Chapter One: It was only a dream…
He knew this was only a dream. More surprising to him than knowing he was dreaming was being able to freely move about inside of the dream. He could run, jump and even talk to himself. He loved the exhilaration that came with knowing he could do whatever he wanted here and never know pain or fear. The only thing he could not control was the setting in which his dream took place. This, however, did not bother him as he ran through the open meadow, his long hair blowing in the breeze.
It was here in his dreams where he could remember who he was but at the same time not be able to think about it. He has had many dreams like this over the past few years, since he first awakened from his coma. He was always alone, which didn’t bother him at all for in the waking world he was never alone. Here, Corey Steiner could be free.
He had reached the meadows edge, which blended into a forest as if it was painted to be that way. He thought to himself, “A little stroll through the woods never hurt anyone.” Pausing for a second he responded to his thought with, “Tell that too little red riding hood.” He laughed as he entered the trees, smelling the clean air and hearing the rustle of the leaves soothed his weary soul. He walked and walked, carrying on this way for what seemed like hours, maybe even days for in his dream, time has no meaning.
The more he walked the less he was paying attention to his surroundings. He soon found himself in the darkest part of the forest, with barely any sunlight getting through the trees overhead. In the darkness, he heard what sounded like a twig snapping, however, he knew he didn’t make the sound. He turned to face the direction of the offending noise and to his shock he saw a man dressed in a white robe approaching him slowly. Corey’s instinct had him reaching down for his sword with his hand finding nothing but air.
The man threw his hands in the air and calmly said, “Peace, my brother! I am not here to hurt you. I am a friend perhaps even your oldest friend. I am here to help you.”
“Okay, first, who are you to enter into my dream like this! How dare you! Second, if you were a friend, why do I not recognize you?”
Turning his head to the side the man in white responded, “I cannot tell you who I am, for you would not remember it in your wakened state. I am sorry I took so long in finding you, but now that I am here, I will not leave you again.”
Uneasy with what he was hearing Corey retorted, “Leave now! This dream is my refuge and I do not want to share it with anyone!”
Smiling the man in white sat down on a fallen tree then spoke again, “I know this is your refuge, good sir, I created it for you.”
“Forgive me if I do not take you word for it. I don’t trust very easy these days.”
“As you should be, my friend!” replied the man in white.
“If you are my friend, where have you been all this time? Why did you leave me when I needed you?” Corey said angrily.
“I never left you, you left me or rather you were taken from me and these past few years, I have been trying to find you again.”
Corey refused to believe anything this man was saying. He knew better than to trust anyone, especially those who came uninvited into his dream. Corey was about to speak again when he felt himself being pulled away. He found himself trying to desperately hold on this dream, clutching to it with all of his strength but to no avail. Just before his eyes opened he heard the man in white say one final thing, “I will be waiting for your return my friend.”
After his eyes adjusted to the light in the room he realized that his companion was shaking him to wake up. “Angela, what are you doing? I was in the middle of an awesome dream.”
“Sorry, you were talking in your sleep so loud you woke me up. You looked like you were having a nightmare.” She replied in her usual timid way.
“Oh, well its okay Angela in that case I do not mind.” he said while waving his hand towards her.
He got out of bed and made his way to his wash basin, splashed some water on his face then turned to look at her. He admired her beautiful red hair, how it curled at the ends and he couldn’t help but smile at her. It was her hair that he first noticed, after he woke up from his coma. Something deep down inside of him was really attracted to the way she looked. He noticed that she did inquire about neither his departure nor his destination. She never asked questions. She was only obedient to a fault.
As he walked away he thought about the day he woke up. He remembers that day quite well. Almost three years has gone by but he thinks about that day often. He remembers nothing of his life before that day and his life after awakening has been “interesting” in his opinion.
He made his way over to the bed leaning in for a kiss which she happily gave to him. He then proceeded to get dressed so that he could start his day, earlier than usual as he could see no sunlight coming through the cracks in his tents entrance. He walked over to the entrance opening it with one hand then departed through it. He made his way across the common area of the camp to the training pit where he would spend more time learning the ways of the arcane.
He knew it was job to lead and lead he shall with every fiber of his being. He lay down on the table which he was told was once used to kill people by lethal injection in some backwoods prison that no one has ever heard of. Clearing his mind he thought of nothing but his objective which was to use the power of this table to control the death knights that were assigned to him. His mind opened up and sensation of flying overtook his senses as he could not see but feel where he was going. The uneasy feeling that came next was not something he never particularly enjoyed. His mind entered the death knight’s mind connecting to it which allowed Corey to control every action this death knight took.
