VOICES

Deep dark clouds were across his mind’s eye, reality had been stretched to obscurity. Ethan wondered where it all went wrong, where he’d lost the plot in life’s brilliant book. He recalled lying down on his soft brown couch in his apartment on Willow Street and that was it. Everything else just seemed out of place, and time. Somewhere in his subconscious, a voice was trying to pass a message, but that voice sounded like it came from a dying wind.

Ethan felt fear… He’d read once in a book that: ‘minds fear what they can’t comprehend’ and he couldn’t argue with that narrative at the moment.

A terrible question pounced in front of him with claws and teeth of uncertainty that raked across his soul, forcing him to surrender more of his fading assurance and courage. Fear’s icy embrace had him, and Ethan knew there was no escape.

“Where are you?”

The question also came with a black hole, swallowing up every sense of his existence. He cried out in despair as his heart lost the rhythm of its beat when he discovered he had no voice. Ethan grabbed at his throat, but his hands moved through whirlpools. He pulled them back, and was surprised to see what looked like a curved gun in one, and a small knife in the other. His eyes closed in on the weapons to study them. It was then he realized he was standing on what seemed like the edge of a ruined city. Somehow, he could see himself on a jagged wooden board at least 700 feet high.

Amazed by what he saw, he turned in a half circle, an act which revealed a city with ruined gothic skyscrapers and towers. Directly below was a vast pit. Its content and size were lost to a wispy fog. From within, voices carried to him, along with deafening screams and deep growls.

A voice from above, silenced the mysterious noises from the pit and he looked up. A beam of white light flashed in the sky. That same moment, Ethan perceived shards of his lost reality… “A dog,” He whispered, “I had a dog with me in my apartment on Willow Street… Ah, yes, I was a…”

“Your days of doing as you pleased are behind you!” Ethan lost track of his thoughts once more, overwhelmed by the voice from the clouds. The resonating words forced him to his knees, the weapons dropping from his hands.

He gripped his head. “That voice!” It filled his senses! He could smell it, taste it. He saw light years of time where the voice spoke to others like it. He could feel its dreadful existence.

“Hide! Hide! Hide!” all of Ethan’s senses screamed.

“Be still!” said the dreadful voice, which eased Ethan’s fears. “I am Artir… I am trapped. Poonisha the Less, a scourge to existence and all that is fair, attacked my world and invaded my lands. I’ve been searching for days, Aye, light years to find you… to demand you help me find a way out, a way to save my world and lands. In my search, I came across a signal which led me to you. Locked within you is the strength to travel through realities and time while being able to stay sane.”

Ethan quivered, his fear returning, as he wondered what more secrets the voice had to tell him.

The clouds changed shape to that of a happy puppy, a familiar happy puppy… His memories flashed before him, as scenes of the day he bought Doku returned. Ethan’s fears vanished again, replaced by a warm soft smile. The clouds changed back to normal, and the voice continued talking.

“I won’t be long with my speech. There is only one thing imperative for you to do to save my world from Poonisha as well as your own dirt planet… Yes, it is in danger, too… you must come to Taliper, where I’m caged. Rise, pick up your weapons, and jump into the pit. There is a device to bring you to me.”

Ethan barely understood what the being was saying. Nonetheless, he got to his feet. He knew his reality had been forever altered and he had no idea what he would be facing.

“Would I see him again? See my dear Doku?” Ethan asked the voice.