Chapter Four: Dreams of Gold

When a person is woken up in the middle of a dream, when they're in the deepest level of their sleep, they'll feel even more tired and bleary than normal. That's how I felt right now as I returned to the waking world. I was back in my bed, that much was certain… And it was bright, which meant it was daytime and the rain had stopped.

I opened my eyes to the sight of a light green ceiling. The walls and floor were the same color, as were my bed sheets. Bright sunlight shined into the room through the windows, bathing my room in a gentle warmth. This light seemed different from normal sunlight…it was not harsh to look at, and it sent a calm, soothing feeling through my body.

I swung myself out of bed. As I stood up, I saw that I was wearing yellow pajamas and light green moccasins—the same color as my room. Taking a brief moment to yawn and stretch, I trudged over to one of the windows and gazed outside.

The sky was a bit unusual. The daylight did not come from a sun or any kind of celestial body—instead, it seemed to radiate from the sky itself. And even though the sky up above was bright and vibrant, the skies above the horizons were black as night. And down below lay a shining city of gold.

"Prospit…" I murmured to myself.

I was dreaming.

My mind felt crystal clear. This wasn't the first time I've found myself on the golden city-planet of Prospit, and something I noticed every time I ended up here was how much more... I don't know...natural I felt here? How I felt so much more like myself when I woke up in this strange tower than when I woke up in my bed in Pennsylvania. Almost like the waking world was the dream, and this was my true life. And then I would wake up, and I would forget that feeling.

I climbed up onto the windowsill, grinning as a light, feathery feeling overtook my body. I jumped out into the air, soaring up through the skies. Yeah, I was able to fly, here—I could do many things that outright shattered the laws of physics, and this was but one example.

Now that I was out of my room, I could see a giant, golden planet taking up a good portion of the sky. That was the main planet of Prospit—the place where I was right now was that planet's moon, which was basically a clone of the larger planet, only it was smaller. It was attached to the planet by a gigantic golden chain…

The main difference between Prospit and its moon—besides the difference in size—was the fact that Prospit had eight giant, golden spires topped with orbs of some dark, unknown material. Prospit's moon, on the other hand, had four smaller towers…towers that looked remarkably similar to those stone towers at the Frog Temple, back at Cruz's place. I lived in one of these four towers.

In the near distance, I could see a tall, golden tower that looked identical to my own. It had been in the sky between that tower and mine where I had first met Cruz Arevalo, during a dream much like this one. At the moment, though, no one else seemed to be awake.

That made sense to me. After all, I seemed to remember that it had been daylight when... I frowned, images of rain and fire flashing through my mind.

I slowly sank from the sky, down past the tallest of the buildings and onto a street. I was never sure if the city was made of actual gold, or merely a gold-like substance. Of course, it never really crossed my mind to try and find out. I mean, I was just too engrossed in how fantastical this place was to really care about what the buildings and streets were made of.

The city was not deserted, either. Both Prospit and its moon were inhabited by a strange race of creatures…they were humanoid in shape—arms, legs, torsos, heads—but their 'flesh' was a rigid white carapace. Ridiculous as it may sound, they almost reminded me of white chess pieces…if chess pieces could become sentient and build their own city. Their eyes were dark as night, and they wore plain, gray clothing. I knew they could speak English, but I've never actually conversed with one of them…they always shied away whenever I approached.

But not this time.

There were dozens of the snow-skinned Prospitians going about their everyday business on the road that I landed on, but everything came to an abrupt halt when I reached the ground. They all stared at me in what I could only assume was awe. I mean, I don't know why they always regarded me so—if they knew half of what went on in my mind, they probably wouldn't be so reverent in my presence.

The nearest of the carapacians took a tentative step forward, his little black eyes blinking rapidly, and he laid a hand on my shoulder. Then another one laid hands on me, then another, and another…until finally, I was in the middle of a crowd of Prospitians, like a crowd of lepers trying to touch Jesus.

Oh, shit…did I just compare myself to Jesus? Shit, hold up, my Mary Sue meter just exploded. Let me try that again.

Ahem…

The Prospitians all gathered around me, with more and more of them trying to get a glimpse of me, like I was some kind of celebrity. They congregated on this street, emerging from the buildings, from other roads, from alleyways… I walked down this road for a little while, trying to speak with the carapacians, but none of them ever held a conversation with me. They all kept murmuring the same thing—The Knight has awoken. The Knight has awoken. The Knight has awoken.

I guess I was supposed to be the 'Knight'?

