Solo [Sunberth] Sleepwalking In The Sun

[Harman Dayis]

Sleepwalking In The Sun
17th of Summer, 516 AV

Harman tossed in his apartment's bed. Champion, his huge, black dog lay at his feet. The Deerstalker was awakened, when his master continuously nudged his head. In his sleeping movements, the teenager's legs moved as if he were trying to escape the sheets of his bed.

The disturbed dog voiced a grumble, and tried to go back to sleep. However, Champion found that his head continued to be rolled along the moving covers - thanks to Harman's restlessness. Grumpily, the canine raised his body, and slipped groggily from the bed. He repeated his snore like grumble of a moment ago, before resting his head and lowering his body onto the cold floor.

Meanwhile, Champion's sleeping caretaker kicked the covers from his body. Now that his burly friend was no long holding him down, his restless form was free to rise from the bed, as his mind wandered inside of itself and in the land of dreams.

The teenager's dog was once more roused, when he heard Harman's footsteps. Champion blinked and watched in a curious manner, as his master walked towards the door. The dog mumbled again and got up from his floor. He tiredly followed Harman as the boxer walked across the apartment.

Meanwhile, the boy the dog followed was opening the door to his abode. His eyes were open, and he was somehow managing to operate the door well enough, yet he was hardly awake.

Champion came up beside his master, and sniffed the teen's leg. The dog then sniffed again, as if confused. He then began to nudge Harman.

The teen was oblivious to the dog. He simply continued out into the dangerous streets of Sunberth. Champion continued to poke at his caretaker, as the two began to walk along the moonlit alleyways - with only one of them being awake, as they began their ill conceived journey.

[Harman Dayis]

Sleepwalking In The Sun
17th of Summer, 516 AV

It was amazing really, that not a thing bothered Harman as he continued through the city is his trance like state. He was moving through the chaotic city of Sunberth, for the gods' sake! Bad things should have happened to the sleepwalker - especially since Harman was in such a vulnerable state.

Yet, while the other alleys of the city may very well have been filled with death, rape, debauchery and every kind of evil and sin, the one's the young teenager and his dog walked down seemed to be deathly calm.

Champion eventually gave up on prodding, and poking his master. It did no good, and the dog had grown bored, Harman was apparently not going to wake up. So, the boy's dog simply, and loyally pattered along at his master's heels. A lumbering 'thud, thud' of Harman's boots falling on the streets, and the soft pawing sounds of Champions moving feet, were the only sounds that filled the humid, airy night.

Miraculously, the two made it unmolested into the outskirts of the city. The alleyways started to grow wider, less confining, and perhaps less safe. In an alley you saw what was ahead of you, and you had just walked through what was behind you. Sure, in an alley you could hardly see what was behind the next corner, but it likely couldn't see you either. In the open, anything could be hiding behind any corner - and it just might be watching you.

Considering the direction Harman's and Champion's wandering were taking them, there were quite a few places to hide. Most of Sunberth was know for being relatively flat, but there were localities that had landscapes that were of a more rolling, rocky, and barren nature.

Champion began to watch the surroundings carefully, as they ventured further away from the city. Meanwhile, Harman - who was still trapped in his mind - continued to walk. His face was like that of a sleeping man, and his eyes were like that of no waking one. In the place of any thought or emotion, there was simply a glossy film over the green orbs, that seemed to permeate them to their very core.

[Harman Dayis]

Sleepwalking In The Sun
17th of Summer, 516 AV

Left, right, left, right. Foot, after foot, only Champion and the crows with skulls on their heads, now observed Harman's unknowing journey. The birds had appeared after the dog and his boy had traveled for some time, and their numbers only grew, as Harman began walking through clouds of relatively low laying fog.

In the distance, howls could be heard. It appeared that creatures were indeed lurking. Some were visible, like the crows, and some - like the owners of the mysterious howls - were hidden. Were these unseen creatures watching the unnerved Champion, and the unknowing Harman?

Beds of dust and shoveled dirt, began to pass by Harman's feet, much as the mist swirled around them. There were even a few open pits, that the boy was lucky to avoid in his unpurposeful wanderings.

