The first Surge of Earth
by Prince and Krauxis



Tristan mumbled to himself as he woke up from his odd dream. He wasn't used to dreaming, at least not anymore. His medication normally dulled his dreams or made them so light he forgot them. Regardless, he was far from actually attempting to figure out what it meant. Tristan rolled around his oversized futon restlessly, resistant to the idea of getting out of his bed even if he was awake. He flopped around on pillows, which he had an abundance of, and stretched out on his bed as he slowly came to. It hadn't always been like this; so difficult just to wake up. It was yet another side-effect of his medication, and something he had just grown to deal with.

It was several minutes before he was able to get out of bed and be coherent. When school was in sessionl, he had to wake up nearly an hour before the bus rolled around to make up for the time he lost getting out of the bed, but since it was summer and he'd graduated, he had no real sense of urgency. Even better, it was the summer before his first year of college. This was meant to be the best time of his life, so why would he care? As with almost any morning, his first trip was to the restroom to relieve himself. It was almost autonomous. Not exactly a complex task, but definitely a necessary one. If anything, it's what really ushered in his morning. Or, splashed in.

Tristan returned to his room and slid his laptop out from underneath his bed. That was its resting place during the night. As it powered on and went through the Windows loading screen, he could only sit there reflecting on his dream. It was clear as day, something even more odd than him dreaming itself. CosmoNET, PhyKnight, all sounding like some run-of-the-mill game he played, and he did in fact run a Demo Lock on WoW, so he was easily able to make the comparisons. He had never heard of this game, and he kept up with most gaming news. It was also a dream. Was he dreaming of games? That was an oddly specific dream about a game he had no idea about.

Neither did Google. The CosmoNET and PhyKnight literaly meant nothing to anyone in any gaming circle. Tristan was left pondering the possibilities. Champion of Earth? The fuck was that supposed to mean? Did Earth need a champion? And, what was this nonsense about it not being a game when it obviously was. Although... as he went through the arenas of WoW, it seemed hollow. Something had sparked in him. A primal curiosity that reminded him of the mundane, repetitive nature of WoW that made it an on-and-off game for him where he mostly just explored new content with a single character he had for years. He was so bothered by the idea of the CosmoNET, in fact, that he could only finish a single battleground before logging off to do something. He flipped on his television to no real avail and scrolled through site after site, spending his morning searching himself for answers and the internet for a distraction.

Maria Sable awoke from her sleep in a truer sense of the word than had been applicable in over a year. On a regular day, she would still be half asleep by the time she had completed the hour's walk to school. But today was different. Far different. It was a feeling so foreign she simply sat in bed for five silent minutes taking it in. I can do anything. she thought. I can be who I want to be. The feeling lasted for exactly one and a half minutes longer, and then faded back into obscurity, the usual fog clouding her mind like a reminder that she was still in her own body, living her own usual life.

PhyKnight, the character had called himself in the dream. He had promised... nothing, really, except great potential. He had explained a lot of things that Maria didn't really understand, and she wasn't about to try to understand this early in the morning. But he said that she was chosen. For some sort of... game? Maria played a lot of games, simply because it was an easy way to pass the time, but this seemed more real to her. It reminded her a bit of some sort of tournament anime. "Many were chosen, only one would survive," or something like that.

Slouching over to the shower, she rained cold water down on herself for as long as she could take it, which dispelled a bit of the fog around her brain, and toweled herself off lightly, slouching down to the fridge to make breakfast. It was a simple affair, dry cereal and a glass of water. Breakfast took her twelve minutes, and after eating, she was already lost for meaningful things to do. Another boring morning, as usual. Perhaps she was just a boring person.

...Nah, couldn't be, Maria mused sarcastically.

