Magnus Chase and the Wrath of Morpheus

Chapter 1

The Beginning of the End

It was dark when I opened my eyes. Of course it was: It was night and I just woke up. Which was strange because usually I slept through the whole night. The giant tree that went straight through my room didn't really bother me even though the animals in it made all kinds of sounds. One day a whole branch just fell off and landed in the middle of my room. It must have been a really loud crack because Alex who was sleeping next to me woke up screaming and, trust me, it needs a lot to make Alex scream. It was the scream that woke me, not the crack.

But this night was different. When I woke up I only heard a rustle in the leaves of Yggdrasil. I was almost angry with the tree. But the anger quickly faded when I realised how strange it was that I woke up just because of some dumb leaves. I sat up and turned on the lights in my room.

"What the heck? How is this even possible?"

I had to stop myself from yelling back something rude at the tree which seemed to have spoken. I hesitated but then I asked: "Who...Who said that?" The answer came as uncertain as my question: "Hello? Is somebody out there? Please, I need help. I don't know where I am...is this still New York?"

I almost laughed. New York? That 's miles away from Boston and the Hotel. At this point I was pretty sure that it hadn't been the tree that was talking but still I wasn't sure if I had heard correctly. "There's a dude in my Tree" I mumbled completely staggered. "Who is this?" I asked again, this time a little but louder.

Who ever was in the tree answered immediately: "This us G... oh no he's here! Did he follow me? That's not possible...I thought I could escape". I heard him yawn. "Listen" -he said- "who ever you are, where ever you are, hide! You're not safe here anymore! He's gonna come and get you!" He yawned again. "You need to-"

I didn't find out what he wanted me to do because he suddenly stopped talking and I heard a dull knock on wood. I decided that he must've slipped, hit his head somewhere and passed out so I went up and out of my bed, to search and help him. I couldn't even make one step when I heard a very deep voice echoing through the room and through my head. "Oh my dear furry friend. You thought you can escape. How wrong you were!" He laughed and the whole tree shivered. The sound waves hit me as he whispered words I hardly understood: "Sleep".

I started shaking. Sleep, sleep, sleep... The words echoed in my head and turned my brain into pudding. I felt hypnotized. I couldn't move and felt all the warmth move out of my body. I wanted to scream for help. I opened my mouth but no words came out. I couldn't breathe anymore. I panicked and almost started to cry. But the weariness was floating my body in waves of sound, hitting the inside of my skull again and again. A helpless feeling overcame me and surrounded me.

I felt my knees letting go and fell into a seemingly bottomless pit, filled with whispering voices that called me and asked me to help but I couldn't do anything but hear their screams come and go, fade in and fade out. As I was falling I heard the man laugh one last time and everything went black.