Tales of Dysonia [OC]

[Dissonance]

In a place, right between the point between consciousness and oblivion, there lies a place. This is a mysterious place, where conventional laws and logic have no hold. Very few have ever ventured onto its hallowed ground. Fewer still have returned. This is the world of Dysonia.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 1]He looked around in wonderment. He was here again. This beautiful world. Everything just seemed more....real than it did in his regular life. The air was crisper, the grass greener, the sky bluer...He could rule this place. He felt it in his bones. Anything he desired could be his. In fact, presently, he looked across the field and spotted another figure. He squinted his eyes...yes! It was her. Mira Desara, the girl who sat in front of him in class.

"What a cutie," he mused, staring at her long brown hair, and those ample curves...and in this world she could be his. He began to move forward, much braver here than he could ever be in reality.

 

He was almost upon her when the ground beneath him bucked and broke; he was sent flying through the air, landing hard on his side.

"Oof!" he gasped as the air was knocked out of him. A giant worm had risen up where he was standing. The creature seemed to lack eyes, small feelers in a ring around it's mouth twitched in the air. Mira had vanished.

 

Before he had time to ponder on where she might have gone, the creature turned and lunged at him. Unprepared, he barely managed to scramble out of the way of the gaping mouth, getting hit hard by the side of the worm. One of the feelers had wrapped around his ankle, however, and pulled him up as the worm rose. He stared into the gaping tooth filled maw that hung below him in fear. The feeler let go and he began his descent...

 

SLAM!

 

Jack jerked awake with a start. Mr. Clifferod stood in font of his desk, glaring at him.

 

"Does my class bore you, Mr. Villsin?" he asked archly.

 

"Uh, no sir."

 

"Ah, that's good, I was beginning to believe this class bored you, Mr. Villsin."

Mr. Clifferod gave him a little smile.

 

"Well since you and Ms. Desara aren't bored by my class, what reason could you two have for sleeping in it?" he asked the class, wheeling around.

 

(Jack notice that Mira was also rubbing sleep from her eyes)

 

"I know!" the history teacher continued to rant, "It must be because you two stayed up all night reading the assigned chapters, is that right?"

 

"Uh...Yes sir."

 

"Then, since you're so prepared, I'm sure you wouldn't mind a little pop quiz!"

 

The whole class groaned and shot Jack dirty glances.

("Hey! Mira was sleeping too!" he protested in his head)

 

One failed test later, Mira and Jack were the only two left in the class. Mr. Clifferod leaned against his desk, arms folded, looking at them.

 

"Mira, you have a very good track record, I'm willing to overlook this transgression. You however," he said, turning his gaze to focus only on Jack, "have constantly fallen asleep during my lectures, and you are currently failing my class."

 

"Luckily," he continued, "I'm a very forgiving man. I'll give you one more chance: the semester ends in two weeks. If you can present me with a well thought out paper on the effects of World War II on American policy, both domestic and foreign, then I will pass you this semester with a C-."

 

Jack was just about to tell his smug teacher exactly where he could put his "special assignment", when Mira spoke up.

 

"Sir, I feel bad about falling asleep during your class. If you'll permit me...I'd like to help Jack with this project."

 

Clifferod was taken aback.

 

"But Mira, your grades in this class are exceptional! There's no need for you to associate with someone of such low caliber..."

 

"Please sir, it would make me feel better." she replied earnestly.

 

"Well...very well. Mira the humanitarian. You could learn a thing or two from this lady, Mr. Villsin."

 

Here, Jack normally would have replied with some sort of smart ass comment, but hey, here was his opportunity to get with the girl of his dreams. He wasn't about to mess that up.

 

"Yes sir."

 

Mira and Jack filed out of the classroom silently. They walked in silence through the hallway toward the exit. Just as Jack was reaching to open the door (and he was going to hold it for her too, to boot!), she grabbed him and pinned him against the wall.

 

Jack began to wonder if he was having one of his weird SM dreams again.

 

"You!" she hissed.

 

(Yep, definitely looking like an SM dream)

 

"It was you there! I know it! How did you get in?"

 

Jack stared at her blankly. What was she talking about? Where were the leather whips? Then it dawned on him. The dream he had been having in class. It wasn't a dream.

 

"Holy shi-"

 

/chapter 1

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 2]"Wait, wait, wait, so you can go in my dreams?"

 

Mira threw up her hands in exasperation, "No idiot! I've been saying this for the past half hour! Try to listen this time?"

 

She took a deep breath and composed herself.

 

"There is a world, that lies next to us- No, not physically, we've been over this! Think of it as a parallel dimension, ok? Anyway, this world is normally never in contact with ours. However, certain people can kind of....slip into it as they fall asleep. People like you and I."