Her thoughts didn't dwell on the subject for long. Instead, she powered up her computer and surfed the internet idly for the next few hours. She didn't really have a problem sleeping the day away, but she got the impression that wasn't quite what PhyKnight meant when he said that he would visit her in her next dream. The assumption was completely unfounded, just a gut instinct, but whether she went back to sleep, or else wasted time online, Maria felt it was all the same. Time ticking down on the clock, waiting for sleep. She liked sleep. But like going to bed on Christmas Eve, she knew it was going to be troublesome trying to get back to sleep if she kept looking forward to PhyKnight's next appearance.

Cat videos would put it out of her head.

As time went on for Tristan, he found no more results than in his initial search. It seemed so real. It seemed like a commercial more than it did a dream. It was as if he had been advertised something that he couldn't resist. The idea astounded him, in all honesty. As he reflected back, he considered more and more what the PhyKnight said and really only remembered that message; how the dream started completely eluded him. It perplexed him, too. His memory of this event was so clear it reminded him of times before his seizures, and that only made him more intrigued.

He could remember PhyKnight calling himself a Ley Master. Something about a Ley Network. And, other life-bearing worlds? That sounded like it went off-track from normal games, but at the same time it made sense. He had no idea what a Ley Master or Ley itself really was and Google yet again provided no solid answers. For a moment, Tristan was somewhat frustrated that anyone would introduce themselves as something that no one understood; what the fuck was the point?

As Phyknight went on, his speech began to sound like a game. Being chosen, trained in combat and magic. Those are lines right out of some video games, plot-based concepts that Tristan was all too familiar with and ones that he refused to just ignore. They had to mean something. They had to. They would mean even more if things were 'real', like PhyKnight said, yet those two things contradicted each other entirely. Tristan was a staunch realist that rejected the metaphysical, such as religion, but he was told he had a soul, and now he actually pondered if he did.

That was the effect PhyKnight had on Tristan. For hours, Tristan searched and searched and asked his developer friends questions, tried to get into the circles of indie gamers or vintage gamers to see if they knew anything. He spent his entire morning and part of the noontime coming up with nothing but more answers. For the first time ever, Tristan was even asking if he had a soul, which beforehand was a completely silly and utterly rejected notion. Maybe it was, as PhyKnight said, all a rouse to make a more familiar world for him, but if that was true, then what was this nonsense about a soul and magic?

Eventually, it stopped mattering, at least as much. Tristan had been texted by his buddies and they intended on picking him up to spend the evening getting high and finding bitches. It was an oddity, too. Not too long beforehand, Tristan was fighting with them in school about the second girl he ever dated and one that one of his best friends crushed on, all without ever being told. It was just a talent of Tristan's, and one that tore apart his group of friends for a while. Yet, all was good now. It wasn't as if it never happened, but it did happen and the group bounced back for their last few months together over the summer. Tristan was even taken and in a relationship at this point, too, so it made the group even more docile... no one had to compete him. Not like anyone could.

"Heh. What are you doing, cat? Cat you cannot fit inside that box, you are too fat for that box. Oh, cat."

Four hours had passed.

The sun had crested through the sky outside, and had begun its descent back to the horizon, the birds outside were flying back to their nests, and Maria Sable had visited the bathroom twice. It was a day off of school, which meant that she was on a quest to leave her room as few times as possible. It was a war fought valiantly against both her stomach and bladder, and so far, it was a success. But she couldn't help but feel like there was something she was forgetting. Must not have been that important, if she forgot it that easily.

As usual, she skipped dinner with her family in favour of sitting in her room staring at a wall and mashing f5 on her keyboard, a habit that never bore any real fruit. Maria took a moment to marvel at the state of her life as her stomach complained loudly. What had gotten her to this place? What could get her out? If only there was some chance that she was given that could dramatically alter her situation... Oh yeah. That must be it. The dream from before. How could she forget? That's a whoops.

With a yawn, she wondered idly if it was time for bed yet. 1745. Not even close.



The message window popped up from her friend Kat. Katerin was the name of her best friend (online of course,) and noted as the only person who ever tried to start a conversation with her.



