One Week Late

I’m well aware I promised an update last week. I didn’t realize how devilishly chaotic the week would be. I am extremely sorry and if any of you are willing, you are allowed to slap me now. The first weekly update has been posted below. I hope you guys read it and comment. As for me, I’m going to start working on the writing I want to post for next week, so I don’t break anymore promises.

Beginning of Book

Alright, here is the  “intro” to my book  which I hope to have finished some time in the summer. I’ll be posting more parts of it here much later since I want to devote these weekly outposts to a short story after this. Anyway please read and comment (seriously, comment it PLEASE, I need the feedback).  Also, this probably isn’t the final version as I haven’t really done any editing to it. It’s a short story (really short lol) based on a painting which I wrote a while back that got redone into the intro. Anwyay I hope you anjoy and please comment on what you like/dislike, etc.

People were living their ordinary lives on the ordinarily hot summer day. No one suspected anything to go awry except for one man. Konrow. He sat on the stairs leading to the door of his apartment building and stared at the sky. The air was tense, as if filled with electricity. In the distance Konrow saw the buildings of Manhattan. They were magnificent peaks piercing the clouds. He knew something was going to happen that day and it would all start there. He knew what it was too.

What Konrow observed as magnificent skyscrapers was only half of the city though. The city grew quickly. The days when the population was peaked at ten million was long gone. No one knew the true population of the city anymore. It was estimated at around twenty million. This included all five boroughs. All of which looked the same, except Manhattan which had the spectacular “second layer”. This was where all the skyscrapers stood. They were built atop old remains of skyscrapers and atop new apartment buildings. Separating the “lower layer” where people lived at the “second layer” where people worked where marvelous streets of glass and metal.

            Robert stood at the train station under both of these layers. The subway system had still been kept intact, with improvements to architecture and technology of course. The horrible delays and timings were still inevitable though. He had been waiting for the train for fifteen minutes. He was getting more tired and impatient by the minute. Robert began to curse under his breath. After a few minutes of cursing the train finally came. Finally its here! Robert couldn’t wait to get home and get to sleep as fast as possible. He had been incredibly tired since the morning.

            While on the train, Robert kept trying to figure out what was making him so tired. While transferring from one train to the next, it finally hit him. He had been tired ever since he visited that famous hypnotist named Cakron. His friend told him about how great Cakron was a relieving stress, which was what Robert had too much of. At first he laughed at how a person with such a ridiculous name could actually be the real deal. After some thought, he decided he wanted to live without the stress, so before work he went to Cakron. He entered the exotically decorated office and paid the fee. When he walked into Cakron’s room he was surprised at what he saw. The entire room was dark except for the two chairs in the middle, illuminated by a source less light. Cakron occupied one of the chairs. He wore small glasses and maroon robes. His hair was perfectly white and he had a short beard, white as well. Man, I didn’t think places like this still existed. I’m still not sure why I’m here.

            Cakron glanced at Robert and then shifted his gaze to the chair. Robert took this as a sign to sit down and he did so. Cakron stared straight at him. He said, “I will now hypnotize you. Please sit up straight and look into my eyes.” Robert, who was already sitting straight, kept his eyes on Cakron. This shit better work.

He expected Cakron to start speaking but his eyes closed and he fell into a deep sleep. Robert woke up five minutes later and felt completely refreshed. No way in hell did that just happen.

 He thanked Cakron and ran to the train station so he could get to work. He felt terribly tired during the day a now found himself on the way home.

            Realizing why he was so tired, he became furious at the hypnotist. He felt like going to get his money back but his exhaustion made him hurry back home. Ten minutes later he arrived at his stop. He still had eight blocks to walk. On his way there he noticed a man with messy brown hair and golden-brown eyes sitting on steps and staring at the sky. He considered the man a little weird for not having anything better to do in this busy city. Robert finally arrived home and went up to his apartment. There he sat down at his desk to fill out the files he had promised to give his boss the next day. He began to fill them out as fast as he could so that he could go to sleep quickly. “I swear I’m never promising to do extra work again,” he mumbled as he wrote.

