"End of the World: Made Easy" Chapter 2: Part 1

Ok guys, here is chapter 2 of "End of the World: Made Easy" with a little more back story on our two main characters and a little more action than the first chapter. 

>mfw editing this monstrosity after writing it in a single 4 hour period

Anyways, enjoy...

Chapter 2: The Night Terrors and my unpleasant experience with them.

          After reading the information coming out online about what was happening around the world and what was happening in my own area, I went back downstairs to see what everyone else was doing. The place I live in is a dorm building with 4 floors, but only 3 full size ones. The fourth floor is about half the size as the other and also has fewer rooms, but that’s pretty obvious. In total, there are probably over 100 people living in this building alone. The dorm is also coed so there are guys and girls sharing the same floor, but that’s not important.

          When I get down stairs I’m met with the same scene I left about 3 or so hours ago. The only difference is that there were even more people crying and more people looking like they had given up hope. There were some people that were actually being useful, mostly just barricading the doors and windows that lead to the outside on the first floor. Our building is set up so that the first floor is a few feet off the ground, so the infected really can’t like break the windows and climb in, but just in case anything were to go even worse, people were going to be staying on the second floor.

          Rather than just sit in a corner and feel bad or cry or whatever, I decided that I should help out too. Though by the time I offered to help, they were mostly done with securing the ground floor so there really wasn’t much for me to do. I did however get the job as first watch for when night came. All I’d really be doing is standing by the front doors with some kind of weapon and watch them until my shift was up. As for the weapons we would be using, we fashioned something like a spear from extra beds and desks. It didn’t look all that great, but it would do the job it was made for pretty well. The students here in this building were really getting creative with weapons which made me feel a bit safer with all the weapons they were fabricating from the random materials we had here in the building.

          Speaking of the weapons, we had our first chance to use one of them when the guy who was attacked earlier died and came back. When he finally went silent, the people in the room at the time knew he had expired and was about to come back from the land of the dead. Sure enough, after about 5 or 10 minutes, he started to move again. The people who were there at the time said it looked so “odd” at how he was behaving, which what they really meant was that he didn’t seem to have even a sliver of humanity left in him. He was a soulless husk of a person with only one thing on his mind, to try to fill the empty void that was created when his soul left his body. Anyways, once they had made sure he wasn’t the person he had once been, the put him out of his misery with a spear through the skull. (I should also mention that there had been a lot of information on how to deal with turned infected. The one way that kept on popping up was to destroy the brain or sever the head and then burn the body. Sounds like something straight out of a horror movie right?)

          So at around 7 PM I went downstairs with my newly made spear after talking to a friend of mine who lives up north. Apparently shit was insane in the cities, military gunning down infected, but getting overrun anyways. Panic in the streets, fires, explosions, ect..ect… My friend was fine for the time being, she said that the people of her building had sealed off themselves from the rest of the city and were in the process of gathering supplies. They also had some military people there too; they were helping direct the civilians and were creating a defense network for their building and the ones around it. It sounded like they are a lot better off than us college students with makeshift spears and low supplies.

          Anyways, I started my shift as the sun was going down. I didn’t think anything was going to happen that night since we had sealed ourselves off pretty damn well. If anything, there would be some infected that would try to get in, but get bored and wander away in search of their next meal. One thing that did worry me was the reports of the strange creatures. Even if they were made up by someone, today when the dead are walking and attacking the living, I felt like it could actually be possible.

          I took my place at the front door and sat there with one other guy, the RA of my floor, and had a cig just to pass the time. It was around 10 PM or so we heard some strange noises outside. At the time we had thought that it was some infected trying to get in, so we went to the windows and took a look outside. It was pitch black for some reason outside, like there was some sort of mist just blocking off all light that tried to penetrate it. If I were to guess how far I could see, I’d say less than 5 feet. Though the lights from the other buildings were barely visible, everything else was shrouded in the mist. Me and the RA just stared outside, straining our eyes trying to see if anything was moving around. Out of the corner of my eye, I think I see something so I tell the RA about it. We both look in that direction when the thing that looked like it climbed out of my nightmares appeared before us.

          It looked exactly as what the internet had described it. Though it was way too dark, we could make out the outline of the creature and worst of all see its eyes. The glowing red eyes were scanning the area, looking around for something. Slow, steady and what looked like intelligently, it looked around the area when it saw us. We locked eyes with it, and it started walking towards the doors. At this point we realize something was really wrong and alerted the other people on watch. The creature took its time to walk over to us, moving in a way that just looked like it didn’t belong or something. All I know is that it just looked like it didn’t belong in this world. Its long legs carried it closer and closer to the front doors and as it came closer, we could make out more of its appearance. It looked… wrong…

         It walked up to around where the edge of our light from the front doors would travel and stopped. It then just stared at the doors for a while, just looking at them. Maybe it was trying to find some weakness in the structure and then try to break in and kill us all, or maybe it was just interested in what strange thing this door was. After around 5 minutes of it just standing there, it suddenly looked off to its right as if someone or something had caught its attention. Then, with unimaginable grace, it ran off to one of the other buildings. Since it was so dark, we couldn’t see what was happening, but then the screams started.

          We guessed that the other building didn’t barricade well enough, or one of the creatures found a weak point and exploited it. Either way, they were in the building and sounded like they were slaughtering every living thing in it. The sound of people yelling, screaming, and crying went on for a little less than an hour, then complete silence fell. We knew at this moment that the other building had been broken into and everyone inside was killed. We knew this, but didn’t mourn just yet, instead we made sure that everything was locked down and got more people to stand watch. We now had more than half the building taking turns on watch with the other half either sleeping or making weapons. There were even a few still trying to get in contact with the police, but to no avail. If the police were going to come and save us, they would have by now. If anything, they were all dead or held up at their building as well. Either way, we were on our own, and for many of us it was the first time we were actually alone.

          Many people were now praying also, since they thought of this as the end days, but I didn’t believe that. I still had too much to do in life for the world to end just now. I went back to my room on the third floor and looked out my window to see if there was anything to see. It was just as black as it was in the front, with maybe a few lights here and there from the lamp posts. For a while, I just stared out into the blackness, and felt something strange… Like it wasn’t the first time I had seen something like this. Of course that’s just impossible and tried to disregard it, but the idea that for some reason I had seen this before kept popping up. Then I remembered why after looking at my computer screen.

          A long time ago, before I moved to this area I lived in a place that was old. When I saw old, I mean that people had been living on the land for hundreds of years and that there was a lot of history there. My family too had been living there for generations, being born there, living a full life, and then finally being laid to rest in the family cemetery. Anyways, this was not the life for me. I wanted to expand out and see the world, form my own opinions and live my own life. I got my chance when my father moved us away because of a job he had gotten. Even though I wanted to leave, I had a friend there which I had promised to stay in contact with, but eventually we lost each other. Her name is Alexandria Aice (but she really only likes to be called Alex) and it wasn’t till years later in an online game that I finally met her again. She had also moved away, but only for college. She had spent her whole life growing up in that isolated town and was not used to the big city yet. We started talking, and became best friends again, talking almost every day.