1:23 AM? Is that what the clock read? Tristan wasn't for sure. All Tristan knew was that a guys-night-out with his friends was right about to come to a crash. Most of the night was a blur and for all Tristan knew, the clock read 4:23AM. His eyes were too dry and blurry to be reliable at the moment, especially with his contacts. Tristian dodged out of the last toke in favor of passing out in one of the actual beds. The fate for some of his buds might just be a floor palette, but it wasn't something any of them were unusued to.

Honestly, somewhere in the night, Tristian forgot about PhyKnight. The wonders and curio of his morning were completely doused in his innebriation, but just as before, his dream became clear. As soon as Tristan entered his deep sleep, he found himself sober and standing in a puddle of inky blackness. In the same azure armor, standing regal and without a darkened huge in the blackness of this odd abyss stood the figure that once before proclaimed himself as PhyKnight.



Tristan contemplated this for a moment. He had no idea what he was jumping into and no research he did gave him an answer about PhyKnight or the CosmoNET or what kind of game might constitute being met in dreams. The ultimate logic Tristan used was that he hardly remembered any of his night and that itself was probably a larger liability than this night would be. "I will go with you," Tristan answered after a brief pause.

Darkness. Darkness is what surrounded Tristan when PhyKnight vanished, and he did so with even less than a flicker. Darkness is what Tristan fell to and was consumed. The entire event was rought with intense pain, as if his body was being torn apart with no seams to make it easy. The reality was his soul itself was being torn apart, his spark of life itself was being folded time after time and condensed so finely that it could be transported with ease, and after a while, Tristan lost consciousness in the pain.

"He is the first," said a familiar voice. It was PhyKnight, this time without his armor and in a blue and gold shawl. Tristan had little time to make out anything else as he could feel his body slowly come to, overwhelmed with energy. At first, it felt like a nicotine rush, but it quickly went from one cigarette to a full pack to far more of a rush than he could even explain. Although he had no way of realizing it, his entire body and being was put back together in a long, glass tank; one that he just burst out of.

The 'upload' to the CosmoNET was successful; Tristan and his soul were now part of this whole new world, but this world was full of energy that he nor his soul were used to. As he began absorbing the energy within the air, he became overflowng with it. This was the fate of all new users, most commonly called the Surge. Tristan's Surge sent him into a full Omega form, making his surge more severe than most regular ones. Regardless, it wasn't one they were unprepared for.

When Tristan broke out of his tank in a fit of rage, sporting ferocious strength and feeding off of the energy around him at an increasing rate, PhyKnight simply made a gesture downward with his right hand. Materializing instantly and slamming down into the ground even faster, four decorative swords pinned down Tristan, whom at this point was entirely enveloped by a black hue and was gnarling like a beast. It took little time for these swords to drain off the excess energy and as the black hue faded from Tristan, the swords did as well.

Tristan stood on his hands and knees, broken out in sweat, feeling all of these new feelings and barely remembering what just happened. What he felt most of all was something different. He saw so much more clearly. He felt better than he had in years. His body felt stronger, even if it didn't really seem so. As he stood up, feeling that he was in a relatively heavy trenchcoat of black leather - which was fitting granted his affinity for black leather - he realized that even his clothing had changed to reflect his new outlook.



"The next one is coming," was the last thing he heard before his attention was drawn to the tank just across from him.



Katerin sighed. Sable fell asleep at her computer desk sometimes, but this was twice this month. "What the heck is that girl doing to herself that she can't even go to bed?"

With a second sigh, she shut her laptop and flopped onto her bed. "Hope she hasn't gotten into anything serious. That girl never tells me a damned thing."

At exactly 2:35 in the morning, Maria Sable had passed out, slumped over her keyboard which had long since given up on trying to register inputs. As it beeped away in the darkness to no one, she fell into a deep sleep...



She blinked. There stood the figure from her dream before, PhyKnight. He seemed incredibly stoic, and compared to him, she probably seemed like nothing more than a lump of tired flesh, blinking in a daze.



Oh, right, she was supposed to answer. "...Yeah. I'll do it. That thing you wanted. I'll do whatever it is that I'm needed to do."

