A Nightmare Rising

Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep bee- *smack*"

"Stupid fucking alarm clock." I moaned. With a sigh, I raised myself up and sat on my bed. I looked at my calendar with bleary eyes. May 30th. The big day. I sighed again and stood up, using my body weight to stretch my legs. I grabbed my phone from its charging dock and used my TV app to tune in to the news.

"Good morning, America. Susanne Winters, reporting live from the UN Headquarters in New York. Today is a historic day across the globe: every member of the United Nations is here to formally sign the new Singularity Treaty! As we are speaking, delegates from all participating countries are lining up to place their signatures on the historic document." I slipped my phone into my pocket and started for the kitchen.

"Stay tuned as the time ticks by until signatures begin! We'll be right back after these words from our sponsors." Quickly, I tugged my phone back out and gestured to mute the TV, and then unceremoniously dropped back to its resting place in my pants.

"Even for live coverage you have to have commercials? Jesus..." By now I had entered the kitchen. The first thing I did was move to the coffee maker. I grabbed my Grounds Cup and set it in place, then moved to the cabinets to get a mug.

"Refrigerator?" I asked aloud. My mug found its way under my faucet in the customary silence.

"Yes, sir?"

"Take inventory. Key items: eggs; milk; frozen waffles."

"Processing. Checking storage..." Up goes the lid, out comes the water. Place mug on tray.

"Inventory complete. Analysis: eggs and milk are... Low. Frozen waffles is... High." Still having trouble with singular and plural nouns. Maybe calling customer service could help? But it'd be easier to just update the firmware... Ah- after my coffee.

"Refrigerator- create new grocery list. Add items "Milk" and "Eggs". Send to master phone."

"Processing..." Here comes that sweet, bitter, brown liquid.

"Done."

"Add "Bread", "Lunch Meat", "Cicken", and "Cereal"."

"Processing..." First sip... *sip* Fuck yes. Thank God for this.

"Done. List updated. Notification setting?"

"Alarm. Set time: "7:30 PM"."

"Processing... Done." Here comes another sip of that coffee.

"Rrring! Rrring!" Oh for fuck's sake...

Elsewhere in the multiverse, a crimson steak in an otherwise snow white world prepares to grow. Angered and frustrated, and beginning to lose patience with that which surrounds it. To it, the entire world is nothing more than an oversized insect needing to be crushed.

"Damn these ponies! Who do they think they are, crossing into my land and taking what's rightfully mine?!" An extremely displeased voice grumbled. A clawed fist slammed onto a table.

"And those buffalo! And those minotaur!" It muttered. A low growl could be heard only too clearly for the other in the collected assembly.

"They're all against me! All of them!" It roared. A moment of silence before a desperate voice attempted to console the first.

"Please, sire! All is not yet lost! Valkry may have found an object to aid your illustrious conquest's beginnings!" Another growl, this more intense than before.

"I have no time for worthless artifacts from ancient times, Valkry. Show me your trinkets and be on your way." Nervous shuffling could be heard.

"Yes, milord! But, please, don't be so quick to judge that which you haven't seen." The second voice paused, and muffled movement reverberated in the small space the voices occupied.

"You see, sire, Valkry has recently come into possession of an ancient book. A book which, if the rumor that surrounds it are true, may allow you victory in your conquest!"

"What good could a pile of paper do for a war?" The first asked, though clearly disinterested.

"My liege! King Stoneclaw! This is no ordinary book!" Here, a soft thump, and the fluttering of pages.

"If the knowledge contained in this book is real, Valkry may have the key to summoning... Him!" Small shuffles of clawed appendages whispered a change in the first's stance.

"This is The Tome?" The first asked in awe. "Yes, my King. Valkry has discovered The Tome of The Forbidden Summons!" A bit more shuffling, and the second was now closer to its master.

"You could have infinite power at your disposal, sire!" It whispered with glee. "He could grant you an infinite army! Elements of your own, with which you can battle your accursed nemesis! Or an invaluable weapon not even The Princes could stop!" The first pondered this quietly.

"Yes. If this book is real, I would be unstoppable! The world laid at my paws... None would dare challenge me!" A chuckle. A chuckle of a being gone mad at the possibility of power.

"Valkry... How soon might we be ready to use this artifact to our advantage?"

"Time will tell, sire. The book will need to be read. Ingredients must be collected... Tests must be performed." It muttered. Soft clinks of metal and claw on stone was heard.

"Anything you deem necessary is yours to do. And I shall see to it all your wares are fully stocked."

"You are kind to your subjects, milord! A thousand thank-yous!" A steady series of clicks for a moment, then a pause.

"And, Valkry?"

"Yes, sire?"