          Anyways, the whole reason I bring up my childhood friend is because she is also involved in this memory. It was about a year before I left when I started having these dreams. In them, I was floating in a vast nothingness. There was nothing around me and I couldn’t see a thing. I had this dream almost every night before I left and when I told my parents about it, they said that everyone in the town had those dreams. I asked my friend if she had the same dreams and when I brought it up, she looked surprised with me asking that question. Yes she had been having the dreams and was amazed that we were having the same ones. Though we were young, we asked around about the dreams and eventually found our way to the old library which had been with the town since its founding hundreds of years prior. A kind old man was the librarian and told us about the supposed “origin” of our dreams. He told us that when we sleep, our mind drifts from dimension to dimension, without even realizing it. We, as in the town, eventually lost that ability. We can still sometimes have regular dreams, but most of the time it was just us floating in the nothingness.

          He then told us how it was a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because we then could see things from the outside looking in, but also a curse because it exposed us to the horrors which lurked in the nothingness. At the time we thought that he was just playing around with us, telling us these scary stories to make us be good kids or something. Looking back on it now, I think there was more truth to what he was saying than I had originally thought. Maybe those “horrors” he talked about were these creatures now terrorizing the world… Maybe this infection was something these creatures did to people… I didn’t have any answers.

          Tearing myself from the window, I went to the internet to research my home town a bit. After putting the name into a search engine, a bunch of web pages popped up about mysterious occurrences happening the town. No one knew what was causing them, but the main explanation was from the town’s people. They gave some weird explanation which didn’t make any sense at all, but believed in it completely. They said something along the lines of “It was the voids interference in our world, and we took care of it”. No one knew what they meant, but I think it had to do something with the dreams everyone from the town has. Even years later I still have those dreams every so often, but recently I had been having them every night. I thought it was strange, but it had happened before so I wasn’t too concerned about it.

          Looking back out over the blackness which is enveloping the view I notice something on the ground near the street. There was still power and the street lamps still somewhat worked even with the black mist. After watching the area around the lamp, I notice movement, and a lot of it. I was like the ground was alive and about a foot off of itself. I watched for another 10 minutes and then decided to head back downstairs to tell everyone about what I had seen. I was just about to turn away and go when suddenly the movement stopped. Thinking this was entirely too strange, I delayed my heading back downstairs to watch for more of the movement. It was only about 10 seconds after I had started watching again when pairs of glowing red eyes, by the hundreds, turned and faced my direction. Of course they were probably looking at the building, but for some reason I felt as though they were all just staring at me.

          I felt as though something wasn’t right, like I had forgotten something like locking my car door in a dangerous area or leaving the gas on at home. I just felt like I needed to do something, and soon. I finally made the decision to go and warn everyone downstairs and made a break for the stairs. The second I turned away I heard what sounded like a stampede closing in on the dorm, and with only seconds to spare, I made it downstairs to tell everyone what was coming the second before they started ramming the doors and windows.

          It was a good idea that we barricaded the windows too because some of the smaller creatures looked like they were trying to jump into them, trying to break them, but instead hurting themselves in the process. The larger ones, which looked like they were about the same size as some of those bigger dogs were ramming the door with all their might. Fortunately for us they weren’t strong enough to actually break down the reinforced door. So, after about 30 minutes of trying to get in to our building, they left, defeated. Well, I should say that most of them left. Some stayed behind and still tried to get in, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.

          It was about 2 AM at this point and I was exhausted. Having another student take over my shift, I headed back to my room to try and sleep. Sleep right now seems like it is one of the most important things that I could do. I needed it, too much, with all that had happened today I was just mentally exhausted. I decided I’d research into the town more tomorrow and hit the sack for now.

          As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered if I’d be dropped into the dark nothingness of that place that seemed to have come to my waking world. As I finally close my eyes to fall asleep, I thought about how my friend was doing, and how I hoped she was okay… but knowing her… she’d be…. Fine……..

...……..Another place, earlier that day, as the sun was setting on the city of chaos………..

          “Shit, shit, SHIT!!!” I am not okay right now. After this whole thing started I had been essentially hiding in my room, trying not to make a noise with what is all going on outside. The sun had started setting and the city started to get real dark, like, way more dark than it should have been getting. It was like a fog of darkness had just rolled in and blotted out anything that wasn’t a few feet away from a light source. Since earlier I had been watching the outside of my window with my computer right next to me. I had been looking around on the internet for some kind of explanation of the zombies that were now rampaging across the city, killing and eating everyone. As usual, no one had any clue what was causing it so we were all back to square one.

          First of all, zombies had appeared around the world and were wreaking havoc. Secondly, there was no explanation for what was causing them to come back from the dead and attack other people. Thirdly, there had been reports of strange creatures in areas where the sun had gone down. They said that they come with almost black mist or fog and attacked anything that wasn’t their own. Strangely enough, from what I’m reading online, the creatures don’t seem to be attacking the “infected”, and are instead ignoring them completely. This had given birth to a whole bunch of theories about how the zombies were somehow connected with these creatures and that maybe the creatures themselves had set loose this plague on all of us humans.

          Even though I’m still hesitant on whether to accept the existence of these “creatures”, the zombies were now a fact and were doing a ton of damage across the city. It seems that the bigger cities are the ones being hit the hardest by the infection, but that only makes sense. If you do think of this as an infection, then the areas with the highest population densities will be the ones that take the brunt of it. At times like this one, and another where I got my bike stolen, I wondered why the hell did I ever want to move out into the “big city” and instead took up a job my parents had offered me back in my hometown. I think the reason why I did move out here for college is because I finally wanted to make my break for freedom, like Will did years ago.

          “Hmmm….”, I wondered to myself, “why don’t I remember much about when Will moved away.. All that I could remember is that his dad or something got a job somewhere else where he would make a lot of money, and me being sad about Will moving away, and…. Something else.. What was it?!?!” This was getting frustrating and odd since with what everything that is happening, I’m trying to remember about the events around when my oldest friend moved away.

          Annoyed with myself, I took another look out the window to see the nothingness which had engulfed the city. I could still hear gun fire every so often, but there wasn’t much noise except for a random scream here and there where someone had finally ran out of luck and became someone’s dinner. “Hmmm…. Nothingness?”, for some reason that word “nothingness” stuck out to me. I then began to think why it would, when I finally realized where this feeling was coming from. From my window I could see almost nothing, like if the whole city had disappeared before me and that there was only the void right outside. “The dreams…”, I remembered the dreams that I started having when I was a kid. Always the same, me floating in this endless void with nothing else around me, and I would always just float around until I woke up. It seemed that everyone from that town had the same dreams every so often, and that they were used to it.