Without another word, she was consumed by what seemed like simple empty space, released of her senses and filled instead with a searing, tearing pain from every direction. Her thoughts sparked violently to life, filled with countless shouts of things that she wanted to say, but then even that was gone, and she said nothing. She wasn't sure whether she had fallen unconscious or if perhaps her consciousness was simply not there at all.

The CosmoNET, she thought to herself, when next she could think. This must be what it is. She opened what must have been her eyes, but saw nothing but blackness. It was a strange sensation, like she was supposed to be able to sense something, some world around her, but instead there was only numb emptiness. Had the... transfer, or whatever... not gone correctly? She tried moving her body, and it seemed like something responded, but she couldn't say for sure.

Her sight was the first thing to return to her. It came slowly, like getting attuned to a new level of light after standing in a dark room, but she could make out a few things through all the blurry fog. She was... on a floor of some kind. There were people standing around her, it looks like they had been talking until just recently. Had she done something to make them worried about her...? Had she done something startling? How strange.



Still no words came, but it was curious to her that she could hear suddenly. She nodded her head silently, and whoever had spoken seemed relieved. As he spoke again, she recognized the voice. It was PhyKnight, though she did not recognize him to look at him.

"It seems she lost all of her senses in the transfer, but is getting them back now. Does this have something to do with her ability?" Nobody said anything after that, but Maria herself seemed to gain the strength to stand and look around. There was a broken glass tank behind her, and her body was cut up as though she had landed on the shards, though she did not feel any pain like that.

"You should consider yourself fortunate. Most people are filled with energy when they enter this world, and need to be restrained. It seems as though your own body did my work for me." PhyKnight seemed amused rather than concerned.

I guess not being able to see, hear, speak or feel is just part of the plan, then...? Or maybe just for me. It was all alien to her.

"When you were able to move again, you jerked suddenly and broke the tank you were transported in," the knight gestured toward all the broken glass. "However, after breaking free with your new power, you immediately fell to the floor, limp. It is probably very important that you become aware of your new strength as soon as possible. But we must wait on the others first. Until that time, you are, unfortunately, on your own."

Maria nodded. She tried to speak, but still found herself unable. Like a computer whose systems were being powered on one at a time, a variety of new sensations coursed through her body, as well as old ones that were returning. It was strange and foreign, and she had no idea what to think of it. But if there were to be others, she would wait.

PhyKnight would explain everything, Maria thought. He just had to.

Part One, to be continued...

Damien watched from behind half-closed eyelids as the world outside his window stirred from its rest. The sun had yet to rise high enough to shine light directly into his room - the warmth on his face was what normally woke him up each morning. However, there wasn’t anything normal about the dream from last night, and he’d been awake ever since it ended.

He rolled away from the window and buried his face in his pillows.

‘What the hell was that dream, anyway?’ Damien thought as he took a mental inventory of what he could remember. He had never been adept at recalling his dreams, yet the details of this one stood out with unusual clarity. ‘CosmoNET. PhyKnight. A competition to become Champion of the Earth… and an insistence that it’s all “real.”’ He’d never had a dream like it before - as far as he was aware - and he wanted to dismiss it as just an odd dream, one that he’d remember for a few days before he forgot it altogether. He swung his feet over the side of his bed and sat there a moment, pushing away thoughts of the dream in favor of thoughts of a shower and breakfast.

As he did every morning, Damien jumped in the shower before the water was warm, letting the frigid water shock his body completely awake. As the water heated up and he went about his normal routine, his mind wandered back to the dream, and CosmoNet. That peculiar knight, almost tangible as he described the CosmoNET, was unlike anything Damien had experienced before. He wondered briefly what would happen if he jumped back into bed and returned to sleep. ‘Would PhyKnight return so soon? He did say he’d visit me again, in my next dream.’ The thought sent a shiver up Damien’s back, causing his arms to erupt with goosebumps. He realized he wasn’t ready to give an answer, not yet. He stood still for a few heartbeats, breathing slowly, the shower water pouring down onto his head as his thoughts raced. Then, he knuckled his forehead roughly with a fist, berating himself for thinking seriously about a dream. ‘Why is this bothering me so much? It was just a stupid dream.’ He shut the water off, stepped out, and resolved not to give himself another opportunity to think about the dream for the rest of the day.

