Iridescent Ersatz Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Scurrying within my closet, I found an old metal box I used to use to hold fireworks, I figured if the skull was emitting some sort of heat energy, maybe it be better to have it inside of something that wouldn’t melt. My stomach was in knots. I couldn’t understand what was happening. What this skull was. What my brother had gotten involved with. I sat down on my bed, my head in my hands, I had more questions than answers. I felt exhausted. I had stressed myself out over everything, and I just couldn’t think anymore. Obviously the skull was what had freaked my brother out so much, but the how and why eluded me. I needed more information. But part of me didn’t want to face more of the videos.

Perhaps I should have just tried to just called up my brother and just said “Hey man, been thinking about you.” Well, as they say, hindsight’s always twenty-twenty.

I felt tired, and somewhat defeated. I spent hours watching these security videos and was getting nowhere. I lied back and curled up with my pillows. Just to rest my eyes for a minute, maybe think things out. I ended up falling asleep.

Usually my dreams involve me achieving something, or what it be like to date successfully. But tonight was different. It was bizarre and disturbing. My dream was from the point of view of…something.

Looking through this something’s eyes, I was in a wooded area but nothing like what we think of when we think of forests. I…or…it…was running at high speeds, jumping over windfalls, not looking back once as I could hear roaring and trees being torn from their roots behind me.

My – it’s thin crab-like legs flailed in front of me. Clearly whatever being they belonged to was fleeing for it’s life. And I can honestly say I wasn’t too eager to find out just what was behind me, but from the looks of things, it wasn’t up to me. It took to the trees in an effort to escape it’s pursuer. From branch to branch, it’s hook-like talons dug into the rusty bark of the curled mangled trees, searching desperately for shelter until finally it launched itself into the maw of hollowed out dead tree. It sat inside the dead tree for several minutes, only allowing itself the occasional glimpse outside as it tried to control it’s heart rate. I must admit, I was feeling the same. Very anxious.

The sound of footsteps thundered throughout the bizarre forest. It knew it was close but couldn’t get a fix as to it’s location. The thunderous stomps got closer. And closer. And closer. Whether it was me or the creature that was trembling I don’t know, but the fear was overwhelming. But there it stayed, inside that tree. The creature knew if it left the tree, it was dead. Even when the sounds of the would-be predator stopped, it still stayed. It displayed a shocking amount of intellect, whatever it was.

The very second it got the inkling to try to get out the tree, the world shook. Through the hole in the tree I could see nothing but sky!
The tree shook from side to side as the creature was shaken out of the tree on to the muddy, silver coloured ground below. Somehow I felt. I felt the impact of the fall on my ribs, the same second it impacted on the ground too.

It looked upwards and darted to the left, narrowingly avoiding it’s former shelter as the tree crashed to the ground with a sickening thud!

There it stood, thirty feet tall of what could best be described as a tyrannosaur dressed up like a crustacean. It’s spiky armoured shell was dark red, with a spotted texture to it, with what looked like worms wriggling through the joints in the shell. It’s tail ended in what looked like a venus fly trap. I wondered how it could have possible lifted the tree with it’s rather smallish forearms, and then it answered my question by opening it’s mouth. It’s insect-like eyes glared directly at me as the tooth-filled mouth opened further, as it’s entire chest cavity opened up, revealing thousands and thousands of teeth!

But my avatar in this primal dream was not defeated. Not just yet. As the predator roared, I…it…lunged directly into it’s mouth! It had an ace to play. It increased it’s body heat to the point where I honeslty felt like I was on fire! I have no idea to this day just how I stayed asleep! It was a horrible feeling. I could only imagine actually being lit on fire would top it on the pain scale!

My dream creature unsheathed it’s talons from it’s crab-like limbs and for the first time I could see that it didn’t have four limbs, but six. In a fiery flurry, it begun to slice up the insides of the predator, it’s agonizing shrieks echoed even from within it’s mouth. It saw the predator’s tongue lounge at it, and it too was sliced through!

