Jacob, a geek in his own right, stood up from his office chair. He had been playing an online version of Dungeons and Dragons for nearly ten hours, and while he was ready to kill the last knight in the sacred temple, he heard a strange voice from upstairs.

Heading up to the main floor, from his dungeon of a basement, he saw a Celtic broadsword standing straight up, with its blade embedded in his living room floor. Splinters of wood were sprayed around the blade, but other than that, there were no signs that anyone had been inside his house. Before even touching the sword, Jacob ran outside to see if there was anyone hiding nearby. After searching the bushes, and the back yard, he returned inside.

A small piece of what looked to be ancient parchment, or a dirty tree bark scroll, was wrapped tightly around the handle. Opening it, Jacob attempted to read the calligraphy.

It was only one line of text and read simply, ‘find your animal spirit and complete the quest.’

Jacob scratched his head and attempted to pull the sword from the wooden floor. He could rock it back and forth slightly, but the wood did not release the sword to him. He leaned his full weight upon the sword, and it let out a loud high pitch squeal before clanging to the ground.

Sitting up, Jacob looked at the sword. It wasn’t anything special, but it was heavy, and thus he assumed it was real. Swiping his finger across the blade, he could feel how sharp it was. Looking over the scroll once again, Jacob found himself dwelling on the words. “Animal spirit…” he said slowly in a questioning tone. Panda, his gerbil, began running around in its wheel. Jacob laughed, hoping that the little creature held within the cage was not what the parchment meant when it said he had to find his animal spirit.

Closing his eyes, Jacob began to try to meditate. He remembered on his favourite science fiction series that there was a first officer that was from a futuristic version of native american, and had an animal guide. Jacob was hoping that a little meditation might bring around his own.

As the adrenaline left his system, Jacob found himself getting tired. The quiet conttemplation wasn’t helping that either, and soon he was asleep.

Dreams flooded his mind, running with the sword he had found through the seventh dungeon in his favourite game, but it was real, he could feel the cobblestone walls, and the candle light flickered. He slowly progressed deeper into the dungeon, and could hear many small noises. There was water dripping from the ceiling, chains swaying in the slight breeze, and what sounded like his gerbil only a few feet away.

Grabbing one of the torches, he swung around, and lowered it to the ground. There was a small injured rat looking up at him, and it did something Jacob didn’t expect: it smiled. It was a weird experience watching a rat smile with almost a cartoon grin, but Jacob tried to remind himself that this was a dream, though it was getting harder and harder to tell for sure.

He thought back for a moment, had the sword in his living room been a dream as well? He looked back down at the rat, and it was still smiling at him. Then almost faster than he could blink, the rat took off down the corridor. It was hobbling along, but at a furious pace. Jacob felt compelled to chase it, and before he could question why, he began running too. The hallways all looked the same as they both continued to press on. The rat sometimes had difficulty getting his gimpy leg to go where he wanted so that he could take his next step, and so every few seconds he stopped, repositioned it, and then took off again.

They continued like this for some time until they turned a corner Jacob looked down the hallway and saw his living room. Inside his living room was a couch, and on that couch was a man. A man that not only looked like Jacob, but was Jacob. He was asleep with the sword right next to him. Jacob and the rat walked towards the living room, only to be unable to transition from the dungeon to the living room. A piece of what felt like glass was in his way, he pressed his body against it, and it did not budge. He kicked it, and it had no effect.

Watching outwards at himself, he screamed, but there was no response, not even a slight reaction that would let Jacob know his other self had heard his cries.

Suddenly, a rift appeared in the living room, and through it came a green creature. It reminded him of an Ork, though much uglier than any he had ever witnessed in a video game. It raised its axe, and began to walk over towards the sleeping version of Jacob.

The rat squealed wildly, and Jacob looked down at his crippled companion. The rat walked over to a wall, and following with the torch, Jacob saw a small crack. The rat went through, seemingly leaving Jacob behind. “Wait!” Jacob cried after the rat. He put his hand into the crack, and could feel a lever. The leaver was at an angle, and was loose. He pulled on it with all the strength he could muster, and the glass slid upwards away from the exit.

Running out into the living room, the creature stared at Jacob, and then back at the sleeping version on the couch. Jacob lunged towards the green goblin, and dug the sword deep into its belly. The beast cried out, and fell backwards with the sword into to vortex from which he came.

Jacob woke up from his slumber. He looked around quickly to find the room empty. The gerbil was still running on his wheel, and there was no sword in sight. He thought about his dream for a moment, but it was only a dream. Talking to an empty room, Jacob calmed himself down. “I have to lay off the D and D for a while.”

In the kitchen, Jacob poured himself a glass of his favourite energy drink. Putting the glass to his lips, and tipping it backwards, he began to drink it down, when he noticed something beyond the glass. It was distorted, but it was moving. Quickly lowering the glass, he spotted a strange looking rat sitting next to a small hole in the wooden floor of his otherwise perfect living room.

This was all written thanks to Michael of Blog Writer Person, who gave me the elements gerbil, sword and a rat with a gimpy leg as the items I had to include. Michael also writes some great random fiction on his site, so check it out.