Multifandom Oneshot Book

Oneshot ~ Wake Up ~ Critical Role

It started with pressure. before he even opened his eyes, he could tell something was off; for one thing, he was standing. The last thing he remembered, he'd been drifting off to sleep in his bed.

But, more worryingly, he felt an unfamiliar pressure on his chest, head, shoulders, arms... He patted himself down, his fingers finding a tough yet supple leather breastplate on his chest, bracers at his forearms, and a hooded cloak draped over him. But more than that the pressure felt like a warning; like he was caught in the primal limbo between fight and flight.

He opened his eyes, glancing around, and saw a pinprick of light in the distance; a tiny dot amidst an empty void of darkness. Almost mechanically, he began walking towards it, watching the point get slowly bigger.

As he approached, sounds began to reach him; rumbling of earth or thunder, the unmistakable sound of a gunshot, the clashing of steel on steel, animalistic roars...

The sounds of battle.

The man stopped in his tracks, glancing behind him. There was nothing back there, nowhere to go but towards the sound and the light.

So he continued; step by step out of the darkness as the light grew brighter and the sounds grew louder. He could faintly make out voices now; shouts of support, panicked tactical advice.

The light had begun to swallow him now, too bright for him to handle. He squinted, shielding his eyes as he took the last few steps out of the void...

...and onto a battlefield.

The clouds of dust were immense, causing him to choke, grasping at his armoured chest. He felt an arrow fly past him, just missing his cheek, and looked up, only to see flames roar into life all around him.

He cried out in surprise and the expectation of pain, but he felt nothing. He looked down; the fire was, indeed, there, he could see it licking at his exposed hands, but his flesh and clothes didn't burn. Peering through the smoke and flames for the caster, he saw a pair of antlers, fiery hair and a mantle of autumn leaves.

*BANG*

The cacophonous boom of a gunshot filled the air again. And this time he felt something. A blow to the centre of his chest like a paintball launched at hundreds of miles an hour.

His hands instinctively went to his chest, coming away sticky and warm. Tearing his eyes from the woman who'd set him ablaze, he looked down:

The gunshot had punched a clean hole through the breastplate and his chest was gushing with a deep crimson fluid. Numb with shock, he looked up for his attacker and was immediately met with piercing, glacial blue eyes.

*BANG*

Another gunshot, and another hole punched into his chest. His head was spinning. He stumbled, falling to one knee in the mud with his hooded head bowed, struggling to stay up. To stay conscious.

The sounds of battle seemed distant, as though he was underwater, and his lungs felt heavy as they rapidly filled with blood. He tried to get to his feet, but the amount of his blood mixed into the soil of the battlefield had resulted in a slick mud that made him lose his footing, leaving him face-down in the mud with the stink of blood filling his nose.

All he could hear was the slowing thudding of his heart. But, in the back of his mind, there was something else; a voice. He couldn't make it out, but it sounded panicked.

Suddenly, he felt himself being turned over and he found himself looking into the face of... an angel. An angel with ivory hair and an aura of divine sunlight.

She removed his hood and brushed the hair from his face. He could faintly see she was trying to ask him something but he couldn't hear a thing.

His vision was rapidly clouding, the energy to keep his eyes open spilling into the mud as the voice in his mind grew clearer.

A warmth surged through his chest, but nothing changed. Nothing healed. As the edges of his vision became fringed with darkness, he could faintly see the image of the angel above him grow panicked.

As his eyes drifted closed, the voice became clear. Became familiar. Called his name.

"Matthew! Matthew, please! Please, wake up!"

But, no sooner had it become clear, did it too echo away into silence, leaving Matthew's lifeless form lying on a battlefield in the world he created.