 He was almost finished with the first form when his drowsiness got the best of him and he fell asleep. Not long after he fell asleep, the sky outside began to darken abruptly.

            The people on the streets of the city had never seen the sky get so dark except at night. They got scared and fled indoors. Konrow heard people saying things like “Oh no! It might rain. We should hide.” Despite this, Konrow knew they were really scared of the eerie darkness. There was a dark feeling spreading as well. Sure there were clouds forming, but anyone could tell these were not normal rain clouds. Konrow simply grinned, for he knew this would happen. It’s just like last time.

He got up and walked inside his apartment. The streets outside were now empty. Konrow began to rummage trough his closet and then found a chest. The chest contained a sword, a spear, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. He picked them up and placed the sword on his belt, the quiver on his back, and the bow next to the quiver. He left the spear in the chest.  “Welcome back my trusty friends,” he said aloud and began to walk outside.

            Meanwhile, Robert walked outside too. He was drawn to the man he ahd seen earlier. He felt the man knew more than the others. After a few minutes of walking he saw the man come out of the house. He was completely shocked at the sight before him. The man was now wearing medieval equipment. I knew something was wrong with this guy, but he seems to know what’s going on.

 Robert went up to him. Konrow introduced himself before Robert could say anything.  “Name’s Robert, but why are you equipped with weapons?” Robert asked. “Ah yes, you don’t know what’s happening. Well then, let me tell you. Right now there is another you sleeping in your house. That Robert is having a nightmare, but this nightmare is real. The hypnotist you went to was a wizard and he cursed you so that your nightmare became real and he could control the monsters it creates,” Konrow explained to Robert. Robert was skeptical so he asked “But how would you know all this?” Konrow replied “I know this because I was his last victim 1500 years ago. You will have to fight these creatures if you want to live like I did and save your world. Before you ask if I am 1500 years old, I will tell you that I am not. Once we find the way to get you into the future so no one can blame you for this and so that Cakron can’t find you, you’ll be just like me. You will live in a different time, while the you that is currently sleeping will continue a normal life in this time.” Before Robert could respond he was handed a sword.

           “You’ll need that if we’re gonna get the hell outta here.” Konrow told him. Robert nodded; a sign of fake confidence, for inside he was more nervous than ever.

  Despite this, he now understood that what Konrow said was true. Robert was ready to battle anything in order to save his world. He was a little surprised at his own new found courage, but he didn’t care. A few seconds later, dark patches began to form in the clouds and on the ground. These patches began to transform into owls, cats and huge bats. “Here we go!” Konrow yelled and began to slash at the big cat forming next to him. Konrow looked back at Robert and yelled to him “You’ll know when the exit to this nightmare appears, so keep your eyes open for any sign of where it might be!” Robert nodded and kept fighting off the creatures which seemed to be attacking him most. Even though he was doing great, Konrow went to help him out.

            They had been fighting for quite some time now. Robert was now using two blades and Konrow was shooting down the owls and bats with his arrows. All of a sudden a streak of lightning ran down the sky. “There! That’s it!” Robert yelled as soon as the lightning flashed. Konrow turned to him and nodded, saying “Good that means we run towards the streak of lightning. It will open again and we better be there when it does.” They both began to run down the streets slashing and shooting down any shadow creature in their way. After they were almost there, Konrow noticed Cakron standing on the docks, murmuring a spell. He ran towards the wizard and shot arrows at him. “Throw me a sword and run to the exit as fast as you can!” Konrow told Robert. Robert reluctantly obeyed for he knew Konrow was sure of what he was doing.

            Konrow caught the blade and resumed charge at Cakron again. Cakron had just finished taking out the arrows out of his arm when a sword came slashing at him. He dodged and resumed his spell which was being aimed at Robert. Konrow kept slashing at Cakron but the wizard just jumped out the way of each slash. On the other side of the river a streak of lightning hit the docks and remained for longer than normal. It emitted a strange light. Konrow knew this was the exit. He saw the dark figure of Robert running towards it. Konrow slashed at Cakron again and this time he hit. At the same time the blade touched the wizard, Cakron teleported to the other pier. Konrow was dragged across the river with him.

