The Fair Elf Princess
Book I
by
Sarah Swan
Copyright © 2015 by Sarah Swan
All rights reserved: no content in this book can be duplicated unless explicit permission is granted by the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Chapter 1: The Land of His Dreams
Elliot's tale begins in the pleasant well-to-do suburban neighborhood of Rhodesia Paradies in Los Angeles, California. Elliot Clementine was a slender and pale boy of 16 with shoulder length hair the color of obsidian and grayish blue eyes. His features were soft, bare like a baby's bottom. He twiddled his mechanical pencil back and forth between his fingers, pondering his AP history homework dealing with worldly conflicts. His history teacher, Mr. Bennett, had requested his tenth grade class to write a report detailing their thoughts about environmental and societal conflicts and how they could make the world a better place. If Elliot had learned anything from the arena of fantastical video games in which he was often encompassed within, it was that the world was brutal by default in which the strong routinely and callously destroyed the weak. Who better than he was more qualified to make such judgements? He, after all, had achieved the title of Grandmaster Swordsman in Fantasy Lotus, the most popular video game of 2020.
Elliot ceased twiddling his pencil, pumped out more lead, and began writing down his thoughts.
I don't expect the majority of those who possess power to pay it forward and disperse it to those who lack it. It takes a special kind of person to selflessly go against how the natural world usually works. A person like…me.
Elliot wrote about homelessness and the growing economic divide in the states, touching on environmental problems he'd been following such as global warming and world wide pollution. For about thirty more minutes, he sat at his desk, tuning out the distant sound of a lawnmower from next door, scribbling down new information as it crossed his mind, running his hands through his hair in concentration. After reading through his paper, crossing out and editing out any mistakes he spotted, he slowly stood from his armchair. Elliot cracked his neck and, after placing his essay into his backpack, exited his room into a long unremarkable hall, the walls peppered with German and Chinese paintings.
These art pieces reflected the admiration that Elliot's parents had for their different cultures. His father, a first generation Chinese American neurosurgeon, had met his German American mother, a lawyer, nearly twenty years ago. He was the first born child whereas his sister, Faiga, came into the world four years later. Like most siblings, Elliot and Faiga had many differences between them with Elliot being quieter and maintaining a cool, detached persona while the latter expressed an almost unnaturally loud and bold personality along with the ability to see the good in any situation. Elliot found himself the victim of this boldness when he suddenly felt like his body was being constricted by a python as soon as he set foot into a large brightly lit white kitchen.
"Faiga, must you always do that every time you see me?" asked Elliot in a voice that was low pitched for his age. "I mean it's not as if we don't live in the same house."
"That doesn't matter to me, Elliot," said a robust brown haired girl, finally releasing him from her grasp. "We're family and I just like to put smiles on people's faces."
She beamed up at him. Although being only twelve, at 5'4, Faiga was only an inch and a half shorter than him, a realization that sometimes made Elliot uncomfortable. She had a nose bridge that was not as high as his and brownish hazel eyes. She was wearing blue jeans with a dark violet blouse.
"Dad just called," said Faiga, walking over to the counter, opening it, and pulling out a box of white cake mix. "He says he'll be home late because he's accompanying mom. She's having her wisdom teeth removed."
Faiga dashed across the kitchen and preset the oven.
"I can't believe mom didn't have them removed ages ago," said Elliot, walking to the cabinet, pulling out a glass, and turning on the water filter. "Oh, well, I guess this means that Ryan, Jill and Lisa can't come over tonight." He took a sip from the glass.
"Incorrect, big bro. No boys. That's what dad and mom say. I can't have any boys over when they're not home," explained Faiga, gleefully pouring the cake mix into a large plastic bowel.
Elliot frowned, placed his glass on the marble countertop, and folded his arms.
"Faiga, can you please make sure that your little friends keep quiet while I'm playing Fantasy Lotus, tonight?" asked Elliot. "It's Friday and I've completed all my homework ahead of time so that from 5:00 p.m. tonight until the end of this weekend, I can spend my time doing what I want." Elliot chuckled. "After all, the Grand tournament between the elite level players has finally arrived and I can't wait to crush my competition."
"Elliot?" said Faiga while vigorously beating the cake mix.
"Yeah."
"I don't want to seem like I'm prying but, there is more to life then simply playing video games and watching television." She paused before continuing.
"I think you should spend more time in the real world than in the imaginary world," continued Faiga cautiously.
Elliot responded by walking up to his sister and gently petting her on her head, crafting a fake smile to which Faiga rolled her eyes, responding with an even faker smile, before putting on oven mittens and placing the mixed batter into the oven.
The two didn't talk after that as Faiga went into the living room, no doubt, to practice playing the violin before the arrival of her friends, and Elliot filled his stomach with a pack of instant ramen before leaving through the front door and putting on his mp3 headphones. It was around 4:30 p.m. and many neighborhood youths could be seen out and about, either riding scooters, holding hands as couples, or getting themselves speeding tickets from zooming through Rhodesia Paradies with their 50,000 dollar cars, while the older neighborhood individuals walked their perfectly groomed dogs and checked their mailboxes. Laborers from different companies could be seen placing their cards in people's doors and performing outside work. Elliot allowed the warmth of the sun to soak his face, a light breeze riffling his hair as he enjoyed Mozart's Don Giovanni. He continued down the sidewalk perpendicular to his house, taking out his headphones to untangle the cord while thinking of visiting the 7-eleven in order to replenish his stock of energy drinks. He really didn't plan on sleeping during is gaming binge. He saw a group of three youths approaching, heading towards him in the opposite direction. Two were very large blonde muscular boys, both wearing white sleeveless shirts and kaki shorts and sandals. Each was a couple inches over six feet while a slightly shorter dark haired girl in extremely tight shorts and a black belly shirt accompanied them. Elliot averted his gaze from the group. This was a habitual gesture as he had long believed that most people close to his age did not yet have the intellectual capacities to warrant his time. The group, however, seemed to find him amusing as they started giggling provocatively to which Elliot simply ignored.
"Bro, do you even lift? You look like a stick man," one of the boys smugly blurted out, looking down at his own massive biceps. "Seriously, dude."
Elliot halted where he was, looking icily at the boy.
"Do I lift? Lift what? My IQ has already been tested at genius level," responded Elliot, annoyed at the boy's insult. "Perhaps actually picking up a book might lift your IQ but, I'm probably being too generous."
The other two gasped in shoc
k, looking at their friend, apparently anticipating his response as the boy immediately broke from the group, walking briskly and aggressively towards Elliot, incensed at his taunts.
"That's right. It makes perfect sense to start a fight with me in front of the entire neighborhood," said Elliot, raising his hands to gesture at the surrounding people.
The boy stopped in his tracks, glaring at Elliot, his nostrils flared and his face red from rage.
"You little punk, I better not see you around here again or I'm going to kick your butt!" yelled the boy. "Come on, let's leave this loser alone."
The trio then left.
Elliot finished detangling his headphones, placed them back in his ears, and began listening to Mozart's Symphony No. 40 until he arrived at the corner that led out of Rhodesia Paradies and onto a rather busy intersection. Like always, the commuters were especially impatient and chaotic as it was rush hour and most were frantic from job stress. Nevertheless, Elliot made his way to a 7-eleven outside where two men were begging ingoing and outgoing store customers for money. As he approached he saw a younger Latino man wearing a tattered jacket and torn faded jeans come up to him and start speaking in Spanish.
"Usted me puede dar alto de dinero," said the man with a humbled expression on his face, holding out a pair of heavily calloused hands.
