Pain Thieves (Inkwell Fiction Prompt 143)

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Before I knew George and Edward in my waking life, I knew them from my dreams. We were a group of thieves who stole people’s pain. They were in the form of precious crystals, gems, and jewels found on an island. A place I frequently visited in my dreams.

The pains held the wisdom of not repeating mistakes. They made us more aware and, therefore, more conscious of other exotic dimensions and parallel worlds. We could make ourselves invisible in the dream world, so dark entities wouldn’t see us and steal our energy. Those jewels even made us more powerful as individuals in our waking lives. We, as thieves, just had to put the jewels on our foreheads, right on the third eye chakra, and then the energy of the jewel would transfer to our consciousness.

They said a powerful dream being guarded people’s pains. She had created caves in the mountains. She puts powerful pains belonging to important people like royal blood and celebrities inside heavily protected treasure chests inside the caves, which were guarded by goblins and dangerous Egyptian soldiers.

We normally found some jewels hidden in the sand near the beach. But they belonged to ordinary people. A few people knew the island’s guardian hid ordinary people’s pains inside the sand. These jewels had low energy, but absorbing them was still satisfying.

On one of my travels on that island, I was absorbing one of the jewels on the beach when George startled me. I was completely clueless when I landed on the island for the first time. When I met George, he showed me how to find jewels inside the sand and how to absorb their energy. He also told me how to find him in the real world.

“Hey, Lily! I invite you to join us to steal from one of the caves,” George said, wearing a black cloak, imbued with magical energy so he would be invisible to every being on that island and only visible to people he talked to.

“That cave is guarded immensely. I can’t come with you! If they take us, they can do horrible things to our spirit.” I said that and got back to searching the beach for more jewels.

“Aren’t you tired of ordinary people’s pain? Also, one of us is a black magician, Edward. He will give you a magical sword. Together, we can steal all their jewels. Do you know how much pain that cave has in its treasure chests?" George said, trying to convince me to join their group. “If we outnumber those goblins and Egyptian soldiers, we can defeat them!”

“If Edward accompanies us as you said, I will join you!” I said I was a little nervous about my decision. “I heard he is a great black magician!”

I wanted to meet Edward; that’s why I agreed to go with them.

“Then come with me; we have to do this fast before we all wake up from this dream!” George said that and extended his hands to take me to the location of the other thieves.

Edward was a fierce and ambitious magician. He gave us each a sword to defend us, and he led the way, and we followed him into the cave.

He took down the guards protecting the cave’s entrance, and we entered. The cave was full of hidden doorways and rooms with treasure chests. We fought those goblins and Egyptian soldiers. We outnumbered them, opened the chests in each room, and took a lot of jewels. Whatever we could hold in our bags was ours to absorb into our third eye.

“You can’t steal pains, you thieves. People have to go through them again if you absorb them! These jewels have imprints. We can find you in the waking world.” One of the Egyptian soldiers shouted.

We were all thirsty for more pain. When we absorbed them, it gave us a feeling of happiness and ecstasy. For this reason, we couldn’t stop. We knew it had consequences, but we couldn’t comprehend something bad would happen to us in the waking world.

After absorbing the last jewel I stole from the cave, I woke up feeling exhausted instead of refreshed and rested. This has never happened before. I felt drained. The jewels were supposed to give me more energy, but that was not the case.

“What a dream!” I thought to myself, and even though I wanted to sleep more, I had to have breakfast. I worked from home. It took me like 4 hours a day. I worked in digital marketing. I sold eBooks online on different platforms. I also signed up for an online university studying to be a computer engineer. My classes were held in the mornings. I loved solving problems, and coding just provided me with a work environment where I could prosper, so I never missed a class and enthusiastically did my assignments. I was an energetic person, always full of fresh, creative ideas.

I put my coffee cup on my desk. I had a class that morning at 8 a.m. So, I opened my laptop to log in and be present in the online class. As I was listening to Professor Brandon, I felt someone watching me from behind me. I looked back occasionally, but there was no one. Professor Brandon noticed and said, “Lily, no one is behind you! Now pay attention to the lesson!”

I was embarrassed because the whole class directed their attention to me, and they all laughed at me.

The night arrived with all its secrets. I went back to the island, looking for jewels hidden inside the sand as usual. As I was looking, I noticed a womanly figure wearing a long black dress was watching me from behind the trees in the wooded area beside the beach. She suddenly moved towards me. She was so fast that I didn’t have the chance to escape her grip. I stood up, and she took my hand. Half of her face was burned. I couldn’t move; I was paralyzed. She had magical powers. I tried to jump to another dimension or even wake up, but I couldn’t.

“Why did you steal my pain? How are you allowed to be here? This place is protected by powerful spells!” she asked with a raspy voice. “I will never let you go! You have something that belongs to me!”

“I don’t know how I came here! I didn’t steal your pain or anybody else’s pain,” I said, denying everything.

She started chanting words that I couldn’t understand. Suddenly, I was not on the sand anymore; I was two feet above the sand. She could move me around in the air by moving her hand. Something was about to come out of my third eye. She was reversing the absorption of her pain. She wanted her jewel back. My third eye was burning. Her jewel was stuck in my third eye, and she couldn’t get it out. She used a lot of energy for the reversal, but she stopped halfway through. I fell on the sand, and then I woke up.

