As Ty rose from his bed, he suddenly felt sick. Pausing, he shrugged it off as residual emotions from having been so overwhelmed. Yet, it persisted. There was a strange nervous feeling in his stomach and an even stranger buzzing in his head. Ty sat back down with an inescapable sense of dread.
Then, the intrusion. The sense of something or somebody tangibly being inside of his mind. The pressure in his head seemed to peak suddenly as the hairs on the back of his neck rose. His flesh tingled and he got goosebumps.
This culminated in the feeling of *something* swirling around inside of him. He gasped, the pressure relented, and then just as quickly as it had begun, the feelings passed.
Ty sat in a daze for a moment.
{ Breathe. } A voice said, somehow from both inside of him and next to his ear. A gentle whisper from nowhere and everywhere at once.
Ty's confusion turned to shock and then disbelief. Somehow, some way, he was granted the knowledge that there was another presence inside of him. His eyes widened in terror and he began to almost breathlessly sweat in hot fear.
{ Easy. Don't be afraid. } The voice said, again a soft whisper. { Stay calm. }
Ty gulped, trying to ease his rapid breathing and consciously slowing it.
{ I know you feel me. } The voice said with a hint of fascination. It seemed to be getting stronger.
"W-What do you want?" Ty whispered, clutching his arms around his knees and trying not to cry through tightly closed eyes. "Please don't hurt me."
{ I promise I won't. } The voice said earnestly, now louder inside his head, taking on a female edge. { I felt you awaken. I am curious. }
"W-Who are you?" Ty asked. "What are you?"
{ A fifth dimensional entity. } The voice said plainly, as if that was sufficient. { I am not human. }
Ty's pupils shrank in response and he put his head in his hand. "Oh God."
{ No, I am not. } The voice seemed to snicker in amusement inside his head. { Try to stand. }
Although every fibre of his being was screaming that this was wrong, and his own mind was telling him he had gone insane, another part of him felt like he should listen. That part won. Ty gathered himself, took a deep breath, and slowly stood up from the bed. Though still uncomfortable and nervous, he felt the intruding entity's approval, an all together strange feeling. As if he had felt somebody else's emotion.
{ Good. } The voice praised. It was now so clear that Ty swore somebody was in the room with him. Female, accented strangely, mature. { I just wanted you to know I'm not controlling you. Your will is your own. }
"Thank you?" Ty whispered, looking around the room and checking to make sure nobody was outside the door listening.
{ The others are downstairs. } The voice said in reassurance. There was a brief pause and the voice seemed to laugh, a strange amused hiss of sorts that made Ty smile as he felt the amusement behind it. { Your step brother Dustin is trying to figure out what you did to him. His entire life history has been changed. }
"All right." Ty said, pacing his floor. Oddly, he was getting used to the sensation of having another being inside his head. "So, just what are you again?"
{ I told you already. } The voice said.
"If you're not human, what are you?" Ty asked. "I-I'm a little freaked out."
{ A reptilian. } The voice said factually, complete with a momentary flash in Ty's mind of a terrifyingly humanoid face with startling yellow eyes and lizard skin.
"Oh, fuck!" Ty reeled at the image, taking serious pause to fully comprehend the fresh horror. He blinked once or twice, gulped, and realized the significance of being told he still had free will.
Years of browsing crazy conspiracy websites. Lizard people in human suits running the government. Inter dimensional shape shifters. Blood drinking. Illuminati. Mind control. Demonic possession. Youtube videos with grainy human eyes turning into reptile eyes.
{ I'm not one of those ones. } The voice said almost in annoyance. { I said I'm fifth dimensional. Very different. }
Ty took a deep breath and wrinkled his brow. "Okay." He said. "That doesn't help."
{ Well, it ought to. } The voice insisted. { Close your eyes. }
"Am I going to be scared again?" Ty whimpered.
{ Trust me. You'll understand. } The voice said reassuringly, which seemed genuine at least.
With a sigh, Ty closed his eyes. "This has been a weird day. Why not?"
{ I know, it's only going to get weirder. } The voice said, again, with slight amusement.
Ty was suddenly aware of the entity trying to show him something. He struggled, trying to focus on something to visualize.
{ Just relax. } The voice instructed. { It will come. }
Try did so, exhaling, and suddenly he had a flash of something. Something red. Something in the red. Objects moving.
{ Stay with it. } The voice said excitedly.
Ty focused on the red and for a brief moment he saw the surface of another planet, rich brown dirt, a red cloudy sky, looking up into stars and galaxies and two bright orange suns lighting up the sky. On the horizon, simple stone buildings yellowed by time.
He opened his eyes in surprise and blinked. Nothing in his imagination or dreams had ever been so clear or vivid.
{ That was my world. } The voice said proudly. { Do you want to see what I look like? }
Ty realized that whatever this thing was, it was preparing him for the mental shock that seemed inevitable at this point. "All right." Ty gulped, and closed his eyes.
It was a momentary flash, like taking a picture in pure darkness, but Ty gasped. A tall tall lizard creature, somewhere between human and animal, with features of both. Long lizard face, long tail, standing upright. Not really scary, not malicious or mean, oddly beautiful, uncannily feminine, but jarring none the less. He opened his eyes and stared at the white wall in front of him blankly, trying to comprehend what he had just seen.
{ I'll give you some time to process. } The apparent lizard woman said. { If you want me to move on I will. }
"A-All right." Ty whispered. "Thank you... miss...?"
{ No names. Not yet. } The voice said. { This has been interesting. Goodbye for now. }
Suddenly, Ty was alone. He tingled all over and his confusion and disbelief only deepened. He had so many questions. He felt a rush of embarrassment as he felt crazy.
"Ty!" Mark bellowed from downstairs. "Get your fucking ass down here!"