Elliot pulled out a leather wallet, giving the man two five dollar bills, and then turned quickly away. He continued through the store doors, glad to see only a few other customers waiting at the checkout. The coming moments were accompanied by several loud noises not unlike the pounding of large rocks. There was a rapid cracking of glass, and the echo of many cans, condiments, and other store merchandise hitting the floor at great force. This was followed by the panicked screaming and cursing of the store inhabitants, but Elliot was only aware of this disorder for a split second as he soon completely lost consciousness.
Elliot found himself sitting on his bed back in his room, staring at his flat screen television, blissfully admiring the graphics of the landscape and characters of Fantasy Lotus. However, there was something that wasn't quite right with the ambiance as he soon saw little greenish creatures begin to spawn out of the checkered patterns on his blanket. They had beady black lifeless eyes with lumpy fat bodies and grotesquely thin limbs, their clawed hands clasped around tiny wooden spears. They looked just like the soul eating trolls(SET for short) in the latest expansion set of Fantasy Lotus.
"Hey, what crafty little devils, you are!" said Elliot, amused at the bizarre spectacle. "However, you are no match for Rosewielder, the quick sword wielding princess of the Earth Nation!" He playfully jumped up from his troll infested bed and gazed over at the television. "Yes, these are the powers of a Grandmaster Swordsman!" laughed Elliot proudly as a pair of snow white arms began to slowly sank out of the television screen.
These arms were followed by a head covered in flowing glistening strands of pinkish hair. Soon an athletic looking and very beautiful female figure was gathering herself before his eyes. When she had finally stood up, Elliot noticed that she was much taller than him, and her face did not look completely human as her piercing violet eyes were slightly larger than normal. Her aesthetic features were a combination of very high cheek bones, pinkish full lips and unblemished skin with long pointy ears. She was inhumanly perfect, a flawless representation of the character, the avatar he used, from the Fantasy Lotus video game, Rosewielder. She was wearing a baby blue dress with black tights that covered long toned legs adorned with shining hazel boots. Her hands, which were complemented with neon green nails, were clenched around a grayish sword from which a whitish blue luminescence emanated from.
"Soul sucking trolls, begone!" yelled Rosewielder in a pleasant, but fierce voice, pushing Elliot aside with her arm before raising up her sword and swinging it towards his troll-ridden bed.
Immediately, the strange light that resonated from her weapon found its way to the unsightly group of creatures, and in an instant, their bodies turned into mere fiery outlines before disintegrating into sparkling reddish lights.
"Serves them right. All evil must yield to the power of good," said Rosewielder confidently, placing her sword in a brownish sword sheath.
"I agree. Only the strong and clever can survive!" yelled Elliot before walking over to his window and jumping out.
"Wow, I can fly! I can fly!"
Elliot found himself soaring above Rhodesia Paradies, a feeling of total bliss overflowing every iota of his existence. He continued to go higher and higher so that, soon, the houses of not only his own neighborhood, but all of California, and then the United States, were nothing but little dots in the blue vastness of the earth. Elliot wished he could savor this moment forever but an intuitive feeling of utter dismay began to overwhelm him. It was a feeling not unlike what a young child experiences when their parents tell them they have to leave the candy store. Everything turned to a state of utter blackness and silence for a small window of time until...
He felt a searing pain in the center of his head that was accompanied by the loud voices of several people calling his name. He opened his heavy eyelids to find himself lying on what seemed like a hospital bed, surrounded by Faiga, his mother, and his father.
"My son! He's awake. He is alive!" screamed his father as a man with graying black hair and thin black eyes just above half-moon shaped bags gently placed his hands on the sides of Elliot's head, kissing his forehead.
"I don't understand. What happened to me?" asked Elliot, puzzled and groggy.
"You were involved in a car accident at the 7-elven off of Riverdale Road," answered Faiga, wiping tears away from her eyes which were now red. "They said an inexperienced driver crashed into the store, but you were the only one who was really hurt. Luckily, the store acted as a buffer for the crash."
"Thank heve yosafe, honey," muttered a flame-haired blue eyed woman, her cheeks swollen and wet with tears as she sniffed continuously, holding a tissue up to her moist flushed nose.
This was Elliot's mother whom had not yet recovered from her wisdom teeth removal surgery.
There was a sudden knock on the hospital door, and a short balding man walked in, adjusting his glasses, and closing the door behind him with a click.
"Hello, It's Dr. Johnson, again," said the man. "It seems that his condition has improved. This is a good sign because the tests we've run indicate that your son has had a minor concussion," continued the man, clasping his hands and holding them close to his white coat as he turned towards Elliot's parents. "For this type of injury, we usually recommend a decrease in physical exertion and limiting mental stress from school and other activities. It's vital that he uses this weekend to rest and recuperate from this injury, but I think it should be okay for him to return home," Dr. Johnson continued as Mr and Mrs. Clementine nodded. "If pain persists after a couple of days then you can give us a call and we'll prescribe him some medication to help alleviate the discomfort. Hang in there, buddy," he said, turning to Elliot. "I hope everything goes well with you all."
The doctor then left the family alone once more.
Elliot languidly slid off of the bed, and after gathering themselves together, the Clementines left the hospital.
During the trip home, Elliot kept an ice pack covered in a towel up against his head which mollified the pain to a significant degree. He tuned out the faint sound of the car as it navigated through the hustle and bustle of traffic and the daily discussions between his mother and father about work, family, and other mundane affairs, noticing Faiga looking worriedly over at him.
"Are you still in a lot of pain?" questioned Faiga.
"No, I'm just thinking about something."
"What's on your mind?"
"Just some strange dream I had when I was out cold," answered Elliot, turning his head away from Faiga.
"Well, you were out for a good hour or two," said Faiga.
"Maybe it was the concussion that caused the bad dreams but, I think once you get some rest everything should return back to normal."
"You misunderstand. The dream wasn't a bad one at all. It was actually quite enjoyable but, more vivid than anything I've experienced before," said Elliot.
"Were you lucid?" asked Faiga just as they started backing up into the garage.
"Lucid? What do you mean?" he asked as he slammed the car door shut.
"Lucid simply means that you know you're dreaming while you're dreaming," answered Faiga, holding the back door to the kitchen open for him.
"No, I don't believe I was," admitted Elliot.
"I think you might be interested in stuff like that since you're into fantasy worlds and virtual reality," said Faiga. "In a lucid dream you have complete control over your surroundings and can do pretty much anything."
As Faiga continued to elucidate the subject, detailing the meaning of things such as dream characters, dreamscapes, hypnagogic imagery and hallucinations and other terminologies during dinner, she only managed to heighten his insatiable thirst for knowledge on the subject.
Once dinner had ended, he resolved to research lucid dreaming in depth after his weekend of Fantasy Lotus. The pain he'd felt at the hospital had diminished into a dull headache and, so, after a quick shower, Elliot locked himself in his room. After dimming the lights, he turned on his PC6, checking the controller to see that the batteries were charged and his Wi-Fi had a strong connection. He placed the disc into the game slot and waited for it to load up. Immediately, he saw the avatars of three of his closes team members pop up in the upper right hand corner of his television. The avatars all resembled elf-like individuals like Rosewielder. Elliot was part of the international alliance known as the Earth Elves. Fantasy Lotus's popularity made it a game that was revered, the world over. Millions of players in numerous countries formed alliances to fight against each other and enemies controlled by AI.
"Hello, Cody. Long time, no chat," spoke Elliot into a game microphone after plugging his headset into the back of the console.
