Chapter 1 ~ The dream

 I was once in the US Marines as an ordinary soldier. Things began changing, however, with the new president. New officials and doctors and soldiers, as usual, came in.  But, these officials and doctors, they were.... Well, they weren’t good people. One day while I was training in a compound in Brazil, they asked if I would help test with them. Naive young girl as I was, I didn’t understand and figured they meant weapon testing. However, I was wrong. They injected me with an anesthetic. I lost my senses, everything went dark, and I was asleep.

I woke up in the middle of a jungle of Brazil, alone, with just the clothes I was wearing, no food, and no clue where the heck I was. I wondered why I was out here. I figured I had been forgotten, but I didn’t recognize ever being here. Then, remembering being grabbed and injected, I figured this was part of my test. So, I explored and tried to make it back to camp. Unfortunately, I was venturing even deeper into the jungle. Suddenly, out of no where, I was ambushed by a predator in the night.

It was a jaguar. Or, so I thought. It jumped on me then hopped off. “Show yourself, animal!” I called, frightened, yet remaining strong. I have shown myself to you already. But, if you must confirm your suspicions, I am over here. I looked around but didn’t see anything. Then, out of the corner of my left eye, I saw something rustle. Turning I sprung onto my feet to face it. I couldn’t tell if it was a he or a she, so it remained an it. No need to fear me, it said, I am weak. I am looking for help. Will you help me? I was expecting a human, but what I saw walk out was the same jaguar which had attacked me. It was walking with a limp. I was scared and confused. “Ha-Have you been talking to me??”, I looked at it and said. I have not spoken a word. I cannot talk, It told me. Shock entered me. “Then how are we communicating??” I exasperated. It hobbled over and looked at me. Help? Suddenly rustling was heard behind us. The creature looked at me with fearful eyes. Hurry, we must escape. It said, running as fast as it could in the opposite direction. I followed, but whatever was chasing was gaining on the poor jaguar. I decided to pick it up and run.

The jaguar was directing me in how to get away. The rustling grew further and further behind us. We opened up to a hill and finally we made it up there. I set down the jaguar and, panting, asked it, “What’s going on? Am I hallucinating?” It looked at me and walked over. Sitting down it told me, Well I’m not exactly a jaguar. It explained. I’m really not even full-anything. “WHAT!?!” I exclaimed. Let me show you. It said. It got up and jumped, transforming into a bird. However, it couldn’t fly. The wing was bloody and broken. “What’s that?” Well, I was touring this area’s rain forest, when someone shot me multiple times in the arm. I ran away and in the underbrush transformed myself into the jaguar. Then limping away I tried to seek help when I came across you. I got a certain feeling about you and chose you to be my helper. “So, lemme get this straight. You’re a shape-shifter type thing and communicate through the mind?” “Yes.” It spoke and before my very eyes this jaguar-bird-thing transformed into a human. The human man was middle aged. He had dark gray hair, almost black, and light green eyes. His face was kind, yet, you could tell he was a wise man. He was also very tall, stretching far above me.“Sorry, this is strange, I know,” he said, “but I had to prove to you I’m not lying. What’s your name?”
  
 “Rachel, Rachel Holdern. You?”   
   
   “I am Cedron Atieno. I must say, you are handling this very well.”

 
  I was on the outside. Not so much on the inside. My mind whirled and I figured I was knocked out by the jaguar and was dreaming. “Ahh...” He winced. I looked down at his arm and saw it very bloody and very torn. I had learned some medical techniques from my short time in the military and tried my best to patch his wound. Even though we were both sitting he was towering above me about 5 inches. I was 5’ 11” so he was pretty tall. He looked down at me and told me, “Do you want to help me?” “Didn’t I already?” I asked. He explained to me that he needed more help. He was being hunted and needed protection and a guide to the nearest city. “I’m sorry, I don’t know where I am either.” I said. “You will soon.” He said. I was exhausted, he must have been too, because he said, “Let’s find some shelter to sleep near.” So we walked around to find something suitable, and found two trees which were crisscrossed and, conveniently, had some vines. Cedron let me sleep on it, after I put some large leaves to lay over the vines. He went over to some low hanging branches and fell asleep. I, however, couldn’t sleep that well, yet managed to doze off.

    I tossed and turned in the middle of the night and didn’t get any sleep. I woke up with a start. Cedron noticed me being awake and said, “It’s almost morning, try to sleep a little longer.” I fell back asleep, and this time into a deep sleep. I dreamed a very real dream. I saw a girl in my dream, fighting. I saw Cedron and someone else, a young tall boy, fighting alongside this girl. ‘Who is that?’ I thought in the dream. I woke up finally after this interesting occurrence and Cedron asked me something fascinating.

     “How was the dream?” He asked. A little confused, I questioned him, “Whaa?”
He chuckled, “Your dream, of the fighting couple of people. It was quite interesting, wasn’t it?”

    ”Uh, yeah, but...” I said, “how did you know about it?”

    “I’ll explain later. But the girl in it, do you recognize her?” He asked.

    “No, she was wearing a mask. Why?” I answered. He smiled and looked down at me, “Because, that is you.”

Author's Note

If it is confusing, please let me know! I'm here to improve on it.