Prologue: It Struck Without Warning

[Do it.]

A voice rings out in my head, so clearly it makes my skin crawl. The sound reverberates inside my skull, from my inner ears to my medulla oblongata, evoking a deep shudder down my spine. It feels like someone spoke directly into my brain.

But who?

I contemplate it for a moment, but hesitate. The voice sounded identical to my own.

Meanwhile, my body is suddenly burning hot, my face flushed red.

I feel lightheaded. My senses begin to melt into a haze, almost like I’ve come down with a vicious fever.

My body begins to pull away and move of its own accord, as though I’m no longer myself.

Something is swallowing me whole... and yet my consciousness doesn’t fade. I remain lucid.

Unfamiliar desires well up inside me, unbidden, demanding to be set free. I fight it down, but it fights back—an incendiary impulse spurring me forth.

Stop it. Don’t fight me. Shut up. Deal with it. I can’t just do that.

And yet my body moves nonetheless, as though disconnected entirely from my mind.

I don’t want to, and yet I want to so very badly...

Wait, so I do want to? So of course my body is going to move?

Are these desires truly “unfamiliar” and “unbidden”?

[Make your dreams reality.]

The voice—my voice—rings out in my head once more, but not of my own volition.

I don’t understand. My mind reels. My body boils.

Then I realize what’s happening.

I want to yell “When did this happen?!” but the words catch in my throat.

I’m horrified. I can’t believe what I’m doing.

I scream at myself to stop, but no sound escapes my lips. Separated from my body, all I can do is watch from a distance.

My mouth moves. It asks for something I don’t want.

Have I been possessed? By whom? By what? By myself?

...By myself?

My body moves without my permission. Where is it getting its orders? From me?

...From me?

Wait. I won’t wait. I don’t want to wait?

Stop. I don’t want to stop?

What is happening? How is this happening?

—Oh god, I can’t stop.

I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I can’t stop.

—I don’t want it to stop?