Hu - Lost in a World of Dream

Hu startled awake.  Where was he?  Hard stone floor beneath him, smell of shit and death in the air, and he was hungry.  It brought back memories of his youth as an orphaned street urchin in the Free City of Garmon, and later Port Toroga.

Why could he not remember where he was?  He rubbed his eyes, and then his forehead.  He blinked his eyes and then opened them wide to see what he could in the darkness.  He scrambled to his knees, but when he went to climb to his feet, he hit his head on a very low ceiling above him.

Hu fell back to a seated position and rubbed where he had hit his head.  That was strange!  There were mutiple lumps on the top of his head.  Had he woken up here before?  Did he hit his head every time he woke up?  He could not clear the fog from his mind, and was unsure of anything he was seeing or feeling.

Then he heard the voice in the darkness.  A sinister voice...rough and raw, and with a slight hissing sound when words ended in the letter "s."

"Oh...you've abandoned your dreaming again, little hero.  How you ssstruggle against the Endless Sssleep.  How will I feed on your dreamsss if you will not sssleep?  How will I dream of my brother?  How will I bring him back?"

Hu did not remember hearing this voice before, but the sound of it stirred such fear in him, that his heart was attempting to beat itself out of his chest.  Hu may not remember the voice, but his body had not forgotten.  Hu fought back the terror, and took a deep breath.

"Look you mother-fucker...."

A green ray of light shot out of the darkness and struck Hu in the chest.  His mouth stopped moving, his throat tightened up, and his words stopped.  He could not move his arms, or legs, or even turn his head.  Only his eyes were free to move.  Opened impossibly large and filled with terror, they flitted this way and that in the darkness.

"Little hero...you have not learned to appreciate your dreamsss yet, I see.  Have not learned your place as well.  You are a murderer...you and your friendsss.  You killed my brother, and nearly destroyed our Hive-Dream.  And for that, you have become food for my mind.  Food for the dreamsss I must dream."

Hu strained to move, but could not.  Not even a tremor.

"Ssso, little one.  Take that terror you are feeling, and ssswallow it up.  Let it ssshape your mind...and feed me nightmaresss beyond anything you've given me ssso far.  The sssooner I dream of my brother, the sssooner I'll let you die."

A blue ray shot out of the darkness, striking Hu in the forehead.  His wide eyes closed, and he fell backward onto the hard surface.  It was clear he now slept, from the heavy sound of breathing, and his eyes sliding back and forth beneath his eye lids.

And Hu's mind traveled through nightmare realms beyond all imagining...

Comments

    • Mark Stinson

      Hu comes and goes from Eldermont, and has a pretty outwardly independent personality.  So, when he was abducted away without any witnesses present, his kidnapping went unnoticed.  It has not occurred to any of the Heroes of Eldermont that the boy is missing.  Not yet.  :-)

      • Jay

        He was another backup character of mine.   He is a 15 year old assassin

        • Marcus Auerilius

          Who's Hu?

          ...not joking, really don't know who Hu is :)