I had a dream. It seemed crazy, but it seemed so true. You and I were in it...together, but apart. Our souls were pressing in opposite directions, and it seemed so unreal. But the chimerical story taking place was anything but unreal.

It seemed impossible; magic isn't real. Is it? We were alone, in the middle of the street in a metropolitan city at midnight. The moon was nowhere to be found; the people were all home in their beds...not a car drove by.

We stood there, in the street, but on the sidewalk. In the middle of a grand road, whose path was indeterminate, yet standing along the side, watching the nothingness pass by. We spoke without words slipping from our tongues. Utter silence.

And then it began, without warning. You were doing something, but I didn't understand or realize until it began. Your hands were together, but not touching, and I could feel a furtive warmth emanating from your palms. I was near you, yet I was distant...too distant to normally be able to feel it.

In an instant, the infinite moment passed, and you slowly raised your hands into the cool, dark air, separating your palms slightly. I stared blankly, searching my mind for the proper assessment of your actions. Everything began to feel warmer, yet deep within, I could feel the coldness of something I could not see. And then, I saw everything.

I knew what you were doing, yet, I had never seen anything like it before. You were calling forth something...channelling massive amounts of energy into a centralized location, between your palms. It began to grow visible to me. After a moment, a small ball of dazzling dark yellow light was formed. But everything around us felt warmer and warmer, with that cold-hot flame of dark light.

You weren't finished; I could see that it wasn't over. The energy between your palms grew larger and larger, until you raised your arms over your head. And still, it grew, but panickingly fast. It grew to the size of your body, this energy you were focusing above you, and still it grew bigger.

The void grew larger and larger, and I began to witness its consuming power. You were trying to take everything and engulf it with the nothingness. I couldn't let you continue, though I knew not how to stop you.

Soon, I found myself drawing in the energy. I threw it all toward the void, in a desperate attempt to constrict and combust the void you were creating. Maybe it wasn't just you; maybe it was an incongruity that drove you to throw our world into nothingness. But I couldn't let you continue; I had to stop it all. I turned all my emotions into this energy, and encircled it around the void, desperately trying to make its entrapment cease. My love, my fear, my strength, my passion, my frustration...it all combined to form a white light, to combat the yellow-blackness of the void.

It was so powerful...Every cell in my body was bent toward fighting the void, but no matter how hard I fought, I could not destroy the void. We were entangled in a desperate struggle, where neither could win and neither could lose. We were trapped in an eternal battle, though our kinship was inseparable. Our energies grew to the size of the sun, white-hot on the outside, yet black-cold on the inside.

And yet, in the midst of the struggle, a young girl came to us, into the middle of the fray, where the energy from the spells was strongest. She was so innocent, unable to comprehend the meaning of the battle we fought. But her curiosity had taken the best of her, as she saw the immense orb of white-black light. She lifted her arms up, trying to grasp the entangled light.

This sent a bitter coldness to the marrow of my bones. For I knew, if this little girl -- this innocent girl -- were to reach into the light, it would surely destroy her. It was far too powerful for her to withstand, though my light was full of the best intentions. The intertwining between my light and your void created such a destructive force...great enough to destroy everything. If we lost control, we would both lose, and the world would lose, with it. But we couldn't stop our struggle.

The girl tried to bathe her arms in the light. You did nothing; just continued your summoning. I couldn't ignore the girl's actions; I had to stop her...to save her. I pleaded with her, "Run away! It'll destroy you!" But she would not listen. She was entranced by the bright-dullness of the light.

I only had one option: to use the only emotion I had left...the one that could not be used to fight the void effectively. Violence. Tears welled up in my eyes, for I did not want to hurt the girl, but if I didn't, I knew she would die. So I struck her with my arm, crying, "Run away!"

She fell to the ground, but rose up and tried reaching into the light again. I struck her harder. "Please! Don't get any closer!" Tears flowed from my eyes, but I could not give up. Endlessly, she rose to touch the light, and endlessly I struck her to stop her, if only to prevent her from touching the light in that instant. It was time...I needed time. Maybe she would give up. Maybe the pain would be too great and I could spare her. She had no bruises from the blows. She would be fine. I had to stop you, but at the same time, I had to stop her. The two of you threatened to ruin everything we once held so dear.

Yet, while I was struggling between you and the innocent girl, you began to ever-so-slowly gain the upper-hand. By the end of near-infinitly, you would win, unless the girl would leave us be. She did not hate me for striking her; she did not feel the pain. She knew I loved her, but as a child, she was attracted to the light. I couldn't stop her reaching, but I could stop her from touching.

The exhaustion from the struggle threatened to obliterate me, but the battle waged for too long to be able to turn back. I could only stay determined, through love, and pray that I would not grow weary and weak.

At the pinnacle of the battle, I woke up. Did I win? Or is the battle still waging?