His work in the arcane, which is something he never particularly enjoyed as it felt not only wrong but it took its toll on him mentally which he was promised, would go away with more practice. Remus made him too many promises to count, but in the end his chose to do this because of simple revenge and if it caused him a little mental anguish, so be it. When connected to many death knights at once e could see through many eyes at once, which also gave him an uneasy feeling but that too was ignored.
Revenge is the only motivator he had these days because as it is his current life is the result of the actions of others. People he couldn’t remember but knew he hated. The evidence was overwhelming when he saw it at first. The Knights of the Archangels in their religious fanaticism are the ones responsible for his injures that caused his coma. He learned their names, faces and everything else he could for the day he would surely have his revenge. He will cut off their heads off and leave them for the vultures to dispose of. The more he thought about his hatred for them the easier it was for him to control the death knights.
As he took the death knights through more training another person entered the pit and immediately went to Corey’s side. Corey’s concentration was broken by this intruder causing his anger to grow inside of him because this is the second time his world was intruded today. He looked up to see Remus looking down at him smiling. “Trouble sleeping? This is a bit early for training today, don’t you think?”
“Maybe it is, I got woken up early so I figured I would train some more. I am getting so close to being able to control the entire legion. I feel I could be ready for a showdown with the Knights in as little as a month maybe two.”
Continuing to smile Remus replied, “Excellent. We have time, no need to rush too quickly here Corey, have patience.”
Sighing Corey replied, “I spent 6 months in rehabilitation, learning how to do menial things like walk again. I spent another 6 months after in training for the sword, then another year with Romulus learning how to expand my mind. After that I came back to you to learn how to use this table using this arcane knowledge of yours. Now here we are, another year later and so close I can taste it. I have gone as slowly as I could Remus. I am getting a little antsy here.”
The smile left Remus’s face as he said, “I realize it’s been a long journey to get to this point, Corey. Do I need to remind you of simple things like respect again?”
Corey eyes widened as he said, “No Master, I did not mean any disrespect to you or to this process. I am just eager to carry out my revenge.”
Smiling again Remus said, “Revenge, is something worth waiting for if done right. Again, patience is needed here! Now I will leave you to your training.”
As Remus departed the training pit Corey could feel the warmth reenter his body. He had no idea why would get so cold in Remus’s presence and never enjoyed it much either. He closed his eyes to try concentrating again, reaching out with his mind as best he could without success. His will has shifted away leaving him unable to make a connection. Taking a deep breath he pushed away all the clutter in his mind hoping it would make a difference but again with no success.
Instead his mind travelled back to the day of his awakening. The day this sad story began for him. A day forever burned into his mind. He felt so helpless and alone. There are times when he thought he was dreaming just before his eyes opened, similarly to the way he dreams now. That was his first memory, feeling as if he had awaked from a dream.
He remembered his eyes opened very slowly as if his eye lids were glued shut. The ache in eyes as the light hit them was enough to cause him an instant headache. His eyes looked around for anything that was familiar but was unable to find anything until he saw her. That red hair was like something out of dream and he instantly reached out for her. “Oh my goodness, he’s awake! Doctor Stein, he is awake!”
His ears burned by the sound of her voice. It was almost like hearing something for the first time and not knowing what hearing was. His hand reached her arm grabbing it gently since he did not have much strength. Her hand covered the top of his and her touch sent electricity up his hand into his arm. It was like being touched for the first time without knowing what being touched was. He opened his mouth, as if he had the knowledge of speech but not knowing why he knew it. His voice was weaker than his grip as he slowly said, “Wh-wh-where am I?”
“You are in the hospital Corey, you were in a coma.” her voice was less enthusiastic this time.
“Corey? Who is Corey?” he asked.
Her eyes went wide as she replied, “YOU are Corey. Don’t you remember your own name?”
He clearly remembered for the briefest of moments that he knew his name but was unable to think of it. He wanted to so badly say something, anything but his memory completely failed him the more he tried to think of who he was. He looked around the room again, feeling so afraid that he wanted to run but as he tried to move his legs all he felt was pain. He let out a groan as the pain traveled up his legs into his back. “I can’t move…why can’t I move?”
“You have been in a Coma for over 6 months so you haven’t been able to move. Your muscles must have atrophied a bit.” Doctor Stein said with his thick German accent as he entered the room.
