Nova stepped into her studio apartment, kicking off her shoes messily, and went to grab a drink from her fridge. The sun was just starting to set, she earned $66 today by selling some recently finished projects on a local business-promoting app, which was better than most days. You get the idea, she's poor, but not broke.

  She popped open her Monster and sat down to get to work again, she closed her eyes and tried to remember her latest dream. The dream she remembered went as follows: Nova woke up in a cave, a familiar one at that, she got up with no hesitation and exited the cave, only to be met with a breathtaking waterfall and beautiful creatures awaiting her. There were trolls, vampires, unicorns and even witches waiting for her.

  They were calm and patient; the hostile ones didn't attack because she was an artist, and she could paint, so they all wanted her to paint something beautiful. It's a win-win for all, she loves recommendations, and they love recommending. The witch summoned art supplies, the vampire posed with the unicorn, while the troll practised his own strokes while watching Nova.

  The dream, in reality, only lasted for 35 minutes, but to Nova it felt like hours. Nova presented the portrait to the vampire and the unicorn; they both loved it so much that the unicorn started galloping joyously, and the vampire hugged her. The vampire is a pale man with red eyes, black hair and sharp fangs, his name was Pheonix, and he is a warm goofball, ageing 165.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  The troll also presented the vampire and the unicorn with the painting he drew, Phoenix audibly winced, and the unicorn looked away majestically, as if doing a hair flip. I mean, anyone would look the other way when someone portrays you as the most diabolically, jaw-droppingly ugly person ever. The unicorn wasn't even a unicorn in the troll's painting; it was a horse, or rather, a horse and a rhino's baby.

  The troll was now the eternal enemy of the vampire and unicorn, pun intended.

  Nova and the witch chatted about potions and their colours when she opened her eyes, ah, yes, the new project. Nova smiled with nostalgia and picked up her paint tube, squeezing out some blue paint before taking white paint and squeezing some out of it too. She mixed the colours, giving a lighter blue, she dipped her paintbrush into it and covered the upper part of her canvas with the colour.

  5 hours later. 11 p.m. Nova added the last stroke to the magnificent waterfall and was done, she got up and stretched. She then proceeded to eat instant noodles for dinner, she scrolled on her phone for a bit before getting ready for bed, but she couldn't sleep just yet. She was worried, 'why has he not been coming in my dreams for a while...?' she though, almost like a hopeless romantic.

  After a while of contemplating, her eyelids felt heavy, so she decided to get some shut eye. And, to nobody's surprise, she got another adorable dream. This one, however, included a xelhua and yeti.