so it's me AaronDragon....... yeah i kinda wrote this chapter too, and this introduce's my MC for the story.......

oh, and Haltis has some new members now...... i'll let them introduce themselves at the bottom of this post or when they post their own chapter....

anyway this should be nice and readable, but i'll clean it up later on to fix any of the minor errors.....

ENJOY!!!!

Nick

It had started out as a normal day, I had woken up, eaten a pop-tart for a quick breakfast, gave a nod to this month's foster family, and headed off to the third high school I’ve attended in as many years for another day of AP courses. Simple, it was the same daily routine I had established for the last 40 some odd days as a high school senior. Everything was just as normal and bland as always, and I had thought it would stay that way until I was finally out of high school and could strike out into the world on my own leaving the foster care system and the worthless stigma of being known as “that poor orphan kid who no one wanted” behind me. Nickoli Lewet was going to be known as a successful game designer, not some pitiful orphan.

At least that was what thought until I met the talking dog, the one that looked like some sort of lab mix and was telling me all about how it had chosen me to go to some different world and how I should make some sort of deal with it for magic powers. Like the rational and sane person I was, I tried to ignore the talking dog completely and kept on walking to school. When it decided to follow me and kept talking about something that might actually make a good game or show premise, I knew just ignoring it wouldn’t really work.

This is just a figment of my imagination, probably what I get for staying up so late watching anime instead of sleeping like a normal person… Next it’ll start talking about how I’m actually some long lost alien prince whose power is brought out by eating pop-tarts, or how it wants me to sign a contract to become a magical girl…

I sighed and broke off a piece of my blueberry flavored breakfast and threw it off into some random person’s yard. If I was hearing things from lack of sleep than today was going to be a very long day.

“There you go, go get the treat… um… Boy? Girl? Huh, go get the treat pup!” (Nick)

The dog looked at where the piece of pop-tart had landed, then looked back to me and gave me a look that I could’ve sworn meant that it was heavily offended.

“Young man I will not ‘go get the treat’ I have a very important matter to discuss with you! And I am very clearly female, how could you ever mistake me otherwise?” (Talking dog)

“Because I don't usually make it a habit to check every random animal I meet’s special place, and if you don't want the treat than leave me alone. Wait, what am I doing? I’m talking to a stray dog like a crazy person now…” (Nick)

I shook my head at the stupidity of what I just did, what’s the point of talking to your auditory hallucination after all. I reached out to pet the dog, both to make sure that it was really there and that I wasn’t utterly losing my mind and because I had always been fond of animals. It’s tall began to wag and its expression began to loosen up as I pet it’s soft white fur and head, it was a shame I was sleep deprived and imagining voices because otherwise this might have been a fun encounter with a beautiful animal. I decided to give it the rest of my second pop-tart because it was nice enough not to bite the strange person's hand when he reached out to touch it.

“Sorry pup, I’m not really myself today. I wish I could give you more but I gotta get to class now, if you're still around here when I come back this way later on I can give you more… But then again maybe giving you the cafeteria food would be worse than nothing at all…” (Nick)

I stopped petting the dog and put the foil from my breakfast in my pocket as I began heading to school again. I heard a strange sad whine as I left the dog and of course my sleep deprived mind decided to add some words with it.

“To be touched like that… And by a mortal human no less…” (Dog)

I let out a sigh as I turned the corner of the street of housing complexes, I looked up to see the sign for St. Marten’s high school and crossed the street. If I didn't get some sleep soon I would probably start seeing cat-girls or mechas soon.

This is gonna be such a long day… I wonder if I can power-nap through European history? Another hour or so of sleep should get my brain into working order…

I was woken by the tap sound of barking and the excited commotion of a riled up class. Looking around I saw that everyone was looking at me, Ms. Fleming the history teacher was giving me the sweet “you are in so much trouble you don’t even know….” look, and my new four legged friend from my walk to school was looking up at me wagging its tail and giving happy barks.

