The dreams came in waves, each more vivid and disorienting than the last.
It was night, and I was in a sea-through kayak on the influencer retreat. Andy was there, taking a picture of me.
"That's your bad side, Chlo." He was explaining to me impatiently. "You know you have to cover that scar. Put your hair down."
I tried to adjust my hair, but it was wet, clumping in thick strands, slipping through my hands, like strands of seaweed.
I could see my reflection in the crystal surface of the kayak, and it was monstrous. The scar tissue grew and grew under my touch until it covered my entire face. The monster lunged at me, and I reared back, tipping the kayak and going overboard.
Water rushed to swallow me. My clothes grew heavy, pulling me down. I struggled and fought, but my muscles turned to useless, tired noodles, and after a few suffocating seconds, I just stopped.
The cold, airless space closed above my head. I was alone. Completely abandoned in the silky black depths of the ocean.
Time stretched and compressed like a slime toy. I was somehow still alive. Still thinking. Existing.
I blinked and found myself walking through the garden at my childhood house. The Sun was so bright, it blinded me, like an interrogation lamp. I could hear the sound of my sister's laughter wafting from the open kitchen window.
"Bee!" Grandma called me.
I was torn between wanting to see my sister, whom I missed so much it made my chest ache or a grandma who raised me and was no longer alive. I hadn't seen Ester for five long years, but Grandma even longer.
I walked through the garden to see a familiar, weathered face. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Long grey strands of hair snaked out of her updo down the high column of her tan neck. Her strong arms were propped on the ground, fingers buried in the soil.
"You forgot your gardening gloves, Gran," I said.
"Oh, no, dear. This is how it is done now," she smiled gently, and I had to catch my jaw, as her hands emitted a green glow, and all the plants around her started growing, like they wanted to swallow her form. The sweet pea was climbing over her hands to her shoulder, and finally over her face, before she disappeared fully under the purple blooming carpet.
"No, Gran!" I screamed, but the scene was already gone.
The bile rose in my throat. I bent over, puking all the water I must have swallowed in the salty ocean. When I had no water left in my stomach, I fell back onto something soft and found myself sitting on a bench in church.
The Priest was reading the verses from the ambo. I looked left and right, not recognizing a single person around me. Their expressions were blank, eyes glued to the figure at the front, like they were seeing God.
I shouldn't be here. I couldn't be here. I was excommunicated; if they saw me at the church…
The doors opened, and armour-clad figures marched in, like the place belonged to them. Except they weren't human. Some looked just like orcs from movies, some more reptilian, like upward walking crocodiles, some ethereal and beautiful like angels descended to Earth.
"Do you have the tribute?" One of them asked, interrupting the service.
"Of course," the priest said, without a hitch.
He lowered to his knees, pulled a hatchet from behind the ambo and in one swift motion chopped his hand off. I gasped, but people around me were unfazed.
"Would this suffice?" He asked the aliens.
"It's perfect," the crocodile answered, staring at the bloody stump, where something was growing anew.
I had many more loopy visions, but they were just colours and sounds, none of them making any sense. Everything was tinged with nausea; the dreamscapes themselves felt poisoned, too bright and too dark simultaneously.
Reality slowly sharpened into focus, dragging my consciousness back from the depths. My eyelids felt impossibly heavy as I fought to open them, and a groan escaped my throat.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Everything hurt, like I was dumped into a coffin with no padding and transported from the East Coast to the West only using logging roads.
My eyelids finally lifted, but it took a few seconds of blinking to get things back in focus. I must have been awake now. Why else could I smell the foul stench of my body in such detail?
There was a window on the right side of me, but the curtains were drawn closed. The white popcorn ceiling and dusty hanging boobs light fixture confirmed that I wasn't in my own apartment.
With some effort, I turned my head to find out a little more about my location.
It was an open-concept living room with a view of the kitchen island and honey-wood cabinets. I was on the couch. There was a solid coffee table pushed to the side, a wall-mounted TV and two chairs. I noticed some pictures on the console table, and after a few minutes of intense staring, I finally recognized Andy in one of them.
Welp, it looks like we've made it to his mom's house.
I tried to prop myself on the elbow, but such a simple action came harder than expected. My muscles felt like they were made out of overboiled pasta, my head spun, and I fell back down.
I tried to repeat the action, grabbing the back of the sofa, and yelped in pain, abandoning this endeavour. The state of my hand was a terrifying sight. The space between my thumb and index finger, where the lizard lodged its teeth, was deep purple, swollen and oozing pus out of the bite marks.
