• Dream Chronicles: Volume 1
    Joshua’s Cruse

    Prolog
    By now in our age and time it is common knowledge that one person can change the world. It is also common knowledge that those people’s effecting acts can hurt and heal. But, in all these years would even one, single, solitary person think that one person could change everyone’s lives and the universe in an extremely catastrophic manner? If they did think that… Would they think that this catastrophe would be caused be someone such as myself? Or… Would they think that someone like me would cause this and they just wouldn’t care? Whatever the senario the events that I am about to tell you would occur inevitably. My name is Joshua Donaldson; I am a scientist in the year 2794 and this is the story of my curse that I brought upon the world.

    The beginning
    One day I was working on my theory of transdimentional travel by examining the small wormhole my newly finished machine was generating. I turned around to my computer to put in some new data about the strange fluctuations in the wormhole’s outermost layer when there was an extremely loud bang, like the sound of a cannon, directly behind me. I whipped around to find that the machine I had spent seven years building and perfecting had malfunctioned. I could hardly believe it, seven years straight down the tube… I then noticed that the hair on my arm was raised. There was, as I knew, only one machine in my entire laboratory that would cause this kind of effect and it was half way across the room, along with it was off. I knew that this was bad, really bad. I turned back to my computer and opened my energy-tracking program. According to my computer the last energy wave had passed at, of corse, light speed, which, had been traveling for a good five minutes, and had reached the fourth level of the earth’s atmosphere. The surprising thing was that it was picking up speed… In twenty minutes it would reach Jupiter… I could not calculate the damage that the energy wave would cause so, I immediately ran to my room and packed a bag because I knew people, angry people, would be coming for me if there were any repercussions. Once I was packed I headed to the back entrance to get out of my lab without being seen…

    Escape, Change, and Discovery
    As I exited, I peered around the edge of my lab to see a mob of people marching up to my front door… I thought to myself, “Now I know how Dr. Frankenstein would have felt if he was a real life person. Hunted for something you did in the name of science…only my little creation was an accident…” I then slowly started walking down the hill in back of my lab and down into the forest that was there, but, as luck would have it, one of the people in the mob noticed me and yelled, “There he is! Get him!” I didn’t want to know what my little mishap had done, not while getting attacked by a mob of people at least, so I booked it for the trees. The mob was only ten feet behind me for about 5.6 seconds… Then… I fell in a hole, which happened to be a good twelve feet deep, so when I landed I was knocked unconscious instantly. I woke at around eight o’ clock morning to find my bag torn up and my supplies gone. I looked around the hole… It was just a dirt hole really… Twigs and leaves covering the bottom, roots sticking out of the walls, just a hole in the ground… Then, I noticed a tiny trickle of water coming from the top of the hole. “What luck,” I thought for I was thirsty, so using some sticks and some clothe from my bag I made a crude purification system. I cupped my hands under the cloth and collected the water that seeped slowly through it. Once my hands were full of water a drank deeply, or at least as deep as the small amount of water would allow me… The water wasn’t the best, but the “purification system” did get rid of the big debris in the water, so I guess it worked… Hours passed and, as everyone would, I was getting extremely hungry. Then, out of the blue, a, giant, spiny, insect like, creature came skittering down the wall… I was bewildered by this beast of no humanly known origin… There were three scenarios running through my head about where this creature came from, but they all had the same thing connecting them… Me. The first scenario I had was that my accident had caused rapid evolution in, most likely, an ant, but that really didn’t seem likely, so I dismissed that thought. My second thought was that the energy wave had caused this creature to come up from the depths of the earth where it had originated, but once again, this seemed highly unlikely, so once again I dismissed the thought. My last thought was that my energy wave had opened a wormhole or portal to a different dimension and this creature had slipped through… This scenario was most likely to be true because it fit into the equation of energy disturbance of matter, so I kept this thought open… I decided to name this creature an icrib for its insect like body and the spines that protruded from its “ribs.” Right after I named the creature a rock came tumbling down the side of the hole and flattened it like a pancake. A purplish goo started seeping from the icrib’s body, and, without using any common sense, I scooped up some of the goo and ate it. It was actually quite delicious for some goo that came out of an insect like creature, and I wasn’t feeling sick, so I thought to myself, “Well… I have a food source now if more icrib come by.” I then scooped up the remaining goo in a piece of cloth I still had, and it surprisingly didn’t seep through or out of the cloth. Three days passed… I had been sustaining my energy by drinking the water that trickled over the edge of the hole and eating icrib jelly. Over those three days I had been gathering mental data about a war going on, and I couldn’t help, but think that my little accident had caused this. There was another thing happening over those three days… I had been changing… My body was beginning to look like a khajiit or cat-person. My ears had moved to the top of my head, extended, and became pointed like a cats. My hands had become more of paws with consealed claws, and many more things had changed… After another three days I was fully transformed… By this time I had gathered a good amount of icrib jelly and had gotten use to my new body, even the tail. I decided that if I wanted to right my wrong I would have to get out of that hole, so I started to make a “ladder” in the wall… It took me three more days to complete the “ladder.” I once again packed up my supplies and headed out… As I topped the hole a mortar just happen to hit. I was flung a good thirty feet in the air and landed directly next to my hole… The fall knocked me unconscious once again… When I woke I was truly surprised…