There was nothing the predator could do, it fell to the ground, it’s massive mandible within it’s fake chest fell open as the dream creature scuttled out, rolling in the mud to, I assume, to get the saliva off of itself. The predator, this dino-lobster thing, whatever it was, it was dead. My dream avatar checked it numerous times before ripping it’s eye out and devouring it. I remember it tasting absolutely horrible as it began consuming flesh from the giant beast, but I also remember enjoying every minute of it. As if I, or it, felt a deep sense of satisfaction from this moment.

Clearly I had the roles of predator and prey reversed. Whatever it was, this creature I was seemingly sharing bodies with, it was intelligent. Intelligent enough to bring this thirty foot nightmare.

As it hacked away at the joints in the dead monster’s armoured shell, it’s attention was turned away only slightly as a golden shiny beetle the size of a basketball stood on the shoulder of the corpse. Well, perhaps ‘beetle’ didn’t describe it accurately. It looked more like an ancient trilobite, with scorpion claws and a turtle’s shell. The sight of it irritated me because it was my kill and no one was going to steal it from me! (Did…did I just say it was my kill?)

The dream creature sliced it in half with one of it’s talons and resumed feasting on the insides of the corpse’s skull, when suddenly it saw more golden shines out of it’s peripheral vision.

Thousands more.

They were acid-spiting scavengers drawn to the smell of death, and proceeded to envelope the body of the corpse and devour it in front of us. It slowly moved away from the scavengers, moaning at the fact it lost it’s kill.

Seemingly hours later, it arrived at a pond and I finally got a glimpse as to the beast who I had shared eyes with.

It’s face reminded me of a bird, with a large sharp beak and almost comical large eyes. Those crab-like limbs were attached to a spider like body. It was a dark pink with several blue patches that glowed. Perhaps they were bio-illuminence, I don’t know. Heh, I bet Solomon would have been impressed with the fact I know what bio-illuminence is. Or able to spell it.

Anyways, the crab-bird-spider-thing gazed at itself for several minutes before noticing that the sky has gone dark. It wasn’t nightfall. It was the shadow of another creature. But there was no threat. The massive dragon vanished as quickly as it appeared, it’s massive wings flapping, the wind knocking my primal avatar into the pond. It quickly dragged itself out of the water as the sky was now littered with flying creatures of all sizes, all flying as quickly as they could. What they were fleeing from was not another monster, but a bright white fog that covered the horizon.

Suddenly I could feel the ground moving under us as what looked like ticks the size of my hand emerged from the pond, scurrying in the same direction as the flying creatures, soon to be joined by larger and larger sea creatures.

The land creatures were next to start to rampage through the forest. Dozens of Lobster-saurs just like the one that was chasing us earlier fleed as the white light lurched ever closer, engulfing everything in it’s wake. But for whatever reason, crab-bird-spider-thing did not flee. Was it curious? Suicidal?

Entranced, it stared at the light.

It was then dragged back into the water. What looked like a white pincer had grabbed it by one of it’s legs and would not let go. It struggled as the water filled up inside of it’s mouth. The sensation of drowning did not wake up me, neither did the panic as the white light enveloped the pond.

The next thing I know I’m being held in the hands of a woman. It couldn’t move. It was scared and had no idea what was going on. The woman placed me on a table as other people gathered around, speaking, yet I could not understand what they were saying. I mean, he, it, the creature couldn’t understand them. They spoke about what a discovery they had made, and how this artifact would make them lots and lots of money.

A stream of blood shot out from the chest of one of the men in the group and splattered in front of that woman. She screamed as, one by one, a force I couldn’t see shot each of these people. Their bodies fell to the ground as three men entered the room. Immediately one of the men grabbed the creature and placed it, us, inside of a bag.

The final moment of the dream was only seconds. The creature was being held by my brother, Solomon.

“What are you, little skull? What secrets do you hold”

I awoke so abruptly I fell off the bed. Why seeing my brother woke me up and not being on fire, drowning and seeing people violently murdered didn’t, I’ll never know. But now I know the truth.

The fucking skull’s alive. And it was in my head. I don’t know how but it was in my head!