Dreamer's Odyssey Vol. 1

Whole New World

 The Blind Phantom looked around, he was in a dark forest with tall trees. He thought to himself, It's here, I can feel it. He began walking forward, deeper into the shadows. He stopped at the entrance of an old mineshaft. There stood a creature, it was tall and skinny. It had green, dragon-like scales, and wore a long brown coat. The creature spoke, "Took you long enough, what were you doing anyway? Haunting a house?" The Phantom was unamused by his statement. He looked at the mineshaft and said, "In there, James?" "Uh, yeah," James replied. "It's the third one this month." The Phantom made his way into the cave, as he did, James called back to him. "I hope you wouldn't mind doing this on your own, I uh.....gotta be home soon.....my mom she uh....needs me to..." The Phantom left earshot before he could finish. "Fine, I didn't wanna go. Those things creep me out anyway." The Phantom began leisurely making his way through the mine. He stopped and stared. In front of him was a large crack. A tear in nothing, flouting a few feet above ground. Something's different about this one.....I've got no time to waste! The Phantom reached inside the rip and began pulling it open. Once it was wide enough, he was able to step inside. The other side was an infinite black and purple void. The Phantom rose off his feet and began hovering. He flew forward while looking at the vast cosmos around him. He noticed a brown wooden door off in the distance. He moved closer to it and looked at the door's shiny golden handle. He stared at his reflection, it looked like him, as a reflection should. But something felt sinister about it. The Phantom reached forward and grasped the handle, he slowly turned it, then pushed the door open. He stepped through the door, then it slid into the ground and vanished. The Phantom looked around, he was now in a large grey desert, with a black sky. I can't believe it, I'm in an alternate world. However, being in this place reminded him of something. Someone from his past. Before the memory could finish forming, he snapped out of it. I need to focus, find out what made that rift. It was then he saw a humongous factory on the horizon. That looks like a good place to start. He reached forward and the world began distorting, the land stretched and warped. The factory moved closer to him. He put his hand down and everything returned to normal. The only difference was that he was now standing right next to the factory. He began walking forward. He stepped through walls as if he were made of mist. As he passed through he noticed the workers looked strange. Their skin was made of wool, their eyes were sewn on buttons, and they had patches and stick marks all over their bodies. Despite their less than organic appearances, they seemed to be suffering. Expressions of anguish and despair were painted all over their raggedy faces. What manner of place is this? The Phantom stopped at a mining field outside the factory. There, many patchwork people threw pickaxes at the earth. None of them were able to see him. But there was one he felt a connection to. As he moved closer the creature looked up. Then jumped back, "Wha- w-who are y-you?" He said. None of the others seemed to care about his reaction. The Phantom spoke, "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you." The creature looked up and down, trying to figure out what he was looking at. "Listen, I need your help. Can you explain to me what this place is?"

"You're kidding, right?" the creature said. The Phantom stared at him. "Wait, you really don't know where you are. Well, allow me to explain. Arges, the greediest thing on the planet, built this factory. But it was too dangerous for any cyclops to operate, so he used some formula to create an expandable workforce. Or that's what I heard anyway."

"Tell me, do you have a name?"

"We aren't allowed names, only numbers. We do have nicknames we call each other, during downtime."

"And your's is......"

"Sam."

Suddenly there was a loud shout, "Hey, 984235!" A large one eyed monster covered in rusty scraps shambled towards them. It shouted again, "Get back to work 984235!"