---

After a quick breakfast, Damien grabbed his duffel bag and took off for the ice rink, intent on occupying himself with hockey drills and practice until he collapsed on the ice from exhaustion. His parents commuted to the Naval Shipyard together each morning, meaning he had free access to his father’s truck, most of the time at least. The drive was uneventful, and parking plentiful. The club was in it’s off-season, meaning the rink wasn't busy in the morning - he’d have plenty of room to run some of the more intense drills, which suited him just fine.

Damien saw there were a few people on the ice as he exited the locker room, his skates in one hand and his bag in the other. He immediately recognized two of his teammates, working on passing drills on the far side of the rink, and he started towards towards them. Having a few friends to practice with would not only be enjoyable, but they’d help keep his mind from straying to thoughts of the dream.

---

The moon hung above the trees in his yard as Damien sat on the stairs of his front porch, loosely holding a beer in one hand, his elbows propped up on the step behind him. His muscles stretched and ached with his movements, the lingering aftermath of his earlier hours of strenuous activity. He had run himself ragged on the ice, constantly moving from one exercise to the next, rarely stopping for water or to catch his breath. Single-minded in his approach, he hadn’t had the time or the energy to ponder the dream. The rest of the day was spent with his teammates and was mostly uneventful, up until the early evening when they met up with a few other friends for a small campfire gathering. Overall, it was a pleasant, albeit uneventful, day.

Now, slightly buzzed and bored, Damien’s mind began to wander once more. He mulled over PhyKnight’s message again, wondering at his subconscious’s creativity in conjuring up such a vivid and enthralling dream experience. Not for the first time, Damien wondered if he’d return to the same dream when he fell asleep. He admitted that the idea intrigued him, and without anything better to do, he decided it was as good a time as any to test it out. His earlier protestations and attempts to forget the dream had obviously failed, after all - what harm was there in seeing if the dream would continue? If it didn’t, at least he’d have something to laugh about in the morning.

---

Damien stood motionless, encompassed in ubiquitous darkness, when he suddenly realized he wasn’t alone. Across from him, PhyKnight stood equally still, as if he’d been waiting the whole day for Damien to return. Damien couldn’t determine the distance between them - PhyKnight appeared close enough to touch one moment, only to appear as if he stood a dozen yards away in the next. The abrupt proximity changes sent Damien reeling, and he took a single step backwards. The azure knight chose that moment to break the silence surrounding them.

“Have you made your decision, sir Reid?” The knight asked, as still as ever. The question hung in the air, awaiting his response.

Damien took a deep breath and swallowed, suddenly nervous. His weight on his back foot, he resisted a sudden urge to turn around and run. ‘When have I ever backed down from a challenge?’ Damien thought, suddenly agitated. ‘This is a dream, after all. Isn’t it?’

He wasn’t so sure, anymore.

He shifted his weight again and took a step forward, returning to his original position. “I’m in,” he stated emphatically, and realized he meant it. He felt compelled to see what would happen next, exactly how far this dream would go. Then Damien noticed PhyKnight was gone without a trace, and he was alone in the darkness once more.

Without warning, Damien felt as if he, too, had winked out of existence. His mind shattered in the wake of the pain that followed, leaving him unable to form a thought. He couldn’t scream, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. There was nothing but the pain, and the darkness.

---

The first thing he was aware of was a feeling of fullness - too full, in fact. It was as if someone had inflated him with air and his body was ready to burst from the pressure. He could hardly breathe due to the pressure on his chest compacting his lungs. His heartbeat felt strained, like his heart was clenched in a vise. His eyes watered, and his head throbbed. He opened his mouth a few times, gaping like a fish out of water as he tried to speak. Then, he sank to his knees, fists beating the glass panel in front of him in desperation. He had to get rid of the pressure, somehow, before he burst open in a morbid impersonation of an overfilled water balloon.