"This will work, or I may just find myself in need of another Royal Mage. I do so hate disappointments, you know."

"Understood sire!" As the Crimson King walked away, the mage paled and prattled nervously under his breath.

"The King requires The Summons, yes... We'll need Sage and Rosemary... Cinnamon? Well, I suppose it only makes sense with Him... Wolfsbane, yes... Poison Oak... A pinch of salt... A hint of sugar... And... A sacrifice? Well, that complicates things for us, doesn't it?"

(June 10th)

"Riiiinng! Riiinng!" My hand moved to my phone and grasped it, bringing it to my head as I yawned.

"Hello?" I asked groggily.

"Hey, Marcus! Wake up real quick, man!" I groaned and sat up.

"What the hell do you want, Jamie? It's only 7."

"That treaty thing is making some people's bank accounts go out of whack, and mine's one of em. Spot me a hundred?" I sighed.

"Jesus, man. Why couldn't this have waited until 10?"

"Because I have to take Toll Road 15 to work, remember? I gotta head out by 8, so come over before then."

"Alright, then." I said before hanging up.

"Dick." I stood near my bed for a minute, waiting to wake up a bit before I did anything.

"You know I'm not a fucking morning person!" I growled at my phone in substitute of Jamie's face. Whatever. I steeped through my house, again using my phone to check on the news like every other day. As I arrived in my kitchen, I heard the morning news come on.

"Good morning, everyone. I'm Joseph Pasternag, here to tell you what's going on throughout the country today. Our top story this morning is that the new Singularity Treaty may not be all it was cracked up to be. It appears that, in the process of converting preexisting currencies to their new projected Credit value, banks have come across an error in their systems. All across the country, banks of both major and minor standing are reporting an error input for as much as 35 to 40 percent of all accounts. The Chairman of the FDIC has yet to make an official statement on these affairs. More on this story as it develops. In the mean time, let's go over to our weather forecast for today."

The clicks of claws on stone sounded, echoing softly throughout the expanse of a castle on a cold and barren mountainside. Accompanied by the rustle of cotton, and the various clinks of a traditional suit of armor, the sound moved from room to room at a moderate pace. A rustle of feathers, and the heavy sound of air displaced by wings before a thump and a sigh.

"Someone fetch me my Mage!" An irked voice shouted. Another voice shouted a "Yes sir!" before marching off to retrieve the Court's Royal Mage.

"Damn these ponies." The first voice muttered. "They continue to be a thorn in my side!" A minute or two of idle silence before the second voice returned with a third.

"Your majesty! Presenting, Thy Royal Court Mage!"

"Valkry." The first said, both in acknowledgement and question.

"Yes, sire? You wished to see Valkry?"

"Indeed. As I'm sure you recall, I have given you unrestricted access to anything which might be required in order to understand your recent acquisition. As it stands, I have yet to recieve an official report."

"Yes sire! My humblest apologies, my liege!"

"Yes, yes. Enough of this bumbling. What have you to report on your findings?"

"It is as Valkry has suspected, my liege! The book is in riddles, but Valkry has fooled it! Yes! All of its secrets have been laid out before Valkry, and he knows now what he must do to perform the book's ritual!"

"Excellent!"

"Yes! But, Valkry has found that the Tome is not exactly as he would have hoped."

"Oh, wonderful... What else do we need to realize our goal?"

"It is not merely ingredients that hinders Valkry's progress. Valkry has found that the are other installments that accompany the Tome which diverge the needed information to create any desire. But, fear not my King! The book allows for the creation of a creature only known of in legends!"

"I see. And, pray tell, what exactly is this creature?"

"It is the Venier, sire!"

"Venier?! My Gods!"

"Yes sire. But the ceremony dictates only the creation of the Venier's form. A sacrifice must be made or found to fill it with soul and give it true life, or we would only create a hollow shell."

"How... How will you find this sacrifice?" The third have a quick laugh.

"Through a stroke of genius, sire! Yes! Valkry had pondered this for many an hour before he thought of the prefect solution!" Soft sounds of cloth rustling in the otherwise silent hall. At last, a different movement could be heard. A book found its way into the claws of the third voice.

"Valkry thought first of selecting a civilian. Then a soldier. He even considered selecting a sacrifice from another country. But these would not help His Majesty, should the ritual fail. Eventually, Valkry's eyes fell on this book, and all was made clear!" The flipping of pages could be heard among the indiscernable muttering generated by the third's madness.

"Valkry can select an inactive soul from its temporary plane in this world, sir! A ghost, if you will."

"Yes... And, you are absolutely certain this will go according to plan?"

"Valkry will make sure everything goes according to plan."

