I like to consider myself an average student. Normal in every possible way.

I would sit calmly at my desk whenever the teacher droned on and on, but I hardly ever paid attention. My mind would be too busy taking a stroll in the clouds, or daydreaming of some fantastic adventure that would whisk me away from the boredom of my day. It was almost like I could see some fantasy revealing itself to me.

Knights in shining armor fought against beasts wreathed in impenetrable scales. Plumes of fire danced along the their tattered chainmail and broken breastplates. The beasts would roar and the world would tremble as the monster of flames bellowed wrathful burns against its aggressors.

They even fought outside the very window I stared at. The school’s courtyard burned and smoldered from the carnage that took place. Students just like me would scream and panic, running away from the biblical battle that waged outside.

The stalwart defenders took up their cold, steel weapons that somehow hadn’t been slagged by the heat of the fires hat licked them. A chorus of shouts and grunts echoed out as they took thunderous steps towards the beasts. Their forms dwarfed by the massive, scaled thing as even its claws were far larger than the girthiest of the knight.

Great pinions of scale and leathers rose from its back, and shrouded the sun’s light as if proclaiming itself the gaseous ball’s better. Red lines glowed beneath the lighter scale that made its chest, slowly turning into a bright white. Its maw of horribly crooked and sharp teeth opened, and tongues of flame curled around the gaping hole that was its throat.

A deep breath sucked in the air, satrving everyone of the necessary oxygen to function. With only a breath the world burn-

“Cade… pst, Cade!” The knights vanished along with the impossible beast, and the students who screamed and hollered returned to their placid states of movement. There was no more destruction. No more flame. Nothing had happened. It was all just a dream.

I sighed. That was a really good dream as well.

“I can see you’re finally paying attention, Mr. Burningham. Wonderful of you to finally pay attention to the class.” My head shot up to stare at the teacher, Mrs. Moore. Her overweight figure and short blonde hair cut a distinctive figure for her, but it was her no nonsense personality that annoyed almost every student who had her.

“Yes, ma’am.” I stammered, knowing that she wouldn’t berate me further if I showed some semblance of politeness. She was a piece of work, but she wasn’t as out to get you as she made some people think.

My point was proven as Mrs. Moore hummed and turned back to teaching. The sigh of relief at not getting absolutely torn into by her was one I would rather not give all the time.

“Geez man, sucks to be you.” A voice whispered to me.

I craned my neck to see a familiar face of my friend, Cole Cunningham. He and I were always placed next to each other due to our similar last names, and we kind of just stuck together ever since. Though, if anyone asked, we probably had the least in common than anyone else.

He was a big guy for our age. Standing at an imposing six foot four with the muscles that put many of our varsity football members to shame. His short, golden blonde hair matched well with the sea blue eyes that sparkled as he talked. And talk he did, Cole was always the one that talked the most out of the two of us.

Popularity, muscles, personality, Cole was probably everyone’s dream guy. I, on the other hand, was just a dreamer. Long, brown hair that extended to my shoulders, and light brown eyes were what characterized me. Skinny arms and boring conversationalist was what I would be remembered by. And that was if anyone asked knew me more than being the guy who hung around Cole.

Still, Cole was my friend. Just because he was better than me in most things, I would never abandon my friend. Even if it was just responding to him, and maybe that’s slightly dramatic of me. “Shut up, Cole. You know how I get when I zone out.” I snarked back to the taller guy.

He smirked, pearly white teeth flashing back at me. “Yeah, yeah, and what is the dream for today? Saving a princess in peril? Fighting a dragon? Maybe mixing it up, and going for a robot dragon?”

“Laugh it up all you want.” I huffed, mentally marking robot dragon as a cool idea.

“Nah man, maybe you should write a book with all the dreams you have?” He suggested. “I’d read it if only to tell you how many mistakes there are in the first couple chapters.”

I hid my smile behind a frown. “This is coming from the guy who failed his last English test?”

“I didn’t read the book! How was I supposed to know what was on the test?”

“Mr. Cunningham, need I remind you and your friend that this is class time right now. There are students trying to learn, and your outburst has troubles these young scholars.” I paused, looking around the room as Mrs. Moore’s words cut into Cole’s rant.

I saw three people awake, and none of them looked like they wanted anything to do with the history lesson on the board. Everyone else had mastered the art of sleeping while looking like they were paying attention. I envied them.

We were saved by the bell as it rung its grandiose tones that signified freedom from this torture. Cole quickly snatched up my own backpack and his as he ran a beeline for the exit. Other students mulled and shambled like zombies awakening from their graves to escape.