"Hey, Elliot," responded a nervous voice. "How are you doing, smartypants?"
"I'm fine, and it's true that I'm the smartest of our clique," responded Elliot proudly.
"Smarter than me. No way, man," said another male voice.
"Who's that," asked Cody.
"It's Ezzena," said Elliot. "He's come to join the party."
"Yeah, he's here to help us kick the butts of all the Ice Elves!" yelled a feminine voice. "Abha is in the house."
"And our party is complete!" yelled Ezzena. "Let's start by attacking the rear side of the Ice Elves's Frozen Castle."
"It's possible that we'll run into groups of wanderers who simply want to rack up as many points as possible with easy kills," said Elliot. Are you sure you want to risk it?"
"We can take them, Mr. Grandmaster Swordsman," said Cody.
After the group had all agreed, their avatars spawned in the same grassy plain depicted under a pleasant light pinkish sky and they played through the game by destroying as many types of AI controlled trolls, crimson vampires, minotaurs, golems, and a host of other creatures that had been added to the game over the past four years since its inception. They finally reached the rear position of a shinning dark blue fortress, the Frozen Castle. The group knew this was where the real fight would begin because there were many experienced players guarding the strongholds of their alliance. Human players were nearly always harder to combat against than AIs. As they approached, the gamers controlling the Ice Elf alliance strategized by sending hundreds of arrows towards the Earth Elf alliance which proved quite affective as the opposition had the high ground.
"Damn! Those spamming bastards!" yelled Ezzena.
"It doesn't matter how many Earth Elves they kill. As long as there are more of us in the end we will win," said Elliot as he equipped Rosewielder with an upgraded version of her light sword and proceeded to attack the right flank of the Ice Elves. The battle raged on for so long that Elliot found his eyelids getting heavy as he looked at the alarm clock on his desk that said 3:13 a.m. Elliot was prepared, however, as he simply began gulping down energy drink after energy drink to sustain himself without sleep.
"Hey, guys, I'm signing off for now," said Ezzena's voice about thirty minutes later. "I'm tired as crap."
"Yeah, me too," Abha said impatiently, giving Elliot the distinct impression that she'd been waiting for someone else to quit so she wouldn't feel ashamed for being the first to do so. "I'm done."
The Earth Elf alliance began to get the upper hand as new players logged in while others logged out over the course of about two more hours. "Hey, Elliot, I'm out for now," said Cody's voice. "See you later, buddy."
"Peace out," responded Elliot indifferently just as there was a knock at his bedroom door.
"What? Come on. Not now," said Elliot, irritably.
"Elliot, this is your mother. Open up, please. I want to see how you're doing."
"I'm fine, mom."
"I want to be certain. Please open your door, Elliot," said his mother.
Elliot paused the game and, with a huge sigh, walked over to the door, unlocking it.
His mother looked at him, her cheeks still slightly swollen from her surgery. A small frown line formed under her lips. She glanced over at his PC6. She pursed her lips.
"Elliot, you're suppose to be taking it easy. I don't believe staying up all night, playing video games, is what Doctor Johnson meant when he told you to get some proper rest."
"I feel fine, mom," argued Elliot. "My headache is completely gone. Why do you think I haven't slept?"
"Well, for one, your eyes are quite red with huge bags under them. That goes without mentioning the empty energy drinks laying around your PC6," she answered, her tone serious. "I insist that you turn off your PC6 and get some sleep," she said, affectionately placing her hand on his cheek.
"Okay, mom," he said reluctantly.
After his mother had left, Elliot grudgingly turned off his PC6, laid down in his bed, and placed the covers over himself, and after a few minutes, slipped soundly from consciousness.
Elliot awoke, feeling invigorated, and looked over at his alarm clock. He stared at the screen for much longer than usual before realizing that no matter how long he studied it, he could not determine the time as the numbers or letters or whatever the symbols were, kept changing, dancing around conspicuously.
"Oh, well," said Elliot as he hopped out of bed and opened his door to the hall. As he traveled down the hall by the paintings, he noticed that in one ancient Chinese painting a group of women who were normally depicted playing flutes could now be seen making unpleasant faces and pointing their instruments accusingly at him. Elliot responded by swiping the painting from the wall.
"Hahaha," laughed Elliot. "People can never just leave me alone. The stupid women in that painting have always made fun of me."
Elliot continued down the hall and had nearly reached the banister which led downstairs when an object in his peripheral vision suddenly caught his attention. It was a copper skinned European dragon, its shinning eyes of crimson glaring coldly straight into his own from within a wooden picture frame.
"You dumb dragon! You want a piece of me?!" bellowed Elliot, swinging at the frame, but, no matter how much he swatted, it seemed to bend unnaturally and unexplainably around his hands until, finally, the creature abruptly started to morph so that it was 3-dimensional as it crawled out of its frame. "What the heck is going on!"
Elliot tried screaming, but his fear spiked as he realized he could not hear his own voice, and he felt a unbelievably powerful force enclose upon him.
He'd never felt so powerless, realizing that the spiteful creature was literally attempting to crush the life out of him with its tail coiled around him. However, a peculiar realization began to fill Elliot as he lay there.
Despite being in the grips of his foe, he felt absolutely no pain. He then remembered how he was unable to read the alarm clock and thought about how utterly bizarre his current predicament was.
"This is a dream. Isn't it?" said Elliot. "That makes a lot of sense. You are a part of my imagination, aren't you? You are a dream character."
"What! No, I'm not!" roared the dragon uncomfortably, sticking out its thin slimy tongue. "I'm a real dragon! Hear me roar!"
The dragon then let out an enormous roar, but Elliot was unfazed. Elliot focused on clearing his mind and closed his eyes, thinking about the tune of Mozart's Don Giovani until the music reverberated throughout the hallway every time the dragon opened its mouth to roar.
"What's going on? What did you do to my beautiful voice?" asked the dragon in a timid voice.
"I am the dreamer and, therefore, I should be able to control everything. We are in my imagination after all," said Elliot. "Now, I will close my eyes, turn around three times, and you will be gone, Mr. Dragon."
Elliot was true to his words and his presumption was correct for when he next opened his eyes he found a field with familiar tall grasses underneath a sublime pinkish sky materialize before him. He was in a perfect representation of the landscape in Fantasy Lotus. He looked around at the terrain, taking a deep breath, allowing the glory of his own imagination to disperse through every fiber of his being. Elliot curiously began walking down a thin path composed of small pebbles that shimmered and sparkled with the likeness of diamonds. The path cut through the surrounding grass and he blissfully glanced up at a group of trees whose leaves were shinning emerald, their sheer magnificence something that he'd never seen in waking life. Elliot traveled through the Fantasy Lotus wilderness for what seemed like hours, bending down and placing gems which he found exceptionally attractive in his pockets before coming to a large forest.
"This is the Forest of the Forsaken," said Elliot. "I learned from the first expansion set that the Crimson Vampires attack your avatar every time you set foot in this forest. Nope, I think I'll take a detour around," said Elliot, haphazardly turning around to see how far he'd traveled. "Oh, crap!" yelled Elliot a moment later as the entire world around him warped so that it was completely unrecognizable to his previous location.
The new dreamscape was much darker than previously, and it was accompanied by about twenty or so humanoid figures moving oddly, their bodies in bizarre poses amongst the noticeably shorter grass. He was surrounded on all sides by large mossy trees with branches moving around like bony fingers on giant hands. An uneasy feeling slowly took hold of Elliot as he realized the figures before him, after they were done morphing, began to resemble the Crimson Vampires in the flesh. Soon, many extremely tall, pale, crimson eyed vampires, robed in loose fitting cloaks of all black, were staring in his direction and swiftly moving towards him.