…Well this is unexpected… maybe I’m still dreaming? I mean what are the chances of this actually happening in reality…

“Mr. Lewet, would you like to explain why there is a dog in my classroom?” (Ms. Fleming)

I looked back at the dog, gave its head a quick pat to confirm it was really here, looked back up at Ms. Fleming and tried my best to give her a charming and innocent smile. I knew it wouldn’t work, I could never pull of things like there was just something people saw in my face that put them off instead of reassured them. Maybe it was because I was albino and my eyes were a deep crimson red or maybe it was the same reason that I was never adopted, because there was something that just seemed “off” about me, but trying to act innocent over things like this never worked for me even when I actually was innocent. Besides, I was fairly sure that Ms. Fleming actually hated me, probably because I would sleep through her class but still ace all her tests and quizzes.

Well I’m already in for some serious detention time now… why not dig the hole a bit deeper? Maybe today will be the day she’ll finally have an aneurysm from all that pent up rage and hate...

“I honestly have no idea Ms. Fleming, maybe it has a deep respect for medieval European history and came here to learn from someone as well versed in it as you personally?” (Nick)

The dog gave a well-timed bark and the entire class began to laugh as Ms. Fleming’s face began to resemble a ripe tomato.

“Administrative office, now Mr. Lewet. And bring your pet with you, I’m sure they would love to hear all about why you thought it was ever acceptable to bring your dog to school with you…” (Ms. Fleming)

I got up from my seat, grabbed my bag, and began to make my way to the door out of the classroom with the dog following behind me like it was only natural. I had expected at least a few days of detention with Fleming, but maybe she was so pissed right now she actually forgot about the fact she could do that. As I reached the door however that hope was dashed right in the bud.

“Oh, and I think two weeks detention and a ten page essay on how bringing your pet to school is both a violation of school rules and a form of animal cruelty will be added to whatever punishment the vice-principal decides to give you…” (Ms. Fleming)

...Well the essay won’t take me to long to write, just have to slap together something quick… shouldn’t take much more than a few hours, but explaining the two weeks detention thing to the Rell family when I go back to the house is going to suck… Oh well, in the end I’ll still end up with a 90 in this class even if she tanks my participation and attendance grades to zeros out of spite, nothing Fleming can do about that…

I turned back and gave Ms. Fleming a thumbs up and a smile, it was almost therapeutic watching her left eye start to twitch and her hands clench so tight that he knuckles popped.

“Thank you Ms. Fleming, I was hoping that I could find a way to spend some quality nap time here after school! Come on girl, we’re gonna go to the administrative office now. There should be plenty of nice carpeting there for you to pee on, I recommend the one in office 307 for irony…” (Nick)

I left before Ms. Fleming could blow up from the less than subtle implication that I would let this dog wreck her office. In hindsight it might have been a poor decision to make a parting shot like that, but at this point I really couldn’t care less, my record was already full of so much shit I never even did that adding something like this to it wouldn’t do any real damage to it. Plus it was nice to add something to it that was actually mine for once, that way in-between all the false gang activity, anarchist, and terrorist accusations there was something that was actually true.

... You would think being at the top of the honor-roll since I was in kindergarten would help lend me some credit and benefit of the doubt, but when it’s the weird “demon eyed” new kid’s word over that of the hero jock or the “do no wrong” popular girls the actual truth, evidence, and hard facts like that seem to matter about as much as mud…

I sighed as I made my way towards my fate and the inevitable chewing out I was about to receive for something I didn’t actually do and was largely out of my control.

At least I’m not hearing voices anymore… Power-nap successful! When I saw the dog in the middle of class I was half sure it would start telling me to kill everyone because it was actually the voice of god or something like that… Then I guess all those rumors about me being crazy would have some truth behind them for once…

It was a bit weird that this dog was able to get into my classroom without being stopped by someone, and now that I think about it, it was also weird that it came to find me even though I only meet it today and gave it most of a pop-tart as a treat. I know dogs respond to and like people who feed them, but this was taking that to an extreme. Plus it might actually belong to someone even if it doesn't have a collar given how well-groomed and clean it looks.

“You know pup, you may have just gotten me into enough real trouble for this school to actually expel me… Well I guess there has to be a first time for everything... I might need to seriously look into transferring schools now, but that is gonna be fairly hard with my record…” (Nick)

“That is a trivial concern human, you should concern yourself more with what I’m offering you than these simple matters.” (Dog)

I wasn't even all that surprised when the dog seemed to start talking again, what really surprised me was when a girl who had been at her locker dropped everything in her hands, backed up into the locker, and pointed at the dog with a shaky finger.