But this was how it went for an undetermined amount of time, until I suddenly heard someone clear their throat from behind, prompting all of the Prospitians to draw away from me. I turned around, coming face to face with another Prospitian. This individual, however, was much taller than all the rest of the carapacians. Instead of the plain, gray clothing worn by the rest of Prospit's populace, this Prospitian was clad in some sort of silver armor, with a plumed helmet that kind of reminded me of the helmets worn by the Spanish Conquistadors of the 1500s. He was flanked by two more Prospitians—one male, one female—also clad in the same kind of silver armor; though they were taller than the average carapacian, they were still a full head shorter than their leader.

"You are not the Sage," the tall, armored Prospitian declared, scrutinizing me with his curious gaze. "Why are you awake?"

"This isn't exactly my first time waking up, here," I replied. I know I should be feeling curious as to who this person was, or what he was talking about…but I just felt free-spirited and light-hearted whenever I was here. But the more serious thoughts were still there, pressing on the outside of my mind.

"You have sleepwalked through our streets in the past, yes," the tall Prospitian conceded. "But never until now have you done so fully awake, like the Sage. But you have awakened prematurely. The Queen warned me about this… You must return to your waking self immediately."

I frowned, starting to step back, but the tall Prospitian grabbed me by the wrist in a grip of steel. I started to protest. "Hey, but I-"

The tall Prospitian drew his dagger and raised it. "Forgive me," he said, before suddenly bringing the hilt of the dagger down onto my head.

I woke with a start, sitting up in my bed.

But, as I took in my surroundings, I quickly realized that I was not in my bed… I was in a hospital room. There was an IV drip in my arm, a heart monitor blipping silently in the corner, an oxygen mask over my face, and I was dressed in a hospital gown.

That, more than anything, put me into a bit of a funky mood. I hated hospital gowns—I always felt like my ass was hanging out for everyone to see whenever I walked down the hallway, and I would end up constantly checking to see how tight I had tied the drawstrings that secured the gown around my back.

Just as I started to climb out of bed, the door to my room opened and a man in a white coat stepped in. "Glad to see you awake, son," the doctor nodded to me, checking my IV drip. He then removed the oxygen mask and placed his stethoscope onto my back, breathing on it beforehand so that it was not cold to the touch. He performed a few basic exercises, just like I was getting a physical, scribbling notes down into his clipboard.

"Uh, excuse me, but…how the hell did I get here?" I finally asked the doctor after he checked my pupil dilation with a small light.

"Just take it easy, son," the doctor said to me. "Considering what happened to you, the fact that you're alive is a miracle of God, let alone the fact that you have no broken bones or fractures. We thought you had slipped into a coma, but…well, you obviously haven't. We had to dispose of your clothes—they were half burned off, anyway. Your contact lenses had to go, too, I'm afraid."

"You took out my lenses?" my hand flew to one of my eyes out of reflex, and I almost touched my eyeball to see if the doctor was telling the truth.

"Yes," the doctor nodded. "I can see why you wear them... I've never seen a person with eyes that shade of red, before—not even albinos. I know more than a few people who would love to know how you acquired them."

"Okay, wonderful," I moved to get out of the bed. "But if you'll excuse me, I need to get out of here."

"Not yet," the doctor held up a hand. "I'm keeping you here under observation for a couple days. Your body may have sustained trauma that has yet to surface…your mind, as well. Please do not remove the IV or attempt to leave your room—I do not want to have to make the orderlies sedate you, but I will if you do not cooperate. Now if you'll excuse me, the meteor storms have been causing an influx of patients here, these past few hours. I am needed elsewhere."

"Dick…" I muttered after the doctor closed the door, settling back into the bed.

The window's blinds were down, but I could hear the heavy rain pattering against the glass, could hear the thunder growling just outside. Sometimes I would even spot the fringe of a lightning flash. Up in the corner of this room was a TV, but I didn't know where the remote was. I glanced to the bedside table and found it, but I also saw my iphone on the table with a post-it note stuck to its screen.

The note read, 'Talk with your friends.' I recognized my Sis's handwriting—she had obviously been here, earlier… I didn't know when she'd be back, though. She was impossible to predict. I gave myself a slight shrug, picking up my iphone and turning it on.

My PalHassle app was going crazy—everyone had been trying to contact me earlier, but Theo and Cass were the only ones still online, at the moment… I clicked on his screen name.

