For the second time in thirty years, the entire world has fallen asleep...
Thirty years after the Greymen caused the decimation of her people, high school drop out Rain Collins spends her days learning to pickpocket and hold her booze. Yet she long...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
As I stepped into the dream world that evening, it warped and faded, carrying me on its haze of shifting landscape towards and across the sea, over the waves to a place I'd never even thought about before. I felt Sir beside me as I flew, but I could not see him.
The landscape stopped shifting, solidifying. I stood in a harbor, similar to the one not too far from my own city. There were ropes and boats, crates and barrels, sailors and captains, workers and rats. But as the shouts rang out, the accents and words hinted that this was not home. In the distance, the unfamiliar shapes that must have made up a nearby city--definitely not my own.
The shouts were loud and harsh. At first I supposed these people across the sea were simply louder than those at my home, but panic rang unmistakably amongst the shouts. The sailors and workers ran from place to place, faces scrunched against the wind as they hurried about frenzied, but with definite purpose. Each seemed to have a series of specific tasks they needed to perform among the panic; pulling ropes and tying them off, moving supplies around, delivering messages. A flash of lightning and the atmosphere changed. Panic rising and purpose abandoned, the sailors and workers abandoned their tasks and hurried toward the wooden houses and huts that faced the docks. The captains remained behind only for a moment before following their crews to apparent safety. Even the rats fled their posts.
The wind picked up, whipping at my nightshirt and howling across the sea as it spat its salt water up at me. Another flash of lightning and the wind began to scream, the roaring shout of thunder nearly drowned out by the fury of the gale.
The doors of each hut and house slammed open in unison and the wind whipped inside, carrying me along with it. Several people stood inside, huddled in groups that I assumed were families based on their arrangements and expressions, the way the paired adults clung desperately to the confused children.
Apart from the groups, a few others stood alone, faces subdued. The families quivered as the individuals raised their arms above their heads and began to chant in a guttural language that I did not know.
I was shunted out the doorway as it slammed shut, blocking the families from view. A man stood before me, somehow between the now-closed door and me. Sir quivered at my side and I felt his fear.
A broad smile swept across the man's face. "Aren't you going to welcome us home, cousin?"
If you enjoyed this chapter, let me know by clicking the vote button, leaving a comment, or reviewing "The Big Sleep (The Masters)" on Goodreads! Thanks for reading.