Mrs. Moore exploded in rage. “Did I say that class is dismissed?” Everyone froze, and I think I heard a whimper from Cole. “No one leaves unless I specifically say so. The bell doesn't dismiss you. Now, sit down.”

I took back everything nice I wanted to say about Mrs. Moore. My adolescent brain could only handle so much of her personality before I entered a breaking point. Briefly, I imagined just making a run for it as she ordered everyone to sit back down.

However, I decided against it as Cole saddled next to my seat. A few seconds of awkward silence later, we were all released out into the hallways of our school.

The lime green walls were lined with rows of sickly green lockers that I’m sure no one even used anymore. Unless they were shoving someone into the locker. Students milled about in the slightly too small hallways, and I was definitely glad that I walked behind Cole as everyone got out of the way of him. The white, tiled floors were rather sticky today, too. Probably from some prank that had gone right, or some guy spilling something.

“What a bitch…” Cole groaned from beside me. He handed my backpack back to me as we both walked.

“She’s just being a normal teacher, Cole. All you gotta give her is some respect and she won’t bother you too much.”

“Yeah, but seriously. Holding us for three minutes after the bell; that’s gotta be a crime or something!” He gesticulated wildly as he spoke, and nearly hit a couple passing students. I hurriedly apologized to them as we passed. They flipped me off.

Got to love my school.

“Well, we’re done with history for the day, and I don’t have anymore classes today, so I think I’m gonna head on home. You have practice till five, right?” I supplied as we moved.

Cole sighed tiredly as he frowned at me. “I got practice till six today, so you shouldn’t wait for me. I know you don’t like waiting anyways. Also, the upcoming game is gonna be one of our toughest, you know. We’re gonna need all the support we can get.”

“Right.” I drawled. “Football, I just love watching head trauma in the making.”

“Come on, dude. I know you don’t like watching it, but you gotta support the team. Or the school.”

I snorted. “Yeah, like anyone has that much school spirit.”

“What if I told you that Courtney would be there?” Cole gave one of his trademarked smirks as I frowned.

“I’ll be there,” I answered just to get him off my back. Then I quickly added, “but not for her, dude. I don’t even like Courtney!”

“Sure, sure, anyways, Candle Stadium, tomorrow at seven P.M. sharp.” Cole brightened as my mood plummeted. I really didn’t want to spend my weekend watching a bunch of sweaty guys smack into each other.

“Right, right, I’ll be there. Seeya later, dude.” I waved. Cole was already trucking his way past several mobs of students. I watched his large form easily slip by the others in the hallway.

Immediately, the swarm of students that filled the hallways collapsed in on his disappearance. I struggled to fight the crowd and make my way out of school as I pushed and shoved my way through the clustered halls.

I finally made it out if the school a couple minutes later. The rustic brick of the school was painted in the same off green and white combo that made up our colors. Though, I guess it made some sense if you knew our mascot was a green viper. Many just called us the Vomit Vipers instead.

Myself being included.

It didn’t take me long to find my bike. The thing had definitely seen some better days, but it was the only thing I could afford these days. Peeling red paint on a regular frame and fit with tires that looked like they were deflated a hundred times over.

Still, my rugged steed fit me well as I hurriedly peddled away from the hellhole that was my school. Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t that bad, but, considering that it was just situated in one of the worst parts of the city, it was still not that good.

Baytown wasn’t known for being the best of cities. In fact, it was perfectly normal if a regular high school student was robbed and killed on his way home. I peddled faster with that thought.

Gangs, drug lords, simple crazies and thoroughly horrible people Baytown had them crawling from the woodwork. The high rise buildings of glass, steel and concrete were the best to hide between. Sometimes I heard horror stories of what exactly happened in nondescript alleyways.

Hell, we even had monsters that tore their way out of buildings, sending falling shards of glass and concrete flying every which way.

I peddled onwards at that. It was an odd daydream now that I stopped to think about it. I never dreamed of anything like it before.

Screams of unholy evil eroded my eardrums as the glass crashed down around me. I looked up to see the beast was a mismatch of various other animal parts that didn’t seem to want to stick. Bulbous heads of lions, tigers, ants, wasps, fish, sharks and all manner of beasties bubbled their way through the creature’s pudgy, rounded body.

It looked like it was trying to imitate a fat octopus with how utterly boneless it seemed. Transitioning between limbs, heads and fleshy appendages like some kind of lovecraftian horror.

The cries it made were probably the worst part. It was like thousands of animals had banded together for the sole purpose of screaming.

