Opturius: Beneath A Crimson Sky – Chapter One
This is an excerpt from the book Opturius: Beneath a Crimson Sky.
The sky looked like a nuclear bomb had exploded, showering the terrain below in a haze of crimson. Adam Walker trekked along a narrow ridge heading east. The earth beneath his boots wasn’t any soil he recognized. It crunched slightly, like dry scales, and shimmered with a metallic sheen. Strange plants lined the slope—thick-stemmed, spined, and trembling in the warm breeze.
The wind whispered across the unfamiliar terrain, carrying the scent of ozone and pulverized stone. Far below, something chirred—a rhythm like clockwork—perhaps a strange insect hidden in the underbrush.
Adam crested the ridge and halted. Before him, the land fell away into a broad valley, cut through with a wide river that curled like a ribbon of blood. He heard a voice whisper.
He turned to his left and beheld a towering mountain range. The peaks were unknown to him, rising like jagged teeth against the horizon. The sky was illuminated by a massive, ruby sun. A planet easily three times the size of the moon hung 15 degrees above the mountains in the northern sky.
Adam gazed at the mountains. And then he woke.
He sat up in bed, sweat drenching his back, the sheets twisted at his knees. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes. Light trickled in through the slits in the blinds. He yawned, stretched, and then stood, weaving between piles of clothes, and passing dirty paper plates on his way to the bathroom.
Adam had left the TV on with the volume down low. Sinatra was singing “Fly Me to the Moon.” His mother sang in a big band trio after graduating from high school before marrying Adam’s father. He grew up listening to the oldies.
He splashed warm water on his face and quickly shaved. The images from the dream haunted him. He dried his face with a ratty hand-me-down towel he’d gotten from his mother.
Strangest mountains I’ve ever seen, he thought. And what’s with the red sky?
And then, there was the river, which made him feel vulnerable. He headed for the kitchen. “Coffee first, alien mountain ranges later.”
He walked into a tiny kitchen, poured water into the coffee maker, and ground a handful of fresh Sumatra beans, which he had chosen for their full-bodied, earthy flavor, with notes of chocolate, cedar, and vanilla. I may live in a dump, he told his girlfriend, but I don’t have to drink crappy coffee. He emptied the grounds into the filter and pressed the “brew” button—and then it happened.
There was no sound. No warning of any kind. The room around him dissolved. Suddenly, he was in an unfamiliar house, standing over the blood-covered body of a dead woman.
Then, his vision shifted. A door was open before him, and he entered.
He stood in a dim hallway. The floor was covered with linoleum. The walls were lined with warped wood paneling. Somewhere nearby, a dog barked.
Adam’s vision shifted again, pulled toward a doorway at the end of the hall. He entered. The room beyond was silent. Mildew hung in the air. A man stood before him. He was thin and pale, in his late forties. His hands trembled slightly as he paced. A snake tattoo was visible on the left side of his neck. He muttered something unintelligible to himself.
The vision narrowed and pulled toward the window.
Now, Adam was outside, looking up at a red tin roof. It was old, rusted, and pocked with hailstone scars. The house was isolated, surrounded by tall, dry grass and the distant line of a quarry wall.
The vision slowly faded.
Adam was back in his kitchen. He rubbed his eyes once, then reached for the notebook on the counter and wrote:
Dead woman. Snake tattoo on the left side of the neck. Red tin roof. Dog barking. Out past the quarry.
He quickly sketched the tattoo and the house, then set the pencil down.
The coffee maker beeped, ripping him from his thoughts. He sighed. “Another unsolved murder?” He slid the notepad aside and poured his coffee.
Opturius: Beneath a Crimson Sky can be purchased through the links below:
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