I needed to do something about it. I whispered [Heal Wound] and touched the bite site. The swelling subsided, and the bitemarks turned into two dry scabs. But the colour was still way off my natural complexion. I probably had to do this a bunch more times.
Remembering that I had to close the Deal Hand menu during my fight, I called it up again, hoping for a [Heal], but a different notification came up instead.
Deal Hand selection has timed out. Due to inactivity, the most appropriate card was drawn into your deck.
I opened the deck and stared at the new card. It was green, with a vial in the picture and [Poison Tolerance] on the bottom.
With some effort and strain in my weak hands, I turned the card.
Dulls the worst poison effects, giving your body time and chance to fight it. Does not work on lethal poison dosages.
It was likely the reason I had survived at all. I doubted the kind ladies who picked us up had a universal antivenom. And even if they had delivered me to the hospital, those were some magic-spewing lizards that modern medicine likely knew nothing about.
I slowly worked on my body, warming up joints, one by one. I desperately needed to pee and was equally desperate for water.
Disturbing images from my dreams were still fresh in my mind's eye, and a restless itch to check my phone set in almost immediately. I craved the distraction: notifications, my feed, posts from other influencers, any pretty picture to pull me away from this disturbing reality. But my phone wasn't within reach.
After some stiffness was gone and I was sure that I could control my limbs, I lifted myself off the couch again. The room started spinning, but I succeeded at sitting up.
First, I peered behind the closed curtain. It was early morning, judging by the dull light and fog still clinging to the ground. The street was desperately suburban. A row of similar tiny California Bungalows with chainlink fences was a surprisingly welcome sight. With everything that happened to us in the forest, and the smoke rising on the horizon, I was afraid the city was in ruin.
I didn't risk standing up and started my journey towards the bathroom on all fours. Or rather, on all threes, as my left palm hurt too much to put any weight on it.
There was an empty plastic bowl by the couch, a glass with some powder residue and blisters of pills on the corner table. Someone clearly took care of me while I was out. The notion made me deeply uncomfortable. I hated owing people such debts. Though I did spend my [Heal] on Andy. So we must be even now.
The carpet was old and left an unpleasant mustiness on my fingertips. Oh, how I missed my modern townhouse, with hardwood floors, so new they still smelled like wood polish.
I crawled along the furniture towards the hallway. The house looked small, so the bathroom must be somewhere away from the entrance.
The first door had a "Keep Away", "Knock Before Entering," and other angry teenager signs on it. So I assumed it was Andy's bedroom. The second door was slightly ajar, and I pushed on it carefully.
"Jackpot," I croaked and winced at how rough my own voice sounded.
It was undoubtedly gross to crawl over a stranger's bathroom linoleum. But I was past the point of caring.
I tapped the light switch. Nothing happened.
Either Andy's mom forgot to pay the bill, or the civilization was collapsing faster than I hoped.
The light coming from the frosted bathroom window was just enough to see around. I closed the door. Thankfully, there was still running water, and I could flush the toilet. The bathtub was full of water, so my shower would have to be postponed until I finally got home.
I washed my hands, face, and everything else I could, without undressing, in the sink. Then I drank until my stomach was sloshing with liquid.
Brushing my teeth with a finger, I yearned for my ultrasonic toothbrush, moisturizer, and pyjama. I reeked, felt dehydrated and swollen at the same time. The whole endeavour took an enormous amount of time, since I had to take breaks.
The wound on my leg and forehead looked exactly the same as I remembered. I wondered if the "giving your body time to fight" effect of the new card was literally referring to slowing down some bodily functions.
Feeling much more human, I crawled back into the living room and found a comfortable spot by the window.
When the timer on my healing skill came up, I used it again on my hand. It was no longer purple, but an unhealthy yellow colour, of a healing bruise.
The bedroom door opened, and I turned to see Andy.
Chloe's Deck (4/10):
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Blue Card: [Leap]
Instantly leap forward up to 6 feet. Beware of obstacles. Cooldown 30 minutes.
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Blue Card: [Heal Wound]
A small burst of healing for a single target area you touch. Cooldown 1 hour.
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Green Card: [Spear]
Basic proficiency with spear weapons. Grants +5% damage and improved accuracy when wielding spears.
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Green Card: [Poison Tolerance]
Dulls the worst poison effects, giving your body time and chance to fight it. Does not work on lethal poison dosages.