    A Chance at Redemption
    When I woke, I found that I was in a cave, or at least an anti-chamber off a main cavern. I rose from the cot on which I had been lying and headed for the “door” of the anti-chamber. I peered out into the tunnel… It split in two directions… There was noise, like voices, from one direction, so I headed that way. As I walked down the tunnel the sound got louder and louder… When I reached the end of the tunnel I found myself in a much bigger chamber compared to the one I had just left. This chamber had to be at least three times bigger then the other one and it was buzzing with chatter by the few people that were in it… There were twenty-six men in the chamber, but one… Wasn’t a man at all… He was a lizard-man or Argonian. This was my first sight as to what my little mishap had done to other people, but this was only the first of many things to come… I was then puzzled by a question concerning myself… “Why had I not changed instantaneously?” I thought. “I was in the direct blast radius. How was I not affected until days after the accident?” My train of thought was interrupted as one of the men beckoned me over to their group… He said, “So, you’re new in our little “family.” How is it going?” I answered, “Well… I did almost get blown to bits by a mortar, but other then that I’m fine.” “Good to hear.” He replied. “You’re not going to be so snug after we tell you what’s happened…” I cringed and nodded signifying that I was ready to listen… “Well… It all started seven days ago when some experiment up north went extremely wrong…” He continued his story for about an hour and he told me that at the poles there had opened two gigantic portals to other dimension. He also told me of the horrors that had been spewing out of them… One of the monsters was a classic really, the skeleton, a reanimated corps deprived of flesh and being controlled by an evil spirit, but this was only the first creature I got told about. There were also the invisible assassins as the men had named them, for these creatures could only be seen as they attacked or when they were dead, then there were the X creatures which only had a title because no one had seen one only heard it as it swooped down and carried a man away to some ill fate. There were many other creatures that I was told, but most only had a short description or just a name. By this time I was feeling exceedingly hungry since I had apparently not eaten in a day, so I asked one of the men, “Where can I acquire so food?” He looked puzzled so I rephrased my words. “Where can I get some food?” He nodded and said, “Ask the general he’ll tell U where to get food.” He then laughed a bit and pointed to the Argonian. I automatically figured that was the general and walked over to him… I then asked, “Sir, may I have some food?” He whirled around and shouted, “U may only eat what you can hunt yourself outsider!” I was take aback and backed off… I found myself in a bit of a dilemma. How was I to eat if I could only eat what I could hunt and I had never hunted anything before? Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed some boards, hinges, and a hole in the wall. A brilliant idea popped into my head. I rushed over to the general and said, “Sir, I know of an “insect” that is extremely nutritious and would feed our entire group.” He scoffed and said in a rather rude tone, “What do you take us for boy? Savages? We are human still even though I have lost my appearance. We do not eat bugs.” I replied, “Sir, this is not ordinary bug it is as big as a cat and tastes like… Oh I don’t know, beef? My point is that it is a free running food source that would be easy to keep right here in the cave.” He looked at me like I was some kind of nut. I then explained my idea. I said, “ We could us these boards to make a cage front over that hole in the wall, and use those hinges with some other boards to make a gate.” He rolled his eyes and said, “If this doesn’t work and someone gets hurt I’m going to hurt you severely.” I nodded and headed for the cavern entrance. One of the men stopped me. “Whoa. Where do you think you’re going buddy?” he asked. “I’m going out to collect some icrib.” I replied. “Ic what?” “Icrib.” “What ever no one goes out without some protection and a partner.” I stared at him and he shoved me back with the hilt of his sword which I some how