Awaken Illusionia

By Zoe Wynns

“Do this for one moment. Close your eyes, wherever you may be. Imagine sinking into a restful, deep, sleep. Darkness. Silence. Peace.
And then snap your eyes open again and imagine waking up.
But not really.
Because now you’re stuck. Stuck in a dream.”
Fifteen-year-old Krystina wakes up in the hospital to discover that she's been in a coma for years, and everything she remembers of her life was actually a dream. She has to learn to adjust to her new life, while fighting the shards of her old life that just won’t let her go. As Krystina gets closer and closer to a secret that has been buried for decades about the dream she’d been caught in for so long, she must learn to come face to face with reality once and for all.
Zoe Wynns has been called a “talented young writer” by author Tracie Fellers, and her books have been called “Entertaining and well-paced,” “chair-gripping page turners,” and “unforgettable.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zoe Wynns
• Release date: Jan 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370231096

Zoe Wynns

UNC student who occasionally writes novels.Thanks to everyone who's checked out my work! You can contact me at [e-mail] for any inquiries.

Book preview

Awaken Illusionia

By Zoe Wynns

Praise for Zoe Wynns

"Zoe Wynns is a talented young writer who is off to a terrific start with SpyCam: The President Plot.  This is an entertaining and well-paced read, driven by spirited 14-year-old Cam and her plucky BFF, Stella. Zoe's novel has suspense, adventure and a lot of heart — a combination that will leave readers eager to take more fictional journeys with Cam and crew!"

—Tracie Fellers (fiction and nonfiction author with work in Long Story Short:  Flash Fiction by Sixty-Five of North Carolina's Finest Writers, and 27 Views of Raleigh)

"Zoe Wynns is an amazing author. Her first two books were well written and interesting. I have read Journey to the End five times. Her book, Flicker, Fade, Soar, that I recently just finished, was awesome. This new book is obviously another masterpiece. Keep going Zoe!"

-Caleb McLamb (CEO of M-Tech)

Zoe Wynns has done it again. Her SpyCam books are the sort of chair-gripping page-turners that grab you at the prologue and continue to hold on after the final page has been read. But it’s not only the 394 unexpected plot twists that make her writing impossible to put down; her characters, too, are unforgettable. Whether it’s selfless Cam, spunky Stella, or power-crazed Shardstorm, Zoe’s characters don’t just come alive off the page -- they jump out at you with every witty remark or infamous almost-kiss, throwing confetti into the air (or in Shardstorm’s case, bombs). In short, Zoe’s novels are the rare, wonderful kind that will touch your heart and stay there forever.

-Luna Hou (winner of Wake County’s annual Teen Poetry Contest)

If you are into spies, youth fiction, and adventure, Zoe Wynns is an up-and-coming author you should definitely check out. Her SpyCam series features a strong, bright female protagonist who faces a world of conquering the bad guys with ingenuity, humor and a minimum of blood and gore. Wholesome excitement that will keep you turning pages until the end... and then you start the next book!

-Kathryn Tinsley (former college psychology instructor)

I am fourteen years old. Awaken Illusionia is my sixth self-published book. Feel free to send me feedback if you find a mistake in the book, but know that I tried my best, worked very hard on the book, and I am very proud of the final novel. Thank you for downloading or purchasing this book.

If you enjoy this book, feel free to download my five other self-published books. Journey to the End is available on Kindle, iBooks, and Smashwords. Flicker, Fade, Soar is available on iBooks and Smashwords. SpyCam: The President Plot, SpyCam: The Android Attack, and SpyCam: The School Secret are available on iBooks and Smashwords as well.

Please rate this book or write a quick review if you enjoy it! Thanks in advance!

I hope you enjoy Awaken Illusionia.

This is a work of fiction. While some businesses and places do exist that I’ve mentioned, any interactions inside those places or any descriptions of those places are purely fictional. All persons are fictional, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This book is published by Smashwords. No part of this book may be copied or reproduced without the consent of Zoe Wynns. All questions to [e-mail].

Summary: Krystina wakes up in the hospital to discover that her whole life was a dream.

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

Copyright © 2017 Zoe Wynns.

Prologue

I’ve always wondered if the extras in dreams have minds of their own.

Do they consciously choose to chase after the person who is currently sleeping, warm in his or her own bed, but who feels like he or she is sprinting through a jungle, escaping the demons inside his or her own mind?

Why, sometimes, do these people inside all of our own minds, want to kill us, while other days, they try their best to make us the happiest we can be?

Do these extras spend the whole day, while the sleeper is awake, plotting the dream for that night, wondering if another nightmare would be too traumatizing for the poor soul, yet still planning it because of the excitement? The rush of the chase.? The thrill of the catch? The sadness when the person slips out of their grasp, only to awake in their own beds?

So, do this for one moment. Close your eyes, wherever you may be. Imagine sinking into a restful, deep, sleep. Darkness. Silence. Peace.

And then snap your eyes open again and imagine waking up.

But not really.

Because now you’re stuck. Stuck in a dream.

Now, go. Go continue your daily life. Stop reading this, if you want. I don’t mind. Nobody probably wants to listen to the musings of my confused mind, anyway.

Yet you’re still here.

Maybe because you think it would be rude to walk away now. Maybe because you’re bored and don’t have anything else to do.

Or maybe it’s because you feel a little tingle in the back of your mind, telling you that something I just said was important.

Go on. Listen to the feeling. I’ll wait.

