of that.”
Oddly enough, Tala felt happy. She had been feeling homesick lately, and being back in somewhere filled with good memories — illusion or not — comforted her.
“So you’re a demon,” she burped out.
Hazal chuckled, amusement evident on her face, “Evet. That’s yes in Turkish.”
“And you’re like, a super powerful mysterious entity that fucks with dreams.”
“I suppose so?” The demon raised an eyebrow in confusion, but laughed nonetheless. “I’m not too sure about the super powerful part though.”
“And you’re in my dream. Wait, are we still in your uh, domain?”
“That is a good question,” Hazal clasped her hands together. She scrunched her eyebrows together, musing said question. “In a sense, dreams are my domain. Even though we are technically in your dream, I do hold power over it and can manipulate it to anything I wish. Ah, this matter is somewhat complicated.”
“So am I dreaming, or…?” Tala was slowly accepting that this whole ordeal wasn’t just an extremely vivid dream, but there was still a tiny part of her that hoped that she didn’t actually summon a demon.
“We are in your dream, yes. But I actually exist, and I’m afraid I’m not temporary or exist as frequent, constant bouts. I am the woman of your dreams. Just.. not the good kind.” She playfully scoffed at her own joke.
Tala had an urge to blurt out that she was the woman of her dreams, point blank. But Hazal was a demon, and generally you shouldn’t meddle with demons. Wow, she really didn’t take her own advice, huh?
“I have a lot more questions than answers to be honest.”
“I’m aware, but you are about to wake up soon. Take this contract,” Hazal pushed the tattered scroll towards her. “Read and sign it when you have time. I hope that I’ll have a signed contract in two days.”
“I look forward to working with you. Good night.”
Before Tala could utter a reply, she was sucked out of Masasa Beach.