Prologue

A Dreamer’s Awakening

Author’s Note: This is an incomplete serial post, planned for a trilogy. This is Book One. Hope you enjoy!

It started innocently enough, at first.

As his sight was restored and stabilized, he realized he could see what appeared to be a HUD of sorts hovering in front of him. There was a prompt floating in the center, awaiting his response: Connect? with two choices, Confirm and Cancel. No other information was offered.

For a moment, he deliberated, then he reached out to press on the button Confirm. At first, nothing happened. Then a few moments later, a feminine voice spoke, Confirmed. Accessing… and the HUD faded away. Before him, a figure walked into focus from a distance, over-shadowed by a light that didn’t come from anywhere as far as he could tell.

Moments later, it became clear that it was a woman, the figure resolving into a shadowy female form with all the right curves and apparently, or so it seemed, naked to him. But he could not see who it was that approached him, her identity hidden by that self-same light. Once she stood before him, she reached out to touch his chin and gently turned his head to the left where his computer resided. Three monitors arrayed on a simple but solid desk, the computer hidden out of sight met his eyes. It turned out that he was sitting at his desk; computer forgotten in the moment in his home.

"You’ll need to authenticate to proceed. Please log in."

He didn’t question the logic of the request and turned his body to face the monitors, which was showing his name and a password field on the screen before him, background showing a starry field and a world hanging, off-centered. It hung a few inches away from his stylized avatar above his name. The landmass of this planet wasn’t based on Earth, but it was intimately familiar to him. Quickly, he typed his password and pressed enter. After a moment, that same voice he’d heard moments earlier spoke again. Access granted. Connecting… His computer now unlocked, quickly flicked through several screens, too fast for him to follow, except for some details. A story that he’d worked on in his part time being one of those details he’d caught.

Identity confirmed. He’s the one. Suddenly, his HUD faded away and the only reaction he had time for was a quick but searing kiss from the shaded female, with a whisper in his ears seconds after the kiss, along with a growling nibble of his earlobe, "I’ll see you, soon…" which left him with a searing ache of heat and loss as his sight broke up, leaving him with more questions than answers.

Then he woke up, for real this time. Before him was the ceiling of his bedroom; a drab gray ceiling that tended to induce a certain feeling that could be best described as meh, with dark forest green walls, a couple displays of art to break up the tedium. Glancing about, he saw that his bedroom was still the same as it ever was, with the computer and monitors sitting to his right at a desk that was built for maximum ergonomic comfort, chair sitting out of its place. It was if he’d snuck out of his chair and into his bed to wake up to this.

"What?" A few moments later, his dog bounded onto the bed to greet him and the dream was forgotten as his dog demanded love. But somewhere in the back of his mind, there was a vague sense of anticipation, that things would change, soon.

NEXT: Chapter One


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