A team of white horses was slowly pulling forward a crude wooden carriage accented in gold; the rhythmic pounding of their hooves dwarfed the sounds of the forest around them as they travelled the well-worn paths.
Inside, the carriage was modified with crudely shaped wood planks to create a rough bed closer to a stretcher covered in straw. Atop this 'bed' was a young boy who looked just to be entering his teens. He had messy, short blonde hair and wore fitted black riding clothes, but on his head was a large gash that had only recently scabbed up; the wound was still weeping at its center. The boy's eyes were closed, and he was pale as the dead; however, the rising and falling of his chest proved that he was still among the living.
The coachman driving the carriage looked better than the boy within, wearing grey linens that hugged his shoulders tightly. His eyes scanned the edges of the forest and the road; snake season had made the nasty vipers more prevalent than usual, and they were hard to spot even with his years on the job.
Movement on the road caused him to flick the reins, and the horses quickly came to a stop. With a long stick, the coachman jumped down from the carriage and began swinging the stick across the ground in large sweeping movements. This was the easiest way to check for the blasted Red Eye'd Vipers. One of his sweeps hit something, and he quickly surged into movement. He dragged the stick and flicked the creature out into the woods.
With one snake taken care of, he continued checking the area and only tossed one other snake off the road before climbing back into the Carriage; with a flick of the wrist, the horses were back in motion.
-
Marcus felt HORRIBLE as he woke up. His head was pounding; his back was itchy; his clothes felt odd, and the little bumps were making him murderous. He hadn't been on anything this rickety since his friends convinced him to go on that 'vintage' Rollercoaster.
He reached up to gingerly touch his head; it felt sticky and caused the pain to spike.
"Fucking hell," he cursed. "That's not good. Hopefully, that isn't as bad as it feels."
He looked at his hand and saw some blood on it and couldn't help cursing again.
"Of course, I'm not that lucky."
Placing his hand back down, he felt something itchy prick his hand. He jerked it away, scratching the itch and mentally prepared himself to get up and look around. Above him was a plain but solid wood roof, so he wasn't sure what to expect.
With a groan and a gasp of pain awkwardly, he sat up and was instantly confused and disturbed by his surroundings. Marcus was sitting on a pile of hay—' neatly' laid out hay, but hay nonetheless. It was arranged across four wooden planks laid across two benches on opposite sides of the small wooden room. It took a few seconds for his addled brain to put it all together, but it eventually clicked, and his eyes went wide with realization.
"Am I in a fucking carriage?!"
The sudden jerking of the carriage, followed by the sound of horses grunting and footsteps outside the carriage, answered that question quite clearly. Soon after, the door opened, revealing a short man in grey clothes that looked too small for him. It pulled across his shoulders and ended too high on the arms. The less said about the cleanliness of the garments, the better. However, the dark bags under his eyes coupled with the worried look on the man's face, Marcus inferred he was friendly.
"Master Angele, you're awake! After a hit like that, you shoun't be up, least till the castle Maester look at it."
Marcus wasn't offended by his words, they were rather kind and thoughtful; however his nose was revolted by his stench as he stepped into the carriage.
Failing his hands up as if he could physically block the stench, he thought of the quickest way to make the man leave without revealing how befuddled he was with the current situation.
"Fine, i'll try to rest till we arrive. Get back to driving." He tried to be as convincing as possible, and apparently it worked. The man nodded three times vigorously, appologised for the intrusion and seemed to teleport back into the driver's seat. Or at least whatever that spot is called on a carriage.
Not wanting another encounter with the smelly man in the enclosed space, Marucs laid back on the archaic bed. The carriage began to move and for some reason Marcus felt his eyes get heavy. He tried to fight it, but it was futile and sleep quickly claimed him.
While asleep it was like Marcus was watching a movie, only with a twist of horror. Not only was the movie horrible, but he was bound to a chair like some kind of olden times psychiatric patient. The show was in some mideval european setting about some piece of shit kid who was the worst mix between Dudley Dursley and Draco Malfoy. He was a useless playboy witihout any redeeming qualities.
The boy's father was a real piece of work too, a cruel and merciless man who doted on his son in his own sick way. Not even his supposed 'friends' were safe from his temper and greed. Eventually the nobleman sent his kid to a knights school for noble scions. While attending the school he got baited into attempting a Flying Mount while both too young and woefully unprepared. Thus he got struck in the head by the horse's hoof and went down with a great impact to the head.
The boy was then loaded into a carriage, and while being carried Marcus thought the clothing on the boy looked familiar. Then as the coach man got into the driver's seat Marcus's felt his eyes go wide and his jaw slacken.
"No way."
The 'movie' ended as it showed a scene of the boy waking up in the carriage and saying the same words Marcus did before the 'screen' went dark.
The credits of the movie began playing, and they were surprisingly short:
BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LIGHT OF THE ETERNAL DAWN.
Afterwards, a roulette wheel appeared with 10 options. Marcus tried to struggle; however, he was still bout to this odd chair in this dream. Only he was beginning to think that this might not be a dream after all.
The wheel with 10 different coloured options began spinning, picking up speed, slowing down and eventually stopping on a small one of the small slivers. Not the smallest ones, but small enough to know that it should be a good reward.
The 'screen' displayed a new message that changed twice.
MAJOR TALENT INCREASE.
TALENT HAS BEEN INCREASED.
As the wheel disappeared along with the writing on the 'screen' a high pitched beep sounded. An unlikely noise considering the situation he found himself in, unless he was in the matrix or something.
"BIO-CHIP 137215 STARTING ACTIVATION SEQUENCE."
A cold robotic voice sounded and Marcus was just completely flabbergasted at this point. Like how much weirder can one dude's life get?!
"ACTIVATION SEQUENCE COMPLETED. AVAILABLE STORAGE: 1 TERABYTE. AVAILABLE PROCESSING SPEED:1 Petahertz."
"PLEASE NAME YOUR DEVICE."
"Groot." My impulsive brain just had to spout out the first name that came to me. I secretly cursed James Gunn for creating such an excellent movie in my mind as the robot/bio-chip thing accepted the name.
"BIO-CHIP 137215: GROOT IS NOW FULLY OPERATIONAL."
Just as that wild ride ended, Marcus found himself back in the world of the waking as someone was shaking him roughly.