Dream Frontier: The New World

Idea Generation 

I've wanted to write a dream based story for a while, specifically something relating to the new world (the new new world?) and historical fiction with a twist.  I love so many aspects and eras in history and constantly love learning, reading, and listening to podcasts.  The Ancients and Gone Medieval on History Hit are two of my favorites if anyone needs recommendations.  I also appreciate Noble Blood.

When writing, I tend to just go with the flow and write fluidly instead of forcing it and let the story dictate its own direction.  I apologize in advance for my grammar, poor punctuation and long-windedness.  Hope you enjoy the first foray into my creative writing blog. I may also find ways to incorporate my three furballs into every story as well. They were the inspiration for my first novel (a work in progress since COVID times).  

I hope you all enjoy reading my little tidbits and portals into new worlds and keep coming back every so often to read what's new at Paws in Portals.

Dream Frontier: The New World

Introduction

    It was just another day off.  I finished the laundry, cleaned the cats litter boxes and left them some food out to eat during the night so they didn't wake me up two hours before my alarm.  Beerus, my tuxedo cat in all his princely glory, likes to paw at the automated feeder even if there is food still in the tray and have it placed out on the rug for him.  He definitely put in the effort to train me for this behavior.  As much as I complain it does help me keep a better schedule.  

    I like to use the time before bed to sit down and write, giving myself a thirty-minute window to let pen scribble on paper before I fall asleep.  I put on some user created lo-fi beats based on the soundtrack of Final Fantasy XIV and started crafting and dreaming up a new world.  

    Yuki, my Siberian-Tabby mix curled up next to me against the pillow on the right side of the bed next to me.  She is the absolute fluffiest but softest of the three and somehow manages to avoid knots in her fur.  She started into her usual huffing loud purr, while Beerus took the moment to jump up and lay down at my feet where he normally spends the night protecting me from all manner of demons.  He is my constant shadow during the day and my protector during the night, despite being a scaredy cat who jumps at every little noise. My third furball, Haru, a tortoiseshell Calico sleeps in her little nest under the coffee table until mornings when she comes to check and make sure I am still alive after sleeping all night.  All is as normal this evening as I settled into writing. 

    Despite my desire to write, I haven't taken the time to build the habit.  This is only the second time in the last two and a half years I've attempted to build a regular timeslot into my daily routine for ink and parchment.  I spent the time working on an MBA online after work and getting into better eating and workout routines.  My brain capability and capacity didn't account for as many creative pursuits.  It felt good to finally stretch my creative muscle and see I wouldn't strain it.  The feeling of the pen in my hand, the scratching noise as it hit the paper, and the magic of words appearing in its wake calmed me down much faster than doom-scrolling on TikTok, Instagram, or playing a game on my phone.  I fell into a nice free-flowing stream of consciousness as I shared the observations of the world around me leading into the story idea flowing like a movie in my head.  

    "Sorry Bubba," I spoke softly as Beerus took a moment to look up and back at me with his big yellow eyes after I moved a foot, disturbing his positioning draped across my legs. He started cleaning his paws like somehow that was the after effect of my dirty and exceptionally purposeful move to wake him.

    I started to drift off to sleep as I wrote and slowly dropped the pen as my eyes and brain desperately tried to keep words filtering out onto the paper.  A jagged squiggly line had appeared a I fell asleep for a second and woke back up slightly.  The pen then slid off the paper and fell onto the bed next to Yuki as Beerus looked back and watched my head roll back and to the side on the pillow.  Yuki batted a paw at the pen and seeing it wasn't anything too exciting or edible, curled back up and closed her eyes.  Beerus tucked his head up against my leg and put another paw outstretched over it and stuck his legs out in a stretch, closing his eyes as well. 

    I briefly awoke again, but the darkness of sleep took over, drowning out the lamp light next to my bed and the light from the city buildings and apartments in the skyline outside my window.  Slowly but surely my mind drifted into its rest cycles, deeper and deeper into the world of dreams and that's when it all began......

Chapter 1: Awakening

    My eyes flitted open as I felt a light mist brushing against my face.  It was bright as I struggle to blink my eyes open little bits at a time and take in my surroundings. I could also feel ebb and flow of the water you experience while you're on a boat.  After about ten seconds, even though it felt like minutes, I was finally acclimated to the light and could clearly see the world around me.  I was most definitely not still laying in my bed. 

    A light fog was misting in as I stood on the deck of a large wooden ship. I wasn't too sure about my ship classes, but it seemed like a galleon.  All around me the crew were busy manning the ship, hustling back and forth and adjusting rigging.  There were maybe 40-50 crew if I had to guess, assuming a few were below decks as well.  My eyes continued to regain full focus in the bright fog (it must be morning with the sun behind us coming up and illuminating the moisture in the air).  I was standing near the bow of the ship on the front deck.