Groaning concrete and yelling glass clued me in on the fact that the monster still seemed to be bursting from the building. Like the inanimate giant had somehow birthed this horrible evil.

Then something flopped right in front of me. Disgusting cracks and meaty splashes was all I heard for awhile. My eyes had cut away from the monster above to see the reality below.

A body. They looked middle aged, and their limbs probably shouldn’t look like that. I didn’t look at their face.

Instead, I threw up. Acrid stomach acid burned my throat as it came up, and suddenly I realized that monster was real. As much as I dreamed, I never found a dead body in them.

There really was some kind of insane creature above me, ripping itself free from an office building. There really was a dead body that had fell in front of me. This was some messed up reality, and all this craziness was actually happening.

Holy shit! What do I do?!

Laughter stole my frozen body, but it wasn’t my own. I looked back up to find someone staring down the ever changing beast. They were laughing at it like it wasn’t even anything bad.

They were also floating in front of it. Standing on the air as if there were an invisible platform keeping them from succombing to gravity.

The building began to creak and groan as if something invisible was forcing it to change. The office building warped and twisted itself into a large prison that caged in the beast with broken pillars of concrete, beams of glowing steel and razor sharp glass.

Still, the beast struggled in its improvised prison as the floating figure laughed at it. Blood spilled in waves as the creature continued to thrash against the broken glass, sending rivers of red liquid downwards in a torrential rain. If anything, the wounds only further enthused the beast as even those grievous wounds stitched themselves back like some kind of horror video on rewind.

Another nearby building twisted on itself. The figure floating in the air made some kind of gesture, and suddenly the building exploded.

Steel wound around itself, pulling the materials into some kind of track. Wires snaked inside the beams of steel, coiling into some kind of machine. The concrete mixed with glass to form a large shard of composite death that sat itself into the metal track that was currently floating in the air as if it weighed only a feather.

The air sparked and then there was tendrils of lightning shooting around the metal pathways. I realized it then that the figured had somehow created a railgun from an office building.

The figure laughed again, and I felt my world tremble as I stared onwards to the two monsters that decided that the city was perfect to fight a battle to the death in. A hand rose form the figure as the monstrous weapon followed.

A deafening boom shattered every single window that was still there, and I felt my head throb from the action. Streaks of superheated air burst into flames to signal that something large and impossible had just passed by. Where the ever changing beast was imprisoned was now a void of nothing. The railgun had delivered its payload, and whatever was in the path of that massive bullet of death was instantly atomized.

My head throbbed. My heart beat, and, when the figure turned to look at me from their godly position, I felt all the blood leave my face. Breathing suddenly became a chore as I felt my lungs contract in fear..

“Hello there!” The figure teleported to in front of me, stepping over the body that had fallen just seconds before whatever happened. They barely even registered that there was even someone there. I noticed that the figure was a female.

She looked to only be about fifteen, barely reaching up to my chest. I was not the tallest of guys, only barely six foot, but this monster in the form of a girl had to be creeping up on five foot. Her hair was purple, too. It reached down to her neck, and an intricate braid extended further to reach all the way to her lower back. Everything else made me think that she was only a normal fifteen year old.

She even wore some kind of uniform fit with a skirt that was dangerously short.

“Geez, if you were going to check me out, maybe I should’ve wiped you out as well.” The monster teased with a smile on her face. To me it didn’t really sound like a tease. Especially with the huge railgun that still floated in the air.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered. Internally, I searched desperately for a way to flee.

The girl shaped thing skipped happily over to my still form. “All is forgiven! We’re family, after all!”

I fainted the next second. The stress of the whole situation was really getting to me. If anything, I really was impressed with not passing out sooner.

When I opened my eyes again I found myself in my bed. Everything was normal. Nothing seemed out of place, and even my bed smelled the same.

“It was just a dream…” I breathed, swinging my legs out of my bed and padding over to the door. Hunger dragging me to the direction of the kitchen.

I pulled open my door, and was immediately greeted with the sight of a deadly purple midget monster. The scream I delivered was completely manly as I slammed the door closed.

A muffled voice full of disappointment clued me in on the fact that this was actually happening. Fearing that I had angered the girly monster, I swung the door back open to get a full view of the still smiling girl.

She spread open her arms before announcing, “Great! Now that you’re all better let’s go out and kill a Sinner! It may have escaped, but this time I’m ready to fully destroy it!”

I shut the door again, and threw myself back onto my bed. Somehow the idea of sleep was more important than whatever she wanted.

Blissful sleep took me the next second. Maybe when I woke up everything would make sense again.