"Wait, don't panic. I am the dreamer and so I am a god in this world. They cannot harm me," said Elliot. "Faiga said that I should be able to do anything in a lucid dream. I guess that would include making a sword that cuts through anything. I just need to focus." Elliot tried concentrating on the idea of a sword. "Okay, when I look down at my hand I will have a sword," said Elliot.
He had his doubts but hesitantly peaked down at his hand, groaning, seeing no sword. He felt an enormous force push him back and, as he looked up, he saw a harsh looking silver haired vampire slashing at him with bony hands. His nails were as long and sharp as knives.
"It's time for me to fly away from this mess," said Elliot as he tried focusing on the idea of flying but couldn't seem to concentrate due to the stress.
He felt himself elevate slightly from the landscape but, before he could get a mere five feet in the air, two youthful looking vampires, a young male and female, grabbed hold of his feet, pulling him back down to the ground. The pair would not let go, and the vampire who'd attacked him earlier folded his hands behind his back, walking over to him as Elliot felt both of his arms be bounded by the other members of the group so that he lay on the ground, unable to move.
"What are you going to do, Grandmaster Swordsman?" he asked, kneeling beside Elliot and surveying him with his unnerving red eyes.
"I'm going to wake up," said Elliot.
The affect of these words was profound, an expression of sheer terror spreading across the Vampire's face. The two vampires holding him released him at once.
"That's simply preposterous. You are nuts. Do you think this is a dream or something?" asked the vampire, quickly recovering.
"Yes, this is a dream. Crimson Vampires don't exist in the real world," said Elliot with a laugh, trying to buy some time.
"I assure you this is no dream!" roared the vampire furiously.
"If that is the case then why um… why…," started Elliot slowly.
"Why what?! Spit it out!"
"Why do you have no legs?" asked Elliot.
The vampire sported a perplexed expression before finally looking down at his legs which began morphing into a blue unicycle, but what baffled Elliot most was what he said next.
"Well, that sometimes happens here. There is nothing wrong with this," explained the vampire, his tone unconvincing and deceptive as he began rolling around on his newly designed lower torso.
"You're saying it's normal for Crimson Vampire's legs to turn into wheels?" questioned Elliot humorously.
"If that's how the dream is suppose to go," respond the vampire.
"Aha, so, you admit that this is a dream and you're just a part of my imagination!" exclaimed Elliot.
"No, we're the dreamers. You're a part of our imagination," said the vampire nervously.
"No, you don't get it," said Elliot. "You are a dream character and I am the dreamer. I am a high school student from HighPrince High School in Los Angeles, California. I am dreaming lucidly right now, and that's how I know that this is a dream and you aren't real."
"Well, I am Zenthar, and I am a Crimson Vampire from the Vampire domain of Narusultara on the westernmost side of the Emerald Sea," responded the vampire proudly.
Elliot chuckled. "That is nonsense. That's just a whole bunch of information from the back of the tutorial booklet for Fantasy Lotus. The only reason you're saying that is because I read all the tutorials for each of the expansion sets. I thought the game developers made wicked stories. You just took that stuff from my subconscious."
"That's untrue. We are as real as you, Elliot Clementine," Zenthar responded after a long pause.
"I've had enough of this. I'm going to wake up. I'll close my dream eyes and when I open them you all will be gone," said Elliot.
"No! Please don't kill us! We beg you, Elliot Clementine!" bellowed Zenthar in terror.
Nevertheless, Elliot closed his eyes, thinking of only blackness and, before long, a strange falling sensation took over him before he found himself squinting his eyes against the sunlight coming through his bedroom window. He pulled off the blanket before taking a deep yawn, and stretching out his arms, eventually jumping out of bed. He looked over at his alarm clock on his desk and saw that it clearly read 11:30 a.m. which he took to mean that he was no longer dreaming. Feeling hungry, Elliot began readying himself for the shower when he was startled by a faint noise not unlike the clunking of rocks. Bewildered, he looked down at his stripped pajama pants, noting how he had never used his pajama pockets for anything. He clenched his hands around his pajama pocket and what he felt made his heart feel like it was going to jump out of his chest. His fingers were disturbing what felt like many small hard objects. Elliot clasped his shaking hands against his mouth, his stomach suddenly feeling like it was full of worms. Trembling, he slowly placed his right hand into his pajama pocket, pinched his fingers around a hard object and removed what looked like a perfect replica of the sapphire colored pebble he'd picked up in his dream about Fantasy Lotus.
How could this be! Is this normal for l
ucid dreaming? No, it can't be. This is impossible! Impossible! Faiga never said anything about bringing back stuff from my dreams. Wait. Yes, that is it! I'm dreaming right now. It's just a very vivid dream.
Elliot pinched his arm and felt a very real pain. He then whipped open his door, dashed out into the hallway, and studied the paintings on the wall. All of which behaved as mundanely as any paint on canvas would, remaining still and silent.
"So, this is what lucidity really is," said Elliot.
Chapter 2: The Stuff of Nightmares
The weekend at the Clementine household passed by with relative swiftness as the melodies of classical music sounded frequently, Faiga and her friends, Ryan, Jill and Lisa practicing fine tuning their skills with their musical instruments. Elliot's father remained mostly in his private study area for he was bombarded with phone calls from his subordinates regarding upcoming operations. His mother spent the better part of the days rummaging through huge stacks of papers and communicating with a long list of clients for her law firm. However, there was a strange phenomenon that existed which went nearly unnoticed.
"Elliot, whenever we're over here, you're usually in your room playing video games," said a tall black boy with cornrowed hair and black spectacles as he rubbed a cloth against a small violin. "It's cool to see you out and about."
This was Ryan, one of Faiga's fellow music club members who was slightly closer to her than a mere friend.
"I've been thinking about things. I want to do a little good in the world. However, I doubt that any of you would understand since you're just kids," responded Elliot, watching Faiga and two attractive Asian girls, his sister's friends, Jill and Lisa.
Both of them were wearing black orchestra clothes with red scarves. They were sitting on a large leather couch, apparently halfway done packing up their instruments. One of the girls immediately shot to her feet and stormed over to Elliot, putting her finger in his face, her shinning black eyes glaring into his own underneath thin eyebrows. This was Jill. She had long since had a strong resentment towards Elliot. The feeling was mutual.
"You always think you're so much smarter and better than everyone else," she snapped. "What gives you the right to think you are above everyone?"
"Because I am older than you all and I have more power," answered Elliot bluntly.
"Dude, I don't mean to be a jerk, but you come off as extremely arrogant," said Ryan, placing his violin back into its case.
"I agree with Ryan. What power do you have? You technically aren't even an adult," said Jill questioningly.
"I am a genius," answered Elliot, savoring the implications of his newfound powers.
Jill sighed and rolled her eyes before turning on her heel and returning to the couch to continue packing up her instruments along with Faiga and Lisa.
After Faiga's friends had left, Elliot grabbed himself a pack of dinner mints and flipped on the television, sinking comfortably into a brown leather armchair. He studied the news, keeping a keener ear to the ills rather than the blessings of the world whether they were ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and surges in violent crime rates or widening gaps between the rich and poor.
"Elliot, I really think you should be more sensitive," said Faiga after exiting the kitchen with a modest plate of General Tso's chicken and Lo mien noodles in one hand and a glass of soda pop in the other. "I mean-" she started while taking a seat at the dining room table, but Elliot cut her off by holding up his hand.