I felt nauseous, so I went straight to the bathroom and vomited. My third eye chakra was still burning. When I touched it, I felt something hard coming out of it. It fell right into my hand. I couldn’t believe it. Something from the dream world just materialized before my eyes.

I examined it, looking closely at it. I noticed something that looked like a mathematical formula was carved on it. Like a code to be cracked. I took a picture of it and contacted George. I emailed him everything that happened between me and Burn-Face.

He responded:
Oh my goodness! You absorbed the pain of the guardian of the island herself! Their faces are burned by the sacred fire to show their loyalty to the island at their initiation ceremony. She tried to get it out of your consciousness, but she was not successful, and the jewel materialized in the waking realm! How fantastic! I’ve never seen one materialize! The jewels we absorb have something called two-layer power. The first layer is activated by absorbing them. But the second layer is activated when the holder solves the riddle carved on it. Then, the true power of the jewel is released into the holder’s consciousness. I can help you crack the jewel’s puzzle. I have a friend. But you have to be prepared to face the owner’s pain. I’ve done it several times with the help of Edward, but in the dream realm.

I wrote back:
I don’t want to miss this chance of a lifetime. I want to unleash the power of this jewel. I don’t care about Burn-Face. Whatever her pain is, I will endure it. Can you and Edward help me crack the puzzle carved on it? I would very much appreciate it.

George and Edward came to my apartment, and I showed them the Burn Face's jewel. They were fascinated. Edward had technical devices for this purpose. After several unsuccessful tries, he cracked the formula and solved it.

“I solved it! Here we go! Are you ready to experience Burn-Face’s pain?” Edward asked, happy about his accomplishment.

“I’m ready!” I said that and laid down on my bed, and he carved the answer to the formula onto the jewel and put it on my forehead. The jewel melted into my third eye, and my conscious mind moved to another place. I was not in my body; I was in Burn-Face’s body. I was in a cave-like structure, and before me, a flame was floating in the air, shining through the dark room.

“You are the last of the guardians of the island. I will transfer the information about locking the caves into your consciousness. You must not share it. You need to protect people’s pain. You should not discriminate between them!” The flame said with a manly voice.

"But our resources are limited. I can’t guard against everyone’s pains. I can offer full protection for important people, like royal blood! But even that is not fully guaranteed! Thieves come to the island frequently and steal people’s pains! ”the words blurted out of my mouth and I had no control over it. They were Burn-face’s words and I was experiencing it.

“Silence! You will be punished if you can’t hold this position. You exist to do this, and yet you bring excuses.” The flame said, angrily and shot a ray of fire towards me. I cried out of pain and half of my face was burned.

I woke up, feeling anxious. I immediately went to the bathroom to see if my face was burning. My face was hot but there was no sign of burn or any damage. Edward and George were staring at me by the bathroom door frame.

“So, what happened? What power do you have?” Edward asked with excitement.

“I was at Burn-Face’s initiation ceremony! I can unlock all the caves on that island with my mind! That means I can access all the pain guarded there!” I said with a mischievous smile and looked at myself in the mirror proudly.

“That flame is the source of creation of the island. If we absorb all the pains inside the caves, we can take hold of the sacred flame! This is something no one has ever done! No one had dared to do!” Edward said, holding an old book in his hands.

“We have to do this tonight. We can’t let Burn-Face come up with a plan. We will steal all the pain there is on that island!” George suggested, thrilled.

We took sleeping pills and went into a deep sleep. With this information in my mind, we went cave after cave and gathered a lot of jewels. We absorbed whatever we could. And, their layer one energy was transferred to our consciousness.

We were standing beside the beach to rest. There were more caves we wanted to explore. I felt bloated, like a balloon about to burst. I looked at George and Edward. They didn’t feel well either. We couldn’t handle that much power. We felt our spirits were changing into something we were not ready for.

“What is wrong with us?” Edward asked, worried.

“I don’t think I want this anymore. I think the pains are changing my spirit into something I’m not quite ready for,” I said, feeling weird.

We were startled to see Burn-Face appearing suddenly before us. She came closer and said “I’ve been watching you three thieves. I knew this would happen. You can’t handle layer one energy, let alone layer 2 energy. Consuming too much of the jewels will do that to you! You can’t steal someone else’s pain and feel fulfilled and happy from within! With that much power, your spirits will be too big and powerful for your bodies, you can’t go back to your bodies! You’re all stuck here!”

“I don’t want this power! How can I get people’s pains back to them?! I want to go back to my body!” I said to Burn-face, regretful of all that I’ve done.

“For what you did, I will be punished by the sacred flame of creation! I was supposed to protect and guard people’s pains,” Burn-Face said, sad.

“I have an idea! With layer one energy we three can help you put a powerful protection spell on this island. Something that is unbreakable by thieves. We don't let the sacred flame to punish you! Right guys?!” I said and looked at George and Edward for confirmation. They nodded.

“Very well then. You do as you say. And I will reverse the process of absorption with your permission!” Burn-Face said in an agreement.

I, George and Edward together put a powerful protection spell on the island and Burn-Face took out all the jewels we stole from our consciousness and put them back inside the caves. Ordinary people too. She didn’t discriminate between people’s pains, now given another chance to guard the island.