Chapter 103
When Shannon next opened her eyes, she was in the middle of her father's dojo. Behind her was the door that lead out to the yard, and hallways lead off into each other direction. The hallway directly ahead led to where her family's abode and her father's office lay. To her left, was the path to the dorms and store room, where disciples could live on the expansive property. To her right the path led to the training halls, some were open while others had obstacles or dummies set up. The entire scene she was seeing was filled with nostalgia, as she had not seen it in years. Not since it had burned down and her family moved out east to Ontario. All of it was just as she remembered, from the smell of the wooden floor boards to the stains that had been left accidentally from carelessness. Each of them holding a dear memory to her, and having a touching story behind them.
This was the first dream for a while where she not only felt safe, but in control. Most of her dreams had been just her reliving the terrible events she had experienced in Lethbridge. She had only one that wasn't, and that was like she was watching a movie. One with gorillas training in martial arts all around in the very dojo she stood in now. But now she was able to move freely, and not just feel like she was along for the ride. However, this felt more in line with what Nat had told her about her prophetic dreams. It probably did not make a difference on where she went, she would get a similar sight at each of them. Knowing that, she decided to go see the front yard. It was the last sight she remembered seeing as the entire complex went up in flames when she was just a child.
As she walked up to the front door, everything stayed peaceful and quiet, as if this dream world was at a perfect state of Zen and balance. That all went out the window as soon as Shannon cracked the door open. As soon as she had opened the door the slightest bit, it flew all the way open with a massive gust of wind, accompanied by a number of bestial roars and screams. Despite the wind blowing strongly against her face, she rushed out into the front yard. There it became a scene of nightmares. The yard was on fire almost exactly the same as that night, but the ones that caused it were clearly monsters. Goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and even trolls were milling about, destroying everything they touched with either strength or fire. Collapsing to her knees, Shannon tried her best to look for a ray of light somewhere amongst the flames of despair. As she did, a number of the monsters started moving towards her in unison. They neither walked nor ran, but more of stalked towards her, as if they were slowly hunting the most delicious prey. Scared of what came next, Shannon forced her eyes closed and willed the entire scene away.
What happened next was not the entire scene fading from sight, nor did the monsters reach her. A new roar sounded out in challenge before numerous thuds landed on the ground around her, accompanied by the sounds of creatures getting crushed. Opening her eyes, Shannon was met with the backs of a dozen gorillas. Looking down, some of them had splatter underneath their feet, but with the distinctive black goo that came from the accursed monsters. The challenging roar rang out once more, from the gorilla in the middle of the group. He was different than the rest of them, but not just due to the fact that he was taller than each other gorilla there. Its back was wider, their muscles more defined, and he had an extra pair of arms that did not lose in size to his normal ones. Before anything else, he turned around to look at Shannon. With a toothy grin that revealed tusks similar to a boar, he held up his two right hands in a thumbs up gesture, before running straight towards the largest of the monsters that were around them.
The fight was brutal, as both sides went at each other without hesitation. However, the gorillas had a clear advantage. With one swing of their arms, a gorilla sent almost a dozen goblins flying, as another one jumped on top of an orc, crushing the orc's ribcage. The mutated gorilla went straight through, using two of his arms to help propel him forward as the other two grabbed and threw orcs against the walls. At his full speed, he rammed straight into a troll in a body slam. As the troll staggered from the impact, the four arms of the mutant wrapped around the shin of the troll. Before anyone could react, the giant monster was being treated as nothing more than a hammer, being whirled about and slammed into other monsters and the ground repeatedly. It was not until every other monster was defeated that the four-armed ape put down his 'weapon', which was beaten past the point of recognition.
One of the smaller gorillas, who Shannon assumed was female, came over to her as the rest walked around, ripping up the ground and dumping loads of dirt over top of the fire. "Now that we have helped you, please come return the favour." As the gorilla said this, who was for sure female now by the sound of her voice, Shannon started to fall backwards. Before her eyes closed as she fell backwards into the void, she saw the gorillas all wave farewell. She waved back at the last second, and uttered two words that would spur her forwards like none other. "I will."
The next thing she knew, she was shooting awake in her tent. Scout was curled around her left side as always, and Copper was sitting at the entrance, keeping his gaze aimed outside. Following his, she saw the weather was not much different from what they had seen the night before, still raining with the occasional crash of thunder and lightning. However, she now had an objective to follow, and no weather was going to stand in her way.
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