“Can’t… breathe…” Damien managed choked out, pounding the glass a little harder. It was difficult to determine the surroundings outside his prison through his watery eyes. ‘How did I get here, anyway? Where the hell am I?’ The thoughts came unbidden, and with them a surge of uncertainty and panic. He struggled to stand and managed to get off his knees, hands flat against the glass as he leaned into it. He noticed a shape moving towards him, vaguely humanoid through the glass, and was relieved to hear a voice call out. “Be calm, Damien. You are in no danger.” Although the voice was muffled, Damien thought it was PhyKnight.

He hit the glass again, harder than before, and felt the crack before he saw it. The pressure was getting more intense - as unbelievable as that was. His whole body began shaking, and he clenched his jaw in an effort to keep his head still. “Get… me… OUT!” he bellowed through his teeth. His vision narrowed as the pressure compounded further, and he groaned as his breath was forced from his lungs. Damien heard PhyKnight call out, but noticed his head was turned away from the panel separating them. He was speaking to someone else. “Keep them away, I’ll have to contain the release.”

Damien watched as a faint, bluish-white light descended from above his enclosure, surrounding it completely. Already trapped, it infuriated him that PhyKnight was entrapping him further, surrounding his cage with another. He wanted out, wanted to somehow get away from the unbearable pressure inside. Suddenly, the pressure compressed into a single point in the center of his chest, and Damien suddenly felt he could get rid of it.

“I SAID, LET ME OUT!” he yelled in fury and flung his hands out to his sides, pressed against the sides of the tank. With the motion, the pressure point in his chest exploded in all directions, and he felt the energy erupt out of his body in one massive pulse.

The glass in front of him was vaporised in an instant, and within a heartbeat the structure surrounding him split and bent outward as the energy ripped through it. It rushed away from him, a giant ripple in the air. Yet as soon as it connected with the dome of light, instead of surging right through it, the energy dissipated on contact. Within moments, there was nothing left.

Damien sank to his knees, gasping. With the pressure gone, he was left with a substantial headache and pain in every muscle in his body. He closed his eyes for a few moments as he attempted to catch his breath. He heard PhyKnight approach, and opened his eyes to glare up at him. Damien was surprised to see the knight without his armor, but he didn’t dwell on it long. PhyKnight extended his hand, saying, “That wasn’t what I expected. Let me make sure you’re all right.” His outstretched hand pressed against Damien’s forehead, and with it Damien felt a subtle flow of energy wash into him, diminishing the aches in his muscles and the throbbing in his head. Additionally, he noticed a portion of the energy flowing into him formed a pool, though where it was collecting, Damien didn't know. As the pool grew, Damien felt a slight pressure build in his chest, at the core of his being. He flinched away from the contact, breaking the connection.

PhyKnight drew his hand back, a curious expression on his face. “That's quite an uncommon ability,” he mused. "You'll have a distinct advantage early on..." Damien missed the rest as PhyKnight trailed off and moved past him, intent on examining the damage to the tank.

Now that he was no longer trapped in the tank, Damien stood up and finally got a look at his surroundings. There were at least two other people nearby, and more tanks, exact copies of the one he had destroyed. “Where am I?” he asked no one in particular. He didn't care who answered, so long as they did it soon. He couldn't convince himself this was just a dream anymore. Not after what had just happened.

'What the hell did I even do, there? What's wrong with me?'

She opened her eyes, blinking as the canopy of her bed focused into view.

How odd....

Such a dream was not like her. What was that drivel about some sort of.... game. A competition of sorts to become.... what did that man say again? Some sort of... Earth Champion. The Champion of Earth. Except everyone on earth was rotten, so a champion like that was not someone she wanted to be. Who was that person?

With trembling hands she felt around her bed, searching for her boar doll, finally feeling its thick cloth mane and pulling it to her.

