“What are you waiting for? Hit it now, Hanus!”

  Hit that thing, hit that thing! Hit that thing with what?! You’d need a cannon to have any effect on that beast. Is that old guy delusional? He’s got the gray woman shooting arrows at it, almost as if he wants to anger it more, and now I’m supposed to throw balls of fire at it? We need to get out of here, that’s what we need to do.

  “Trisben, go ‘head and distract ‘em a bit.”

  The old man doesn’t look too happy, but I have no idea what he wants from me. I looked over at the overgrown freak he called Trisben, and almost as if he’s some kind of magician from a birthday party he pulled out an enormous hammer from a pouch that’s not much bigger than a fanny pack. He muttered something unrecognizable and three large rocks floated up in front of him.

  I rubbed my eyes just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. But almost like he was a baseball player or a golfer practicing his swing, he hit one rock after another and sent them flying in the direction of the beast.

  The rocks slammed into its front left shoulder and the base of its neck, causing it to stumble a bit before it let out a terrifying roar like a lion claiming its territory. I had been too caught up in the moment and wasn't paying attention to where the old man had gone to until I felt a dull whap to my back that sent me stumbling forward and arching in pain.

  “Hit that damn thing with a fireball or the next strike won’t be from the pommel of this ax, it’ll be the edge spilling yer guts on the ground.”

  Almost instinctively I raised my right arm level with my chest with my palm facing the bear-like creature in front of me. It’s as if my body had been taken over by someone else, then again this isn't my body. Everything in my sight turned a shade of gray like some black and white photo with a reddish outline.

  “[Nisignis Herasph]”

  Focusing completely on an area just a few inches in front of my hand, I muttered something I’ve never heard before and almost immediately felt a burning sensation running down my arm. It reminds me of the time I received an IV and the nurse mistakenly placed the blood pressure cuff on the same arm.

  A small hot ball of fire began to form in front of me. It was hot enough for me to realize I’m not imagining this, but for some reason, the flame wasn’t able to burn me.

  “Hit it now!”

  The old man screamed at me and I could feel the spit that flew from his mouth land on my face. Having spit land on my face has always disgusted me, even if it was an accident. Normally I would have said something, but I get the feeling if I lose focus something bad will happen. Besides, the old man doesn’t look like the type who cares about my feelings.

  I don’t know how it’s happening, but information is flooding into my mind like I’m reading a how-to manual. I pulled my hand back towards my chest causing the fireball to follow. I press forward and it almost feels like I’m pressing against an invisible wall. The miniature ball of flames shot off in the direction of the shaggy black beast that was charging towards us.

  The small glowing ball hit the creature in the face and exploded out in all directions before wrapping around almost half of its body. The front half of its body was completely engulfed in the bright orange flames causing it to stop momentarily and let out an agonizing squeal. The high-pitched scream hardly seemed fitting of an animal so large and forced me to hold my ears as it raised up on its hind legs and came crashing down.

  The weight of the beast landing caused the ground below us to shake violently, almost like we were in a small earthquake, and made it difficult to maintain our balance. It began charging once more so I raised my hand up again, shouted that strange phrase, and fired off a second and then a third fireball before it finally slowed to a halt.

  “AMMAYA, TAKE IT DOWN!”

  I look over and there is another woman dressed in what I can only describe as some kind of light blue evening gown with alabaster white skin and hair. She raised the wooden staff with a large black rock above her head, said something in that strange language, and caused the staff to pulse in different shades of green, white and yellow. A large white arrow formed just above it and grabbing the staff with both hands she flung it forward towards the beast.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The arrow shot off like a blur and when it hit the beast it let off a light that was blindingly bright. The blast stung my eyes as if I was looking into the sun and then a burst of hot air blew me, tumbling end over end before I stopped at least 15 feet back from where I was standing. The deafening boom from the strike caused the rest of the world to turn completely silent and had most likely ruptured my eardrum.

  I’ve never felt a pain that was so intense before. It’s like my body has been struck by a truck and was left lying in the ditch on the side of the road. What’s the point in shooting something off that injures everyone around you?

