Flashes of light filled my vision obscured by darkness. Blue curtains and white walls. That was my only thoughts. Blue curtains and white walls. Talking. There was lots of talking, but none of it made sense as though they were speaking a foreign language. A high pitched buzzing sound filled the air as two beeps sounded in the distance. Then it was cut off. No sound, only the darkness. The pressing darkness that pushed at all sides as though I were miles underwater.

Then it repeated. Blue curtains, white walls, buzzing, beeping and pressure. Again and again, as though I were in some kind of nightmare loop. Once, twice, three times, after what felt like an eternity, I felt a pressure pull me down until I could feel only the pressure underneath me. Soaring through the inky nothingness I felt only peace.

Am I dead? No I would remember dying. This is just a dream.

With the sense that I was falling I reached out with my arms to try to grab on to something, anything to slow my decent. I felt my head hit something hard and then nothing.

“Come on man, we need to get out of here" a high pitched voice broke through the darkness. A splitting headache coupled with my dried, parched throat made it nearly impossible to respond. Opening one eye in a vain attempt to cut off the headache I was met with a very strange scene. I saw a dimly lit room with wooden chairs and tables. Bottles on the wall behind what looked to be a bar. All of this behind the figure that awoke me, a squirrel. Yes, a squirrel. Brown fur with a bushy tail and eyes like obsidian mirrors reflecting my bewildered face.

OK, this is obviously a dream.  A weird fucking dream, sure, but a dream nonetheless.

“Get your ass up, let's go. You pissed off the wrong guy, Drakus is probably going to kill you when he wakes up.” the little furry creature said, as he jumped down to the floor. Getting a better look at my surroundings I noticed that there were several people laying on the ground just like I was, but they were all dressed in weird clothing. All monotone cloth stained with dirt. Except the largest one. A behemoth of a man wearing what looked like metal armor, with a large sword strapped to his back. As I looked about in dismay, wondering why I would dream such a weird thing, I heard one of the people laying close to me let out a snore.

This is insane, maybe if I pinch myself I could wake up. Is that a thing? I think I saw that in a movie or maybe it was a book.

As if sensing my thoughts the little squirrel climbed up my chest and slapped me right across the face. “How long does that spell last?” the high pitched voice asked, “It’s already been about a minute and I think the owner is going to be back soon”

Did that little fucker just slap me? Oh, hell no.

“What the . . “ I tried to say as I coughed uncontrollably. It felt as though I had spent the last few hours screaming. Sitting up and looking around, I grabbed a cup sitting on the table above me. Downing the contents was a bad idea. It felt like drinking fire chased with rusty nails. “What the hell is this and how long does what last?”

“WHAT? The spell, the spell you cast, how long does it last?” The little guy was obviously upset. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter let’s just get the hell out of here.”  At that he took off towards the door. Thinking it would be foolish not to follow the only talking animal in existence I got up, grabbed a book off the table and followed.

That was weird, I don’t know why I grabbed this book but it’s like my body just made the decision for me.

”Hey squirrel wait up, where are we going?” I asked, storing the book in a bag at my side. Any minute I was sure to wake up and leave this crazy dream behind me. “Well, we can’t stay in this town now thanks to you, why do you always do these things? You know I was looking forward to sleeping under a roof. I think you do these things on purpose. Typical, just typical.” The little guy led me down a dirt road. It was nighttime, but there were lamps set up about five foot high off the ground all along the road. Looking around I saw wooden buildings with wooden signs exclaiming what you could purchase within.

Do I want to feel 20 years younger? Just 5 Gold? Is that a lot?

“We don’t have five gold to spend on flavored water John, hurry up before he follows us” The furry guy said speeding up, we were headed to the end of the road where a gate was standing open onto a field of grass with a winding road.

“I’m trying to …. Wait, did I say that out loud? I’m pretty sure I was just thinking about gold”

“Thinking and talking makes no difference between us and you know that, I think you may have hit your head when you fell back there. Let’s get a ways down the road and you can rest.”