With such power, what would she be able to do?

Smiling wistfully at what she thought was a simple dream, she closed her eyes again, and drifted off to sleep.

***

Breakfast was the usual affair, delicious, tasty, and full of flavor. But she wasn't much for eating, and only ate until she felt it was enough. One does not overeat if one wants to stay healthy.

And after breakfast, and when everything is cleared from her room.... She was alone again. She sat down on a chair, feeling the plump cushion sink as she sat back against it.

The new maid came in, and sat across her. There was almost literally nothing to do, so she had taken a liking to this new maid, for she was... obedient, and easy to command, worth quite a bit of fun. Perhaps that was why they kept sending her to Vilka's room.

"Shall we play?"

***

Vilka Millings had lost track of how long it had been.

It had been quite some time after that incident, at least a few months or so. How long were they going to keep her in here? It felt like she was dying slowly, suffocated by the drabness of her own room. Everything that could have linked her to the outside was taken. Her phone, her computer, her laptop. even the television. It was as if they were trying to deprive her of everything and bore her to death.

The maid, though fun, wasn't very durable, she had thought as she watched the young maid sleep on her lap. But she was the best of the whole lot of servants in this house. Her eyes were clear, and she was easy to read, plus she never seemed to have any... misconception towards her. Odd... and very rare for such a trusting being to even exist. The only one she could talk to in this nest of lies and deceit.

Just like James.

Vilka gave the maid a light slap on the cheeks, waking her with a start. She looked towards the clock ticking on Vilka's wall, realized it was getting late, and hurriedly smoothed down her clothes. With a gracious bow, she left the room, the door locking behind her. The door would be locked at all time, except when the young maid needs to either enter or exit the room, so there was no chance of Vilka to escape that way. Outside her window is a two story drop, and if she manages to get past those, she had dogs outside that haven't seen her for however long she was in here, so she was sure that their fits of euphoria upon seeing her again would set them barking, alerting the guards posted outside.

With a sigh, she collapsed on her bed, and shut the lights.

No use fretting over it now. Besides, as boring as it was in here, outside was rife with the evilness that was humans.

***

The darkness.... was strange. It was as if she was standing on darkness itself, not enveloped by it.

This was obviously another dream; each step she took made no sound, and she was afraid to look closer at what she was standing on. Vilka approached the armored figure, as it seem to wait patiently for her.

"Dost thou hath an answer?" It asked in a regal voice. It was the PhyKnight, the very same one in the dream that woke her up early in the morning.

"Yes. I lack entertainment in my waking world, it is only fair that my dreams should entertain me."

All of a sudden she felt a touch of vertigo as her vision darkened, her body felt as if it was spinning, yet her eyes told her she wasn't moving. The whole dissonance of her senses threatened to expel her dinner out in a violent surge, until she stopped moving(or stopped feeling that she was moving) and her vision brightened to a watery view of what seemed to be tempered glass.

A quick glance told her she was in a glass tube filled with liquid, and that there was someone in the room with her.

Where... where am I? Am I in a dre-

"GAARKH!"

Her body suddenly felt tight... full, and she felt herself panicking as she struggled in the tank. The liquid turned murky, the darkness appearing to seep out of her eyes, her mouth, even out her ears. The tube cracked once, before exploding in a cloud of liquid and pieces of the tube. Her mind was gone, pain seemed to fill every inch of her body, with even her mind screaming for release.

The her body, shrouded with darkness, did not make one step forwards however, as swords flew out of nowhere, slamming her against the wall, seemingly absorbing the shroud enveloping her. Within moments, she was free of the shroud, and the swords disappeared.

Vilka finally expelled her dinner violently, leaning on the wall for support.

"Who..."

She turned to see a familiar sight, the PhyKnight looking down at her, waiting for her to recover.

However, she was more interested in the black garb she was wearing at the moment, a black garb resembling that of a nun, complete with the headpiece. It was comfortable, but it also felt strangely... alive.

"What..?"