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On the prairie where I lived, the sound of crickets was all-encompassing. I sat on my wooden deck and lulled my head back to magnify the insects' voices. They were all around, but focused near the oak tree, where more of them gathered. It was impossible to pick out the individual sounds, but a wave of sound pulsed to me from the darkness. I closed my eyes. The sounds came, then I drifted into half-sleep. The dream that came to me felt familiar, though I couldn't place a specific memory. I was in a wooded camp, with wet leaves producing an all green bubble around me. It was daylight, and I was lying on the ground.

A sharp spear landed before my head, and I jolted awake, thinking a bug had alighted on my face. I swatted at them, then pursued the dream by drifting back to sleep.

A man with leather sleeves reached down to grab me. I saw his face. It was a wild one, covered with sweat and his crafty smile. Speaking to me, he got me to my feet. I couldn't understand him, so it must have been some other language. He pointed ahead, and slapped my shoulder. I thought, I could never return to the place he motioned to, the village where my family lived. I was banished.

I awoke sideways in my chair in the middle of the night. The crickets lessened their orchestra. Thinking of the bugs, I went inside and found my bed. The curious dream continued.

"Your sacrifice will make you all heroes," she said like a snake as I lined behind the other men. "The invaders made their wishes clear. We will sacrifice six men, and the village will be spared. You men will all be forgiven for your crimes."

It was the Queen.

"Instead of being banished or imprisoned, you will face the death of a martyr. I will follow each one of you in the next life. In reality, you cut the trail ahead of us. We will all follow you soon to the Other World."

In chains, I followed the man ahead of me to the scaffolding. Looking up, I saw my wife. She was pushing her way through the crowd. When she came to me with big tears in her eyes, she said something. I couldn't understand it like I could understand the Queen. She must have said she would find me in the next life.

I awoke with a great cough, having choked on spittle. I gazed around my dim lit room and yearned for the dream to continue. I drifted to sleep once again.

It was my turn on the block. The other men had disappeared from sight. I gazed at my fellow villagers, holding babies, covering their faces to guard themselves from the sight of the executions. I started crying when I saw familiar warriors, men I had fought the invaders alongside. They were bristling with muscles, ready to fight again. I, however, would never join them.

An officer stepped me to the edge of the platform. Somehow, they had forgotten my noose. I turned to face sideways with the crowd. Two strange walls were in front of me past the scaffold, closing together to form an angle. I saw through the walls another world; a prairie, with hills and wheat and a conspicuous house in plain sight. As I pushed forward, the wall touched my face, and I slipped into the alternate reality. I instantly remembered I was dreaming this in my bedroom. I wanted desperately to awake. I forcefully pulled myself away from the wall but it stuck to the sides of my face. I jumped, screamed, spun around, but the wall stuck ever closer to me. I awoke for the last time in my bed, lying on my back, but I felt like I was in a warrior's body. I tried to lift my body out of bed, to see the familiar surroundings of my bedroom, but I was pulled ever deeper into the abyss.

When I opened my eyes, my face was to the ground. I was surrounded by fires and corpses. "Simulation complete," said one of the invaders.