Apollyon

1: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

I keep telling myself that this is a dream. I'm not really being chased by a python; at least the giant snake looked like a python. But I could feel the trees and tall grass whipping against my skin as I ran my hardest past them, trying to place some distance between me and this serpent that wanted to devour me.

The snake seemed pleased with the chase I was giving it. In fact I knew it was pleased. I could sense the smile, similar to how you can feel an electric current in the air and it was attracting to me. Not that I found electrocution attractive, but more like the electricity was seeking me out, almost to place me in a trance.

However, I fought through it and I continued my run. The chase as it was. Dream or no dream, I wasn't the least bit interested in being devoured and made into snake meal. The uneven ground in the forest made it hard for me to imagine I was running along the track at school though the setting was familiar to when I ran cross country. But I much rather preferred the track and it had been years since I trained in cross country running. Even then, cross country was running along trails, not through the trees where unearthed roots threatened to reach out and trip me up.

I ran like I didn't need oxygen to keep me going, despite the distance I'd already been running. I wished my dream-self had the sense to time the run to see if I beat my own running record. But of course that was silly because this was a dream and HELLO! I'm still being chased by a snake.

As soon as my head turned behind me I knew it was a mistake. The heroine always falls when she checks to see if the crazed killer is still chasing her. But it was an involuntary motion, I'd swear it was. And of course without fail that's exactly what happened to me. It was a rock that tripped me over and I suddenly went tumbling down a hill that I hadn't noticed was coming up. I screamed as my head was knocked about by stray rocks on the sloping terrain as dried leaves wove themselves in my long black hair.

Just as I came to a rest, a final stop on my tumble, I saw the python stop at the crest of the hill. It was definitely relishing in the victory it was sure of. I couldn't even deny him of the victory; my legs were no longer willing to move. All of a sudden, they felt like they had the consistency of gelatin, and all I could do was make a slow crawl with my hands and elbows.

I watched as it started to slowly make its way down the hill, much more gracefully than how I descended. I grasped for the words of the Lord's Prayer, since it was apparent that I needed to accept my fate, but the words weren't there. In my heart, I felt like I was saying the prayer, but all that was coming out was gibberish. At least until a felt something hard poking me in my arm by my shoulder, I stopped speaking altogether.

I looked up and saw a boy my age, which for some reason looked oddly familiar to me. I couldn't place where I'd see him before, but his gorgeous green eyes locked on mine and held my gaze. Strikingly green, similar to the poisonous dart frog in the rain forest. I didn't have a care in the world looking into his eyes. The brown bear that stood beside him seemed to have other plans as he roared something fierce at the snake that was picking up speed towards us. It was obvious to me that the bear wanted to charge at the giant snake but the beautiful boy held out his hand, telling him to fall back. And astonishing enough, the bear obeyed him, like it was they boy's pet.

The boy stood over me, blocking what little sun that played peek-a-boo through the treetops. He poked me again, before handing me a bow. It was certainly crafted exceptionally well out of some type of wood. Without speaking, he handed me an arrow and pointed towards the snake that was now ten feet away from us.

"But what am I supposed to do with this?" I don't know the first thing about archery and yet this strange and random guy seemed to think I could do something with it. He looked down on me with pity and then pointed to the snake again. I looked back at him and got pissed off enough to scramble off the cold ground and took aim at the snake. I hate pity.