This is the first in a new short series set in the 2040 BGC world.
Assume all usual legal disclaimers etc...
Cheers
Alex
E-mail - mailto:hitomi@ndirect.co.uk
WWW home - http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Subway/7630/
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Knight of Dreams 2040 - Prelude
-------------------------------
This story is part of the "Dreaming Knights" series set in the world
2040.
The name Bubblegum Crisis and characters within are copyright of
Artmic & Youmex
* * * *
"Are you ready?" the voice whispered quietly through her mind.
Ready? the dreamer questioned. Ready for what?
"You must be ready," the voice stated insistently much to the
dreamer's annoyance. "You have no time left to prepare. They are
coming."
Whose coming? the dreamer queried. Prepare for what? I do not
understand...
"You must be prepared," the voiced warned. "You must be ready.
They are coming and in a very short time they will be here. You must
be ready to meet them, you must be prepared."
But... the dreamer tried to force the voice away. This is just a
dream she tried to tell herself.
"You MUST be ready!"
I... the dreamer shuddered at the demanding tone of the voice. It
seemed to be trying to drag her somewhere from which she knew there
would be no return. I must resist! she told herself. This is just a
dream, I must awake up!
"There is no more time! You MUST be READY!"
No... the dreamer struggled desperately to awaken herself as the
voice tried to drag her down into that black pit. I MUST WAKE UP!
NOW!
Something in the blackness of her dream slowly began to register
the presence of the dreamer. A something that was far more alien than
anything the dreamer could have previously imagined.
"You must be ready..." the voice whispered. "They are
awakening..."
NO!! NO!! NO!!! the dreamer screamed as that... thing started to
reach out for her.
"BE READY!!" the voice yelled tearing the dreamer's sense of
self into shreds. "NOW!!!"
"NOOO!!" Nene screamed as the nightmarish voice bellowed through
her mind driving all coherent thought away with it. She bolted
straight up dragging in great gulps of air as she stared blindly
around at the dark room. She dragged in a another great gulp to scream
again but as the oxygen hit her lungs the adrenaline rush from the
nightmare slowly began to fade and for the first time Nene began to
realise just where she was.
"Fucking hell!" she swore loudly into her bedroom as slowly her
pounding heart began to stop sounding like a base drum in her ear and
her terror gradually seeped away.
"Christ!" she swore again as she pushed back the sweat soaked
sheets and stumbled shakily to her feet. Taking a moment to steady
herself she headed for the bathroom. Clicking the light on she turned
the cold tap onto full and just about chucked the water all over her
head in an effort to chase away the last of the hateful dream.
"Oh fuck..." she moaned as she finally raised her head and looked
at herself in the mirror. The pale faced figure with sweat matted
blond hair that stared back at her looked like it was something from a
nightmare itself. Nene shuddered and raising a hand dragged it through
her short blond hair.
This was the fifth night in a row that she had had exactly the
same nightmare and each night it was getting progressively worst. She
slowly forced herself to breath deeply in an effort to calm herself
down.
It's all right, she told herself over and over again. It's just a
dream. It is just a dream. It cannot hurt you... At about the tenth
iteration of this mantra Nene finally began to just about believe it
herself. She pulled the sweat soaked tee-shirt she had been sleeping
in over her head and using a hand towel wiped the excess water from
her face.
"Shit..." she said shaking her head as she dampened the towel with
cold water and gave her sweaty torso a quick dry off. Finally, feeling
slightly more human she returned to her bedroom and turned on the main
light. She glanced down at her bedside clock - 04:45. Surprise,
surprise, she thought to herself. The nightmare always occurred at
exactly the same time - 04:35.
She threw the soiled tee-shirt onto the ground and rummaged around
in the closet for a fresh one. Slipping it over her head she made her
way into the small kitchen that her apartment boasted. She opened the
fridge door and taking out a carton of orange juice greedily forced
the cold liquid down her dried out throat.
"Gods..." she almost sighed with relief as the fruit juice chased
away the last of the effects of the dream. "That's better..." Taking
the carton of refreshing ambrosia Nene made her way back to the
bedroom and sat heavily down on the still damp sheets.
"Why me?" she groaned as she folded her legs up and took another
hearty swig from the carton. It had been over ten years since she had
experienced such a sequence of nightmares - not since she was a child.
Why the hell had they started up now? She could still remember the
looks of fear and concern on her parent's faces when she had screamed
night after night about the voices that had whispered in her mind, the
things that they had tried to get her to do...
"Why now..." she said as she held the cold carton up to her head.
Why had those nightmarish voices returned now? She remembered how
those nightmares had vanished on the eve of her sixth birthday and how
much to the relief of both her parents and the specialist she had been
seeing they had never returned. Indeed, Nene had almost completely
forgotten that she had ever had them - that was until five nights ago.
Nene dragged her hand through her hair again and tried to control
the shudder that ran down her spine. These new dreams where far worst
than the old ones had been. She could not exactly remember what they
were about but she always awoke screaming NO. She always awoke with
that same feeling of sick terror, almost as if something horrifying
beyond description were seeking her out. Nene's hand began to shake
violently as something of that terror awoke afresh in her.
"No... no..." she whimpered putting her knees up tight to her
chest. "Christ no..."
Something was happening...
* * * *
Sylia blinked sleepily as the vidphone rang again and again. She
groaned and with a grunt pulled back the bed covers.
"What idiot rings at this time in the morning?" she hissed as she
blindly stumbled over to the incessantly ringing phone. "Who is it?"
she growled as she ordered the vidphone into life.
"Sylia! Is that you!?" a high pitched voice squawked.
Sylia blinked as her eyes slowly focused on the frightened young
face staring out of the small screen at her. "Nene?" she said as her
brain slowly kicked into life. "Nene-chan? Is that you?"
The young blond in the screen looked nothing like the bright,
bouncy teenager that Sylia had last spoken to only ten days before.
"Sylia! Thank God!" Nene looked like a pale shadow of her usual
self and Sylia almost gasped when she saw the young girl's sunken
face.
"My God Nene!" Sylia exclaimed in shock. "What the hell has
happened to you?"
The pale girl looked out of the small screen at Sylia and
pushed her frightened face closer to the camera. "They're coming
Sylia! Please! You must help me!"
Sylia blinked. What the hell was going on here?!
"Sylia! Please! You must help me!" the teenager's voice was almost
hysterical.
"Nene!" Sylia exclaimed trying to force the young woman to calm
down. "What's the matter!?"
"I... No! No!" Nene suddenly pulled back from the screen. "Sylia!
You must be ready! Do you hear me Sylia? You MUST be read..." the
screen suddenly cut off.
"Nene?" Sylia frowned and pushed the vidphone call button -
nothing. "Nene!" Sylia felt her heart begin to beat faster and faster
as she redialled Nene's apartment. The phone rang, and rang, and
rang...
"Nene..." Sylia whispered as a black feeling slowly began to
sprout like a dark flower in her heart. "What the hell... Nene..."
* * * *
** Dreaming Knights 2040 - a new series coming soon to your
nightmare...