Chapter 1
That damn voice. If only it had chosen someone else. If I could change anything, it would be this. I mean, really, "Do not worry, young one." What a lode of crap. "This is new, but you will soon feel the power in store for you." Yeah, me, the puny human. "You will fight, or you will die, it matters not." Well. Damn. "For upon the land your old people have fought, your new people will be felt." What is this? I'm just me... "You will be there to transform something old, into something new." Does this mean I have purpose?
I was lost in a void of nothingness. There was me, and that was it. I had no real feeling, no senses. Just where am I? Then I feel it. True darkness closes in. I strain against it, but it is for naught.
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 to 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 are strong, and the hit my like a fist to the gut, from every direction. I am alone. I have never felt this alone before. I yearned for… for something… I screamed.
"How am I not dead?" I have stood upon my mountain of sand, watching the nothingness that is life here. There is no water, there is no food. I have not eaten. Several days and nights have passed as I stand here. I see this world, begging for my purpose. I am as still as a statue, immobile as a mountain. Then I feel something. I feel powerful. I get down, not even realizing my own actions, and kiss the sand at my feet. Something passes my lips. A purple mist flows down, and grabs the ground. It smells like blood, and yet, I know there is nothing wrong. Is the blood around a baby after birth a terrible thing? Is the arm cut off to safe a life bad?
Where this mist touches, it solidifies. I have created a new substance. "How did I do this?" I stare at it. It almost recedes into the sand, but I grabbed it, and let go immediately. The stuff was like a strong jelly, and it felt a little gross. I grabbed it again to stop it from falling into the sand, and its hold on reality grew stronger. Indeed, after a few more moments I let go, and the substance grabbed the sand, staying there by its own power. I sit down and lean a lot closer. It was a dark purple, and seemed grow. Slowly, but steadily, there is more substance there then there was before. It was like watching a cloud move across the sky. A cloud moves so slowly that it is almost unknowable, but, if you watched closely, any cloud can be seen moving across the sky. It was almost like this thing, was creeping across the grounds. I then smiled, knowing all was right in the world. I then promptly felt the drain on my body. I pitched face first into this substance, and promptly fell unconscious.
Upon my awakening, I notice I was no longer lying on sand. "Could it be all a bad dream?" But no, as I get up, I find myself lying on my new substance. It covered the crest of the dune I was on! It had an unusual effect on the environment, as the dune was no longer blowing as much sand around. The stuff, which I decided to call creep for its appearance of creeping across the ground, was getting between the winds and the sand, making a new ground. I'm shocked that it didn't, as the creep must still be pretty thin, as it is newborn, and the winds really are strong. I reach down to test my theory and try to grab it, and end up pulling up a lot of the stuff in a ball. There was sand underneath, but this creep was starting to really thicken up, and not be flimsy as when I first made it.
Then it really hit me. "I made this?" "How could I?" "What is this really?" I start to panic, and my body shutdowns. I put myself down on the creep, and go immobile. In my mind, I search my life, and see it flash before my eyes. I was a waste, with nothing in my future but a simple human life, no greater or worse than those around me. I had my faults, but I wasn't all bad. I was mostly a loner, out on my own, bound to probably stay alone, if only in my own thoughts. Then, I come upon the memory of the voice, and I feel an urging. I get up, walk to the center of the dune. There, in the center of the creep, I got on my knees, and put both hand on the ground, hanged my head, closed my eyes, and let my energy flow. After this, I almost passed out again, but I felt stronger than before, and did not. In between my hands, on the creep, some sort of mucus puddled up, and formed a very, very tiny cocoon. "What the hell is that?!" It appeared to beat like a heart, but it was no bigger then the tip of my finger! "What am I suppose to do now?" I said, hoping another urge would come to me. Nothing came to me, so I guess my random guidance was giving out.
A/N: For more information on Duke's Dune, it is a star dune. A Star dune is a dune that the winds of the desert come together at this area, building up sands around a central location, with "arms" flowing out and curving to a central location. They can be quite high, with he biggest recorded being an average of 650 ft. For the purpose of this story, Duke's Dune is 800 ft. or 244 meters. It is just bigger than the Singer Building in New York, for reference.