(Fan/Act) The Fight to be Ruler of Reality, a Story of Dreams (T)

Time to start editting! Every chapter that I edit I will place an at the top. This will just indicate that it has gone through its first edit.

Chapter one: My life as I know it...

You know what? My life really does suck.

Oh, were you expecting more from the first sentence in my little story? I think not. That is what I think bottom lines my life. It sucks. Not very optimistic, huh? Well, that's what I think.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not one of those types of people in a bad family. I'm not a starving orphan or anything...

However, after you look at that positive point, there's really not anything else positive to it. Nope, not one thing. It just sucks.

I think it would be good if you knew more about my life before you try to send me to a shrink or something. Even if you did succeed in sending me to one, however, I doubt it would do much good... I've been through three shrinks already.

What's your first memory? No, I'm not trying to change the subject or anything. This really starts with my first memories. Many people can't even remember their first memory, just a jumble of them stringed together; I can remember perfectly. In fact, my first memory is as clear as the computer screen I'm looking at right now. Leggos.

I kid you not... leggos. Stacking them, connecting them, making strange shapes out of them; that's what I first remember. I would make things like pyramids, even though I hadn't even heard of the word before. And that simple memory was the happiest moment of my life. There, I was just letting my mind wander. I had no enemies, no friends, no hates or needs, just the simple compulsion to stack the stupid little blocks into shapes.

After that everything went downhill. I think it all comes from one person, the person who seems to be the source of all my hatred, my brother. That day, the first day I can remember, is also the first memory I have of my brother. What did he do that first day? I would be lying if I told you I remember him that well. I can barely remember his face from that time.

But I do know that on that day, he welcomed me to life by simply hitting me with a cardboard tube. It didn't hurt, of course, but it upset me to know that someone a bit older than me could do that without retaliation. This wasn't my first day in life though... from what I can gather I was around three or four years old at the time.

And that night I had my first dreams. I made my first visit... to Unity.

Now there are people who choose the level of their existence in dreams. They can be like ghosts in the Dream World, they can stay outside of the Dream World, they can even be an animal or some other form while in the Dream World. But unlike all of those existances... I chose to be exactly what I was in the Real World.Well, chose isn't exactly the word. There are a lot of people who chose this just like me, but I don't know how many people had experiences like mine.

Either way, in the form I chose it seemed I would remember more of what I did in the Dream World than most, and it seemed... I don't know... more real somehow. It also seemed that I would never get the chance to experience the other existences. I haven't been able to, anyway. It just doesn't work. I tell myself, when I first decide to sleep, that I will be a penguin or a clown or anything other than myself.

And that's where part of my story begins I guess... in that first day in the Dream World. It was a day that I can somehow remember clearly. It's a picture in my head, and I can't erase it. It was how I became a part of the world outside of reality, and how I realized anything was possible.

It was the time when I first met people like Hack, created dreams like Switchblade, and saw people like... well... you'll see.

And all of that started in that one day.

Wow, it began with such an ordinary, "Catcher In The Rye" tone. But the fantasy crept in so suddenly and unexpectedly. It's very mysterious and engaging. I can't wait to find out what happened on "that one day"!

This sounds interesting. I'd like to see where it goes. I take it you don't need any kind of background knowledge to understand the whole thing?

If you can keep the atmosphere going and pull the effect you've started off properly, I'll be taking my hat off to you.

*goes to fetch hat in preparation*

DARN IT!!! I had the entire chapter written out, and then LIKE AN IDIOT I refreshed the page.

Oh well… I guess that’s what I get for not typing on word.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews, and I hope you enjoy the second chapter… I actually tried to do this in two forms. I could have either told you about a lot of the things in Unity all at once and not even mention what happens to my character, or I could gradually tell you about Unity when I go further into the book. I chose the second since you seem to want to know more about what happened on “that day”.

Chapter two: Welcome to Unity

You know… it just occurred to me that I never told you my name. It’s Ryan… Ryan Haney.

My first trip into the Dream World I learned my destiny as a hero and savior… and if you actually think that happened you’re nuts. No, it was far from anything like that.

It started in a small white room. No doors, no windows… and if there wasn’t gravity I wouldn’t know what was a wall, what was the ceiling, or even what was the floor. It was a perfect cube. There was only one other person there. A person, I’m sorry to say, who’s face I cannot remember. In fact, I can’t remember anything about the person. Maybe I just forgot over time, maybe I’m not supposed to remember, but either way it’s strange. There’s almost never a face I can’t remember… it’s the names I have a problem with…

Either way it doesn’t matter to me. It’s what the person did for me that matters…

“Hello there! Welcome to Unity!” The figure exclaimed.

