1:1:3 Dreaming (Part 1)

Silence. For a moment, there was only darkness but then, slowly, light. They could see but they couldn’t quite focus. Not too far away, they could hear something. Something that turned their stomach. Something they knew they’d heard before and would again but something they couldn’t quite put their finger on; it was less about the thing and more about the feeling. They pegged their nose and blew. A rush of pressure jetted to their ears causing them to ring. After hearing two, short pops, they released their grip and with it, the sounds became clearer and easier to recognise. The sudden increase in volume was not unfamiliar but this time, it pained them. They now truly recognised the sounds and they now understood why they had felt the way that they had. Beyond the walls of the hall they found themselves in, the unmistakable sounds of conflict rose. Waves of second hand pain washed over them as they stood silently, listening. They had been so rapt by the sound that they had neglected their immediate surroundings. It wasn’t the wide, open, natural environment they were used to waking up in without any context as to where they were or what they were doing there but, as with the cave, it was similarly large and in the distance, an amber glow grew. They made a move closer to the nearest wall but as they did, they realised they had gained weight. Looking down as they did it, Lore raised their foot and took a step. Wherever they were, the gravity was ever so slightly heavier than that of Earth. They were also weighed down slightly by the new armour plates that had been strapped over their shins. The wall was smooth. Due to their limited experience with texture, they had no frame of reference but it was the smoothest thing they had ever felt. That smoothness quickly faded. As did the complete nature of the tunnel they were in. They ventured toward the light and the tunnel grew increasingly fractured, the sombre symphony from whatever waited for them outside of the tunnel only became clearer. Woven between the screaming and the weapons fire, unintelligible whispers began to scratch at their ears. Still, they continued. The further they travelled, the more damaged the hallway became and the more Lore realised the light they were approaching was some kind of sunlight. Their suspicions were confirmed when the ceiling above them lay at their feet. Looking up, a breath taking sight. Space. Endless, empty space. A beautiful blue nebula swam overhead, mingling with the amber glow of the sun. They took it in for just a moment, their eyes not properly adjusted to the light but still in awe. Yet, despite not getting a clear look, something seemed off. The tunnel grew as they neared the exit. What had once been a room, was now more open plan. Exposed to the elements, the outside had begun to move in. Baby waves of red sand lapped and pooled at the feet of the walls, while flames of brilliant blue and green crept through the cracks in the ceiling. They were nearly out. The ground began to shake; Lore realised that the whole time they had been wherever they were, the ground was shifting but now, it was becoming noticeable. The blue tinged inner hull creaked as the hallway shook and settled. The sounds of the fighting had been dying down but for a moment, Lore thought they had stopped. In that moment, and just for that moment, the whispers became tangible, they became understandable.

“Look, no matter how many times we check, the results aren’t going to change. There’s next to nothing there. This is something new.”

There was a roar. A cry of passion and then, quietly at first, the fighting continued. The mouth of the hallway wasn’t too far ahead. Then it hit them; it was an impure, fleeting heat which was slowly cooling to the hallway’s temperature. There was a certain vile humidity to it. Scattered at the maw, the only visual signs of life; at least they were. Crimson stained, grey polymer armour surfed on the wash, their deceased wearers drowning in the native red sand. Their morbid curiosity got the better of them as they knelt by one of the bodies not claimed by the sand. Slowly, they lifted the helmet from the corpse; they closed their eyes and waited with baited breath as they set the helmet down. Opening their eyes left them with more questions than answers as before them, the same helmeted corpse lay. They tried again but no matter the speed or however many times they tried to unmask the body, it wouldn’t reveal its secrets. Lore rose from the floor and dusted themselves off and gave the body an acknowledging nod before wading through the piles of duplicated helmets they had accidentally created to complete their journey.  Before they left, they thought it prudent to check themselves. They knew whatever was going on outside, it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. Apart from the shinpads, not much had changed. They were wearing the same outfit, albeit a slightly sandier and less blood stained version of it, and at first glance, nothing else had changed. Then they took a closer look at their hands. A simple black band with a blue stripe running along the equator sat around their middle finger. They twisted the ring off and held it in their hand. It seemed significantly heavier now and holding it in the way that they were, stirred unknown feelings within them. They quickly replaced it; the ring fit perfectly and with it back where it belonged, they felt a surge of warmth in the cold. They patted down their pockets and apart from the expected sand, buried at the bottom, a short silver tube with a spring loaded pin at one end. Curiosity once again got the better of them as they moved the pin to one side and threw the cylinder; to their surprise, rather than an explosion, a meter long metal pole extended from the sand where it had landed. They retrieved the staff and gave it a brief spin. Just holding it, they knew that they would most likely be safe from the inferred horrors of the outside world.

It took a moment for their foggy eyes to adjust to the extreme change in light level but as they did, time seemed to slow. Lore stood drinking in their surroundings. The scorched sands at their feet still burning with copper green fires surrounding them. Cratered hills and pock marked plains smoking and stained under the twin lights of the nebula, which they now realised surrounded wherever they were, and the star which, now they looked at it, didn’t really look like a star. Pressing towards the nearest hill, hoping for some context, Lore turned and saw the tunnel for what it truly was. Behind them lay a behemoth of metal, a hulking visage; the shipwreck before them must have been over a kilometre long and about half as wide. The sections not buried underground were of the deepest black and angular, built like an ancient stealth bomber but contrasting the darkness was a soaring golden fin. The wound that had slain this titan was abundantly clear. Starting relatively close to their exit and ending around two hundred metres from the nearest edge to Lore, began a crevice that tore straight through the ship, mating the interior with the exterior

Beyond the ship, an endless expanse of sand. Despite this dream quickly becoming a nightmare, they continued, compelled to move on. They hadn’t noticed it at first but as they travelled it became a niggling absence; the desert they had found themselves in, despite being assumedly the middle of the day, was frozen cold. They stared off into the space above them, to their north and south, neighbouring galaxies were visible. Their stargazing was cut short by a near miss with the first of twenty six monoliths. Standing at seven foot, they towered over Lore’s barely five foot two frame. At their centre a confluence of people. One by one, in a blink of white light, they vanished. Lore’s walk became a canter which then became a sprint as they traversed the shifting sands to get a better idea of what was going on. The continued shaking didn’t make things easier. By the time they approached the group, they were no longer looking at a group. Where fifty two people had once stood, now only two remained. They were talking but Lore couldn’t hear a word. The whispering masked everything. Just as Lore reached the pair but before they could see who they were, a blinding white light awoke them.