  I slowly raised my head back up and through my blurry vision I’m greeted by the bloody show of Trisben slamming his massive hammer down onto the head of the disgusting beast. It looks like he has it under control so I think I’ll lay my head back down.

***

  When I came back to my senses, I was feeling dizzy and confused, as if I had been forcibly woken up from a deep sleep.

  “Mr. Foster, Mr. Foster can you hear me?”

  Greeted by the face of Dr. Joyce I’m at a loss for a moment. Didn’t I just get blown back by some strange explosion caused by that woman in the gown? Where did that come from?

  “What, what happened?”

  “Stay still Mr. Foster, don’t try to get up. You had a seizure during your CT scan, so you may feel a little disoriented.”

  Ah, so that’s what happened. Another seizure? What was that then? Was it a dream? It didn’t feel like a dream, at least not like any dream I’ve ever had before. It felt real, the pain from the blast, the heat from the fire, the smell of burning flesh and hair, could that have really been a dream? I don't think I’ve ever woken up and remembered a dream after a seizure before.

  The nurses bring me back to the hallway where they hook me up to all the monitors again. They’ve been checking on me now and then, but I just keep falling asleep. The one time I guess my breathing had slowed to the point that the alarm was going off and the doctors forced me to wake up.

  “We got your blood results back from the lab Mr. Foster, your levels were way below the therapeutic level, almost undetectable. We hooked you up to an IV while you were sleeping to get your levels back to where they should be. Just lay down and relax for now; I’ll have a nurse come and check on you shortly.”

  That’s odd, I’ve been taking my medication so my levels should be fine. Well, I may have missed a couple of doses. I hope I don’t have to go through a phase of dose adjustments. They always leave me feeling woozy and tired for a week after the change. It’s like coming down from a buzz late at night but without having the good feeling that comes before it. I forgot how much seizures affect your body and mind, I feel so damn tired. But have they always given me such vivid dreams before?

  Those names and those people, did I somehow make them up? There was Estia, the woman with grayish-blue skin and short black hair; it was kind of styled like a pixie cut that I’ve always found attractive. She was tall and thin with large eyes and fired off an arrow from a bow that was probably as long as she was tall. She was wearing some type of tight-fitting black cloak with no sleeves.

  Trisben, a man with orange hair so bright it looked like a dancing flame at a bonfire with a short beard to match it. He reminded me of those bodybuilders you see on television that cover themselves in fake tan to increase the definition of their muscles. Or maybe like “The Thing” in “The Fantastic Four.” He was swinging that massive hammer and hitting those rocks like he was playing T-ball.

  Then there was Ammaya, her skin and hair were so white it almost looked like it was glowing or translucent. Was she albino or something? If she was you’d think she would cover up with more than just an evening gown to protect against the sun. And what was that strange staff she was holding? Was it some type of magic wand or something?

  Then there was that old craggy bastard barking orders at everyone. He struck my back so hard I thought for sure he was going to fracture my spine. These are names I’ve never heard before. They don't even sound familiar at all. And we were fighting some god-awful beast that can’t possibly exist on earth. But people with gray-blue skin don’t exist here either. Was that in the movie I was watching?

  I’ve seen plenty of movies about fantasy worlds and Sci-fi adventures spread throughout the galaxy. I’ve read many fantasy novels where I placed myself as the main characters, had countless battles, defeated the villains, and lived happily ever after with the main love interest. Is that all that happened? Did I just put myself in a movie scene while dreaming? It felt pretty real.

  I’m pretty sure that old man was calling me Hanus. What kind of a name is Hanus? That’s a terrible name. But it feels so familiar. Is that supposed to be my name? I sure hope not. None of those names make sense though. But maybe they fit in that world. That world? Why am I thinking that is actually a world?

  When I close my eyes, I’m able to see everything play over and over again like a video on loop. That creature, almost like some kind of wooly mammoth grizzly bear mix that you would see in textbooks of extinct animals or some strange documentary.

  If it was just a dream then, would I be able to go back to it? If I can fall back asleep, if I just calm my mind, I’ll be able to go… I'll be able to go back... maybe I can figure out what is really going on.