[center][h3]Chapter One - Neither Here nor There[/h3][/center]

You jolt awake to the sound of thunder, your body wholly shaken by a sudden, forceful upheaval, like the tremor of an earthquake. As alarms go off in your head you instinctively try to jump to your feet, only to find your torso bound to your chair by some sort of harness. While struggling, however, the panic subsides, and you come to realize that this isn’t your bed, your home. You’re surrounded by metal--metal floors, rows of metal seats, metal ribs holding up the metal walls of a metal tube...the belly of a mammoth, man-made bird. The constant clamor of component parts and the hum of the engines fills your ears as the alarm bells fade away. It’s not a building at all. It’s a plane. It’s a dream. The same dream.

Another loud noise rattles the aircraft, shaking you to the bone. Everything is familiar. You’ve been here before. The same fold-out benches, the same straps, the same tangle of cables and pipes overhead, the same door opposite you, sealed nice and tight. And the intermittent blasts of hellish artillery outside, every detonation palpable. But this time something’s different. At the front of the cabin, the door is ajar. A warm light pours through. A way out of this nightmare.

It takes only a moment to find the buckle and be free of the harness. A shaky trip across the length of the cain between the rows of empty seats leads to the gleaming crack. Your hand closes around the handle. There’s no doubt in your mind, just a singular question: why this dream, again and again, only for this door to open up now? That amber light promises an answer, an escape from the monotony. Another explosion rocks the plane, forcing you to steady yourself. There’s nowhere to go but forward.

It’s easy to open the door and slip inside. Things seem normal. Straight ahead are the pilot and copilot seats, but the light is coming from the right. There’s a console there against the wall, and in the velvet-lined chair right in front of all the switches and buttons is a glasses-wearing [url=https://i.imgur.com/zAsK2XQ.png]police girl[/url] in a royal blue uniform, resting on her arm in the warmth and comfort of the portable lamp on her desk. Despite all the commotion she’s sound asleep, snoring heavily, her jaw slack and a puddle of drool on the desk beneath.

[b]“Ah, finally decided to pay me a visit, hm?”[/b]

A gravelly voice from the front of the cockpit wrenches your focus away from the inattentive navigator. For a moment the copilot turns to look at you, revealing an [url=https://i.imgur.com/8No2sd4.png]old man[/url] in a black suit and tactical helmet. His beaklike nose protrudes a good foot from his face, and his eyes bulge from their sockets with a soul-piercing stare. Wearing a somewhat deranged-looking grin, he swivels the empty pilot’s seat around and beckons you over. [b]“Come, sit. There isn’t much time.”[/b]

He faces forward once again as he begins to speak, his every word possessing such a weight that you can’t help but listen. [b]“Welcome to the Velvet Room, such that it is. This plane exists between dream and reality, mind and matter, and here, of all places, you are.”[/b] He gave a sensible chuckle. [b]”I must admit, your situation is not an enviable one. I couldn’t blame you if you called it Hell. After all, you’ve been thrown to the wolves, so to speak.”[/b] Another blast forces him to pause. This one you can see through the windows as you look through them for the first time, the sudden outbreak of flame illuminating dark clouds against a starless night sky. Then it fades, and only impenetrable blackness lies ahead.

Igor continues. [b]”Your life is no longer your own. Gone are the comfortable and innocent days of your youth, free of worry and responsibility. The governors of your existence plucked you up and sent you to war. They threw you into a hostile and unforgiving world to fight for your life, each and every day a battle, until you die.”[/b]

With a leer he performs a sweeping gesture to indicate the whole plane. [b]”And so here you are, as far as you can get from the ugliness and tumult of the world below, sealed away at a safe distance and along for the ride.”[/b] He nods his head at the pilot’s console. The wheel jerks back and forth, and no amount of strength will bring it under control. Then Igor’s brows furrow as he points to another especially big explosion going off up ahead. In its glare you can see not just storm clouds, but the vague outlines of countless other planes, all headed in the same direction. [b]”But those shells will keep coming until they hit their marks. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but eventually. Lost souls circling the drain, day by day, until you go down.”[/b] He shrugs and leans back in his chair, tenting his fingers. [b]“But where there is opposition, there is the chance to claim victory. To fight, not to survive, but to win. Already, the impossible has been set in motion, and the hour is close at hand. Soon you will wake up, but whether you face reality -whether you awaken- is up to you. And should you find your worth, we will surely meet again.”[/b]

He looks over your shoulder and nods. You turn to see the police girl from before, sleepy but awake, with her hand on a lever. The next second the floor falls out from beneath you and you plunge into the darkness, the wind whipping your clothes and hair. Overhead the plane disappears into the clouds as you continue to plummet down, down, down, until the sky finally meets the earth below.