While the matured me would have looked around in wonder, the younger me had a different way of doing things. “Is this it?” I asked. Of course, my speech wasn’t the babble younger people call words. It was as clear as day, which was my first hint of something strange going on.

“Heavens no!” The figure replied. “This is the room where things are decided about what you will be able to do in Unity. You can almost call this a testing room. Don’t worry though, this will only take a second.”

The figure pressed there palm on my foreheads and all of the sudden it felt like all the headaches in the world were being channeled into me. And as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The figure took their hand off and handed me a sheet of paper. Suddenly I was standing in a large place full of people.

I glanced the paper over… okay, I didn’t even glance at it. I dropped it. That’s right, I just dropped it. Don’t forget… I was a snotty kid. I didn’t know better.

And I ran off happily into the town called Unity. It looked dusty and there was no proper road. Til this day I have no idea of why they call it Unity. The city is bigger than any other I have ever seen. You could spend years just traveling through it. And a huge barrier taller than the Empire State building surrounds it all… well… most of it. Strange enough though, it never gets dark. It’s like the sun is stuck right above Unity.

And then there are the places that stand against the barrier. I was placed in an area between the library and the Arena.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. I didn’t tell you Unity’s layout? Well… I don’t know the whole place… but I do know a few choice areas.

The Library… lets start with that. I went there first anyway. Imagine a little kid pushing through thousands of people (yes, thousands of people. They are everywhere!) to get to… a library. The library is huge. It is not a library… it is the library. I swear… it must have every book ever written. Who knows… maybe it has this book right now… freaky! I entered and was handed a book. Apparently it tells you directions based on what you want. It also records all of your “adventures” if you want it to. Of course I got it to record that day!

I left almost instantly though… I couldn’t read yet! Actually, I could read those books just fine… but it creeped me out at the time.

And I went to the Arena. Of course I didn’t know it was an arena at the time. I just went where my little mind led me. And it led me right to where all the cheering was coming from. Apparently it was having a tournament that day.

That’s where I created Switchblade.

It all started when I entered what I thought was the regular entrance. Obviously I was wrong. I was pushed and pulled until I came to a big platform. There was some blowhard across the arena shouting something about how his dreams couldn’t be beat and so on. I didn’t even know where I was until…

“And here is a new challenger. He is…” For a second I thought the voice had been cut off, and then it started up again, “Ryan Haney. You won’t believe it folks, but this is Ryan’s first day in Unity!”

There was a lot of laughing and some “awwwww”s from people who thought it was “cute” for me to fight. I had no idea what was happening. Once again, I was just a stupid kid!

“You think you can beat me?” The blowhard shouted across to me, “I will grind your creation to a pulp!”

And so it started. He just stood there… and then I looked down into the fighting area. It was massive! I didn’t take notice of what it was, just how big it was.

And then the guy shouted at me to “create” or whatever… so I did. I thought of a way to shut that guy up. A way that this guy would never laugh at me again. (He kept insulting me for some reason… I still have no idea who he was on that day…)

And slowly a hole opened up beside he. And then he emerged. Let me describe him. He was dark in nature. He had gray skin under his eyes and his eyes were black. His hair was short and a greasy black. He wore black… He was everything black except for his skin, which was a pale white. There were a few “ooh”s and “awww”s from the crowd. Also some applause.

The guy, who seemed to have already “created”, laughed at me. He pointed down. There was a big pool in the fighting area. It was full of lily pads and there was even a little island in the middle. Switchblade, without a word, jumped down onto the island.

“Bite him good Kazdoo!” The man shouted. A giant shark thing appeared out of nowhere as I realized the man was commanding something in the water. It sped straight for Switchblade, who just stood there. I realized at the last second that he was waiting for a command.

“Cut it in half!” I shouted to him. And he did!

He extended his right arm, and slowly (or at least it seemed slow, but it must have been really fast for everyone else) he put his thumb into his palm and curled his pointer finger until it was pointing back at him. The last thing I saw was a sparkle of red… and then the giant shark thing went over the island and fell back into the water.

Switchblade was nowhere to be seen! And then I heard a splash and looked to the left of the fighting area just as the man was yelling something in triumph. It sounded like “Blood! There’s blood in the water! Your little creation was nothing!” And I stared in wonder as I saw Switchblade glance up to me. He was standing on one of the lily pads. There wasn’t a scratch on him… The fish on the other hand…

Its two halves floated up at once. The man on the other side fell silent and fell to his knees. It looked like he was crying. Switchblade, however, jumped up to where I was and simply said, “It’s time. Let’s go kid!”