          I then remembered that when I started having the dreams, so did Will too. He told me about his dream and it shocked me, since I had been having the same one. We talked to some older people from around town about it and everyone said that they also had the dreams, but not to worry about them since they were harmless. Not satisfied with that ending, we both headed to the library to do some “investigating”. While there, the old man who was the librarian at that time told us about the legend of the dreams and why we have them. Can’t really remember what he said now, but for some reason we both felt like we had found out what we had wanted to know. My memory is pretty hazy until the day Will moved away, I remember it because I was crying pretty hard. Even though we said we would keep in contact with each other, he was still moving away to some unknown place (or at least to my young mind then) and that I would never see him again.

          That was the last time I remember ever thinking about the dreams or the “nothingness” until just now. Looking out the window, I could see next to nothing in the thick, black fog/mist which had covered the city. Not seeing anything exciting outside, I went back to the internet when I saw a blog entry about the fog. It was talking about how the fog was like a physical representation of this extra-dimensional place where these creatures were coming from and that we should stay away from the fog at all costs. It also said that we should stay away from windows that lead to the outside, even in larger buildings. It said something about a “flying type which was extremely vicious…”, the second I read that I felt as though something was wrong..

          It felt as though something was watching me and not taking their eyes off of me. Suddenly I felt extremely afraid, like almost to a primal level and took a look outside. Glowing red eyes were there, staring at me. Not looking away or even moving, just keeping still and watching me. The worst thing wasn’t just that there was now a pair of eyes looking at me, but that it was hundreds of eyes. All just staring at me and it felt like they were only looking at me.

          I slowly got up from my chair by the window and started walking backwards towards my bathroom which didn’t have a window to the outside. I made it to the door, opened it up and as soon as I closed it I heard an animal-like screech from outside the bathroom door. There was noise, everywhere, just so much noise that it felt like my ears were going to rupture. There was also a large crash which sounded like either my window or another resident’s window had been shattered. I might have been right on both accounts since I started hearing yelling and screaming coming from everywhere around my room. What sounded like the beating of wings was coming from my room, along with the crashing of my furniture and (hopefully not) my computer.

          I decided that I would just hang out in the bathroom tonight, you know, just chill’n. I didn’t think I would be leaving till at the earliest morning, so I decided to throw everything heavy that was in my bathroom in front of the door to make a barricade of it. Once I had felt satisfied with my handy work and once all of the sounds outside my door had quieted down, I climbed into my bathtub with all of my towels and made myself comfortable.

          I was tired, exhausted, spent. I just wanted to drift off to sleep and forget the insanity which was occurring right outside my door. Remembering my dreams I sometimes have, I wondered if I was going to have them again tonight. Since moving to the city I haven’t had them as often as I used to, but occasionally I would find myself drifting through the nothingness of that place. I wondered what that place was, and what it meant to the people of our hometown. I wondered how Will was doing since I haven’t talked to him for a few hours and with everything that is happening, I can’t say that I’m not worried. He tends to throw himself in harm’s way to protect people and he tends to overdue things too. With everything happening around us, will he make sure to put himself first instead of caring about everyone around him? Probably not, but I can hope can’t I? I mean, he probably thinks I’m doing just fine right now, taking everything in stride and kicking ass while doing it. So much for that idea…

          If my computer wasn’t totally destroyed and still working tomorrow I’ll try to get in contact with him. Well, that is of course that we still have power tomorrow morning. So many things to think about, so little time to actually sleep. Even with me feeling dead tired I still have the energy to worry about things… well… I guess that’s why he might think I’m doing fine. I was always the brains of our operations, not saying he wasn’t smart or anything, it was just that I could make better judgment’s in a shorter time than he could. He was just good at fighting and getting hurt. Honestly… that guy better watch himself… he might make a stupid…. Mistake…..

          Sleep finally took me to unknown dreams of possibility. What would happen while I’m there? What’s going on in the waking world? Like I said, I think way too much, enough for both of us.

Part 2 will be coming tomorrow some time. For some reason I made chapter 2 really damn long so I decided to shorten it a bit. Hope you all enjoyed it!

Based on a dream I had last night, "Dragon State"

So I had a dream last night which I can only remember one part about. There were dragons, lots of them. Not only that, but they seemed to come straight out of Monster Hunter so I thought it was pretty cool. Then I decided to write it down so that I could write something based on it later. However... when I started to write down what I remebered it started to turn itself into a story...


So here you all go, the first chapter to a story I'm gonna call "Dragon State"

Chapter 1: Boats and Dragons

So there I was, in a place where some people call "Dragon Country". I was here to talk with a local fishery about a string of dragon related attacks on his property and his thoughts on the government’s policy of "If they leave us alone, we leave them alone". The man's house was a far off the beaten track though so we had to take a motor boat to reach him. I was talking to my friend who was coming along to take photographs of the area and the places where the attacks occurred when I mentioned to him my fear of dragons.

"You're afraid of them? HAHAHAHA!!! Man... you are one funny bastard you know that? Most dragons are as peaceful as kittens and other small, yet soft creatures. It's like being afraid of a kitten. Are you afraid of a kitten? Well are you?!"

"Dragons are nothing like kittens. They are big and mean and can fly, at least a lot of them can. They are hunters which like to eat meat, and who is to say we are not that meat to eat? Hmm? Thought so."

"Still, dragons are not dangerous at all these days. With the Draco-Wright Accord the war with Dragons ended and peace returned. I know that a lot of people were killed by dragons in the early days of their return, but we killed a lot of them too. And remember the fact that their numbers are a ton less than ours because of their long gestation cycle and breeding habits. If we ended up killing no more than 30% of all dragons left alive today, they would go extinct."

"Good. No more dragons mean that I can rest easily at night."

"No, not good. The first actually intelligent species other than our own returns to earth and you want to kill them all rather than learn from them? Think of all the knowledge they have from their very VERY long life cycles. If I was you, I would love to get an interview with one of the great elders. They must have so many stories to tell... but I'm not you and I can't understand why you don't want to."

"Like I told you before, in the last days of the dragon war not only did I come face to face with one of those terrible lizards, but it took from me some very important people... and I can never forgive them for that. It's the whole reason why I started writing about the atrocities committed by dragons to try and get the world to realize once again the threat the dragons are."

"Well I can't say anything about who you lost, since I also lost some people in the war, but I didn't let it get me down to the point where I just want to kill them all. That would make me no better than the Nazi's and that would be terrible... Well anyways we can talk about this later. It looks like we're here."