Can’t figure out what it’s telling you? I’m not surprised. People rarely do.

I didn’t, after all. I didn’t let the little voice in the back of my head bother me. I ignored it, ignored it for my entire life, waving it off cavalierly.

It’s just a headache, I told my friends when they asked me what was wrong.

It’s just a phenomenon of the human brain, I told my science teacher when she asked me to diagnose myself.

I’m fine, really, I told my mom when she asked. There’s nothing wrong. I’m right where I’m supposed to be, after all.

But the truth was, I wasn’t.

I was never where I was supposed to be.

Now back to the original question: do extras in dreams have minds of their own?

I’m hoping and praying that the answer is yes, because if it’s not, my whole life was a lie.

I am a lie.

Because everyone I thought I was living for- my close friends, my caring family, my hopeless crush that I still chased after…

Those were all fake.

Because my whole life…

My whole life has been a dream.

Chapter One: Elli/Krystina

My legs pumped across the pine-needle covered forest floor as I sprinted for my life away from the monster that was chasing me.

I glanced furtively over my shoulder. Green leaves sped past my field of vision as I heard the growl of my pursuer behind me.

I sped up.

Faster, faster. Couldn’t slow down. Where was my friend? Where was Lily? Had she already been consumed by the beast, or had she, at least, made it to safety?

Suddenly my best friend, Lily Green, was beside me, her long red hair bouncing wildly in her ponytail. Stray strands of orange and red poked through as she bolted alongside me. Terror filled her gray-green eyes as she gasped, I-it had me! It almost killed me! We’re going to die, Elli!

Not today, I growled, grabbing Lily’s hand, determination in my own hard blue eyes. I veered right, my feet thudding against the well-worn trail that I knew so well.

I heard a crash behind us, then a whimper, and then a roar as the monster searched for our retreating forms.

I pulled Lily into the cave that had appeared through the trees. She opened her mouth to say something, but I covered it with one tanned hand. Shh! I hissed quietly, pulling her deeper into the blackness.

We were on my home turf now. I’d explored every inch of these cave systems. Every stalactite and stalagmite, leak in the ceiling, every hole and tunnel on these gray stone floors were mapped out. I walked with careful confidence as I squeezed Lily’s hand tighter. The ever-present tickle in the back of my head gave a twinge and I ignored it.

This can’t be the way we die, after surviving the battle yesterday that we could have bravely sacrificed ourselves in, Lily moaned. All hail Akla!

Would you please be quiet? There’s no need for us to die at all but if you’re not silent we might! I whispered frantically, choosing another tunnel and making sure Lily was beside me as we headed further underground. My blonde hair swished annoyingly and I wished I had something with which to pull it back.

The darkness down here was unquenchable, all-consuming, overwhelming. I couldn’t see a single hint of light as I inched along, Lily’s terrified panting a steady presence beside me in the midst of the gloom. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, my heartbeat steadily slowed. I took a deep, shuddering breath.

Do you think we’re- Lily started.

The monster leapt out of the shadows, fangs bared, teeth yellow and rotten, claws extended.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, felt Lily’s hand clench in terror in mine, and tried to sprint, but I was too late- the monster was on me, ripping, tearing, destroying as I spiraled into blackness, unconsciousness, death…

But it wasn’t death. Not really...

…because this had happened before. And every time I’d woken hours later in my own bed, with the tingle in the back of my mind at its greatest. My mother had soothed me every time, asked what happened. I was always crazy sore for a few days afterwards, so I tried not to let it happen too often. It was okay, though, because then Lily would awake in her own bed, (usually I was killed first, because I was the braver one) and we’d lay on our beds and talk for hours about anything and everything until we were back to full health and could go out exploring again.

We actually had an ongoing list of our deaths (my total count after this most recent one was five, Lily’s four.) The first time, Lily and I had explored the woods and discovered the monsters, the Rippers. One had leapt out of the shadows into our path, smelling blood. We’d tried to run, but our short little five-year old legs were just not long enough. That was the only time I had survived longer. I had watched in terror as the Ripper ripped the life out of my best friend and she melted into shadow and dust.

The second time, Lily and I wondered what the Consuming War of Illusionia really looked like in person. We were a little too aloof in the face of death on that one, because as soon as we peeked out onto the battlefield, where the two main warring tribes of Akla and Jero were battling, we were both hit by bullets immediately and dissolved into dust, shadow, and death…

The third time, I was exploring the caves alone and fell off a very tall cliff. I was incredibly sore for weeks that time, and that’s when I started to realize that the intensity of injury the death would have caused, had I happened to survive it, directly correlated to the pain I felt afterwards. Lily came to visit me that time. But she couldn’t be there every moment in those painful weeks, so I’d sat in my bed, lonely and hurting, for days at a time.

That’s when I started to be more careful.

The fourth time, Lily and I were in the woods again, taking a shortcut from home to school. This was the day that I thought that the boy I’d had a crush on for forever, Micah, would ask me out. Lily and I had thrown caution to the wind and sprinted through the forest. We hadn’t been killed in years, we felt giddy and free, and most importantly, we were safe.

But then a pack of Rippers jumped out of the shadows and tore into us so fast I didn’t even remember what happened next.

They were getting braver, because just a week later, the chase through the caves had occurred, with the boldest Ripper I’d seen in years. And as I sunk into the blackness that was death, my final thought was that this would be a good one to add to the list.

But this time was different. This time I didn’t wake up, warm and cozy and safe, in my own bed, slightly sore but very much alive, with