“What do you mean it makes no difference? It makes a very big difference to me. How do you know my name? Wait, this is a dream, of course you know my name. “

“Just come on, we need to put some distance between us and that crazy barbarian" He said, leading me through the gate where a dirt road curved around through the beginning of a forest. We continued to walk for a few hours, the only break from the silence was him telling me to speed up or to point out a pothole in the road. Every once in a while I would see animals cross the road that cut through the forest.

“Ok, enough of this walking bullshit.” I was tired, hungry and I wanted to wake up. Covered in sweat I walked to the side of the road and sat down with my back to a tree. “Fine, but we need to go deeper into the trees, I don’t know if Drakus will follow us this far. He didn’t seem very bright” The squirrel said as he took off through the trees. Getting up and following him took all of my willpower.

Why am I tired? It’s not like I’ve actually been walking. I’ve never had a dream like this.

We walked for another half hour, all of which was done in silence. “Ok, this should be far enough. Grab some broken branches for the fire, we don’t want a lot of smoke.” He said, as he sat down by the base of a tree and stared at me. “I’m not grabbing anything until you tell me what is going on, why can’t I wake up? Who is Drakus? And why can you talk?” I was at the end of my patience and I was not going to let a little squirrel boss me around. I may not be the bravest guy, but I would be damned if a squirrel was going to tell me what to do.

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“You are awake John, Drakus is the barbarian you ripped off, and I most certainly cannot talk.” This was followed by a few minutes of silence. “That did not make any sense to me. You are clearly talking to me right now. I don’t know anyone by the name of Drakus and I sure as hell don’t belong here.” I said, feeling like this was insanity beginning to manifest itself. He was correct, I felt awake and everything felt real. The ground under me was wet from recent rain and the smell of the forest was overwhelming. I could even hear the wildlife around me as the night grew darker.

“What do you remember?” he asked, his head tilting ever so slightly. This squirrel was creeping me out. He was too human. “I remember waking up on the ground, you yelling at me, SLAPPING me and then walking for hours. That is what I remember” I said sarcastically, still waiting on an explanation and not entirely over the fact that a little animal slapped me. “No, before that.” He said slowly, walking towards me on his back two feet. “Well, I remember . . . . I remember . . going to sleep? I remember b-blue curtains.” I stuttered, not entirely sure of the accuracy of that memory now. “I remember that I certainly don’t know a talking fucking squirrel, OK?” I was spinning out, this isn’t right. I know I don’t belong here, but I couldn’t for the life of me tell where I was supposed to be. “Do you remember Talia? Do you remember casting that sleep spell at the bar?” He asked as he grew closer. Looking at his face I noticed he actually looked concerned. Shaking my head at the absurd questions I answered, “I don’t know anybody named Talia and I’m pretty sure I can’t cast spells, but I know my name is John.” Feeling proud of myself that I could at least confirm my name.

“No shit your name is John, how can you not remember me? Or Talia? She meant the world to you” he asked, looking at me with disbelief. All I could do was shrug, how was I supposed to know these things. “Ok, this obviously a concussion. I’m sure you just hit your head when you fell back at the Inn. I’m no physician, but I am pretty sure what you need now is to rest. Close your eyes and get some sleep, I will keep watch.” That didn’t sound quite right, but who am I to argue with a talking squirrel. The little guy seemed so confident. “That sounds like a plan, should I grab some branches for the fire?” I asked, as the night had turned a little chilly. “No, forget the fire. We don’t want visitors when you can’t defend yourself.” He said, as he turned and climbed up a tree.

 I watched as he climbed all the way to the top and sat on a high branch. I felt absolutely drained from the walk through the forest and maybe when I woke up I would be back home, wherever that may be. Looking down at what I was wearing for the first time since waking up in that bar, I noticed I had on a long leather coat that looked expensive. Leather bands around my waste that had pouches along the front. A white cotton shirt that seemed to be dirty from the walk through the forest and dark leather pants. Well at least I was dressed well for a cold night in the woods. Leaning against a tall tree, I pulled the long coat I was wearing close to myself and drifted off to sleep.

