Cave of Dreams

The Explanation

Chapter 5 – The Explanation

Marcus held his eyes tightly closed, afraid to see which strange new world he had been sent to this time. A high-pitched ringing in his ears blocked out all other sounds. Deep down he hoped he would open his eyes and be back at home, that it would all be a dream. His hopes were crushed when a cloud of thick smog filled his lungs. He coughed deeply, opening his eyes to the harsh reality in front of him. The scene was gray and dark. He appeared to be outside some sort of large factory. Trucks moved in and out of the building like clockwork.

“I’m glad to see you haven’t gotten into too much trouble.” Said a voice behind him. He turned around to see the woman from the Thybron chamber. She had her hand on her hip and wore a smirk on her face. “Come with me, I’ll explain what’s going on.” She led him into the building and into a dull small room, which contained only a table and two chairs. “Sit.” She said motioning toward one of the chairs. Marcus sat down slowly. The woman sat down in the other chair across the table.

 “I’m sure you’re looking for some answers.” Said the woman seriously. Marcus’s eyes lit up with excitement. Maybe he could finally figure out what the heck was going on. “My name is Nedra, I’m one of the leaders of the Proxite Faction. I’ve brought you here to help our cause. This is chamber 12, where we’re working on manufacturing a special type of Dimensionoid. Does that answer all your questions?” She looked at him eagerly. 

“No…not exactly. I’m more confused actually.” He gave her a pitiful sorry expression. Nedra was clearly getting frustrated. She had much more important business to attend to than toying around with a complete fool. 

“Alright then…what DO you know?” She sounded like she was on the verge of shouting. Marcus tried to pull together his thoughts in order to sound like he knew something about something. 

“Well I know about um…There are these goat dudes called Thybron and let’s see…There were a bunch of doctor guys from chamber 10 who smiled all the time. Oh! The Yaladins are the bad guys…” At first Nedra stared at him, saying nothing, but then she began to laugh. 

“You really don’t know anything, do you?” She said, trying to refrain from uncontrollable laughter. Marcus faked a laugh, rather unconvincingly, in an attempt to not look like an idiot. Although he really didn’t know anything, Marcus couldn’t help but feel offended by Nedra’s laughter. 

“Fine then if you’re so smart, why don’t you fill me in?” He said in a tone that he considered to be somewhat commanding. Nedra slowly eased out of her laughter, at least enough to respond.

“Where are you from that you know so little about everything?” Marcus thought what an appropriate answer to this question would be. Was he from chamber 26? That was where he started after all. Maybe he would say just say he was from Earth. Would that sound dumb? He really didn’t want Nedra to start laughing again.

“I’m from…Earth?” He said, hoping this was a decent answer. From Nedra’s reaction it was either a very right answer or a very wrong answer. She stopped laughing completely and became very serious.

“You? You’re from Earth? Oh no, this can’t be right. You? Crap.” She got up from the chair and began pacing the room.

“What? What is it?” Marcus was getting nervous. He hoped he hadn’t said anything wrong.

“It’s just that…you’re supposed to…” She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She looked very stressed.

“I’m supposed to what?” Marcus was afraid it would be something important. He never liked responsibility.

She took a deep breath and looked at Marcus. “You’re supposed to end this war! You’re supposed to save us!” The words hit him like a ton of bricks.