-anomalousThespian began hassling turbulentGamer at 15:47-

AT: theo?
TG: Dude what the fuck happened to you
TG: You've been off the grid for hours
AT: i had a crazy lucid dream, dude.
AT: i've had the same dream before, but i'd always forget most of it when i woke up.
AT: i was in that golden city that cruz keeps talking about, and now i'm starting to think it's a real place.
TG: It is a real place
TG: You were on Prospit
AT: yeah, prospit, that's what it was called. how did you know that?
TG: It's part of the medium
AT: the what?
TG: Oh man you've been out of it for a while
TG: Look its kinda hard to explain
TG: But this game, Sburb… It's not like the Sims dude
TG: It actually messes with the real world
AT: theo? are you still high?
TG: Oh shit I've got company
TG: Up to my nuts in imps right now but they have bigger friends on the way
TG: Look dude you absolutely have to get home and fast
TG: Before the game kills you
AT: seriously, are you still high?
TG: DUDE IM NOT FUCKING HIGH
TG: When you make a new connection and break your artifact the game transports you into the medium
TG: But it kills you if you're too slow
TG: This game fucking ends the world man
TG: But at the same time it's your only hope of survival
TG: Fuck I seriously need to go
TG: Talk to Cass dude she can explain better
TG: And she's gonna need you soon
TG: Good luck!

-turbulentGamer is no longer hassling anomalousThespian-

"What the fuck is wrong with everyone?" I murmured to myself, closing out of my conversation with Theo. I checked to see if Cass was on, which she was. I remembered…she had been with me at school before I'd lost consciousness. She, at least, could give me some answers…

-anomalousThespian began hassling certifiedGoddess at 15:55-

AT: cass, you there?
CG: You're awake!
CG: How are you feeling?
AT: confused as fuck, but otherwise okay.
AT: everyone is going crazy
AT: doctor didn't tell me how i ended up here, and theo's going apeshit over that skaianet game
AT: keeps telling me that it's going to kill me if i don't play it
CG: Well, he's right.
AT: oh god, not you too…
CG: Alright, look... You're sure you're okay? I've been worried sick.
AT: yeah, Cass, i'm fine. what the hell happened?
CG: You're probably not going to believe me at first.
AT: try me.
CG: When you left to get your keys, the school…
CG: ehm…
CG: It was a meteor. It…it hit the school, completely leveled the place. I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen it happen with my own eyes.
CG: This big rock comes streaking down through the clouds, trailing fire like a comet.
CG: And it slams down into the school… You were thrown all the way down to Route 113, down past the lower lot.
CG: You landed on the grass, luckily, which is probably why you weren't turned into a human maraca.
AT: HAHA the high school got hit by a fucking meteor? are you fucking kidding me?
CG: I wish I was.
AT: wait…
AT: wait, it was the middle of the school day when that thing hit.
AT: oh, shit…
AT: shit
AT: did…did anyone else survive?
CG: I don't know. It was raining, and we were the only ones outside at the time… I just don't know.
CG: I mean, our friends are fine. Theo wasn't in school and Anna left during fourth period…
AT: ...
AT: cass, she knew.
CG: Huh?
AT: anna. she fucking knew.
AT: during fourth lunch, she comes up to me and tells me to
AT: well, she tells me that if i didn't leave before 6th period, i would be a dead man.
CG: …is that why you wanted me to cut school with you?
AT: no, that didn't even cross my mind, actually. asking you to cut was pretty spontaneous.
AT: i'm just realizing it now with hindsight. but i'm sure that she knew about this.
CG: Now that you mention it, she did talk to me before the day started and tried to convince me to cut school with her.
CG: I didn't want to, so maybe that's why she went to you.
CG: I guess she somehow knew that you'd try and get me to come.
AT: about that, yeah…
AT: i mean, i don't mean to change the subject, or anything, but...
AT: just... well, as first dates go, this one kind of sucked.
AT: sorry.
CG: Not necessarily.
CG: Kind of hard for it to suck if it never even started.
AT: so, um…
AT: look, i know it's not the best time to ask, with the school getting blown up and everything, but…
AT: well, would you mind trying again?
AT: i mean, if i don't ask now, i probably never will.
CG: Of course I wouldn't mind trying again.
CG: But the world is kind of…well…ending.
CG: I don't really think we'll get another chance anytime soon.
CG: Look, I'm working on getting Tami into the game, right now, but I'm going to need you soon.
CG: Just get back home. Do whatever it takes.
CG: Break out if you need to.
CG: Just know that Theo was not lying. These meteors…
CG: The one that hit the school, the one that destroyed Theo's neighborhood this morning…
AT: wait, back up a sec.
AT: what's this about Theo's neighborhood?
CG: His neighborhood got hit by a meteor late last night, just like the school. Nothing left but a giant crater, now.
CG: God knows how many died in that blast…
AT: that's impossible.
AT: i just finished speaking with theo a couple minutes ago. he's fine.
CG: He's fine because his house was transported into the game session before the meteor impacted.
CG: But that's not all.
CG: Before the meteor hit his neighborhood, Theo installed the Sburb beta and connected with Gwen.
CG: Gwen then established a connection with Gino. And not long after Gino got her into the session, another meteor hit the ground where her house had been.
CG: Get the picture? Playing the game marks you, somehow… And the only way to survive is to keep playing.
AT: what do you mean 'into the session'? you keep saying that; what do you mean?
CG: DAMN
CG: Sorry, I just smashed one of Tami's guitars… Let me just toss that out the window… Okay, I'm back. Where was I?
AT: are you over at Tami's?
CG: No, I'm at home.
AT: but…how did you smash one of Tami's guitars if you're at home?
CG: I can't really explain that until you see for yourself.
CG: Just listen to me.
CG: Theo tells me the meteors are coming from the game, somehow. Some of them target the individual players, while others simply fall in random places…like the school.
CG: Theo, Gwen, and Gino have already been targeted, but they managed to get into the game session before their houses were hit.
CG: I'm working on getting Tami in right now, but I'm going to need you to get me in.
AT: but i'm kinda stuck, right now. couldn't Cruz or Anna get you in?
CG: No. You have less time than they do—if you aren't next on the chain, you'll run out of time.
CG: Alright, I have to go.
CG: Tami needs to talk to me, and she's almost out of time.
CG: Get home as fast as you can and install the game the moment you do.
CG: Look, just call me when you get back home, alright?
AT: Okay…
CG: Good luck!