Doctor Stein proceeded to check Corey’s pulse, breathing and blood pressure with each checking out pretty well for a man just waking from a coma. “I am going to move your legs a bit to see how your range of motion is, if you don’t mind.” Corey nodded his approval verily as he could only imagine it would bring more pain. He gently moved Corey’s legs to help him feel their movement causing Corey more pain but he was at least prepared for it this time.
“Doctor, what happened to me? Why am I here?”
The Doctor looked Corey in the eye saying, “You were the victim of a brutal attack which resulted in a pretty serious head wound as well as other injuries. You were lucky to survive it at all.”
Struggling to keep his eyes open he could feel himself being pulled down into darkness again as sleep overtook him. He would wake up several more times over the next few hours, only managing a few minutes here and there of actual awareness before falling asleep again. The first several days after that was more of the same. On the fifth day he was awake long enough to attempt to eat some jello, which was orange flavored and upon tasting it he hated how it taste. His first physical therapy session was so painful that he passed out from the pain.
Eventually he would be eating full meals again as he learned to use his body, pushing himself to the limit every day. All that changed on the day Remus arrived to meet him acting as if they were old friends reunited, of course Corey didn’t know if it was true or not but had no reason to not believe it. Remus told him about the attack in greater detail and who the attackers were, showing him all the evidence he could. As his legs were not fully restored to their former strength Corey almost fell over when he realized how bad of a victim he really was.
The only thing that went right from the beginning was Angela. She was the only person he felt he knew in some way and came to find out that she was his bound companion. He didn’t really understand how the whole system works in their culture but instead of marriage a woman is bound to a certain man by her parents. He is in charge of not only her well being but of her entire life. Something of which Corey never felt comfortable with but because he didn’t want to make waves he went along with it. She had to tend to his every need, whether it is laundry or cooking or things not so innocent without complaint. She couldn’t have any thoughts for herself if they came before his needs. Luckily for her, he never treated her bad nor took advantage of her. She in turn became loyal to him in every possible way.
He felt himself standing up leaving the table behind. He walked back to his tent to find Angela awaiting him with his pills. He gave her a gracious smile as he took his medication, swallowing it with some water. The pills he took were given to him by Doctor Stein and they were the only thing that controlled his headaches which he would get a few times a day if it wasn’t for the pills. He sat down in his chair then kicked off his boots. Angela took her position at his side, eagerly awaiting his command. He turned to her and said, “How are you feeling today?”
She had gotten used to him asking, although she was forbidden by their culture to say anything to cause him to worry. “I am doing very well today. Thank you.”
He would often wonder if she was telling him this to appease him or if it was the truth. “I am glad to hear that. I was just thinking about the day I woke up. I saw this beautiful face and I knew I was a lucky man.”
She smiled at him before saying, “As I am a lucky woman!”
Before he could say another word, he could hear shouting coming from outside his tent. He pulled his boots back on then immediately he was out the door to see what was going on. He turned to his right to see an incoming boulder, launched by some unseen catapult. He dodged to his left watching the boulder bounce at the ground where he was rolling away from him. He ran back into his tent “Pack as much as you can! We are under attack, we need to go NOW!” She bent down to reach under the bed to retrieve their bag. She immediately started filling it with clothes and canteens with water in them. Corey grabbed his sword then ran back out of the tent.
He ran towards the training pit to find Remus there again only this time he was folding up the table. Corey moved towards him quickly saying, “Please let me try! I am ready I swear to you that I am!”
“No, I will determine when you are ready. We need to protect this device at all costs! We lost one a few years ago and that is the reason that we have been on the run ever since. Meet me at the chosen rendezvous. Keep yourself alive until then!”
Begrudgingly Corey nodded his acceptance of the situation then watched as Remus held the folded up table in his arms. Remus seemed to concentrate really hard for a moment then his wings sprouted from his back. Corey had never seen Remus do this before but had known for quite some time that Remus was a Nephilim. He watched in awe as Remus pushed off from the ground flying out the entrance to the pit. Corey shook his head as if trying to wake from a dream then ran back to his tent.
Angela was waiting for him reaching out her hand to grab his as he ran by her. He whisked her away from the direction of the incoming enemy barrage. He turned back one last time to see his tent being smashed by a large boulder. He took her by the hand into the surrounding rocky desert hoping that would not be followed. He had little patience left in him that day for three times he was interrupted and that was three times too many by his count.
He wondered how many of his fellow villagers were being killed as he ran away from the fight, following his orders. What he did is that he was too important to die there that day, as he was the one chosen to lead to the armies of the Master. He pushed the feeling away that his was betraying the villagers, for he knew he was wrong to leave but he had his destiny to fulfill and that was greater than any of them.