As I looked up from our heated discussion about dragons in the modern age, I saw a small shack located near the ridge of the river a little ahead from us. With all our talking about dragons I guess I had forgotten how this place is known as "Dragon Country" since we hadn't even seen a dragon since we started off this morning. As we closed in on the dock however, I noticed a large amount of bubbles coming up from the depths of the lake when all of a sudden a large animal, more than 50 feet long, jumped out of the water onto the shore.

"A PLESIEOTH! AWWW SHIT! TIME TO GET ME SOME PICTURES!!!"

My friend said as he rushed to set up his camera before the Plesioth got away. A Plesioth is a kind of water dragon which can live in either salt water or fresh water and feeds off of fish and other creatures calling the water home. One good thing about Dragons is their small apatite and diets. Some scientists have said that they need about the same amount of food calories as humans a day because their bodies can metabolize it much better than our own. This was great considering how massive these beasts were.

"HOLD ON A MOMENT, I NEED A PICTURE!! DRIVER PULL OVER! COMEON I SAID PULL OVER!!"

Our guide was getting a little annoyed, but did slow down the boat just a bit so my friend could get a better shot.

"AND... DONE! Wheww~ that was awesome! I got an awesome picture too! Heyhey, wanna see?"

My friend was very enthusiastic about taking pictures of dragons and has always been this way. I guess that's why I wanted to take him along with me because of the kind of material I look for and his expert hand when taking photographs. I have known him for years now.. I think I met him just after I got out of high school and started college. I was in the journalism program and had to take a few photography classes for my major. I when I got to class the first day I sat near the front since I always wanted to get the most out of my time in class rather than having to re-learn everything from a book later that day. Next to me was this really fidgety guy who looked like he had a smoke of some kind of illicit drug before coming into class.

“Hey, my name is Dave, looks like we’re gonna be in the same class starting today. Nice to meet—“

“Shhhh, yeah… nice to meet you too.. just.. don’t bring to much attention to me alright?.. yeah…”

“If you didn’t want a lot of attention why did you sit in the very front?”

A sudden look of realization ran across his face. I guess he didn’t even know where he was in class. I wonder what he took.

“Oh… hahaha, man if you didn’t tell me that I would have never noticed. I think I should head to the back before the teacher gets here.” He said this as gathering up his stuff and getting up. “My name is Jake, nice to meet you.”

 He stretched out his hand and we shook right before he bolted towards the back of the room just as the professor entered the room. That was the first time I met Jake and would end up talking to him a lot from then on. We shared some of the same views on issues, but differed on most which proved for great conversation. At the end of that first semester we moved in with each other and became roommates. Thus began a series of wacky and amazing years in college which I wish I could remember more of.

Back to the present,

“Not right now Jake, I kinda got soaked when that Plesioth surfaced. I kinda want to dry off first before doing anything else.”

“Oh.. right. Hahaha. Man that was cool. I wonder what other dragons we’ll see while out here..”

“Hopefully zero to none.” I said with a very dissatisfied look on my face. After being up since 4 AM to get ready for the trip out here, I was getting pretty tired and when I get tired I get annoyed.. easily..

After the whole episode with the Plesioth we continued towards the dock when we saw an older man standing on it waving at us as we approached. As we got closer I could see that it was the man who had contacted me about the story. He was an older man, in his late 60’s or early 70’s but still looked like he could take both me, Jake, and the boat driver in a fight and win. I suppose working out here in the wilderness for most of your life can do that to a man.

It was getting dark now. The sun had been going down for some time now and it was just at that perfect position right over the horizon where half was covered and the other half was adding to the amazing colors which plagued the sky at the time. I watched the sun set a little longer when I saw what looked like a large black spot on the sun. I squinted and then rubbed my eyes and didn’t see it any more. I wonder if it was just the sun playing tricks on me? Oh well..

“So I assume you’re Dave right? And this here is Jake? So nice to have you boys out here in the middle of nowhere to hear my story. Come right this way, come on.”

He herded us towards an old jeep which was parked nearby. I made sure I had everything and Jake was also making sure he didn’t forget anything. We were almost as far away from civilization as you can get out here and if anything happened we wouldn’t be able to make it anywhere fast. Seeing as we had everything, Jake and I headed towards the Jeep and through our bags in the trunk before climbing in.

“Mr. Green, I just wanted to thank you again for allowing us to come out here and interview you. I’m sure you are a very busy man so I’d like it if we started the interview tomorrow morning if that’s alright with you?”

“Sure is son, I just have a few chores to do in the morning before we can talk, but then I’m all your afterwards. In fact… if you two help I should be done in no time! What do you say?”

Jake and I looked at each other and nodded.

“Sounds find to us. Just let us know what you need us to do and we’ll do it. All for the story!”

Trying to sound fired up and said that enthusiastically. In reality I was exhausted and didn’t want to help the old man in the morning, but it was to get the story faster so we can leave faster. If that Plesioth was the only dragon we saw while here I’d be happy. Anything else to do with dragons is when the man shows us some places where the dragons damaged and that’s it.

“We have some time while we drive back to the house, so why don’t I give a little prologue to my story which I’ll tell you both tomorrow eh? Sound good?” Mr. Green was obviously trying to make some conversation with both of us and we jumped at the chance to get even a little bit out of the old man.

“Sounds great Mr. Green, we would love to hear it.”

“Okay then, well let me just warn you boys about what I’m just about to tell you. This story is very long, very complicated, and very dangerous. It’s about the Dragon War and what it caused in this part of my little world. At times I may need to stop and readjust myself or leave other parts out entirely. Just remember one ting.. Everything I’m about to tell you is the truth. 100% fact.”

He never mentioned anything like this in the letter, but damnit I’d be lying if I said this didn’t intrigue me.

“It all started on a cold December night, right before the Dragon War began….”

"End of the World: Made Easy" Chapter 1

Since I just put out only the prologue I decided to post up the actual first chapter to introduce the two main characters. Also I just wanted to post more... ANYWAYS on to chapter 1 where shit hits the fan and the whole room starts to smell really really bad.

Chapter 1: The beginning of what might be the end.

There I was, a college student just minding my own business when everything went “odd”. I was in my dorm room, just trying to do some homework when I suddenly heard a scream outside my window. Now, I live on the third floor and the place outside my window gets a lot of traffic often so I didn’t think much of it. What I did find strange was the fact that the screaming didn’t stop, it just went on and on. Eventually my sleeping roommate woke up and asked me what the hell was going on. I still had not moved from my computer since I thought that it would stop soon, but it didn’t.  Finally I got up and went to the window and looked outside, to see the women, covered in what looked like a combination of red and black, just writhing on the ground outside. Around this time, other people in the dorm were finally at their wits end and wanted the lady to shut the hell up. One of the more “bro” type guys went outside to tell her to essentially get the fuck out of there. The guy got outside and walked over to the lady, who suddenly, as if right when the guy walked out, went silent. Instead, she was now just staring at the guy. The way she was looking at him… just didn’t seem right. It looked as if… she was eyeing her prey…

          Right when things couldn’t have possibly gotten more “weird”, they did very much so get “weird”. A girl who lives in our dorm let out scream, which distracted the guy who was having a faceoff with the lady outside. At this point the people here in the dorms realized that something was not right about this lady, and the girl who screamed realized what it was. It was around this time I also noticed what was so strange about the lady, and it had to do with the red and black liquid she was covered in. Even from the third floor I could see that this woman had multiple cuts and punctures all over her body and that the “red and black liquid” was actually her blood. At the realization of this, someone tried to call the police, but couldn’t get through which was really strange since the police department was only down the street a bit.