I've had an epiphany. I will use my powers to better this world. I will give to the poor and aid to the sick. I know there's a way if I develop my skills in lucid dreaming to their ultimate potential. Anything this world needs, I will be able to take from my dreams. I will contact other lucid dreamers and we will make this world a better place for everyone. Surely, there are other geniuses out there who've developed their abilities to the same level that I have.
"Elliot, are you alright?" asked Faiga, worriedly.
"Huh, what?" said Elliot. "Yes, I'm fine."
"It looked like you were daydreaming."
"I was just thinking about something," responded Elliot.
"May I ask what?" said Faiga.
"It was about how Jill is such a jerk to me," answered Elliot, standing up.
"Well, I guess you two will never get along. Maybe it's because you both have such strong personalities that you always end up clashing."
Faiga shrugged her shoulders before using chopsticks to put a coil of noodles in her mouth.
"I'm going to freshen up on my AP Biology. Tomorrow is a school day," said Elliot, walking towards the stairs.
It is time. I want to see the capabilities of other lucid dreamers so I can decide if they are worthy to be led by me, the dream savior, to make this world a better place for humanity. I've always felt that the people who have power must use it to help others. I will open the doors to paradise!
Elliot reached his room and the door clicked as it closed behind him. He eagerly walked over to his desk, pulling a black laptop computer from a large slot below and turned it on. He quickly typed in www.LucidityParadise.com, causing a chat room to pop up on the screen. Faiga had told Elliot about the website after he'd expressed interest in lucid dreaming and he'd been using tips from the website to increase his lucid awareness in dreams as well as prolonging his dreams over the pass couple of days. He finally decided it was time to reach out to others.
His fingers tapped the mouse as he scrolled down, looking for any intriguing stories until he reached a discussion dealing with controlling dream objects and characters.
"One time I turned a dog into my ex-girlfriend. lol," wrote someone with the screen name Joe25. "I noticed how my dream characters did everything to convince me that it wasn't a dream."
"Well, I think they simply do anything to get the dreamer not to wake up because they cease to be when the dreamer awakens," typed Phantom@candy. "It's kind of sad really."
Elliot hesitated before positioning his fingers on the laptop buttons.
"Hello, fellow lucid dreamers. I'm Elliot. What has been your strangest experience after waking up from a lucid dream?" typed Elliot.
"Well, one time I had a mad vivid hallucination of an old hag woman," typed Joe25. "It was creepy as crap."
"Those are hypnogogic hallucinations," typed someone with the screen name Lin007.
"Correct," typed Elliot. "However, I was wondering how real did your hallucinations seem, Joe25?"
"It was mad vivid, bro, but it faded away eventually. They aren't real, just fake images and stuff like that. It's so cool how our imaginations play tricks on us," typed Joey25.
"Yeah, it's crazy how strong your mind can be," typed Lin007.
"What if I said that I could take objects out of my dreams?" typed Elliot. "What if I could bring them into the real world?"
"I'd say that you've gone mad," typed Lin007. "Dreams are just chemical interactions inside your brain. It's all inside your head."
"Yes, Lin's right. There is nothing physical to take out of your dreams. It's just a paradise inside your mind, bro," typed Joe25. "Are you sure you're not hallucinating?"
Elliot felt his stomach sink. Could the pebbles he'd brought back from his dream have been merely elaborate hallucinations, a sign that he was going mad? No, they simply seemed too real.
He opened up a drawer and removed a small white bag, and sure enough, he allowed a grand emerald stone to slide into his palm, its glint just as elegant as it had been in his dream.
"I swear to you all that I'm holding a bunch of rocks that I took out of my dream," he typed after putting down the stones.
"Your claim reminds me of these people from myth and folklore. I think they were called the conjurers. Supposedly, they summoned objects and spirit creatures from other worlds. Eccentrics believe that all the creatures from legends and even the gods
and goddesses of different cultures were summoned into our world by the conjurers. They say the first conjurer was from Tibet. However, I've never seen any conjurer just as I've never seen the tooth fairy," typed Lin007. "It's like the loch ness monster and Santa Claus, all a bunch of hooey, if you ask me."
"What if it's real?" typed Elliot. What if I am a conjurer?"
"You'd be a god, bro. Just think about it," typed Joey25. "You could conjure up money, hot babes, and badass sport cars."
"That's, of course, if what he says is true which is hard to believe at best," typed Lin007. "I mean, this is a lucid dreaming chatroom. Having super powers in your dreams is one thing but it's impossible in real life."
"I agree with Lin," typed Phantom@candy. "If the conjurers exist they must keep low profiles. It's not like I've seen dragons flying over my house. It's nice to fantasize about things but we're in the real world. The only thing I have to worry about is my boss if I'm late for work again this week."
Elliot leaned back in his chair, calmly crossing his arms, pondering his own predicament in silence for a few moments, before exiting the website.
My abilities exceed those of other lucid dreamers who cannot bring things from their imaginations into the real world. Perhaps these conjurers are the ones I need to seek out. However, I agree that I should take measures to ensure that I'm not delusional. I merely have to prove that others can also see the stuff that come from my dreams.
Deciding he'd better prepare himself for his AP chemistry test, Elliot shut down his laptop and retrieved his backpack, plopping open a thick book, and began balancing a large set of chemistry equations. After reading up on his other AP classes including History, Biology, Calculus, Japanese and English, Elliot finally slipped into his pajamas before dimming his light and climbing into bed. He fell asleep after a brief time. For much of his slumber, Elliot's mind remained close to blank before it found itself contemplating one thing, bugs. Elliot had always been horrified by insects of all shapes and sizes and, so, his fear prevented lucidity.
"Help! Get away from me!" roared Elliot as he ran down a white hall which constantly distorted itself so that no matter how far he ran he could not reach the end of it. Terrified, he watched as a stinkbug the size of a lion crawled towards him.
"I need… I need… Rosewielder!" yelled Elliot desperately.
The stinkbug stopped in its track as a bizarre looking humanoid object began morphing out of the space between them.
"Grandmaster Swordsman," said a voice, that Elliot recognized as Roswielder's, though it was muffled and faint. "Grandmaster Swordsman, you rapscallion, you botched my summoning spell, but no matter. Take my sword and vanquish that beast," said the disfigured object between Elliot and the massive arthropod before throwing a sword towards him which he caught.
Nevertheless, Elliot saw the stinkbug crawl around the disfigured Rosewielder and inch closer to him. He gave two large swings, but, just as he readied himself to take another crack at the antennae that had coiled around his leg, the dreamscape vanished, a familiar falling sensation swept over him, and he found himself laying on his bed. But something was acutely wrong. Elliot and the stinkbug were still locked together in combat as the pressure of its antennae on his leg tightened so much that it hurt.
"This has to be a false awakening!" said Elliot angrily, slicing off the stinkbug's antennae and jumping off his bed.
He looked over at his alarm clock and felt like vomiting as the time clearly read 6:00 a.m.
"This is not happening! This can't be real! Surely, It's just a dream!" yelled Elliot as he charged the stink bug, wrestling it to the ground before raising his sword up to deliver what he hoped would be the final blow, but before he could administer it, he was pushed off by one of the creature's powerful legs.
Think! I don't have to defeat the thing ,but, I have to get it out of here! If mom and dad wake up then I'm done for!
Elliot's eyes scanned his bedroom and stopped at a small cactus plant in a clay pot which sat atop a low sitting metallic stand in the corner by the window. He dashed over to it, snatching it up.