""Very well then. Make your preparations, Mage. Dismissed."

(June 20th)

It isn't even a month yet, and everything's already going to shit. The banks can't get that stupid glitch to work, and everybody's getting their panties in a bunch about it. Some people have gone on protests over it, believe it or not. And, not only that, but nobody's even been reimbursed yet! How do they expect everything to be all hunkey-dorey if they refuse to do even the smallest bit of damage control?! They could at least give everybody a free toaster or something! Damn! It's at the point, now, that I hear rumors flying around about how it's the terrorists and stupid bullshit like that. This whole thing has just turned into a giant shitstorm.

(July 10th)

The phone rang with is usual veryunwelcome cry.

"What?" I asked bluntly.

"That's rude! You don't even bother to say hello, much less introduce yourself?" I sighed.

"Now is not the time for your bullshit, Terry! In case you've been living under a fucking rock for the past two months, the world's gone to shit!"

"I will have you know that I am perfectly aware of the situation! But that's not the point! While you've been sitting on your ass all day perfecting your card tricks, I've been devising a way to get the three of us out of this shitstorm before it hits! And I'm really close!" I groaned and chanced a look through my blinds.

Still a bit of anarchy on the streets. People marching down the street, holding signs and chanting meaningless phrases. Couple of idiots desperate for hope is what they are.

"Okay. Assuming we could get out without starting a riot, what would we do?"

"Well... First things first, we'd need a place to lay low until things cooled off. Some of Jamie's family have a house in a rinky-dink town in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere. We can make due in my hunting cabin if all else fails."

"Jamie has family out of town?"

"Yeah. Distantly related or whatever. It's his aunt or some shit."

"Cool. How long before this crap blows over?"

"Uhhh... A month or two should do it."

"Cool. And nobody's backed down yet, right? We're still on it right now?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! I remember why I was calling! Where the Hell are you? Jamie's got his van loaded up, and we're waiting on you!"

"I'm at my apartment right now. Be there in ten." I hung upand headed out the door. If all went well, I'd be out of here before shit really went south. With that, I left my building for what would be the last time. I took it upon myself to look back up at the nine story pile of steel and concrete to try to etch its image into my memory. Hard to believe I spent so much effort into keeping a tiny little space in something so damn big as my own. But, whatever

I turned back to the street, immediately taking note of some of the less fortunate from this whole Credits fiasco. I hurried along as one of them tried to rile up something.

"Hey buddy, spare some Credits? Cause, you know, you're in on it?" His question literally cause me to facepalm. I slowly turned to look incredulously at him.

"Really? I'm "in on it"?" He nodded.

"Wow... Okay, dude. Where do I begin? First, I don't like rich people or upper-class fucks as much as you. Second of all, in case you couldn't tell, I'm no paper pusher. I'm a magician for fuck's sake."

"Sure you are. And I'm David Copperfield's long-lost son." I signed with an irritated breath.

"I don't have time for your bullshit. Alright?" He stepped closer, shoving his grubby face into mine.

"Too bad, magic boy. I don't like your attitude. And I think you should at least say you're sorry." He took another step and shoved me.

"Okay. This is just getting way too violent. I'm gonna leave now and just pretend this never happened." I took maybe three or four steps before I heard a click. I stopped.

"Is that... What I think it is?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Yeah, it is! So shut your mouth and fork over your cash already." I slowly turned around and, lo and behold, he now had a gun in one hand.

""Are you shitting me? Is this for real?" I couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"You're gonna rob a fucking magician?" I turned around and started walking.

"Stop right there, man!" I kept walking, pointedly ignoring him.

"You're bluffing." I called out casually. "Cold-blooded killers don't look like little bitches when they're holding guns." I laughed and took another step before hearing a loud pop.

A second later- if that- I felt a searing spear of pain shoot through my back and exit through my chest. I watched in amazement as pieces of skin and bone, and spatters of blood flew off into the distance. I fell onto my knees and pressed my hand into my chest, and immediately regretted it. My chest was on fire. But also cold. I just stared dumbly at the ground as blood stated to pool under me. It fell so freely. Like water.

I ended up laying on my side, taking small labored breaths as the bullet wound flared and burned. Every time my lungs expanded, I felt like the bullet was stabbing through me again. Amid the haze of pain, I could hear the guy that shot me distantly screaming something about "blanks only". Guess he didn't mean to really shoot me, then...

I've lost so much... Too much... I can barely breathe through this fire... There's a wetness all under me... And I'm feeling tired suddenly...

Pain... It burns... Stabbing... Coursing... Tearing... I can't... I don't... Think... Right... But... Tired... I... Can't... Feeling... Throbbing... Pain...