    The fresh morning light and salty air was refreshing and the glistening droplets of fog was mesmerizing.  Despite not knowing how I got here, at least it was a nice day. The salty sea air was crisp and cool and I took a deep breath, to calm down and remove the look of utter confusion that was probably on my face.  The temperature was mild but not outwardly cold, we must be pretty close to land or farther South than I was used to.  I looked down to make sure I was wearing appropriate clothing.  I was wearing a navy blue military uniform with yellow piping, a white shirt underneath and khaki colored slacks with tall brown boots. An insignia was embroidered on my left breast and two of what looked like rank lapels were on my left shoulder.  Was I a naval officer? 

    Footsteps approached me from behind and another officer, a woman wearing a similar uniform with only one rank lapel, settled in to stand beside me, pulling out a monocular telescope and aiming it toward the west and the darker horizon.  At least as much of it as we could see through the fog.  She had flowing dark brown, almost black hair, pulling into a ponytail behind her that draped down to her lower back.  On top of her head sat a small tri-corn hat with the similar color scheme as the uniforms we wore, navy, with yellow trim.  She was tall, maybe only an inch or two shorter than me, not that I was specifically tall at 5'10".  She looked athletic and fit, but in a lithe and graceful sort of way, like you could tell she was capable of handling herself. 

    Of course the weapons she wore would help with that.  A small flint-lock revolver sat on her right hip, I could see the butt sticking out, while a lightly curved military sword adorned her left hip closest to me.  She also had three small throwing daggers holstered to her left leg below the sword scabbard.

    

    I looked down and noticed I had a small revolver as well as a sword just like hers.  When I looked back up at her, she had lowered the telescope and looked over at me.  Her dark brown eyes and caramel skin glistened in the morning light and mist.  I was a little dumbstruck and she astutely noticed...

    "Are you ok, sir?" she asked with a quizzical tone in her voice, her eyes were visibly concerned at the blank look on my face.

    I tried desperately to search for any sort of memory of who I was or what her name was to respond.  Nothing came to me.  Too bad no one put names on uniforms back in the day.  I didn't even know that I continued to look at her in awe for what seemed like an eternity, even though it was probably a few extra seconds, until I stammered out a few lines.

    "Yes...er...yes, I'm fine.  What did you see?" I tried to deflect back to the horizon and take her eyes off me until I could figure out some more answers as to what was going on and why I was here.  She smiled back at me.  Gods, she was beautiful...  Did I just say "Gods"? Was I dreaming?  

    "Well, not very much.  The fog is hindering everything from view, but we should be closing in on the coast any minute now," her voice was smooth and lightly accented, Spanish maybe? She turned toward midship and yelled up at the crow's nest, barely visible in the misty fog.  

    "Ahoy Corville, what can you see from up there?" 

    A slightly raspy older male voice rang down from the mist with a more Scottish, pirate style slang.

    "Nothing much Lieutenant." Of course he didn't use her name, but he continued, "There's a bit of a darker shade appearing through the fog to starboard," he trailed off just as the Lieutenant and I turned back around, looking off in the direction Corville had mentioned.

    As we noticed the dark shape coming up alongside us, the ship lurched heavily, grinding hard to a halt.  Wood snapped and groaned, creaking loudly as the shudder sent through the ship came with an assault on our ears.  At that moment, not ready for the sudden lurch, and unprepared for a life at sea, I lost my balance, tripping while I tried to catch myself.  The rail was just a tad shorter than my thigh and I tried to grab hold of it as I stumbled forward toward the bow.  I hit legs on the rail and missed grabbing it by a good few inches, lurching forward over it, legs flung out behind me as I flipped overboard.  For good measure my head came back around before I was past the level of the deck and I saw the Lieutenant rushing to reach for me far too late, then I whacked my head against the side of the ship and I saw stars. Before my eyes closed and my vision blurred and I passed out, I noticed the large rock we ground up on and the splintered wood from the boat in the water below.  My eyes closed and I was out before I hit the water and the darkness consumed me once again.

Chapter 2

    As I woke up and began the next mornings routine of stretching, working out, making breakfast, and showering before work, I developed a massive headache.  The vividness of the previous nights dream was still crystal clear in my mind, but I assumed the headache was due to maybe hitting my head on the desk in my sleep or sinus pressure from the cold I had the week before.  Maybe the dream reflected me moving in my sleep and hitting my head?  I took a Tylenol with breakfast, drank a glass of water, showered, and headed off to work.