hadn’t noticed. I clutched my stomach and looked over at the general. He sneered and pointed to the tunnel I had just come from. I knew what he meant. I walked back down the tunnel until I reached another anti-chamber. I peered inside. It was an armory as I had thought, but there weren’t guns or rockets, but bows, arrows, daggers, swords, and all sorts of other midlevel weapondry. I then realized that this was technically a good thing since with my new body probably couldn’t accommodate firearms. I picked up a dagger and headed back out. When I reached the cavern entrance again though the man stopped me again. “So you have a weapon he asked?” “Yes.” I replied. “Well U don’t have a partner.” I glared at him and headed back into the group. I asked and asked, but no one would come with me, and then, quite unexpectedly, the general volunteered to come hunt icrib with me. I thanked him and once again walked to the cavern entrance. The man smiled and let us pass. As I got outside I was baffled at how the earth looked now. Instead of conifers or oaks there were giant mushrooms, and instead of holy bushes or rose bushes there were scraggly, sickly looking roots sticking out of the ground. I asked the general, “Where are we?” He replied, “Germany. Berlin Germany. Or at least what used to be Berlin.” I was shocked. I had gone to Berlin many times when I was in collage, but it didn’t look like this. I thought to myself then, “How on earth did I get to Berlin if my laboratory was in the arctic?” My thought was interrupted by the general’s poke in the arm. “What do these creatures look like he asked?” I didn’t have to describe it to him… All I said was, “Like that.” And pointed behind him. He whirled around to see an icrib crawl over a rock. He ran to the rock and peered over it. After a few seconds he beckoned me over. I then peered over the rock. There were tons of icrib skittering all over the place eating this strange clover like plant. I smiled and said, “Now all we have to do is get a few back to the cave.” The general nodded even though he probably didn’t here a thing I said. I crept over the rock leavening the general behind and walked into the clover plant patch. None of the icrib stirred, but all of a sudden my legs started to itch like all get out. I looked down and just saw a puff of orange powder pop up out of the clovers as I moved my foot. This clover like plant had a self-defense mechanism. I immediately named it ichthaclove for it’s itchy powder and clover shape and then I leapt back over the rock to the general. He looked at me puzzled. I then explained our little predicament. He said afterwards, “So… We need to get through the itchy stuff to catch icrib?” “Yes.” I replied. “How do you propose we do that?” I didn’t have an answer, and without any us of common since leapt into the ichthaclove and grabbed myself a nice big icrib and threw it to the general. He managed to grab it just before it him the ground and died. He glared at me, but calmly said, “Well that solves the catching problem.” He then carried the icrib back to the cave and returned shortly afterwards. He told me that he had put three men on the job to build the cage and one to hold the icrib. I nodded and asked, “ How many icrib will fit in the cage?” He replied, “Um… Maybe ten?” I nodded once more and threw him another icrib. After ten minutes we had more then enough icrib caught, thirty-six to be precise. When I got out of the ichthaclove I headed back to the cave. The men were each holding an icrib in their hands like it was some sort of vile thing that came out of some animal. I on the other hand simply picked on up out of the cage and held it like cat. One of the men asked, “ Do they bite?” I replied, “Not that I know of they seem to be herbivores, so don’t be afraid.” I then taught the men how to kill and helped them with eating raw icrib meat. Although it wasn’t very nice of a meal everyone thanked me for finding the icribs. The general walked up to me and said, “Son I’m giving you the title of engineer supreme for finding us all a good food source.” I then said quietly, “My… My name’s Joshua.” He smiled and handed me a small medal in the shape of a wrench. I took it gratefully because even though I had just earned a title I had never heard of I had still earned at least a little bit of redemption for my little accident.