Champion began to growl.

And something began to laugh. It was an amused giggle really, with ethereal qualities - though perhaps this echoing nature of it was just the result of the sounds vibrating through the moist, open air.

The dog watched the thing approach his master, who just kept walking - Harman couldn't see what he was walking towards, after all. The boy wasn't aware of his surroundings, he wasn't even awake.

The teen's dog began to bark, as it watched what was beginning to transpire. Cold, feminine hands, that were not quite corporeal were placed onto Harman's chest.

As he was touched, the sleeping Harman stopped walking for the first time since he'd left his apartment. His dog began to erupt into a fit of rage. Inside the graveyard, so far removed from Sunberth, no one heard the commotion.

No one saw the thing which the dog directed its furious barks, besides Champion himself and the crows all about. No one saw it, and no one saw its pale, turquoise form begin to slip into the body of the boy it was now touching.

Its hands began to slide into Harman's chest, appearing to simply disappear into him, much in the manner that water from a stream dispersed into a lake. Eventually the boy stood alone once more. If only he had awoken sooner. If only he had awoken, before the thing had seen him. If only.

[Harman Dayis]

Sleepwalking In The Sun
17th of Summer, 516 AV

He blinked. He was cold. Yet, the night was warm.

The night? Harman realized that he was outside, as the gloss over his eyes faded. Blink, blink; with every closing and opening of his eyelids he was brought back into the land of the living. Ironically, as he awoke, he realized he was among the dead as well.

What am I doing in a graveyard? He questioned himself, as he began to register a familiar barking noise.

"Champion?" he inquired.

Harmon turned to his enraged dog. What's wrong with him? He wondered, as another chill ripped through his body. The boy took a step towards his dog, who mirrored him in reverse, and took a step back.

Harman glanced around nervously, and peered over his shoulder, only to see nothing but graves and emptiness behind him. Odd, he usually only barks when he doesn't like something, he commented to himself about the dog's uncharacteristic behavior. Then again, he mused, this whole situation is odd.

"Champion... it's me," he said.

The dog sniffed the air, and tapered his barking off into one final, and low growl.

"Come here," Harman ordered.

The dog whined once and took its spot by his masters side.

"I don't know why we're out here," he started to say, as he petted the dog's shaking head, "but we shouldn't be. We need to get home. Something feels wrong here."

His last sentence was said, as another chill twirled around and danced up and down the base of his skull.

Maybe it's just the moon, and the graves, he suggested to himself. He gave his dog one final pat on the head.

"Let's go," he told the Deerstalker.

Harman quickly began to depart from the Dust Bed. Howls from the surrounding hills made him continuously glance about himself. The fact that his gaze was over and over again met by crows - with menacing, and eerie skulls on their heads no less - led him to speed his stride somewhat.

This is no more dangerous than walking the streets in town, he reminded itself. He laughed slightly, but not too loudly. Funny, he thought, that my home being a place where me and Champion could die, just walking to the apartment, could make me feel any better.

Still, the thoughts did relieve him somewhat. As long as a pack of wolves didn't descend on him, or a gang of thugs, he'd be fine. Really, he was used to being on edge for such things. It's just like any walk home, just longer, he thought and reinforced his growing calm.

I just wish I knew how I'd gotten here, he pondered as he walked. He had been sleeping - which meant it didn't make any sense for him to not be in his bed. How'd he end up walking out to the outskirts?

Sleeping, walking, the words caused his brain to begin to get at something. He thought for a moment, as the realization came together, and took form.

Did I sleep walk out here? He asked of himself.

I guess it makes sense, he admitted; I'm damn lucky I didn't get mugged on the way, or run into anything I didn't want to meet.

[Harman Dayis]

Sleepwalking In The Sun
17th of Summer, 516 AV

Cold. Why was he cold? As he walked into his apartment, Harman could feel the warm air, but it didn't do anything to thaw him. It was a disconnecting, and unwelcome feeling.

Did I catch something out there? He wondered. Even if I did, it shouldn't be kicking in it, he realized, maybe something bit me?