-certifiedGoddess is no longer hassling anomalousThespian-

Okay, what the fuck.

I've only been unconscious for what, four hours? Five hours? And now everyone was flipping out about this game. I know Cass was not the embellishing type, but I honestly had a hard time believing what she was saying about this game.

But then…but then I did remember, late last night, being woken up by a giant explosion in the near distance… Could that have been a meteor striking Theo's neighborhood? I'm sure it would have been all over the news, but I didn't watch the news in the morning. I didn't drive past Theo's community on my way to school, either…so I guess, theoretically, it could be possible that a meteor had struck the place without my knowing.

People must have been talking about it in school, but I spent most of that day in a haze. I didn't talk to anyone, didn't join any conversations. I just listened to music and slept, really—no, that's not how I am every day, but it was a Monday, and I'd just spent the entire weekend smoking.

Suddenly, I heard thunderous explosion coming from outside. It wasn't a thunderclap—I'd been listening to thunder this whole time, and there was an obvious difference. I climbed up out of bed and trudged over to the window, bringing my IV drip with me. I pulled up the blinds…and nearly fainted at what I saw.

Columns of smoke were rising into the sky.

Streaks of fire were raining down from the storm clouds. Meteors, falling to the earth. Dozens of them… I couldn't hear their impacts over the thunderstorm—the explosion must have been a meteor that had fallen pretty damn close.

"My God… It's the fuckin' end of the world…" I whispered, placing my hand against the glass, watching more and more of the meteors fall from the clouds to the earth. How widespread was this thing? Were these meteors just hitting this area, or was it statewide? Nationwide? Global?

Theo had mentioned something about Sburb ending the world, and then Cass mentioned that the meteors came from the game…and now I was watching my little corner of Pennsylvania get destroyed under a hail of comets. This was like something straight out of a bad acid trip…

I turned away from the window. I don't know about you, but the possibility of the world ending was a bit too much to wrap my mind around, at the moment… I mean, who hasn't thought about the world ending these days? But the possibility of having it actually happen…

No. These were thoughts I couldn't afford to have right now.

All I knew at the moment was that this skaianet game was apparently calling down a firestorm of meteors on our heads, and that this game represented a chance to survive everything. That was all I could think about, right now. That, and how I was going to get home…

As if the universe was listening in to my thoughts, my iphone chose that moment to vibrate. I had a new text.

I grabbed my phone and went to my inbox, opening the new text message. It was from my Sis.

Bro. Front entrance. Now.

Well, that settled it. I plucked out the IV drip and tore the monitor pad-thingies from my chest, heading for the door.

If my Sis wanted me out of here, then I was damn well going to leave.