And while the stadium was silent in shock Switchblade picked me up (respectfully of course) and carried me out of there.

Next place? The Archway!

*Don’t worry… I’ll make the next chapter more slow-going and I’ll have a little less excitement as well I'll try to make it more descriptive too. This time there won't be any mishaps so I won't ave to rewrite it all!*

*blinks*

*drops hat*

Heck. That was jumping in at the deep end.

And I'm glad you did. I enjoyed reading that a great deal. You picked a good style to do this in - it keeps suspense, it keeps people wondering, and they only find anything out when you want them to.

Keep this up - and make sure you finish it!

*picks hat up*

Chapter three: Good old memories... and the bad ones too... And there's that kingdom of cards we all know and love...

Once I was carried out of the battle stadium by Switchblade I was set down. He sat next to where he had put me and waited for... I don't know really.

I was still arrogant, so I started to ask him every question in my little head.

"Why did you take me out of there?" I asked angrily.

Switchblade took a deep, yawning breath and answered in a totally emotionless tone of voice. I still have no idea what inspired him in my imagination. Maybe he is to represent a way to let my anger out in a civilized way... maybe he's the calm, slow thinking voice to go against my fast and quick-decision voice... maybe he was created as my protector... Whatever he is... I will never know for sure.

"You don't want to get caught up in such a frenzy. Besides, no one would believe a runt like you could create something that can destroy the champion's best."

"Wait," I started up, "what are you talking about? Champion? What do you mean his best? Best what? What do you mean runt?!"

He took another breath, "That guy was the champion of the battle arena. He was on top until you, or rather I, cut that fish in two. As for the runt... I meant what I said, okay Runt?"

I got slightly red in the cheeks and started hitting him. I was just a little kid... I didn't know better. I didn't know the meaning of the word "manners".

"You really think you, a runt, could possibly hurt me when a giant fish couldn't? Anyway, I wasn't created to fight in there. I was created to go into the Nightmare Cloud and protect you."

I gave up on trying to hurt him, "What is your problem?!"

He gave me a small smile and replied, "You tell me. You created me."

"Wait," I stopped suddenly, "What is the Nightmare Cloud? How do you know about it when I don't? And why do I need your protection from it?"

"The Nightmare Cloud is a place where all nightmares dwell. It is a mist that consumes all places not inhabited by dreams. I only know about it because you created me inside of Unity. Those that are created in Unity are given certain information to protect their creators. The Nightmare cloud has all shapes of evils imaginable, and you will need the highest protection to go through it. The way out of Unity is the archway. This certain archway is in a place very close to us. So close in fact that-"

"It's behind us isn't it?" I stopped him midsentence.

He smiled slightly again, "Yes."

"Well lets go then!" I shouted.

This time he smiled as big as he could, and he didn't even call me runt for once, "Yes sir!"

And we went through the archway...

What a hell that was!

The Nightmare Cloud is best described as a thick, black cloud that goes for miles and miles nonstop. It probably covers all of the Dream World that hasn't had dreams put there to keep it out.

A pentagon. That is the shape of the wall that keeps out the Nightmare Cloud in Unity. The top tip of the pentagon is the only placer you can go in... And it's the way to the scariest place I've ever been to.

It's also where I got my glimse of Hack and Xona.

And the kingdom of cards...

Throwing out scraps to the dogs, you are. I'm waiting to hear explanations, and then you bring in something else to baffle me.

Good work. Keep it up.

What kind of explanations? I try not to create too many questions. If you think about it I answered the first few questions I created in chapter one... but I guess there are a fair amount of questions I didn't answer, and then there's that kingdom of cards thing I've got to explain.

Chapter four: The king of spades, the king of diamonds, the king of clubs, and the king of hearts. Oh... I forgot the Joker

A simple card game. That's what I like... a card game.

I have created my own litle game after these experiences. I call it the Kingdom of Cards.

You see, each card has its own value, its own place in things. All but one or two cards. There's the jokers... they are wild cards. They could be anything. They only play the parts they choose... I consider myself a joker. I choose what I do, what I want, with no peer pressure whatsoever. I could team up with another joker, but they could be a total opposite to me. Jokers are wild cards... but that doesn't really mean that they're wild. And then there's that rule card. Ignored, even by the most novice players. Cast aside, not used by any player whatsoever. A card considered useless, unless looking for the rules to the game, and it never has the answer you want. But useless? Maybe not.