“Did that thing just TALK!?!?!?!” (Girl)

I looked at her, and then looked at the dog that just nodded its head at me. I figured at that point that something a bit more serious than me getting in a trouble at school was going on. Either I was really losing my mind and was now living in some sort of super vivid hallucination or less likely I had just met the only dog that could speak English fluently, something I know logically was biologically impossible.

I looked at the girl who seemed to be getting over her initial shock and had taken out her phone to record the dog and me.

“Well, fuck… Hey do me a favor and let me see that video if you hear it talk again ok?” (Nick)

“Sure, wow how did you train it to talk like that? ...Hey aren’t you that Nickoli guy? The one who worships the devil and is in that one gang?” (Girl)

I just rolled my head and nodded, that’s pretty much how people would know me at this school. Only a few ever actually tried getting to know the real me from the bullshit rumors, and even less of them could be considered anything even close to friends. After my first six different foster families and schools I stopped letting that fact bother me.

“Yeah I’m him, now just record this will you…” (Nick)

“Just so you know if that thing does that talking trick again I’m putting this on YouTube and Vine, and if the video goes viral and I get money from it I won’t be sharing it with some loser like you…” (Girl)

“Nickoli Lewet is far from a ‘loser’ idiot mortal, he is in fact one of the finest examples of your kind.” (Dog)

“It’s kinda sad you had to train your dog to say that… maybe you should try making real friends sometime, huh?” (Girl)

...Wow she really doesn’t think that the fact this dog is talking is unnatural or anything? ...She must be a fine and shining example of the public school educational system….

“Sure whatever, just let me see that phone for a second…” (Nick)

I made a motion for her to hand over the phone, I really wasn’t sure why I felt I could trust that little device to hold the truth but I did. I felt like if I could play back an actual video of this dog talking and this girl hearing it and it was all the same as I remembered than maybe this all wasn’t just some elaborate hallucination.

“Fuck no I’m not giving you my phone. What, do you think I’m stupid or something?” (Girl)

Yes… Based solely on what i’ve seen of you so far, yes I very much do…

I looked down at the dog who was beginning to look kinda bored, then I looked back at the girl who held the one thing that could help to show me whether or not I was really losing my mind right now or if there really was some mutant dog standing next to me.

“Then could you just turn it around and replay what you have so far? Please?” (Nick)

The girl looked hesitant, but then she finally relented and turned her smart phone around so I could see the screen.

“Fine, here you can see it now can’t you creeper…” (Girl)

I watched as her thumb hit the playback button and the video replayed this entire exchange from when this girl started to record it. It played everything back word for word, and unless my hallucination was just that immersive and in depth that meant this was really happening to me.

I looked down at the dog in question and thought back to the things it was trying to tell me this morning.

“...So you want me to go to another world?” (Nick)

The dog's tail started to wag and it gave a smile that showed off some pretty sharp and white looking teeth, it was absolutely weird for a dog that looked to be at least a year or two old to have such white teeth. That just wasn’t natural, and that was weirdly what I focused on in this immensely screwed up situation.

“Yes Nickoli Lewet, you were the human my siblings and I decided would be the best to fulfil our needs. I want you to go to a whole new world and conquer it for us…” (Dog)

I just looked at this dog and shook my head, I was either completely insane and cut off from reality or I was living through something that could easily be the plot to an anime or something. Either way I figured it was probably a bit more important than whatever lecture I was going to get if I stayed here at school and did what I was supposed to like a good boy.

Fuck it… either way this means life as I know it is pretty much over for me, why not go with the option that seems like it would suck less? I’ve had enough of dealing with all the bullshit I get just because I look a little different from everyone else, and if it's my destiny to just end up in the loony-bin than I sure as shit am not gonna waste any more of my precious time as a free man in school…

“Alright then pup… Er, I mean girl… let’s take this conversation somewhere a little less soul crushing and more private. I’m going to want to hear all about this ‘different world’ shtick you’re talking about before a make any decisions about it…” (Nick)

I turned around and began walking towards to the school's main entrance, I didn't even care whether the cameras caught me anymore. In fact I didn't really care about much of any of the consequences to anything anymore, there was something about the knowledge that you were either no longer sane or about to go to some new world or whatever that wiped cares like that away from your mind.