 

Jack scratched his head. The story seemed out of this wo- (he mentally berrated himself. He had promised himself last week that he would stop using stupid cliches in his inner monologues)-The story seemed bizarre. Like something out of a Sci-Fi (Jack! You're doing it again!)...Like something....really really weird. But he sensed that Mira was running out of patience with him (but boy did she look cute when she was mad), so he changed the topic.

 

"So, uh, where are we? I'm guessing this isn't your house."

 

After their confrontation at school, Mira had dragged him onto the late bus and gotten off in some neighborhood. For awhile, he was excited by the thought that he might be entering the fabled Desera house. After all, the saying goes "the quickest way into a woman's heart is through her home" or something, right? His hopes were crushed, however, when she led him to a rather dilapidated looking house with a lonely "For Sale" sign on it's dirt-ridden yard.

 

"Of course this isn't my house" she huffed, brushing her hair behind her ear (one of her most endearing traits, Jack decided), "This belongs to a...friend. Maybe he can help explain this mess through your thick skull."

 

"So...You meet "friends" here. In this abandoned house. Whose only furniture are mattresses." Jack fought very hard to suppress a giggle, and he thought he succeed admirably.

 

"Oh GOD! Grow up!" she said in disgust, "No, this guy is the one who knows the most about this other world. He'll know what to do with you too."

 

She glanced down at her watch.

 

"But if he doesn't get here soon, I might be out of luck....I can't risk your parents wondering where you are. We'll have to get you home soon."

 

"Hey, don't worry about it," replied Jack breezily, brushing the matter off with a wave of his hand, "My mom works all night. She's never bothered to keep tabs on me before."

 

-Beneath this airy reply lay a very real hurt. Jack's father had left him when he was 5, and his mother now worked 3 jobs to support them. She thought she was doing the right thing by providing him with food and clothing, but all Jack really ever wanted was his mother's attention. Not that he ever admitted it...even to himself.-

 

He leaned forward, "But what about you? Miss straight A student, your parents must keep you on a pretty tight leash."

 

"Please," she said, smiling smugly, "As long as I bring home the grades, they don't care what I do with my free time."

 

-If only this were a little less true. She longed for more contact with her parents beside the cursory "How is school?" questions. She often thought of failing her classes, if only to get reaction from them. But the fear that they would still go on, oblivious to her existence stopped her from taking the plunge.-

 

A long silence followed as each contemplated their unhappy home life. Thankfully, the silence was broken by the door opening. Jack started, and then turned around. A man had just entered the house. He was very...plain. Short hair, light brown, lanky frame, he wore a jacket, slacks, a dress shirt and a tie. Nothing about him would stick in one's memory for very long.

 

"Sorry for the hold up, Mira" he said, while closing the door with his waist and busily cleaning off his thick framed glasses with his hands.

 

"I came as soon as I could. Is this him?" he asked, glancing over at Jack.

 

Mira nodded in affirmation.

 

"Good, good," the man said distractedly, running a hand through his hair, "Uh...Hi. My name is Daniel. Daniel Reeder."

He extended his hand.

 

"Jack. Jack Villsin."

 

"Well nice to meet you, Jack. Um. Yes, well, these are very unusual circumstances, I know. Well. Let me just start from the beginning..."

 

/chapter 2

 

 

"You see," Daniel began, pulling a marker out of his shirt pocket and moving toward a blank wall, "This," he drew a large circle, "is our world. And this," he drew another circle next to the first one, "is the alternate world, one we've dubbed "Dysonia"."

 

"Now as you can see, for the most part, these two worlds don't touch. But here," he circled a tiny section where the two large circled intersected, "our worlds do touch, and it is possible for certain people to cross over. Do you follow?"

 

"I think so," replied Jack, "But...I've been there both in class and at my home. Is there more than one place, or is the place really big?"

 

"No, no! This cross isn't a physical place, but a state of mind." Daniel was becoming more animated, he took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, "You see Jack, the only time you can..."cross over", if you will, is just before you fall asleep. In that tiny sliver of a moment between wakefulness and sleep, you can sort of..." he gestured with his hands, looking for the right word, "...slip into Dysonia."

 

"So, instead of having a regular dream, I can have like...Dysonia-dreams?" asked Jack.

 

"Exactly!" exclaimed Daniel, beaming.

 

"That is so cool! Can you teach me to go there every time I fall asleep?" Jack asked excitedly.

 

"No, he most certainly cannot!" broke in Mira, who had been silent until now, "You don't get it yet, Jack! The dangers in Dysonia are real!"

 

"What? Come on, stop making stuff up to scare me away. There's plenty of room on Dysonia for both of us!"

 

"I'm afraid she's right Jack." Daniel replied, a bit more solemn now.

 

"No way! Come on! It's just like a dream, right? If I die, I'll just wake up!"