    Getting to know my new home
    Right after I finished my little award ceremony I asked, “Where can I get a shower?” Everyone, including the general and I, laughed. One of the men then said, “Go down the tunnel and take a left after the armory.” I smiled and headed there immediately because that ichthaclove powder was really, really, itchy. I took a nice long shower… Surprisingly, even though the water was frigid I enjoyed getting all that gunk off me. After that I headed to bed since I had just had a very rough day, but as I got to the anti-chamber I had woken in hours ago one of the men called me into another anti-chamber. He said, “Hey pal… The general wants to see you.” I nodded and started for the main chamber even though I was so tired. When I reached the chamber the general slowly said in a rather sad tone, “Listen boy… If you want to stay here you can, but understand that if you become a threat to this “family” you will be treated just like the other enemies.” I nodded and said, “I will try my hardest to help when I can and I won’t go bad, sir.” He smiled. After that I headed to my anti-chamber for a good night sleep. Or so I thought…

    Baptism Through Fire

    I was sleeping peacefully knowing that the cave was a safe haven from the horrors of the outside world when I heard a sound that chilled the blood in my veins. It was the sound of a woman screaming, and it was coming from the main chamber of the cavern. I jumped off my cot, grabbed my dagger, and bolted to see what was going on. I arrived at the chamber after everyone else surprisingly, but I could see clearly what was up. The scream that had echoed through the cave had not been human at all. It was a wraith that had made it. The wraith was in the shape of a young woman, transparent, and flouting one foot from the ground, but human looking still. Not using any common sense I grabbed a crystalline stone from the cave wall and hurled it at the fiend. It shrieked as the stone sank into its breast and, then did something rather surprising. It lost its transparency… All of the men gasped, but only one of them acted. The one who acted slashed the wraith down the middle. There wasn’t any blood, but the stone that I had implanted into its chest fell to the ground while the wraith disappeared. I was the only one who noticed how the stone was on the floor, but now it was glowing… I quickly pocketed it before anyone noticed it. Everyone cheered for the one who killed it, but not for the one who had made it mortal, not for me… I smiled and headed to my anti-chamber for more rest thinking, “Well… I guess they wouldn’t cheer for someone who had just done something truly remarkable… Especially if that somebody happened to be a new comer…” When I reached my chamber I set the stone on a piece of metal that I had found which was now residing on my side table. I touched the metal by accident after the stone had touched it… “Ouch!” I yelped for the metal had somehow become electrically charged! I stumbled backward baffled by what had just transpired. “Wha-what just happened?” I stuttered. I took the stone off the metal and touched it again. No shock… I put the stone onto the metal and touched the metal again… “Zap!” I got shocked again! That stone made metal electrically charged! I smiled and took the stone off the metal. I then placed it away from the metal so I wouldn’t get shocked in the morning. I then went to sleep…

    Icrib problems and a Bit of a Kick to the Arsenal

    The next morning I went to the armory with my stone with a great idea in my head. I would have the smith make a socket for my stone in my dagger so I could have a superior weapon. I did not explain this to the smith I just had him make the socket saying that it was to add a little glamour to my weapon. After three hours the socket was ready. I then inserted the stone into the socket and watched the sparks fly from my blade. I quickly sheathed it so no one would find out about my little discovery. I then walked into the main chamber for breakfast. I looked around the chamber as I entered and no one was around, so I walked over to the icrib cage and picked one out. I then noticed something strange about it… There were gray-blue splotches on its underbelly. I took a good look at the splotches and compared them mentally to human symptoms I had seen through my few years when I was working in the medical field. The only thing that reminded me of these splotches was the discoloration of malnutrition. I put that icrib down and picked up each one in turn… They all had the splotches, so I went to the general immediately to tell him of our situation. The general just so happened to be walking down the tunnel as I was walking to find him. As soon as I was close enough to him I told him of our little situation. He only said, “Well no duh genius… Have they eaten in a while?” I replied, “No sir, and you don’t need to be so sarcastic.” He only rolled his eyes and said, “Take one of the men out and go gather so ichthaclove for the dang creatures.” I nodded solemnly and went to find someone to help me. I only had to ask one person, a big, tall guy with long brown hair like an olden day rock star. As we were heading out the cave “door” he said, “Hey… My name’s Chris by the way…” I nodded and said, “Nice to finally get to know your name Chris.” He smiled and we exited to gather ichthaclove for the icrib. It turned out though that the ichthaclove was not only itchy, but also extremely tough to pull out of the ground or tear apart. Chris had to draw his sword to cut off a single leave and even then it took two too three swings to cut through it. I decided to try cutting the ichthaclove with my dagger… With a quick slice and a little, “Zap!” The ichthaclove stem snapped and I plucked it up. Chris looked at me bewildered and then he noticed my sparking dagger and asked, “Where the heck did you get that!?” I slouched and asked, “Do you promise not to tell anyone about this?” Chris nodded, so I told him of how I acquired my rather miraculous blade. After I finished he asked, “Do you think you could make me one?” I shrugged and said, “I don’t know.” Chris smiled and then we got back to work… After three hours of chopping Chris had grown very tired, so he headed in with his batch of ichthaclove leaves. I headed in a few minutes later… When I entered though everyone was waiting for me in the main chamber… I asked, “Um… What’s going on?” The general then answered, “We would all like to know of your blade Joshua…” I glared at Chris and said, “Yes sir… I’ll tell you my little discovery…” After I fully explained it to everyone they all asked, “Hey Josh could you make us one?” I glared at Chris again and then said, “I don’t know if I can make you all one…”