          While everyone was trying to call “somebody”, the women started to try to get up. It was pretty clear that she had some broken bones, including her legs. We could tell from the way her leg was bending in a way that no leg should be able to bend. She finally got onto her two legs, one bending in a way that was just sickening to look at, and started to make her way to the guy that was still outside. Instead of retreating like any sane person would at this point, the idiot held his ground. I guess he didn’t want to look like a coward in front of all the coeds now watching the situation outside. That would be his last mistake he would ever make.

          The women suddenly let out a shrill scream and rushed at the guy still standing there like an idiot. Before he even realized it, she was on top of him. Scratching, biting, grabbing, pulling, and spiting… everything. Some of the idiot’s friends realized they should probably help their friend and ran out and pulled the bloody women off him. They threw her off to the side while they dealt with their friend, who was now also bleeding from many wounds just now inflicted on him. He did not look good at all, like the second the lady bit into him, all the color in his face just disappeared and he went pale as a ghost. They got him inside and closed the door behind them and locked it. The women was still screaming her lungs out, along with vomiting blood and this other black liquid which did not look natural at all. She rushed at the doors that were now locked and just started banging on them with all of her strength to no avail. Of course everyone else was paying attention to the guy they just brought in instead of the insane lady still banging on the doors. The guy got even worse when he got inside, still losing more color and blood. The cuts and bites didn’t even look that deep, but they were not healing like they should have been. One of the RA’s got the first-aid out while another tried to contact the campus PD again. This time they got a response, but not over the phone, but over the PA system installed in all the buildings. “Attention students and residents, this is not a drill, please stay inside and lock all doors and windows that lead to the outside. If someone has been bit, isolate them immediately. There is a virus that has been infecting people since last night and is transmitted by saliva and scratches from the infected to non-infected. We are still unsure what the virus is, but we do know what it does. Depending on the severity of the bite, the person infected has at most 2 hours till a full-on coma is induced. From there… they… wha-… what the hell? “They get up and attack non-infected?” what the hell is that supposed to mean?”.

          While the announcement was going on, we all quietly listened to it, and realized we have an “infected” right here with us. Though many of us didn’t want to believe what was going on, we knew that we had to get the guy isolated as soon as possible. He didn’t look like he was going to last much longer and based on the announcement we decided to “secure” him to a table on the first floor in the lounge area. Though he still tried to treat his wounds, it was clearly too late for him. At this point what seemed like a fever set in since he was talking to himself and seemed very delirious, and then started crying saying that he didn’t want to die and was yelling out for his mother the entire time. The only thing we all could do is just watch him, nothing else. Once we had heard about how it’s an infection we decided to try not to touch him at all and moved him to the lounge with gloves and other things that would allow us to touch him, but not let him touch us.

          After about thirty minutes on the table, crying and screaming his last words, he finally fell silent. We took this chance to make sure he was really tied down to the table and wouldn’t be able to get out of his restraints. The announcement cut off before it said how long they would be out before they would wake up, so we got at it quickly. As we were tightening the ropes around this poor guy, people were crying, getting mad, trying to contact their parents, trying the police department again, anything to try to get their minds off of what was happening around them. I took this chance to take another look outside from my room. I could see unmistakable towers of smoke off in the distance towards the city, and I could also see cars speeding by, honking their horns. The sound of gun fire was also prevalent, coming in irregularly, but often. I could also see people run in various directions; one unlucky soul ran too close to our building and drew the infected women away with them. Though the women had really only one “good” leg, she still was able to catch up to the person after sometime. Now without anyone to stop her, she “dug” in, literally.  I almost couldn’t watch, it was just too disturbing and disgusting with all the blood and guts flying everywhere. The worst part though, was the screaming, the death scream of the poor soul that was now being torn apart for this sick woman’s meal.

          Eventually the woman finished her “meal” and wandered off, now with her leg very noticeably just hanging on. The mess she left was something that still haunts me, but what really gives me the nightmares that last till today was when the person who was essentially just eaten, got up and started walking away. It was too much for me and my stomach so I retreated to the bathroom to puke up the little breakfast I had. Once done with regurgitating, I jumped on my computer to see if there was anything about this whole incident on the internet. Sure enough, the whole of the internet was alive with talk about the infected or “zombies” that had started to ravage the land. Some people were calling it “judgment day” and that this is our punishment for a variety of reasons and others were calling this an act of war by some foreign country (though this was happening everywhere, people still tried to blame other countries). On CNN.com they had a guide to what to do with the infected, and generally how to stay safe. It basically repeated everything from the announcement, but then continued on to more specific things like how to deal with the infected and how you should go to a treatment center.

          Information like that was all over the internet, so much so it seemed like the just copy and pasted it everywhere. Not to say that it wasn’t good information to have, it’s just that that was all that we were given. Not satisfied with this amount of information, I started to read through a website I usually just hang out on. Sure enough, that information was there, but there was a lot more information there too. It talked about these “creatures” which had appeared in the areas of the world where night had already fallen. There were only a few reports of these creatures around the world and they had just started flowing in from so many people, especially here where it was still in the AM, thought that it was someone just trying to take advantage of a very bad situation to try to make it seem like not only were there “zombies” but these other creatures which never seemed to have the same shape. Some were small, like the size of dogs or cats, others were larger than “gorillas” and others which were even bigger. The largest was one that was over 30 meters tall and looked like it could run over just about anything it wanted to. Though all of these creatures seemed as different as other animals are from each other, they all had something in common which sent a shiver down my spine.

          I should mention that I have this irrational fear of things with really pale skin, impossibly long and skinny limbs, with elongated heads, kind of like what an Alien looks like from those movies, but what really gets me is the eyes. They can be either sunken into the skull and black as the night, or glowing red and the only thing you can see of it in the night. Ever since I was a kid, even before I had seen those Alien movies, I had been afraid of those characteristics. Now then, how this relates to the current situation on the internet? In the light these creatures all have pale skin, limbs too long and skinny, elongated heads, mouths which look like a smile but only do so because of their sharp pointed teeth. One last commonality between them all, which I feel like is the worst, is that in the light all of their eyes look like they are shrunken back into the things head, and are black as the void. When in the dark, you can only see their glowing, red eyes and nothing else. Not the body or anything, just the unnatural glowing red eyes…

         

……. Another place, at the same time…….

