3/8/2018

I trudged wearily through the room, fatigue pulling on me like an iron weight strapped to my limbs. I'd barely slept the night before, the fear of what dreams may fill my head keeping me awake. I'd never been particularly fond of sleep anyway, but admittedly, it was rather difficult to function on nothing more than a few measly hours of laying in the dark, completely conscious of the world around me.

I filled a cup with water and threw it in the microwave, then fell heavily into a chair. I put my arms on the table and buried my face in them—not that there was much light to block out anyway, seeing as the sun hadn't even risen yet. I sucked in a deep breath and let it back out slowly, trying to relax. For a brief moment in the night, I'd begun to drift towards slumber, when a vision of a massive, hulking beast with flaming eyes startled me back awake. It had seemed like something one would expect to fight in a video game, but in that moment, that flash of dream hitting my drained mind, it hadn't felt like a dream at all.

It felt like a memory.

How could it be a memory? Mine wasn't great, I knew, but I felt confident that I wouldn't just forget something like that...thing, that I saw. It stood over fifty feet tall, and its roar shook the ground under me. My mind was full of cruel tricks of which I was often the victim, but this? This was absurd. It was as though I had stared into the eyes of a demon king.

I winced suddenly; it felt like a frying pan smacked into my forehead. I rubbed my temples with a groan—but then the vision was back. I could see it again, as clearly as I had in my dream. The monster stood before me, screaming a mighty roar, wind rushing against me like a hurricane. And yet I stood my ground with naught but a wooden staff in one hand. It was as if I was watching from someone else's eyes. The body I was inside fell into a ready stance, stomped a bare foot on the ground, and a boulder lifted from the earth before me. I swung my staff, and with a violet flash, it flew and crashed into the creature. Those enormous eyes of flame looked down at me, and I felt a cold grip wrap around my heart.

I jerked my head up, gasping for breath. The microwave was beeping.