Introduction


I awoke. There is nothing else to describe what happened. For you see, I never opened my eyes. I simply knew that I was awake. I could feel in a way… not with human touch, human taste, or any other human sense, but with my own thought. I felt like a pellet upon a storm, with nothing holding me to the ground. It was then that I tried to open my eyes. I couldn't! Why couldn't I? What was happening? Where was I? Who am I? I was on the point of going insane… when I heard a voice.

"Do not worry, young one. This is new, but you fill soon feel the power in store for you. You will fight, or you will die, it matters not. For upon the land that your old people have fought, your new people will be felt. You will be there to transform the old, into something new."

I screamed, but I had no voice. I wanted to say something back, anything at all, but I could form no words. I was in a nightmare, upon the winds of fate. I lost all matter of thought and feeling, losing myself in the void.

I am awake. It is hot. I'm on something grainy, I can feel it all over my back… my legs… and... I'm naked?! I open my eyes and scramble up. All I see is sand. For miles. Sand. There weren't any buildings, people, or machines. There was sand dunes all the way t the horizon. They looked like mountains, even if they couldn't be that tall... could they? I was on top of one of these, a dune twice as tall as the rest. I cannot help but feel small, isolated, and lost. The winds were strong, buffering me every which way.

I feel so alone… I have never felt this alone before. I yearned for… for something… I screamed. It was a low, feral scream of rage. The wind took my scream and hollered it at the sky. Nothing happened. No one answered.


My name is Duke. I use to work at a Wal-Mart part-time in downtown Indianapolis. I lived in an apartment, where I spent most of my time. I was the typical college student, with no plans, and no idea where to go afterwards, and still didn't have a particular goal for my life. That is my story on the start of October 12th, 2017. I wake up in bed to a stupid alarm. I always want to turn it off, but I know better. It is Monday, and I have work today. Work is never fun, it just doesn't change. I haven't faced anything new for two years. I suppose there was the time that some kid threw a stool into the fish tanks. Said he just wanted to play with the "fishies". Unfortunately, this wasn't new; it was just my surprise that a 12 year old did it that time. Last time it was a 7 year old, close enough to 6 years old to be treated like a 6 year old, capable of no fault.

That is enough musing, I suppose. This is just an excuse to stay sitting on your bed. I take a shower, grab some clothes, make a good breakfast (the one thing I'm good at is breakfast, oh and doing nothing, I'm good at that too). Work isn't too far from home, and I decided my lazy butt needed some exercise, so I decided to walk. Sure it's a mile, but that isn't that long, really. I went out an hour before I needed to be there, sure to be early. This was before the drive-by.

I was walking on the side walk, minding my own business. I was currently walking next to a group of guys playing basketball. I didn't really know them, but I didn't bother them, and they didn't bother me. Suddenly, there are tires squealing behind me. I, like any other untrained human, simply turned around to see what it was. It was a black ford car, and it was coming across the street fast. I mean, seriously, it was 25 mph through this area as a speed limit, and whoever this was, they were a speed demon going 60. Then one of the back windows rolled down, and an arm with some sort of gun attached leaned out. I remember this clearly. It is shocking what you remember in moments like this, and how you slowly forget everything else. It looked like some sort of sub-machine gun, and it started spitting fire. Like many a dumb human, I stood there in shock. This always happened to somebody else! Eternity passed, and the car got near where I was, and my instincts, if not my senses, returned to me enough to run for cover. There was none to be had. I felt something go over my shoulder, and something tear into my back, again, and again. I slammed into the concrete. The last thing I remember thinking was... "Why me?" before all went black.

I briefly, remember the rush to the hospital. It was a little stretched out, without me having a clear sense of time. I do remember the doctors saying comments like "Lucky he survived, or maybe unlucky, we could just be prolonging his life for a few hours," and "Three bullets through the chest and still breathing, poor bastard. He won't make it." I saw needles and faces, and then all went dark again.

There, in that darkness, is when I heard the voice…