          “It’s November now…”, I say to myself as I look out the window and see the clouds which look as if they were just itching to drop a few feet of snow on this city. Still, these days are nice for when you just want to get cozy in front of the fireplace and drink some hot chocolate, unfortunately for me, my apartment complex doesn’t have any fireplaces nor do I have any hot choco to warm me up. All I have is the internet and the many friends I have made off of it. Though I still go to class every so often, I’m kinda a shut in who only talks to people he met on the internet. I don’t really care about what anyone thinks about it, nor do I care about how I should be out and about hanging with people my own age. All that matters to me is the internet and my friends which I made over it.

          Though I made most of my friends from games I play or used to play, there is one who I actually became friends with in person. His name is Will Kenwal and he and I used to live on the same street forever ago. Best friends we were, that is until he had to move away. We tried to stay in contact with each other, but that was difficult considering our ages at the time. Years after I had lost contact with him I was playing a online game and started talking to this regular player who was pretty damn good at it. We eventually got in contact with each other out of the game and realized who we were talking to. I guess this is what you can call a “small world” thing. I found out that he had started college and was now in his Junior year, same with me. Though we lived thousands of miles apart, we found each other again and started playing all sorts of games with each other when we weren’t doing stuff for school.

          Deciding it was about time to get on the computer and chill there for the rest of the day, I got myself some drinks and snacks and went onto my life on the internet. When I started my usual routine of checking the news and other random stuffs I started reading about this infection thing that was spreading all across the country. It sounded terrible, with how you do when you get it and then get up and attack other people, but for some reason I just thought of it as some elaborate prank. After reading those articles for a bit, I went to a website me and my friends frequent often and saw the same discussion about the infection, but also about creatures coming out at night and terrorizing people in places where it was already night. Again, I thought this to be too strange for it to actually be true so I kept on denying everything I saw, calling everyone “trolls” and what-not.

          It was around the time I had started writing out a long explanation about what was really going on when I heard screaming and yelling from my hall. Not the normal kind with us college kids and all, but the kind where shit was going down. I got up from my computer and walked over to the door when I walked past my window which overlooks the city I live in. Something caught my eye while walking past it so I decided to take a look outside and what I saw was complete chaos. I looked almost like a war zone out on the streets, with National Guard troops gunning down what looked like people, and when I say the “looked” like people, I mean that they had the appearance of a person, but moved in a way that seemed way too alien to be natural. Usually you would expect the people with the machineguns to win this kind of confrontation, but unfortunately for the soldiers, the “people” had numbers and overran the blockade the soldiers had set up. What was worst was what they looked like they were doing with the soldiers. Though I was on the 14^th floor, I could tell that these soldiers were being killed in a very brutal way, one in which no one under any circumstances should die from.

          Distracted by the scene on the street I had forgot about the yelling that was going on in the hall. Rather than be that one white person to go and check out what was going on, I checked to make sure my locks were all locked. I then headed to my kitchen to see how much food I had. Not as nearly much as I had hoped, but it would do, at least for now. Finally realizing that people weren’t making this up, I ran back to my computer and started reading everything I could. Again, I see the same stories about strange creatures popping up everywhere, but I felt that the whole “zombie apocalypse” was a much more urgent matter. After the initial shock of everything I decided to message my friend about how he was doing in all of this chaos, since I was kind of feeling more alone in my whole life at this point with everything happening and all.

          It was around 5 PM when I sent that first message to him, and he responded pretty quickly, I guess he was already online. We messaged back and forth for a bit about our current situation before he said he needed to go and help out with the barricading of the dorm he lives in. He said they were going to barricade the whole dorm area which consisted of 5 buildings, so that they could get from one building to another without having to deal with the infected. My last message to him, and the last time I would talk to him for a while was at around 7 PM. Then, the sun started to set and one of the most terrifying nights of my life began.

"Key to the Void": My other story which I started on at the same time as EotWME

So I decided to post up my other story which I started on after getting frustrated with how my other one was going. I wanted to make a more simpler story with fewer characters, but at the same time make it more exciting. If you guys end up checking out EotWME you'll notice that it shares a few of the same themes as KV, but as to not spoil it I'll let you all figure out what they are by your selves. For this story I had only written 1 chapter so far, but I'm probably going to continue writing it for a while since I like it a bit better than my other. Also, occasionally I'll post up other random ramblings of ideas which I would want to write about just because I can.


Anyways, here you go: "Key to the Void"

                I write this as a last ditch effort to get the truth out there about an amazing and terrible secrete which can undo the very fabric of civilization at the mere mention of it. Why should I try and get this information out in the open when it might in fact end the world as we know it? Well, that is somewhat of a long and mostly boring story, but I do suppose that it would explain the truth in a somewhat better way than me just telling you all now. It’s a story of inspiration, adventure, love… lose… terrifying creatures from other dimensions, strange yet horrible ruins on remote islands, things not going the way they were planned, and last but not least… me.

          We start our little story with a simple phone call. Yep, just a phone call, nothing really special about this part right? See, I told you all it would be boring. Anyways back to the phone call. I was phoning a friend of mine from a few years back about a missed call and a 17 minute long voice mail with nothing but static. You see, right after I graduated high school I did the whole college thing, but messed up a lot and ended up going to a bunch of different colleges before finally finding one that worked for me. This guy I knew was from the second college I had attended and I hadn’t seen him since I transferred into the one that I would eventually graduate from. When we both used to hang out, we talked about all sorts of subjects from physics, history, politics, and most importantly (to the story at least) the more esoteric topics like the secretes of the world and how to access them. When we talked about the secretes we both had uncovered over the years of being alive we found out that some things seemed to be too convenient or too well planned for something to have happened at chance. Of course I never thought too deeply into the subjects because I was busy with other things (girls for example) so when I transferred I kinda lost contact with him. From people who I still talked to from the college, it seemed like he really withdrew and became something of a hermit you might say. There was one thing though that everyone kept on repeating about my old associate: he always seemed to be looking over his shoulder for something that wasn’t there and that he really got into the more taboo subjects of the magicks. I really didn’t say anything about the fact that I may have gotten him more into that subject than I should have, but I did feel kind of sad when I heard it. Kinda….