I stopped for a second as a thought crossed my mind that seemed too funny to pass up, I looked back at the girl who was still on her phone probably trying to upload that video or share it with some of her friends.

“Thanks for showing me that video, I appreciate it... Oh and by the way I am actually a demon like all the rumors say, but I don't actually WORSHIP the devil, he’s just my dad I’ll try to put a good word in for you with him... See you in hell in about six years, hope you enjoy that sorority party! It’ll be your last…” (Nick)

The look on her face was priceless, and I started to whistle as I walked away with the talking dog following along behind me.

“What the fuck did you say to me you freak!?!? Wait come back I’m talking to you asshole!!! Hey you weren't being serious right? This was a prank or something… right? Hey!!!...” (Girl)

... She really isn’t all that smart is she? But then again there was a talking dog next to me, so… Huh, I might have just scared that girl away from sororities forever… Oh well, I’m sure she’ll forget about this soon enough…

As I opened the door leading out of the school and held it open for my new four legged impossible friend I heard it start to talk again.

“So where are we going to discuss my offer? Do you have a place in mind, or will you just go back to ignoring me again Nickoli Lemet?” (Dog)

...Yep my future is pretty much over… Unless this is just some sort of super vivid dream I’m having, but I kinda doubt that… Fuck, I guess this means I’ll never get to develop my game idea into an actual game, or will ever get to shed off all those things people think about me...

I let out a sigh as I let the door close and I began walking towards a nearby park, it should be fairly empty around this time of day.

“Yeah I have a place in mind, and I’ve already decided to hear you out so that’s what i’ll do. Besides I already tried ignoring you and that didn't really work out so well for me did it?” (Nick)

“No, I suppose it really didn’t for you human, but it was your own fault for not hearing me out the first time…” (Dog)

… Well I guess it wouldn't be so bad to just leave this world behind really, either by going completely insane or by going to some other world… But there are a few things that I’ll need to do first…

“Sure whatever, let’s just go. Oh and I want you to know that you owe me a whole pop-tart, I’m sure a talking dog as clever as you could’ve gotten your own food somehow…” (Nick)

“If you’ll remember Nickoli Lemet, I did not partake of your generous offering this morning and as such do not owe you anything for it.” (Dog)

“Well than perhaps you could explain why there are what looks like pop-tart crumbs in between your teeth and around your mussel then…” (Nick)

I felt myself begin to smile as the dog stopped walking for a moment and wiped at its mussel with a paw. When it looked up and saw me watching it with a smile it gave a small whine.

“...That was just a coincidence Nickoli Lemet, there is no way that one such as I would stoop so low as to eat one of those delicious blueberry tart things off the ground like some sort of animal…” (Dog)

“I never actually said what flavor it was you know…” (Nick)

The dog lowered its head and gave out another soft whine before it started walking again this time slightly ahead of me.

“...Fine I did eat your strange food offerings… As an honorable and noble goddess I shall return that debt someday, I also apologize for attempting to deceive you like that…” (Dog/Goddess)

Goddess huh? Well that isn’t really all that surprising at this point really…

“You’re going in the wrong direction, we’re going to the park in the neighboring community. We need to take the street on the right…” (Nick)

I had to smile again as I saw the dog come to a sudden stop, turn around and start walking back, and just stop next to me waiting on me to lead the way.

Well, today really was the opposite of normal… I guess this fucked up life of mine was just too simple huh? Oh well, this is sorta fun so far so maybe insanity isn’t so bad after all...

........ so yeah, that's all for now.... my Sally it takes a lot out of me to contain myself to only using three dots for my elipses......

remember to comment, rate, review, follow, favorite, and share......

oh and do please comment about how you like were this seems to be headed so far (even though the only chapters up so far are MINE.... MUHAHAHAHAHA!!! give me all your love and fandom!!! give it all to AaronDragon!!!!) and what you think might be in store for the future.......

and with this done i'm free to go back to the crippling lack of motivation/inspiration that's keeping me from working on D.I....... *sigh* maybe tomorrow i can manage more than a few hundred words for that story, cuz today i just wasn't feeling it.....

[th_085_.gif] [th_107_.gif] [th_015_orz-v2.gif]

AaronDragon out........