"You want some of this?" he said tauntingly, waving the plant at the giant insect. "It's yummy and tasty."
It followed the plant with its one remaining antennae and Elliot ran over to the window, hoisted it open, and chucked the cactus as far as he could. The stink bug crawled through the window with surprising speed, and Elliot caught a last glimpse as it flapped its wings, flaunting its five foot wingspan, as it flew off into the distance, disappearing into the darkened sky. Elliot promptly shut the window and made his way to his bed, wiping the sweat off his face before realizing that he was still holding onto Rosewielder's sword.
"So, this is what dreams are made of?" he said aloud to himself, bending down and placing the sword beneath his bed. "Was that a…spirit?"
Breathing heavily, he grabbed the bottom of his pajama leg, lifted it up, and saw a reddish mark right were the stink bug's antennae had grabbed him. He took a good five minutes to compose himself before commencing with his morning routine, showering, brushing his teeth, and tying back his hair in a ponytail before going down for breakfast. He spotted his mother busily putting the finishing touches on the breakfast table, placing a white porcelain plate filled with toast on the marble table.
"Did you enjoy your weekend, Elliot?" asked his mother as he spread butter over his toast, her blue eyes intently inspecting him up and down. "You don't still feel any pain, do you?"
"No, I'm fine, mom," said Elliot as Faiga came briskly down the stairs in a bluish school girl uniform.
"Hi, mom. Hi Elliot," said Faiga, reaching for a bowl of white rice.
"Hello, honey," said his mother.
"Good morning, Faiga," responded Elliot.
"Your dad had to leave early, I'm afraid. He had to attend a big conference for work," said Mrs. Clementine.
"They sure are working dad a lot," said Faiga, playfully fiddling with a pair of chopsticks.
"Yes, I know honey, but his paid vacation starts in August," said Mrs. Clementine.
She turned to Elliot.
"I'm going to drive Faiga to school. Are you going to take the corvette?" asked his mother as she applied lipstick and checked to see that there were no wrinkles in the olive work skirt she wore.
"Yeah, I might as well. I need to practice my driving," said Elliot before gulping down the last of a glass of orange juice.
After finishing breakfast, Elliot ensured he had all of his items for school, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and pocketing is mp3, before leaving the house. He used the time he spent driving to school to anticipate the questions for his AP Chemistry test and refine what he was going to say in his scheduled presentation for his AP History class. After about twelve minutes, Elliot drove into the parking lot of High Prince High School. The building was large, even for a school, crafted with immaculate white bricks, and stood behind a neatly cut front lawn where impeccably trimmed bushes grew nearby. The name of the school was in huge golden letters on a sign that stood about fifteen feet in the air. After two minutes of constantly putting his foot on the break, stopping for passing fellow students, Elliot finally managed to find a space. He then embarked to his first class through the front doors, placing his earpieces in his ears as he dodged dozens of other students, all wearing khaki pants and dark blue shirts. Today was an A school day which meant that he'd be attending his AP chemistry class first, followed by History, PE, and lastly, English. The remainder of his class subjects were reserved for B days because the A day and B day pattern alternated based on the days of the week. Elliot traveled down a bustling hall, turning up the volume on his mp3 in order to drown out the hubbub of the other students as they congregated in their cliques. Some discussed the latest fashion trends and famous young heartthrobs while others talked about the most up-to-date video games while, still more,(mostly girls) excit
edly and audibly expressed their infatuation for the latest vampire series which were becoming quite trendy at the moment. After Elliot had made his way up about two flights of stairs he felt a light tap on his shoulder and turned to see an extremely lanky brownish wavy haired boy with hazel eyes, his face peppered with freckles. This was Cody Peterson in the flesh. He was a long time friend and fellow gamer who'd earned himself a reputation for his frequent chatter about extraterrestrials.
"Hey, Elliot, how is it going? Is your PC6 broken or something? Want me to fix it for you? You haven't logged on in two days?" he started in a speedy nervous voice.
"No, it's not broken. I just had other things on my mind."
"Like what? You can tell me, buddy," said Cody in an almost desperate manner as they finally reached their lockers.
"I've been thinking about bettering the world."
"Do you mean like community service?" asked Cody, turning the combination lock on his locker.
"That's exactly what I mean," said Elliot, placing his backpack on the rack in his locker and shutting it closed.
"What kind of community service do you plan on doing?" asked Cody as the pair began walking towards two metallic double doors in the direction of their first period.
"I can help the sick and give to the less fortunate," answered Elliot as they entered into a brightly lit classroom.
"I hope you go far, buddy, but just to let you know, the Earth Elves are loosing against the Ice Elves. Our team has lost its foothold while attacking the Ice Elves' Frozen Castle," explained Cody, shyly looking down at his fingers. "Ezzena said the Ice Elf alliance has been recruiting gamers from Japan with crazy skills. The game developers are based in Japan. Maybe they have game hackers on their side."
"What! I leave for a few hours and our alliance starts loosing!" said Elliot angrily as a short plump red haired woman, wearing thick rimmed glasses, entered the classroom.
"Hello, boys! In here early, I see. I'm not surprised because you two are exemplary students," she said gregariously.
"Hello, Ms. Rosenberg," said Cody.
"Hi," said Elliot," just as she began writing equations on the chalkboard.
"I know you're a good gamer, but I doubt that we're losing just because you're not there," said Cody, studying a platinum watch on his right wrist. "Anyway, I'm going to do some more review of the equations."
With that, Elliot and Cody ceased their conversation, opened their text books, and began doing some last moment skimming of the pages. The room gradually filled up with students until the ringing of the bell signaled that class had began. Just as planned, Ms. Rosenberg administered a four page test and the room fell silent as they worked their ways through the exam.
"Pencils down," she said when the end of class came. "Okay, don't forget to copy down your homework. Makes sure to read pages 35-45 to be ready for our discussion next class."
"See you around, buddy," said Cody.
"Peace man," said Elliot as the pair parted ways and embarked to their separate classes.
Elliot's heart began pounding as the pores on his palms started to soak into the notebook he was carrying, his legs reluctantly carrying him closer to his AP history class. He'd never liked presenting in front of large crowds, and although, he was confident he knew what he wanted to say, he couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety. With heavy legs, he turned into a room decorated by maps, globes and the faces of historical figures, including all of the U.S. presidents. There was already a significant amount of students inside, and Elliot took a slightly secluded seat near the back of the room away from most of the ruckus.
He'd just opened his notebook when he heard several indistinct high pitch sounds come from two rows of seats ahead of him, causing him to look up and see a girl peering intently in his direction before quickly looking away, apparently embarrassed about being caught. Elliot had never spoken to her but knew that her name was Julie because she frequently raised her hand in class to answer questions. Elliot felt himself blush as he looked down at his notebook without reading anything. Curious, he looked up again to see the same brunette tanned girl, wearing a golden necklace from which both a violet heart-shaped gemstone and a silver locket hung. She blushed in his direction, but this time, her nut brown eyes did not break eye contact until Elliot looked away, retrieving a mechanical pencil from his binder. He was glad when the awkwardness ended as a tall blonde man with male pattern baldness walked into the room, carrying a coffee-colored briefcase. This was Mr. Bennett, an energetic and enthusiastic man, and their teacher.
"Hello, class!" he said loudly. "Ready for presentations?"
A couple of confident students responded while others wore faces that hinted that they had the same feelings Elliot, himself, felt.