**The first thing I noticed was the blue curtains. They were extremely bright, almost too bright. The light was wrong. It cast shadows on the curtains that seemed to move. I couldn’t hear any voices, but I could still hear a high buzzing sound. Every few seconds there were two consecutive beeps. I couldn’t move. In fact all I could do was breathe, but even that took an extreme amount of effort. I tried with all of my power to move my arm, but I was just rewarded with a splitting headache.

 As I started to panic I heard high pitched sounds and the next second people rushed into the room and started speaking, once again I couldn’t understand anything they were saying. A massive pressure pulled from behind and once again I was cast into darkness. Falling into nothingness once again I reached out to try to grab on to something, anything to slow my decent. My efforts were in vain once again as I felt my head slam into something solid and then blackness. **

I awoke with my head against a tree, propped up just as I was when I went to sleep the previous night. The morning sun peeked through the canopy of the tall trees. It was a beautiful sight, one that I would surely enjoy if I wasn’t so confused and pissed off at my predicament. Also, if I didn’t have a splitting headache. It felt as though my brain was trying its very best to shoot out of the top of my head.  Looking around I couldn’t find the little squirrel anywhere.

Well, this obviously isn’t a dream. Maybe I did die, could this be hell? It sure isn’t heaven.

“You aren’t dead John, not yet” I heard from above me, as I looked up I saw the squirrel standing on a low hanging branch. He had a big smile on his face as he climbed down and stood up in front of me, “Well, do you remember anything?” He asked, as he stared up at my face. It seemed like he was waiting for something. “No, I’m sorry but I don’t remember anything I didn’t remember last night.” The squirrel stood in silence, watching my face for something. Minutes passed between us as we stared at each other.

 “God damn it, fine. The hard way.” He said as he sat down on a rock near my feet. Looking up at me he thought for a few seconds before continuing “My name is Rocky and I am your companion. You created me 6 months ago and I have travelled with you since that day.” Rocky huh? That’s a good name for a squirrel and that name did sound familiar. Just as that thought crossed my mind I was hit with a splitting headache as thoughts filled my mind.

*** Sitting in a dark room, brooding over loss. Loss of life, friends that have perished. It had been months since I progressed. Weeks since I have even left this town, and I needed to get stronger if I was going to get even with that murdering asshole. More than that though, I wanted a friend. Somebody I could rely on, talk to and share in my adventures. As these thoughts raced through my mind I got up and started to grab things from a shelf. Sorting through these things I placed them all on a table in the center of the room.

There was a brown leather book opened in front of me, strange symbols were drawn on the page it was opened to and I was able to read them. Create Familiar, it seemed to be a spell to create a companion. There was a candle lit on the table in front of me and flowers laid about at odd intervals around this candle. Leaning against the candle was a beautiful gem, one the size of my fist. It was deep red with swirling patterns throughout its depths. The cost must have been extraordinary. It seemed so random, but it was exactly as the book had described. I reached out with a stick that smelled of lavender and lit it from the candle, I blew out the flame on the stick and started to draw a symbol in the air with the burning ember. Smoke stood still as I painted the air with fast, shallow strokes as though the smoke was ink and the stagnant air was paper.

The flowers on the tables started to move as though a wind had picked up in the room, but it was still. The flowers slowly cascaded up in a whirlwind and surrounded the smoke symbol written in the air as the smoke turned from white to a burning purple. The gem flew up to meet in the middle of the swirling petals and began to glow a dark red. I heard myself speak in a weird and beautiful language. As the foreign words left my mouth I understood the base meaning of the beautiful sounds.  

You will be my companion through the fire of life.

As the last word escaped my throat a burning light burned through each flower petal and there was a great spark that blinded me. I heard the gem shatter and fall to wooden table. When the last vestiges of blindness left me with sight once again, I looked down onto my new companion. My new friend. A brown squirrel, with a bushy tail and eyes as black as obsidian staring back at me with wonder. ***

As the headache subsided I looked down into the eyes of Rocky. The look of concern was once again on his face. How could I have forgotten my best friend? Not to mention he cost a fortune to create. As the thought of the ruby crossed my mind I gave Rocky a sly smile. “Rocky, I remember you”