2137.422.25 – INTERLUDE – THE DREAM
He has the dream again.
He is competing in a grand tournament on a mysterious planet shrouded in fog.
He fights.
He wins his first round match but he is bloody. His body barely able to stand. He has another fight ahead of him. And to more after that if he is to win the contest.
But his first opponent has taken so much from him, even he doubts if he will be able to survive another fight.
Is it his age? No. He is in his prime.
It was this opponent. This first round opponent that robbed him of so much.
He loses the his next match. To a rookie. To someone who shouldn’t even be in the same ring with a legend like himself.
He watches the rookie go on to win the entire tournament. The tournament he should have won. If it wasn’t for that first opponent.
When he has this dream he never sees that opponent’s face. But tonight, the fog clears and the opponent makes himself known.
He wakes with a start.
His breath quick. His heart racing.
He taps a device on the table next to the bed. A screen materializes in the
air in front of him. He makes a few gestures and a connection line starts to ring.
MASSIF: What do you want? It’s 0300 hours.
MONOLITH: I want The Basilisk.
He disconnects the line with a wave of his hand lets out a howl of rage into the night.