Chapter 1: Recurrence
The sun shone brightly in his eyes as the desert landscape dried his throat. He felt like he had been wandering in the scorching heat for days, yet still felt the need to keep walking. He felt as if he was searching for something, but he didn't know what. The horizon seemed to stretch with every step he took in his aimless pursuit of the unknown.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a boulder near a top of one of the many sand dunes. He began to walk toward it, feeling as though he was being pulled by some unknown force, when he noticed something moving on top of the boulder. It was a black scorpion, and it was soon followed by a brown viper-like snake. Once a few feet away from the boulder, he stopped walking and observed the two. They seemed to be actively looking for prey, but not attacking each other. They became very still and appeared to be awaiting an opportunity.
Sure enough, one did come along. A rodent of some kind twitchingly scurried up the side of the boulder toward the top where the scorpion and snake waited silently. The rodent looked around cautiously as it inched closer to the two predators. In a swift move, the snake bit into the rodent while the scorpion extended its tail to sting the rodent repeatedly. He felt the need to help the rodent, but his feet stayed firmly planted to the ground and he could not move.
A cloaked figure suddenly appeared beyond the boulder. The lower half of its face was covered by a metal mask, while the top half was like a canvas of red and black facepaint. Its eyes were fixed on him as the rodent squeaked out its last bit of life. Its gaze was alluring, soothing, and frightening all at once. As he stared in bewilderment at the masked being, it spoke with a soft yet piercing voice.
"Help," the mysterious entity cried out.
Espio's eyes jolted open to the familiar surroundings of his room. He was clutching his mattress tightly and gritting his teeth. After loosening his grip, he sat up and massaged his forehead lightly with hands. What the hell does this mean? He thought to himself as he shut his eyes tightly. The dream had been a recurrence over the past few months, but it had now been happening almost every night in the past two weeks. It was always a little different. Maybe a change of scenery or a few intangible observations, but yet yielded the same result every time. That figure in the cloak…
As the chameleon racked his brain for answers, the more confused and frustrated he became. He opened his eyes and looked towards his bedroom window. The night was beautiful, with the wind quietly rushing through the trees and the spectral moonlight streaming through the glass onto the wooden floor. Looking into the darkness put his mind at ease. It was like the perfect camouflage for him. Laying back down on his side, he decided not to dwell on the phantom-like figure for the time being. Instead he listened to the sounds of the obscurity and waited until the morning light.