Now you may be wondering what experiences I had to create this card game. Well... to get the idea we go to a place that I keep well in mind. It as the last place I was at before waking up in reality. Welcome... to the Kingdom of Cards. But the story doesn't start there... heavens no!

It starts going into the archway. Me and Switchblade had just walked in.

You'd think that Unity would be easy to see from the Nightmare Cloud... but the moment we walked through it disappeared from sight. I guess it is true what they say in the Dream World... The Nightmare Cloud covers all things.

From the moment we first walked in... I had the shivers. It was cold and, I'm sad to admit, scary.

Switchblade stayed close to me, apparently playing his role as protector. But, like all things, it went bad almost immediatly. A dark cloud came out of nowhere and just... scooped Switchblade up... it was... horrifying... terrible. The last thing I heard him say as he was swooped up was "RUN KID!!!"

And I did. I ran and ran until I heard explosions coming from the path in front of me (I call it a path... but you might call it a random direction) and I stopped in fright. Emerging from the darkness came two people. One looked very dark and disturbing. The other looked... royal.

They were battling it out with, you guessed it, cards. The dark one seemed to be winning. Waves of cards seemed to spring from the ground and would hit the kingly figure. He was only holding one card, and he wasn't using it. The dark figure laughed.

"What's the matter?" He taunted, "Not feeling up to your normal tactics?"

The kingly figure stood proud and tall, even against the waves of cards. "Never will I lose!" He announced boldly, "as long as I have one card I can beat you with it!"

And he swung the card like a sword... but I did not see the outcome. A small girl, probably about my age came out of nowhere and grabbed me. I was about to shout, but she clapped a hand over my mouth and motioned for me to follow her.

I reluctantly followed, wanting to see the strange battle, but the two had disappeared. I could still hear them fighting though.

I could barely see the girl, but I followed her anyway. She made so many twists and turns I thought that she didn't know where she was going. I was wrong of course.

Suddenly a huge castle emerged out of the cloud. It was not a castle of cards, but it was still quite extraordinary. It's top tip probably cut through the clouds that were only pinpricks in the sky to us.

I finally found the girl, she was standing next to a person I have ony seen five times.

His name (or at least I'm guessing it's a he by the tone of his voice, everything else is covered in shadow and cloth) is Hack... and he's an info man. He knows everything that's happening in the Dream World, though how he does is something I've never quite understood. He seemed to see me, and I heard his laughing voice from withing the pile of clothes. "Ah, you found him! The young Haney boy!" Before I knew what was happening he was shaking my hand in enthusiasm, "I sdaw your match in the Battle arena! It was quite marvelous! Marvelous! Astounding! Marveastoundenous!"

I raised my eyebrow. Did he just make up a word? Next thing I knew he was staring really closely at me.

"I saw the poor thing that happened to your creation. Don't worry, he's very alive. He'll meet you next time you dream. Strange how such a young boy could create something so advanced though. Very funny... yet it seems that we can expect many strange things from your life... Yes, yes, it's all here in your eyes. You will definitely be very strange... if not an outcast..." He started to laugh, "You're more of a joker than the guy the King of Spades was battling!"

At this the girl gasped. She must have found that very interesting, because now both of them were looking at me closely. "You think so?" she asked out loud, "is he really a joker?"

Hack turned to her, "Certainly my dear girl! Don't you see it? Oh, by the way Mr. Haney, I'm Hack... or at least everyone calls me that. Not sure how that all started though... I thgink it's time you woke up now though... your mother is shaking you right now!"

And sure enough I woke up... such a strange person!

In the Dream World the girl turned back to Hack, "Is he really that strange?" Hack just nodded.

She smiled, and said aloud, "Okay, that settles it... I'm gonna join up with him!"

Hack just nodded again and watched as she walked away... "Poor Xona... you're only a two of clubs!"

Wow, that's a very intriguing world you've created. It's slightly confusing though, or maybe it's just me. But it's rather fast-paced, which is probably a good thing for this story.

It's confusing, alright - but that's half the fun.

The unanswered questions I mentioned are things like "what the heck is the Dream World", "what are the rukes", "what was that with the stadium", what's with this 'creator' business", and now "what's this about a kingdom of cards" as well. You know, small things like that.

So, what's going to happen next? How long til he gets back? What actually happened to Switchblade? Question, question, question! XD

Keep this up!

Chapter five: To the present... oh, and some answers.

When I woke up that day I didn't know what had happened. I smile to think of how... stupid I was. There was so much information I forgot... but I still remember that day.

Now if only life was as good as it was back then. Welcome to my life as a fourteen year old.

Of course I'm still very active in the Dream World. In fact, I'm in it right now.