            It was too late for Cakron, though. Konrow’s blade had cut into his heart. He couldn’t go on to stop Robert. Robert looked back at Konrow but Konrow gestured to go on. “You’ll be fine without me! Go on, I’m staying.” Robert stepped into the exit. Konrow watched as the world turned back to as it was before. It was as if nothing had happened. The clouds were gone, the towering building once again penetrated the sky and people resumed their normal routine convincing themselves it was some rain clouds that passed over. It was a short episode in the life of a man whose journey would unravel the greatest mysteries of this world. Konrow stood still, stared at the sky, and smiled.

***

Robert was surrounded by light for a few seconds. Then, he saw a faint figure of someone that looked like him. But this figure looked like a younger version of him. At the very moment that the figure’s image became clear, Robert’s fake memories disappeared. He awoke from his slumber.

            Robert was in his own house, on his own bed. He remembered his dream and wondered if Konrow was real. A door slammed open, breaking his chain of thought. It was the door to his room. A man stood in the doorway. He didn’t know this man but he looked like a person who lived on the streets and earned his livings by stealing wallets. That was until he dropped his ragged cape and stepped into the light of the room. The man wore a slick leather robe. The hood of the robe was pulled over his head which made his face look pitch black. He was holding his head down so Robert couldn’t make out any facial features. Then, the man lifted his head. Robert was looking into two red eyes. The man’s hand reached out and threw Robert across his room. He flew straight into a wall, sending pieces of clay everywhere. As soon as Robert hit the wall, a quick flash of light appeared, but nothing changed and the mysterious attacker shrugged it off continuing towards Robert. Robert felt a shot of pain on his shoulder. When he looked at it, a piece of the wall had gotten stuck in his arm and blood was flowing out. The man advanced towards him and pulled Robert out of the wall by force. This almost tore Robert’s hand off. Once again he threw Robert, but this time it was ten times harder. Robert flew trough his wall and landed in his kitchen. This time he could barely take the pain, but he did not want to die, he had to fight, he still had so much more to do in his lifetime. Slowly but surely Robert stood up. The mysterious man’s eyes grew bigger. Robert took this as a look of surprise, after all anyone would be surprised to see someone survive an attack like that.

            Walking like a drunk, Robert advanced toward the man. He grabbed a metal broom which was stood up against the kitchen table and held it like a weapon. A smile was visible on the hooded man’s face. Gathering his might, Robert began to swing the broom at his attacker. The man just move from left to right dodging the attacks. He was enjoying himself greatly. This poor excuse for a human was trying to survive so desperately. Like a rat, he thought. Robert’s strength started fading, he couldn’t go on much longer, he had to stop. The man saw that Robert had had enough. He quickly thrust his hand at Robert’s hurt shoulder and blood splattered onto the floor. The next second both man and boy were gone, and only the blood on the wall and floor was left.

            Robert’s mother came home later that night to find her kitchen and her son’s room a mess. The worst part was that no one would help including the law enforcement. The mother was considered insane, there were rumors around the town that she had wanted a child so bad she made up a son and even set up his murder. The town of Oasmo had fallen victim to another Chaos Feeder attack.

Okay, I’m SERIOUSLY going to start updating.

What the title says. I’m serious this time. I’ve organized myself rather nicely so I now have time to really get down to my writing again. What I will start doing is updating every Wednesday, weekly. Sometimes it may be a day early, or a day late, so in reality weekly Tues-Thurs. Anyway, these weekly posts will mostly be pieces of my writing if not entire short short stories. Longer short stories will probably be split up. I’m going to start with a story that I’ve sorta had written and yet not had written for a while. It deals with dreams which are pretty good fodder for writing. There’s two versions of this story so the next month or so should be that. After that I’ll see what comes. Anyway, if you actually read this, I think I’ve finally given you a reason to keep reading and checking back here. Comments and whatnot appreciated as always.