Monday, March 21, 2011

Koreshi Chronicles: Chapter II - Dreams and Nightmares


Images flashed before his eyes, but his lids were closed.
Sounds echoed from afar, deafening but unheard.
These were the whispers of the real intruding on dreams.


There was a long pause as the world rushed back in. A fury of sound and light returned and with it came the sense of activity. he was being carried on a stretcher, his view of the world tipped to the side as if the whole universe had fallen down. One of the open-topped jeeps was turned over and the other was so much molten debris. An armored vehicle appeared between flashes and clouds of dust and smoke. The whole world coalesced into a single thought: Pain.

Inside, one was released from fear, from noise, from light and suffering.
It was like being in a womb or a coffin.


The field hospital was under attack. Amid the injured, the dying and the dead, shells rained down more pain, more grief and final release. The doctor gave each one a cursory look, moving from body to body. “No, no, surgery, no, recovery, morgue, no…” A cry broke his rhythm as she appealed his decision. She pointed to two civilians in the rows and the doctor held her gaze. Hers was an equal mix of defiance and distress, his of tired indifference. After three seconds that spanned a lifetime, the doctor came back to the two victims Lyta stood vigil over. The doctor found the man Mr Lassander to be dead; he looked at the child again and saw the familial traits. Luk had severe burns over most of his left side from the hip to the top of his skull. The physician looked the Lyta in the eyes but did not find any words of comfort. “I can’t help them,” he said in a soft voice devoid of feeling. A nurse urged him from behind to attend to other duties, but the girl held his gaze. “He’s still alive,” she said simply, looking at her brother. The nurse insisted once more, but her words were merely hollow echoes compared to the great cavernous depths of the girl’s sullen eyes. “Help him,” she said with quiet intensity. “Captain Chambers…” the nurse chided again, but to no avail.

The doctor took her Luk away and she stayed with Mr Lassander and me until soldiers took him away and soon after, the sound of rockets and explosions took him away as well.

Dreams of a forgotten life replaced the horror of reality.
Visions of cacophony, cries of dazzling light.


She awoke to find Todd by her side. One of his hands held a book, the other, her own hand. “Lukas,” she said meekly. Todd put his book down and looked at her, sleeping in a fetal position by his side. He pointed in the other direction. As her eyes followed the trajectory of his finger, she took in the inside of a bus or truck of some kind. She saw the heads of other passengers, and at the end of her arc she saw a cot occupied by the bandaged figure of her older brother.

Darkness. A dull emptiness of body and mind,
A hollow existence echoing loudly the drum of the desert.
In that gloom came nightmares, then came a night filled with stars and a cold wind.


She came awake groggily and crawled out of the broken remains of the vehicle into the desert air. Above her, countless stars spotted the blue-black sky and a crescent moon stood sentry over the pale dunes.

The bus was overturned and dense plumes of black smoke rose from the hind quarter. Bodies lay strewed about the sand.

The crescent moon still held court over the sky,
The desert was once again clean; no bodies, no wreckage of a former life. Just sand.
Wrapped in warmth and lulled by the rocking motion of a beast’s gait, there was only silence and sleep and dreams untouched by reality.




Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game

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Hermes 72 - Heavy Gear RPG - Most artwork Copyright 2002 Dream Pod 9, Inc.