The Primal War : First Elements Saga Book 1

Chapter 2: Echoes of Eternity

After a tray full of food was demolished in the mess, Marcus carefully made his way back to his room. Even with a belly full of food he still felt a bit wobbly.

Stumbling through the darkness, he fell onto his bed. And was almost immediately asleep.

Unfortunately for the exhausted young primal, it was anything but restful. Even as unconsciousness swallowed him, Marcus could feel the dreams return with him too tired to hold them out.

They were always the same: either he was watching as something unfolded like it was on a recording. Or he was experiencing it directly, a strange, twisted scene that had no corresponding spot in his memories to tell him that it was him experiencing the events directly.

This time, with darkness coming almost instantly over his mind, the troubled fire primal watched as another section of the recording unfolded. But, instead of finishing and fading away, leaving him drained and exhausted when he woke up, it abruptly terminated.

At the same time, he sensed something from the dream state, something both familiar and alien at the same time. And when he focused on it, he felt a chill rush through him when he recognized it. It was another Descendent in close proximity, somehow in the same dream state as he was.

Adrenaline rushing through him in a fight or flight response, Marcus rushed back to consciousness. And immediately looked around when his eyes fluttered back open.

There, at the foot of his bed, was a mysterious figure shrouded in shadow. But there was no mistaking that outline.

“What are you doing in my room, Valentina?’ he asked in a voice still thick from the depths of his slumber. “You know you’re not supposed to be in here. Barna’s rules.” Instead of answering, the water primal stayed in the shadows.

“Did you just have a bad dream, Marcus?” she asked in almost a whisper.

“Not to be unnecessarily salty, Val, but that’s none of your fucking business,” he quickly replied, roughly scrubbing the sand out of his eyes. A glance down at the smart watch on his wrist said it was three in the morning, nearly nine hours after he fell into bed. Yet it felt like he could use another eight and barely scratch the surface on how tired he was.

“Do us both a solid and get the hell out, yeah?”

“So yes, you had a bad dream,” Valentina persisted, not moving a hair.

“Fine. Yes, I had a bad dream. So what? Everybody does.”

“But not everybody dreams of the First Ones and their invasion into our reality,” she said, her tone quite matter-of-fact.

Marcus slowly blinked as he stared at her. How … how did she know what he called the super powerful aliens he saw in the recordings dreams?? Or what he thought they were doing in those recordings??

“How do you know …” he began before stammering into silence.

“What the aliens are called and what they are doing?’ Valentina finished for him. “Because I’ve dreamt about the same things, Marcus. Over, and over, and over.

Marcus carefully sat up, staring at the shadow-sheathed Valentina.

“Okay,” he finally said. “So we’re having the same dreams. What does it mean??”

Valentina finally leaned forward enough for the light from Marcus’s clock at bedside illuminated her face. And it was dead serious.

“They’re not dreams, Marcus,” she said, her eyes narrowed.

“They’re memories!”

Marcus stopped just short of spitting out a ‘Bullshit!’, his expression hardening. How could two people found in two significantly different parts of the world have the same memories?? It just didn’t make sense.