          Back to the phone call I am still making. Three rings and he still hasn’t picked up, which I find very strange since this guy never went anywhere without his phone. I had been to his apartment a few times to hang out and get drunk so I knew where he lived and I was a little worried at this point. Though I try to come off as a cold, uncaring person, my true personality is one of the “I can’t leave you alone” types where I would always go out of my way to help random people. It was somewhat of a problem which occasionally ended with me in the hospital for god knows what reason. This time though, I felt that I had something to do with his withdrawal society and that made me really want to help him out. So after another three calls and four texts, I grabbed my coat and jumped into my car and drove the short distance over to his apartment. It was pretty close by car anyways, like only 20 minutes. While in the car I called him one last time and said that I was coming over whether he wanted me to or not and to make sure he has pants on when I get there (long story, even longer than this one). I pulled into the parking lot in front of his apartment complex and climbed the three floors to his door and knocked a few times. After a few long pauses I knocked again and yelled through the door that I knew he was in there and that he should just answer the damn door already. Getting a little mad since I drove all the way over here (I just don’t really like driving) I tried the door handle to see if it was open, and low and behold it was!

          I yelled into the dark apartment that I was coming in and that he should make sure he was actually wearing pants or else (… or else what?) I walked into the dark room and fumbled around the wall for the light switch and eventually found it after much groping. Even with the light from the hall, I could barely see into the mess that was his apartment so I wasn’t expecting at all of what I found. Tables, couches, chairs, and random other furniture just thrown around his place along with strange books, pictures of some kind of black mass/blob thingy and other magick-related materials. I thought to myself that he really did get into this stuff, and massively from the looks of it. Still looking around the mess I stumbled into the kitchen where I found the only clean section of ground covered in all kinds of different glyphs and symbols which I had never seen before. They were arranged in somewhat of a spiral pattern which covered a great bit of the ground. Around the spiral were more magick-related items along with a few candles which looked like they had just recently been lit. Not wanting a potential fire to erupt in my friend’s apartment I blew them all out and then continued to wander through his increasingly macabre place of living. Whatever he was doing, it just didn’t feel right if you know what I mean. Just stuff that I had never seen before was just strewn across his apartment and relics which looked like they were close to a few thousand years old just lying about everywhere. Where the hell did he get the money to buy these things? We were both just college students just a few years ago and he now had enough money to buy 2^nd century manuscript on the… proper rituals for summoning the void? The hell is the void and why was it in this apartment? Now not only did I want to find my friend, but I wanted to ask him what the hell is up with all of this stuff.

          He had a pretty big apartment for a guy living on his own, but I never thought it polite to ask where he was getting his money from. The place though looks like it could have easily gone for a few thousand a month at least. I finally was working my way into the back room where he usually sleeps when I remembered I should try and call him to see if his phone was still here. Taking out my phone, I called him one last time and heard the faint sounds of a phone going off in his apartment and it sound like it was coming from his room. I walked over to his door and knocked a few times, and then said fuck it and walked in. I see the phone on the ground covered by some scrolls or something and then look around the room to see if he was actually there. Nope, no sign of him in here, or anywhere in the apartment. I guess he was going to go and do something somewhere and wanted me to come along… or something. Whatever the case, he wasn’t here and I wanted to leave. I usually ok when it comes to the darker esoteric stuff, but this place just felt wrong for some reason. In fact, I have been feeling as though there were a pair of eyes watching me ever since I blew out those candles around the spiral. I just wanted out of there at that point and decided I would try to call another day or something. As far as I was concerned, my work there was done…. Or so I thought. You know that feeling when you know without a shadow of a doubt that someone or something was watching you? Yeah, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing at attention pretty damn quickly as I heard the front door shut and the lights go out all over the apartment. Wondering what the hell was going on, I called out for my friend which I had thought just got back from where ever he went. No response, which was in a way freaking me out at that moment. It was about 7:00 or so pm so the sun had mostly set at this point so the inside of my friend’s apartment was pitch-black. I got out my cell phone and used it as a light to try and get out of this horror house of an apartment. I made my way into the hallway and noticed the dense blackness which was now in the way of my exit from the apartment. I nervously called out to my friend in the hopes that it was him, only to be met with a pair of glowing red eyes. I shined the light from my phone over in the direction of the scary pair of eyes to see something that was… impossible… or should I say close to impossible?

          When the light hit the creatures flesh, the pure blackness of the creatures hide turned a pale white within seconds of contact from the light. Its eyes receded back into its sockets leaving a face which looked like it belonged in a H.R. Gigar painting. It was crouching since it seemed like it was too big for the hallway, so it must have been over 10 feet tall, at least when it stood up straight. It’s arms and legs were almost stick-like in their appearance and both of them seemed way to damn long for their own good. Long fingers and toes which very sharp looking claws attached to the ends of each and an almost sickly look in its body, like one of those starving African kids or something.  Its neck seemed like it should break any second from the stress put on it from the head and how skinny it was, but it didn’t. Finally the head, which was elongated and had some very nasty looking teeth arranged in a smile in the front of its face. It almost looked like what a human skull would look like if you just added more to the back and installed some razor sharp teeth in the front. The thing just was looking at me, maybe studying me too and deciding on how it will feast on my flesh or something morbid like that. For what seemed like an eternity, we just stared at each other, not making a single movement. Suddenly the creature began to back up, into the darkness and slowly disappear into the void. The last thing I saw of it was the pair of red eyes and the glint of light coming off the things contorted smile full of sharp teeth. Then, as suddenly as it had arrived and almost made me have an accident in me pants, it was gone, and I could see the door which the thing had been blocking till just now. Not giving the thing any time to decide that it was in fact going to have me as a snack, I bolted for the door and dived for the exit. Landing with a thud on the wall across from the door, I hurriedly closed the door shut and flew down the stairs to my awaiting get-a-way car.

          I never once asked or thanked god for anything before today, but with the speed I was going in my car in those residential districts, well let’s just say that I’m lucky as hell that a cop wasn’t there to bust me. In about half the time it took me to first get to my friend’s apartment, I arrived at my own home and ran inside, locking the door behind me. Safe, I thought to myself, and relaxed a bit after turning on every light in the house and collapsing on my couch. What the hell was that thing? Did it have anything to do with the random bits of magick-related things around my friend’s apartment? Oh right! My friend! I wonder, did he get eaten? Or killed or something? That would really suck, but I didn’t see any blood or body or anything of that sort so he might still be okay. I hope he is, because the next time I see him, I’m gonna kick his ass for bringing something like that into our world. I mean really, there is a limit on what you can and can’t get away with and summoning a creature from the “void” is definitely something one should not do, at least without parental supervision. From the whole ordeal, I was tired, like really tired. I closed my eyes and soon found myself in the world of dreams. Only, I knew it was a dream, which I guess isn’t too strange, but the man in the nice suit waving me over the have a drink with him is. I don’t recognize this man, and hell, something about him just doesn’t seem human. Whatever it is, I rarely turn away good alcohol so I joined this well-dressed man in my dream which I was awake in.

