Dynamic Duo

1. Awakening (1)

"RISE UP, MY CHAMPION. RISE, AND GAZE OVER YOUR DOMINION."

Slowly, Tony opened his eyes. He found himself floating over a blurred, blue sphere. After a couple of second's confusion, it dawned on him that he was watching the Earth. The whorls of white, the overwhelming cerulean, the specks of light, all painting a picture of peaceful seren-

CHAMPION! YOUR TIME SOON COMES. SOON, ALL WILL BEHOLD YOUR POWER."

The deafening, rumbling voice filled the void, snapping Tony out of his daze. The sound enveloped him, coming from all sides and nowhere.

"RISE, AND EMBRACE YOUR PATH."

Tony suddenly noticed how the once-distant cloud cover now rapidly approached, and with a start, realized he was now free-falling through the atmosphere.

"REMEMBER, DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE GROUNDED. DO NOT CEDE TO THE DESIRES OF THE MANY, ONLY TO YOUR OWN."

4000 feet. Attempting to maintain a semblance of control, he feebly stretched out his legs and arms, only to feel the full force of the winds. He screamed, the buildings coming into view. Directly under him lay the Forest. For a fleeting moment of deliriousness, Tony marveled at its apparent calm.

"THE WORLD OWES YOU NOTHING. LET THE POWER OF THE WINDS GUIDE YOU TO YOUR GREATER DESTINY."

1000 feet. The green was almost overwhelming, all-encompassing. Suddenly, a deep, black hole opened up within the forest directly below him.

He fell into total blackness. It felt as if he was still falling, but he could not discern which way was up anymore. The black began to bleed to mahogany, and a faint sound buzzed over the whooshing air. As the air heated up and the darkness turned crimson, the sound buzzed furiously now, becoming unbearable. Tony couldn't see. It's red, all red, too bright, too loud, too hot, too...

Too...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

*click*

"Too damn early."

Tony groggily propped himself up in his bed, a pool of sweat darkening his sheets. The alarm clock blared an angry six thirty, and the morning sun barely filtered through the shutters.

"That makes two weeks of the same dream now. The ending was different this time, though. The Forest instead of the apartment...Weird..."

He wiped off a bit of sweat from his everything and did his morning routine, plus a shower. After drying himself and half-heartedly struggling to brush his tousled hair, he put on plain clothing and shuffled to the kitchen, finding a plate of warm pancakes ready for him. A note sitting on the syrup bottle read:

hope you have a fun on last day! plz put leftovers in microwave + make tea. ill be home at 4!

-broski

"I'm the only one allowed to say 'broski' unironically", Tony muttered, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards. He went to make the brewed tea and, as the water heated, played Mingus from his phone at full blast. The only time Tony could listen to jazz out loud was in the silent mornings of solitude. He lost himself in the sound momentarily, then began to slather the pancakes with syrup and dug in.

As he hummed along to the sax solo and cleaned up the mess he made, he glanced at the wall clock and silently cursed. "Six fifty-two? Gah, I'mma be late!"

He scrubbed his plate furiously and rushed out, grabbing his longboard on the way out and locking the door. He set off towards school.

The usually fifteen-minute ride was not all that special. More apartment complexes like Tony and Ben's, terribly old pavement, some construction of a new outlet mall, decrepit and new gas stations. The only notable sight Tony passed every day was "the Forest". Or, at least, that's what he and Ben called it. In truth, it was just a sizable square of land that took up the entire block, and had somehow never been bought. No one knew why, especially considering it ran next to one of the main roads of the city. But its incredibly dense trees and foliage led people to believe it was haunted. Tony personally thought it was all stupid, another superstition to explain away the unreasonable.