As another wave of chills overtook him, he lumbered and his backside fell against his bed. Champion began to whine, as he watched Harman rubbing up and down his arms.

Why are they shaking? Harman asked himself with a sense of dread, as his forearms began to spasm. Why I can't I stop them? He wondered.

Slowly, the rest of his body began to shake in a similar fashion.

"What is this?" he gasped aloud, in a whisper.

He felt his mind begin to drift, as if it too were shaking. His vision followed, and likewise began to pulse, and then blacken, and then fade between clarity and abysmal darkness.

Harman tried to stand up on instinct, as if to flee, but he couldn't. Laughter filled his mind, but somehow he knew it wasn't filling the room as well.

"Oh gods," he would have said if he could still talk at all.

He didn't really know anything about ghosts, but something instinctively told him that he was losing control to something that wasn't right, that wasn't human. The more he fought against his vibrating limbs, the more they shook - as if they were fighting to move in directions he didn't want them to move in.

Champion approached Harman at this point, as if to say "how can I help?".

"Get away from me, mutt!" Harman heard himself say the words, but they weren't his own.

Champion whined, and backed away.

"Leave him alone," Harman managed to gasp.

I can talk again? Can I fight this then? He questioned with hope and fear in his heart.

"Get out of-" he started, but found his words cut off.

"Child, let me have you. I'll leave when I've done what I must. Please, I need you, I can't live like this anymore," he interrupted himself, in a somewhat kind, but still chilling tone.

"Get the fuck, out of me," he stammered, but found his throat constricting.

Champion began to bark.

"Shut up!" the ghost used Harman to scream at the dog.

It doesn't like dogs? Harman observed, as he felt his possessed body fill with what felt like unnerve. Was that the ghost's fear he felt run through his chest?

"You're scared of dogs," he choked, as the ghost tried to force his will and personality to some corner of his mind, but he fought it and held on, "that's pathetic."

"You know, maybe you're not so frightening after all. That's my dog, and this is my body. And you're not going to do anything to either," Harman swore.

Harman drew on his instinct to control his own fate, and to protect Champion. He focused on moving his limbs, as he desired. Every time the ghost tried to move him, he tried to enact an opposite motion.

Slowly he gained control of each of his limbs, piece by piece.

"Get out of me," he ordered.

Harman stood up, and destroyed the final bit of control the ghost had over him.

The boy felt a surge of confidence. However, the pride was replaced be fear, as the ghost inside him, finally flickered into existence before him.

[Harman Dayis]

Sleepwalking In The Sun
17th of Summer, 516 AV

He froze for a moment, as he saw it. Her clothes were torn, and her translucent body was equally as ripped. The ghost would have been beautiful, but her face appeared covered with puss and open bite marks.

"I just wanted it all to end!" the ghost screamed.

Clouds of raging, hurricane like mist seemed to fill the apartment. All of Harman's belongings began to fly at him. He swung at the ghost with his fists, but the mutilated lady disappeared. His eyes grew wide, as he felt a cold hand drag him to his bed from behind a moment later.

He struggled in surprise for a second. Then the monstrosity appeared above him, and its hands were reaching for his neck. Not thinking he could touch the creature, he just watched as its claw like fingers began to strangulate him.

Then the spirit screamed. Champion tore at her soulmist with his teeth, as it was made corporeal by her interactions with the world.

Tears streamed from the ghosts eyes, as she looked down at the dog, and a look of panic took over her visage.

Everything that was raging, and twirling around the room fell to the floor, and the ghost disappeared.

She was gone, and she never returned.

To Harman, his apartment was never the same at night, and his sleep was no longer a refuge to him.

Sometimes he wondered where the female shade had gone after he left. Had she gotten her revenge, or was she still lurking, waiting in the shadowy corners of the world for her next unwilling vessel?

[Aladari Coolwater]

Hey Harman. I already PM'd you about this, but I'm gonna need you to update your ledger with Summer expenses before I grade your threads. Let me know when you've done so and I'll finish up your grades. Thanks.