          “Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to the land of your dreams!... but you already figured that part out now didn’t you?” the man asked me in a very energetic, almost playful way. I told him that yeah I knew this was a dream and I was wondering who he was, since I once heard that dreams are fragments of memories and I had never seen this man before in my life. “Ah, well, you must be wondering who I might be right about now aren’t ya?” again with the playful questions, he seemed as though he had read my mind. “Oh I didn’t read your mind, I mean, we’re inside of it after all. Your thoughts are just floating around everywhere so it was pretty easy to see what you were thinking. Well then, how about I introduce myself… hmm…. What should my name be…. Hmmmmmmm…… AH! Yes! I know what my name is! It’s Dave. Just Dave. Nothing more, nothing less, mostly likely at least.” Well, know I know who I’m talking to, this shouldn’t be to hard from now on, but Dave? Seriously? “What? You have a thing against the name “Dave”? I think it’s pretty cool…” Yeah whatever, so “Dave”, what are you doing hanging out inside my head, and why the hell am I so ok with this? “Ah well, that’s probably because even though you know you’re sleeping, your still calm and everything from sleeping like a baby. Anyways, on to business! Will, you did something you really shouldn’t have now didn’t you?” his eyes narrowed while asking this question to which I responded that I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Oh Will… Willy Willy Will… You really don’t know what you got yourself into now do you?” Well of course I don’t know what “I have gotten myself into”, why don’t you explain to me what it is that I have “gotten into”. “Well… you see there were these candles which you blew out, probably to prevent forest fires like smokey the bear says, but what you didn’t know is that by doing that you forever made yourself a prime target of the void. Don’t know what the void is now don’t ya?” Nope, not at all. “Well… the void is… hmmm…. How should I explain this to your underdeveloped brain… hmmm… well think of it as a place of non-existence… or something like that. In this place of “non-existence” there exists beings which call that place their home. Now, you can’t have things existing in places of non-existence now can you? I’ll answer that for you, no you cannot. So how do these beings exist in this place? Paradoxes. A whole truck load of them. Anyways, the reason why the are there and why the exist is not really important to you, but what is important is that these “Void Beasts” have been interacting with your plane of existence for a while now and have occasionally made their way over to here. The thing is though, they can’t interact with your plane yet. They don’t have enough power to phase into this reality and can only do so with a certain artifact… which now exists inside of your soul…” …..huh? “Just like you heard, you now have what amounts to a “key of dimensions” lodged right up in there in your soul. Those candles you blew out? They were what was keeping the Void Beasts out of your plane and when you blew them out, which by the way was ingenius, the “key” jumped into your soul.”

          “Now, I know what you’re thinking, since I can see it floating around everywhere,”The hell is this well dressed badass talking about?”… ok maybe I exaggerated that last part, but it is all the truth. So now that the key exists in a human soul, all the void beasts have to do is kill you and destroy your soul and then the last barrier between the Void and your lovely dirt ball will be broken apart and then say hello to the end of the world kid!” So… not only do extra-dimensional creatures exist, but they are trying to enter our plane and the only thing stopping them now is… me… I felt almost sick. I’m the only thing standing in between the world and doomsday? To think, only thing I wanted to do was make sure my friend was ok. “Fret not young Will! I’m apart of… a group of mostly like-minded individuals and would not like it if these Void Beasts rampage across your world, so we decided we are going to help you. Kinda…” What do you mean “kinda”? Are you gonna help me or not?! I was getting irritated now, I didn’t want any more bullshit, I just wanted to know what I would have to do to stop this “end of days” scenario from happening. “Ah! Good! You learn quickly! That is very good, considering what is about to happen to your real body.” Huh? What do mean? Suddenly I see what looks like a giant screen appear out of nowhere and it shows me sleeping on the couch. I really look like that when I sleep? Damn… oh… wait a minute.. I thought I saw something off to the corner of the screen.. “Ah! Good! You saw it too! Well, that my little mortal friend is that Void Beast who was eyeing you good earlier. It seems to have come to finish the job when you are most vunerable.” Well.. shit! Shit! Shit! SHIT! Wake me up! I have to fight it right? Oh shit, how can I even fight it..” Ah, it looks like it would be too late anyways even if you did wake up.” The creature was moving towards my helpless body, with me powerless to do anything but watch as the monster ripped me to shreds and then destroyed my soul. I’m done.. I’m finished.. Good bye cruel world!!!..... wait a minute.. is someone else there? “You really do have some good eyes, or senses or whatever. Yes, there is someone there who is about to save your defenseless ass. Thank her when you do finally wake up” Her? I said before I was suddenly back in my body with about a second before the beast rips my face off. I turn around to try and jump over the couch when I saw her. Dressed in some kind of armor and wielding what looks like a spear, this mystery woman jumped out from behind the couch and delivered what looked like a finisher on the beast.

          I rub my eyes in a pointless attempt to blame this all on an overactive imagination or something, but as soon as I’m done and open my eyes, there she is, standing there covered in the creatures black fluids. She.. looks young.. like my age young. The young woman was looking over her kill with satisfaction when she turned around towards me. “ Sooo you’re the one they are having me protect and train and the same time… you look pretty weak, no offense.” It’s true that I don’t work out that often and my metabolism handles my food pretty well, but being called “weak” by a girl my age felt humiliating. “My name is Alex Aice and I’m gonna be making sure you don’t get killed or anything. At least till we figure out what we are gonna do with you.” I looked up to the girl, who seemed like she was shorter than me, but seemed so much bigger in some way I couldn’t describe. “My name is Will Kenwal, I guess I should say “thank you” or something for what you just did so, thank you.” She stares at me for a few seconds before breaking eye contact with me to look in some other direction. “Don’t mention it. I mean, it’s my job to keep you safe till you can do it on your own.” She looked a bit embarrassed, which really just made her become all kinds of attractive to me. I should mention I haven’t had a girlfriend in… well let’s just say “a while”. “So miss Alex, now that you saved my sorry ass what are we going to do now? You said something about “training” me. What was that all about? Dave in my dream said something like that too.” She looked a bit confused by what I had just said, “Dave? Who’s Dave? Anyways, we need to get out of here. The smell from this dead one is gonna attract scavengers and if they find you then you’re pretty screwed, but then again so am I, so let’s get the hell out of here!” With barely enough time to gather my thoughts, I’m pulled up off of my couch and rushed out the door. “Can’t I even pack anything? Where are we even going? Hey! Answer me!” Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, “Just shut up and follow me, I’ll tell you everything you need to know when you’re safe” *Cough* “Yes.. ma’am..” Dammit, that hurt like hell!

          Next thing I knew we were out in the middle of nowhere. How we ended up here, I couldn’t say. One second we were walking down the sidewalk towards some unknown destination, the next we were In the middle of this field. “Follow me, hurry up now!” Well isn’t she bossy, “Well you do you mind telling me how one second we were walking down a sidewalk and then the next second we are in the middle of this field?” Annoyed, she said “Just shut up and follow me. I’ll tell you how I did it once we get to our base camp.” I thought about what she said for a second, “Base camp?”