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Before he even opened his eyes Sean knew this was another of his weirdly real-seeming dreams. He was cold, very cold! He opened his eyes and saw he was in what could only be described as a dungeon. He was lying on the cold stone floor. There were bars on all four sides. Beyond those bars lay many other cells like his. Some were occupied, some weren't.

There was a filthy man in one of the cells adjacent to his. When he saw that Sean was awake he moved over to the bars. "Hey, when did you get here?" he whispered.

Sean sat up and whispered back, "I don't know. I just woke up here." He was getting tired of telling people that, even if it was only in dreams.

"Well, you picked a good time to get nabbed! We've got us a wizard in here with us! He's going to break out. He's going to break us all out with him. He just wants us as a distraction so he can get away, but that doesn't mean we can't manage to escape, too!" the filthy man said excitedly.

"Um, okay." Sean said uncertainly.

"Just wait, when the doors open we'll slip away while the guards are busy with the wizard and the prisoners that want to fight." He replied.

So Sean waited. His teeth were chattering from the cold by the time the doors opened. No one touched them, they just swung silently open on their own.

"Let's go!" the filthy man whispered. Other prisoners were making a lot more noise. Soon there was the sound of fighting as the prison guards fought with escaped prisoners. There was an explosion at one point. Sean guessed that was the work of the wizard.

Sean and the other man moved silently, crouched down to be as inconspicuous as possible. They came across many injured prisoners, and even a few guards. The other man picked up a dagger and sword from one of them and passed the sword over to Sean. "You look big enough to use that." He explained in a whisper.

The sword was heavy, but not too heavy. Sean had never held a sword in his life, so he hoped he wouldn't need to use it.

To his relief, he didn't. The guards were so busy with the fighting prisoners that they were able to slip out unseen. The filthy man led Sean out of the dungeon and into the streets of a city. It looked like something out of the Renaissance, or even farther back. He was led through the streets of the city to an inn.

The inn keeper seemed to know the filthy man, and led them both to a hidden door in the kitchen. Without a word he opened it and ushered them through, closing it behind them.

There was light coming from the other end of the tunnel, so they could see somewhat. The tunnel came out in a forest outside of the city. "Here's where we part ways, friend. Good luck to you." The filthy man said, and disappeared into the forest.

Sean wanted to shout after him, but was afraid of attracting attention. I have the weirdest dreams!

He wandered through the forest for hours without seeming to get anywhere. Finally, he slumped in exhaustion against a tree. Before he knew it he was asleep.

He awoke in his own bed and sighed in relief. His relief was short lived.

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« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 4 »