 

Mira stood up and strode quickly over to Jack.

 

"Lift up your shirt."

 

"What?" asked Jack, taken aback.

 

"I said, lift up your shirt!" repeated Mira, suddenly grabbing for his shirt. She got it about halfway up before Jack could react and start fighting back.

 

"Hey! Stop! What are you doing?"

 

"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing triumphantly.

 

Jack looked at his exposed side. It was slightly black, like a healing bruise.

 

"What's that?"

 

"You were attacked by the wurm, weren't you? This is when it hit your side."

 

"Mira! What were you doing in Wurm territory?" Daniel asked sharply, "I told you you weren't ready for that yet!"

 

"So what?" asked Jack, "It doesn't even hurt! It's no big deal."

 

"No, that's because you were barely there!"

 

"I was completely there! You saw me!"

 

"No, that's not what I- Ahhhg! Daniel, can you please explain this to him?"

 

"Fine," replied Daniel, cleaning his glasses again (it seemed to be a nervous habit), "but we're not done talking about your transgression." he warned.

 

"Ahem," he began, switching into lecture mode once more, "As you seem to have realized, when one enters Dysonia, it's not physically, but rather spiritually."

 

Jack looked at him blankly. Daniel sighed and tried again, "Your spirit, soul, chi, tao, life force, whatever you want to call it- that intangible thing that makes us...us, is what goes to Dysonia. But only in part. The rest anchors us to our body, like a lifeline. You only sent a very tiny amount of your spirit to Dysonia, so when you were hit by the wurm, probably with enough force to crack a rib, you only received mild bruising. Thankfully you're a very weak Walker, or you could have been in trouble."

 

"What's a walker?" Jack asked.

 

"One thing at a time, I'll get to it, I promise," replied Daniel, "It's not just the physical dangers either...if you commit yourself too fully to Dysonia, you risk severing that lifeline back to your body, and becoming trapped. Ever hear about people who go to sleep one night, and just never wake up? Those are people who have lost themselves to Dysonia. Am I making sense?"

 

"Everything but that 'walker' thing." Jack affirmed.

 

"Yes. Walkers. Right. Well, you see," Daniel was back to wiping his glasses again, "There are two different types of people who can interact with Dysonia: Walkers and Dreamers."

 

"Walkers," he continued, "are people who physically commit their spirit to Dysonia. They appear in the world, and they can interact with it's denizens. Like you and Mira.

 

Dreamers, however, are people like me," he smiled and gave a little bow, "We can't actually appear within Dysonia, but if we focus our thoughts, our dreams can...create things within the world. It's a real problem."

 

"Why is that a problem?" Jack asked confused, "That sounds awesome!"

 

"Well, you see," Daniel explained, looking rather uncomfortable, "the two consistent factors we've been able to find about Dreamers are that, first, they don't know they're Dreamers, and second, they have had some sort of troubling life. This leads to nightmares more often than not, which leads Dysonia to become an increasingly unpleasant place."

 

Jack, at least had enough common sense not to ask about Daniel's past.

 

"Well," said Daniel a bit more brightly, changing the subject, "Are you ready for another trip to Dysonia?"

 

"What?" Mira exclaimed, "You can't seriously be teaching him!"

 

"Mira! If for nothing else, we need to teach him to teach him to control his entry and exit for his own safety! Although," he coughed, "Walkers are in short supply, and we need all the help we can get..."

 

"What are you guys talking about? Help with what?"

 

"Don't worry about that now," replied Daniel, waving off his questions, "for now, concentrate on this lesson. Mira, if you would do the honors?"

 

Mira glowered but grudgingly began to speak, "When you lie down to sleep, take deep, controlled breathes. Concentrate on a place in Dysonia you've seen- a safe one, please! And then wait to fall asleep. I'll join you shortly."

 

Feeling kind of self conscious, Jack laid down on one of the mattresses and closed his eyes. He could hear some shuffling as Mira laid down in the next one over and got into a comfortable position.

 

"Just relax, Jack. Once there, Mira will explain some of the basics in navigating Dysonia, as well as how to leave it. I'll be here keeping time. I'll wake you both up in an hour, if you can't manage it yourself."

 

Jack continued to take deep breathes, and slowly felt himself drifting into unconsciousness...

 

/chapter 3

 

Bleh, I hate exposition. So much talking.

[Luna Lovegood]

Can't wait for more :)

[Dissonance]

Chapter 2 is up. Story title added. No, this has nothing to do with the "Tales" franchise.

[Dr. Cakey]

I am...impressed. VERY impressed. liek srsly imprzed.

 

Can't wait for more :)

 

Oh, I guess I should take the time to say that your chapters are kinda short. Still good.

[Dissonance]

Chapter 3 is now up.

[Dissonance]

Bump.