As his mind wandered off, Thames drifted into a memory of him and his Father.
•••
"What's magic, dad?"
A small Thames looked up at his father, his eyes twinkling through his long black hair.
"Ho.. My sons interested in magic?!?"
He scratched his stubble and crouched down towards Thames.
"Magic is amazing! They shoot fireworks from their fingertips and grow plants instantly!"
"Woah!!!"
Thames' eye twinkle even more as he jumps up and down.
"What else?!?"
"Well Thames! Magicians I know say magic is the path to deities!"
Thames stood silent while looking up with curiosity.
"They can make seas split and mountains shrink! If you want, Thames, I can try to find you a teacher!"
•••
Sweet dreams O' Painter
The sweet voice breaks his memory as he snaps awake in front of an easel, sitting on a a stool.
Another dream..
He rubs his forehead while looking around.
Other than the easel and the stool he's on, the space he's found himself in had nothing.
It was pitch black for as far as he could see, even the sky.
Thames' brow furrows as he turns to the blank canvas on the easel.
"What am I meant to do..?"
The easel shakes and a large palette appears in his hand covered in different colored oil paint. On the easel are now various sized paint brushes too.
"…What a weird dream."
He looks back up towards the sky before facing the canvas again.
Dreary..
His eyes drift away into the black abyss, then back at the canvas.
His hand reaches to a large brush, he coats it in a soft sky blue, and points it at the canvas.
As he covers the top half of the canvas in blue, around his head appears a brilliant clear sky.
His eyes widen as he snaps around, clearly confused by the new development.
What???
He drops his brush on accident and it loudly hits the ground, the sound echoes loudly.
Reaching for a new medium sized brush, and leaving the large one on the ground, he covers it in a brilliant yellow paint.
Drawing a circle meant to be the sun at the top center, a fiery ball of light being created in the sky above him.
The warm heat of the sun embraces him as he covers a smaller brush in green.
Painting grass at the bottom, switching between shades of green every so often, grass begins to grow below him. A small smile growing on his face at the sight of his creation, he begins to dot the grass with different colored flowers.
From tall sunflowers to short dandelions. Every time he painted a flower on the canvas one would sprout from the ground.
Growing satisfied, he gets up and sets the palette on the stool, leaving the brushes on the easel.
His feet brushed against the soft green grass as he wandered through the flower field, the sense of someone watching him raising the hair on his neck.
It's beautiful..
Thames yawns slowly as he sits down on the grass, surrounded by his creation.
Oh this is wonderful..
He breathes the clean air and stares into the clear sky.
O' Painter.. Lost in a dream have you become?
The same harmonic voice that he heard as he drifted asleep fills his ears.
"..What?"
He musters out after blinking a few times.
You mustn't allow your dreams to consume yourself..
"What's that supposed to mean..?!"
O' Painter.. Your brush paints our worlds, but do not become-
As the voice continues to go on, Thames' feel a spike of pain splinter in his mind. The voice can still be heard, but the words fall short, in Thames' mind it sounds like gibberish.
W-Wha..?
His body becomes heavy as his head throbs. Eventually the blue sky begins to bleed done onto the grass as he falls onto his back.
As the sky drips onto him, his vision begins to blur.
O' P-
Do n-
As the voice echoes once more, he loses consciousness within the dream.
Light hits his eyes as the sweet sound of birds singing enters his room, muffled.
Just a dream.. Gah!
He thought is quickly cut off as he springs up, grabbing his head as it pulsates in pain. His eyes slowly open and he realizes that a bluish paint dotted his bedsheets.
Just a dream..?
His thoughts trail off as he thinks deeply to himself, entranced by his ruined bedsheet.