"Oh, come on, guys and gals. Presentations are suppose to be fun!" he said just as the bell rang.
Mr. Bennett hastily opened up his briefcase and pulled out a sheet of paper, before using a capped marker to scroll down, what was no doubt, a list for the order of the presentations.
"Elliot Clementine, it looks like you're up first," said Mr. Bennett.
Elliot retrieved his essay from a red folder and walked towards his teacher's desk before handing it to him and facing the class.
"Thank you. So, I want you to just describe your thoughts on the study material," said Mr. Bennett.
Elliot inhaled deeply before exhaling and began.
"Hello, class. I am Elliot and I say that we need to save this world. I know many young people turn a blind eye to beggars and the homeless, but ignoring these problems won't cause them to go away. Those who have power must be proactive in giving. I've also admired the idea of creating sustainable renewable resources. I could explain the affects of global warming to other drivers to increase their awareness. As for the huge mountains of trash in the landfills and the pollution of the oceans, I see that is wasted potential and animal cruelty. I would propose mandatory recycling if it was within my authority to do so."
Elliot continued voicing his opinions about worldly events for nearly eight minutes before Mr. Bennett pointed to his watch, signaling that time was up. After he'd finished, the majority of the class clapped respectfully as he walked to his seat. The remainder of the period consisted of about five other people also doing their presentations, the claps of applause growing less lively as boredom inevitably put its clutches around the students.
"I know that all of you who didn't get to go today feel a little hurt," said Mr. Bennett humorously as the bell rang. "Don't worry. That just means that you're scheduled either for Wednesday or Friday."
Elliot began packing for his next class when he saw someone approach him out of the corner of his eye. He was surprised to see that it was Julie, her eyes beaming from beneath stylish long bangs.
"Cool presentation," she said in an extremely soft voice.
"Uh, thank you."
"Were you nervous?"
"Yes, a little,"
"I agree with what you said about the animals," said Julie. "My great aunt actually takes in homeless dogs and cats."
"That's great," said Elliot as he pointed his body towards the door of the classroom.
"You know, if you feel strongly about recycling then you should join the art club after school," said Julie, her cheeks flushing, her eyes suddenly dashing towards the floor. "We take recycled items and make art out of them."
"That's pretty neat. I'll definitely think about it. I'm kind of busy after school, today, but maybe tomorrow."
"Cool, that would be really great. Guess, I'll see you around," she said coyly.
"Yes, I guess so."
The two parted ways. Elliot hurriedly ran to his PE class, undressing, and getting into a pair of blue nylon shorts and a gray T-shirt before he'd reached the school's gym, panting heavily.
"You're late, Mr. Clementine!" bellowed a massive muscular hook nosed man, his balled head shinn
ing under the fluorescent lighting. "Don't let it happen again!" he said loudly as Elliot got in line with a group of other boys against the gym wall.
"It will not happen again… Mr. Martel sir," muttered Elliot, dreading the pending exercise routines he knew he'd have to endure.
"Laps!" shouted Mr. Martel before blowing a whistle.
The class did as they were told, running a total of five times around the gym until they were then ordered to do a series of exercises, including push-ups, jumping jacks, and sit-ups. They then embarked to the school weight room in which they were required to fill out a log detailing all of the exercises they'd completed using the equipment. Elliot decided to try his hand with fifteen pound dumbbells, lifting it a total of ten times before his arm started tiring.
"Fifteen pounds! Fifteen freaking pounds! You are so weak!" said a well muscled tall boy with short brown hair as he began curling two fifty five pounded weights repetitiously.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I prefer putting my energy into things that actually matter," responded Elliot coldly.
"You look like a girl with that hair of yours and slim jim muscles," said the boy haughtily.
"You look like an ape. What's your point?" responded Elliot sharply.
The boy set the dumbbells down and made to grab Elliot who quickly dodged his advances. The next moment, the boy began swinging his massive arms at Elliot who swiftly dodged every last one until there was a distinct cracking sound followed by a yell of agony.
The boy was on his knees, clutching his fist which had apparently broken when he'd inadvertently punched the concrete wall in his attempt to pound Elliot to a pulp. Elliot stood over the boy and crossed his arms, feeling victorious.
"What in the blue blazes is going on over here?!" asked a deep voice, and sure enough, Mr. Martel came walking briskly towards the scene as onlookers watched in disbelief.
"What is wrong with your hand?" asked Mr. Martel, looking down at the boy.
"Nothing. I'm fine!" said the boy, his face screwed up, obviously trying to hide his pain. "I dropped weight on it. It's nothing."
"You're going to the nurse's office, young man," said Mr. Martel before pulling the boy to his feet. Elliot caught a murderous glimpse from the boy before he was escorted out of the weight room by Mr. Martel.
Due to the incident, Mr. Martel decided to end the class early and the boys exited the weight room.
"Hey, man. What did you do to him?" asked a short boy as they changed back into their school clothes.
"I outsmarted him. Bozos like him are no match against my cleverness, regardless of how big their muscles are."
"You're cool for standing up to Jason but that way of thinking is dangerous, man," said the boy. "If its one thing my dad has drilled into my head it's that there is always someone that is bigger and badder than you."
"Thanks for the look out," said Elliot dismissively before leaving.
Elliot's last class of the day, AP English, was uneventful as any other day, the students endeavoring to keep themselves awake as a thin frail looking older woman, Mrs. Langway, paced back and forth with a wooden cane while going over literary techniques and their definitions. After completing a packet of work handed out during the last twenty minutes of class, the bell rang, announcing the end of the school day.
Once he retrieved his backpack and the books for his B day schedule of classes, Elliot quickly hopped in his corvette and began his way back home. He turned the radio volume up which was already on the classical music station, currently playing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Upon turning onto Autumn Street, he opened the sunroof, allowing his hair to dance in the breeze, but this only lasted a short while as he approached Riverdale Road and saw that the traffic was nearly at a standstill. However, what was most peculiar wasn't the traffic, but an unpleasant odor that seemed to radiate from every direction. Attempting to alleviate the foul smell, Elliot turned on his car air conditioner before opening up the glove department and pulling out a wisteria scented air freshener. He hastily sprayed it through the car. His efforts proved mostly futile as the resulting odor turned into a deplorable concoction of the two scents.
"Come on," said Elliot, irritably as other drivers began honking their horns impatiently.
It took a good five minutes before the traffic finally started to budge, and after about another minute or so, he was able to move quicker than a snail's paste.
"Finally!" he said as he passed Riverdale Road, but not before noticing that the adjacent street, Turnpike Avenue, was occupied by five or so police cars. About two dozen cops were standing near a large group of road blocks.
Elliot was unsurprised because accidents were common near that particular intersection and, once the traffic gradually thinned out, he sped home, relieved that the awful stench had subsided substantially. After parking his car in the garage, he went through the kitchen back door and hungrily prepared himself a hefty portion of ramen. After filling his belly he went to his room, sat down at his desk, and flipped open his Japanese study book, commencing with his homework. He translated English sentences into kanji, stopping to say the words aloud every so often to better his fluency. He did this for about twenty minutes before moving onto his next subject, AP Calculus. He began working on a set of parametric equations, stopping to push out more led from his mechanical pencil every so often. He worked in relative silence save for the pleasant chirping of the birds outside his window for about another half hour before retrieving his musical notebook. Elliot cracked his neck and was just about to open the notebook when a series of loud knocks sounded from behind his door. He sighed before getting to his feet, but jumped when Faiga's voice spoke loudly from the other side.