Tony finished shuffling the cards. He threw five to me, gave five to himself, and gave each of us one extra card. It was my turn... I picked up my five cards, leaving my extra card face down.

Not a bad hand... four of spades, five of diamonds, eight of clubs, nine of diamonds, and a king of spades.

I pulled out the four of spades and laid it in my special pile. Every two, three, four, and seven are considered special cards, they have special effects in the game.

I place the nine of diamonds on my field (face down) and ended my turn.

Tony went next. He placed one card on his special pile and placed a face down card on his field. He placed a threee of diamonds on the discard pile and pulled three cards from the deck. He placed two more cards on the special pile and ended his turn. I drew a card from the deck. A nine of hearts!

I empowered my already placed nine of diamonds by placing my nine of hearts on top of it face down. I then split them, making a total of two cards in my field. I discarded my nine of hearts to place my king of spades, face up. I attacked Tony's face down card with my face down nine by turning it face up. The card on Tony's field had been an eight of diamonds. It was destroyed, sending it to the discard pile. Tony was now open to attack by my king of spades.

What is the Dream World really? I have no clue. I like to believe it's like a coin. Reality is one side, and the other side is the Dream World. Or I could just have this whole thing in my head... This could be my own little world, all in dreams.

I attacked Tony diectly. I was now able to draw ten more cards from the deck. I was able to place two more cards into my special pile. I placed a two of diamonds in the discard pile, allowing me to draw two more. There were a few satisfactory cards... and a king of hearts! I empowered my king of spades and let them split, allowing me to attack Tony for another ten cards!

By the way, I figured out what the whole colliseum was for. It's just a kind test of skills. The only real place to fight while outside of the Nightmare Cloud. One on one matches, each person fights with courtesy and professionalism. Whatever that means. It's basically fighting for a fancy title and a trophy... until you lose.

I found a seven of diamonds in the ten cards I drew. I discarded it to draw seven more. I found a four of diamonds in the seven I drew, so I discarded it to draw four more.

I put a number of cards in my special cards pile and sorted the cards I had drawn. Twenty four were now in my hand, and I had nine cards in the special pile. I had gotten the other two kings, and even another nine, but you can only empower each card once per turn. That was okay though... I could still play a few more cards. I discarded a four of hearts... it allowed me to take four cards from the discard pile. I took all the scecial diamond cards. There were only two cards left in the deck, so I discarded my two of diamonds and took the last two.

Confused about the special cards? Well heres a quick course in this game. Spade special cards allow you to destroy cards on the field, diamond specials allow you to draw from the deck, club specials allow you to play cards onto the field, and finally, heart specials allow you to take from the discard pile. Cards like king, queen, jack, and ace need a card sacrifice to be allowed onto the field. It helps to regulate power...

And then theres the kingdom card powers. If you have a ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of a certain type of card you can call all of those type to them. I just happened to have the tens, jacks, queens, kings, and aces, of both the spade group and the club group. It allowed me to call all of the spades and all of the clubs to my side of the field. I did it, and then stacked in order. The kindom of clubs and the kingom of spades were complete!

And speaking of kingdoms of cards, the next time I dreamt... I appeared in the kingdom of cards. Switchblade was standing next to me and the girl who I had seen (she later told me her name was Xona) had apparently joined up with me somehow. Switchblade had a big scar going from his left ear lobe to the middle of his chin. Til this day I have never heard what happened, and he has never mentioned it. And I still haven't found a way to get rid of Xona. She can come in handy sometimes but she's mostly annoying... By the way, apparently th King of Spades won against the so-called Joker. Good for him I say. He apparently won with a two of hearts card...

With the kingdoms completed I attacked Tony with them, winning the game. He laughed as he handed me his cards. Two tens and a jack... I also laughed as I looked them over.

That Tony... what a card!

He's been a friend for a while...

We both walked out of the room in different directions. Tony there is from Ireland. I'm from America. Isn't that cool? We communicate through dreams even though we are continents apart. I guess it's a bit like the internet... only more interactive.

I walked out into Unity. It was bright and sunny, as always. Switchblade got up from the wooden chair he had been sitting at and followed along behind me. I only had to look so far for Xona. She appeared in seconds. Arms loaded with boxes and bags.

You know what? Life doesn't really suck too much...

At least it was getting better...

At least that's what I thought...

I'm enjoying this fic. Still not too many answers, though, but I can wait.

Well, that explains the game they were playing...I might even see if it's plausible to play when you're awake. But I really want to know what your little cliffhanger at the end meant.

Ah, well. What's next?