Aluna Chausiku remembered driving home after working another double shift, trying to stay awake and in her lane, while passing a truck and trailer.

She woke up in a potato field. There was no road, no car, and no truck. The sky was a cloudless bright blue. She decided she must be dreaming. She had always had vivid dreams, but this ...

There was no other explanation for her being naked and furry. Her arms were abnormally long and she didn’t have enough fingers. Why did she have giant curved claws?

Too much work and too many double shifts. Too long since she had gotten a full night’s sleep. She was still tired. So. Very. Tired!

She yawned as she lay down and curled up in the middle of the field.

She dreamed of a local farmer finding her. He was some kind of mouse, or rat, with large round black ears. When he couldn’t wake her up, he called some guards. When the guards couldn’t wake her, they escalated to screaming, hitting, and kicking. Eventually, they they gave up and carried her to a temple of healing in a nearby city.

She dreamed of nightfall and daybreak. Of the sun setting again and rising. The earth spun as the days drifted by, timeless in the dream.

She didn’t feel hungry or thirsty, just tired. Even in the dream she felt tired.

The city still existed in her dreamscape, and she dreamed that every morning a few of the city residents, mostly mice, rats, and foxes, didn’t wake. They were carried to the temple and placed beside her.

The priests did what they could to combat the sleeping sickness. The fed the fallen and turned them occasionally to avoid bed sores. Small amounts of water and food were swallowed by the sleepers. Healing spells were cast as needed, but no one woke from the dreams.

She found she could change her focus within the dream. To shift her attention around the city, to watch the residents as they continued their lives. She watched as they began to fear their home, fear for their lives.

The residents tried to remove some the sleepers as they fled the city, but if one was carried outside of the city limits, they went into convulsions. If they weren’t returned within a few hours, they died.

Time passed and the sleepers grew gaunt, as if they weren’t getting enough sustenance, no matter how much food and water was given. Help from surrounding territories was requested. More healers were sent, but no cure was found.

The living residents that didn’t have sleeping relatives left the area first. Then the surviving families abandoned their sleeping children, their sleeping spouses and parents.

The town was cursed. Signs were posted to stay away.

Aluna wondered at the meaning as the city within her lucid dream slowly emptied.

atomically

Sloth was originally going to be about depression, but this may be worse.  :)

We'll start Volume 3 next week. Advanced chapters are available on Patreon.

Thanks for reading,
-a