"Elliot, have you seen the news?! Are you in there?! You just have to come see this!" she shouted ecstatically.
"What is it?" asked Elliot after whipping open the door.
Faiga wrapped her arms around him affectionately. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she yelled.
"What's going--," Elliot started before Faiga took him by the arm and quickly led him downstairs and into the living room.
"Faiga, will you please tell me what's going on?" asked Elliot.
"Look!" she screamed, pointing at the television.
"Elliot's felt his legs turn to jelly as he read the news headline and stared at the footage like a doe in the headlights.
The headline read Giant Stinkbug Terrorizes Neighborhood in Franklin County! The footage depicted what appeared to be a standoff between twenty or so cops and a comparatively larger six legged object. The sound of gunshots was clearly audible on the footage as well as the voices of the police as they bellowed orders frantically at one another, seemingly to formulate a plan to take down the giant insect.
"Where do you think it came from?" asked Faiga, her mouth slightly open, astonished. "How is that even possible?"
"I… I have no idea," lied Elliot.
"I hope mom and dad make it home okay," said Faiga, wrapping her arms around herself, a look of disgust on her face.
Faiga's revulsion seemed overpowered by her curiosity as she plopped down on the coach, continuing to study the news footage whereas Elliot excused himself for the bathroom.
He ran his hands through his hair after ensuring the door was locked behind him and looked in the mirror.
This proves that I'm not simply hallucinating and the things from my dreams are as real to everyone else as they are to me. The good news is that this shows this isn't just all in my head. The bad news is that thing is not something that I wanted to escape from my dreams. Darn it! If anyone is hurt… or worse, it will be my fault! What do I do?! That thing must be a spirit! What the heck else could it be? How do I send a spirit back? Can they destroy it?
Elliot put his palm against his forehead in frustration, racking his brain for solutions.
"This is all because I lost my lucidity," he s
aid aloud. "If only I remained calm in that dream I could have brought a spirit to the real world that didn't cause so much trouble. I must practice lucid dreaming so this doesn't happen again."
But I don't understand why they need an entire police force to take that thing out. I nearly defeated it with Rosewielder's sword by myself. Wait… Is it possible that because the sword is a spirit object that it's more effective on spirits. Should I fight spirits with spirit weapons? Or better yet… could I get Rosewielder to fight that thing by bringing her into the real world if the police can't destroy it? Could I really bring Rosewielder to our world? It seems crazy, but no more so than creating a giant stinkbug.
Elliot's rumination was interrupted when he heard the front door close, suggesting that either his mother or father had arrived home, but he immediately unlocked the door and dashed into the living room to find his mother stopped in her tracks in between the living room and kitchen with her head turned towards the television.
"Mom!" he said loudly just as she jumped, dropping her suitcase and screaming frantically at the spectacle on television.
"Good gracious! What is going on?" she asked, looking at him, her pupils tiny.
Faiga leaped up from the couch, explaining what the news had previously reported. After picking up her briefcase and composing herself, Mrs. Clementine joined her daughter on the couch. Elliot hesitated momentarily before deciding to accompany them, reasoning that it might look suspicious if he just went to his room. For more than fifteen minutes, they watched as news helicopters buzzed overhead the battle below between the police and the giant insect. Elliot silently prayed that his mess would be cleaned up by the police.
"Is that bug responsible for the horrible stench I smelled while I was on Riverdale Road?" asked Mrs. Clementine, shocked.
"It makes sense. Judging by the news footage it looks like some species of stinkbug," answered Faiga.
"Except that it's nearly the size of a car," added Mrs. Clementine in a nauseated tone.
"It's about time," said Faiga as a group of suited men began shooting the beast with flame throwers.
The fire had an effect on the spirit that bullets hadn't for when hit with the fire, the stinkbug's body began to glow orange like melted metal before it exploded in a hail of white light. The camera view changed, revealing a red haired news lady standing behind a group of road blocks.
"We are confirming reports that the creature has been destroyed," she said. "And folks, please sit tight because our staff will be working around the clock to provide you the up-to-date-info regarding this bizarre occurrence."
The channel then turned to a commercial just as his mother got to her feet.
"I don't want to hear any more," she said before walking into the kitchen. "I'll get started on dinner. Hopefully it'll take my mind off of this."
Faiga simply changed to another news channel, continuing to view the story while Elliot went to his room and completed his remaining homework. At around 5:00 a knock on his door from his mother told him that it was time for dinner and he was relieved to see that his father had made it home safely. Mr. Clementine tiredly took off his work jacket, hanging it on a wooden clothe rack, before taking a seat at the dinning room table.
"How was school, Elliot?" asked his father inquisitively.
"It was good," he answered as Faiga also sat down while his mother placed a large bowl of brown pork fried rice on a a red cloth in the center of the table.
"What do you think about the whole bug thing?" inquired Elliot.
"I don't know what to think. It could be anything these days," answered Mr. Clementine matter-of-factly. "I wouldn't be surprised if that thing was some government experiment," he laughed heartily before grabbing a large scoop of rice just as his mother took her seat.
"I think that it could be extraterrestrials!" said Faiga playfully.
"Can we please change the subject?" requested Mrs. Clementine bluntly. "How was work, dear."
"It was fine, sweetheart," said his father, placing his hand on his wife's.
As the family continued enjoying their dinner together, a strange onset of guilt-ridden isolation took hold of Elliot.
What would I have done if that monster hurt Faiga or mom or dad? I could never forgive myself! The things from my dreams can hurt the people I love. I cannot let that happen, but I can't not use my power to help humanity. That, to, is a crime against humanity.
"Elliot, are you alright?" asked his father, his tired looking eyes studying him. "You look worried."
"Yeah, I'm just thinking about tomorrow's Calculus quiz," lied Elliot, poking at a piece of pork with his chopsticks.
"He does that sometimes, dad. It's called zoning out," said Faiga.
"If you need help then I'd be happy to tudor you," said Mr. Clementine.
"No, I'm fine, but thanks, dad," said Elliot as he got up from the table and scrapped his plate before excusing himself.
When Elliot got to his room he realized he had a little more than an hour before bedtime so he turned on his PC6 and began playing Fantasy Lotus. At the time, none of his close friends were on and, so, he spent his time fighting lone players who were not apart of any alliance called wanderers. He effortlessly racked up about ninety kill points before using a skill called teleportation to transfer his avatar to the Frozen Castle of the Ice Elves, and began defeating as many avatars of the opposing alliance that he could. Players received useful objects such as amulets and keys in exchange for their points. After Elliot used some of his points to purchase an amulet shaped like a goblet that amplified the users strength twenty fold, he was struck with an intriguing idea. He enlarged the screen with the picture of the amulet with a caption that read Ox Wine potion and set down his controller. Attempting to clear his mind of all other distractions, he held out his hand, focusing on the picture on the screen and imagined it being in his hand.
Come on. If the conjurers of legend can summon spirit items at will then so can I. I know I can.
Elliot sat there for a good four minutes, intently imagining the Ox Wine potion being in his hand, but nothing happened.
This makes no sense. I can accidentally create spirit monsters but can't summon spirit objects on purpose. What am I doing wrong?
He got to his feet, undressing, and slipped into his pajamas.
"Is this the limit to my powers? No, I was foolish to think I could learn how to summon something so quickly," said Elliot before jumping into bed after dimming his lights. "It's time to get some shuteye so that I can practice my lucidity tonight. Then I can bring back something useful."
Elliot shut his eyes, relaxing his mind, and after an unspecified amount of time, allowed himself to slip from consciousness.