We all have our 'Inner Demons.'
I rember hearing sothing like that at so point in my life.
At the ti, it was just a statent, ant to imply the reality of different people having secrets and problems that preferred to keep to themselves.
Who would have thought that statent would ring true in the literal sense?
… Certainly not .
*****
[You Have Died]
{Based On Exclusive Skill: The Drear, your recent experiences have been dissolved into a dream}
[You Will Now Wake Up]
*****
[7:30 AM; Saturday, 29th of April, 2024]
"A-ahh…" I opened my eyes, feeling a mild headache.
My dark brown hair fluttered with the gentle movent I made, and I slowly rose from my bed, rubbing my forehead.
"I guess I'll check in with the drugstore later…" I whispered.
Taking a few steps away from my bed, I encountered my mirror and saw my reflection. Everything seed normal so far, but I couldn't be too certain. It was ti for to comnce my everyday ritual.
'I have to be sure I'm not in a… d-d… dr-dream…?'
Hold on… sothing felt weird.
Was it just my imagination?
I looked closely at myself in the mirror, and it felt like I had done it recently. It felt too off that I began to suspect I was in a dream. Perhaps…
I touched the mirror in front of , feeling the cold sensation course through my palm. However, the mont I did so, I felt a tingle spread through my body, and a flash sparked in my mind.
Slowly, my eyes widened, and I felt sothing rush into my head.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
My eyes turned bloodshot, and I tightly clutched my head, screaming at the top of my lungs.
'W-what is… what is all this?!' My brain felt like it would explode, and I saw several images overlap even when I closed my eyes.
My fingers dug deep into my skin, and I felt like tearing my hair out due to the sheer insanity I was experiencing. In rely a few seconds, I recollected the 'nightmare' I just woke up from.
No, not just this nightmare.
It was sothing else.
'Everything… my whole life up until now… has been nothing but a dream…?' It felt like my whole world had collapsed. 'No… was it just yesterday? No. It's today. Yes… it's just today. Today… I dreamt of today.'
What did all of this an? Why did I dream of this exact day, experiencing a lot of vivid details that felt too real.
'No… this isn't my first ti, is it? It's not my first ti…'
I slowly began to find myself amid the torrents of thoughts that threatened to tear my mind apart. It felt like I was going crazy, but I stabilized my breathing and shut my eyes tight.
"Haaa… Mikey calm yourself."
Hearing my calm voice did the trick. I could finally feel my racing heart stabilize, and the hair on my skin receded.
In no ti at all, I was back to normal.
My thoughts slowly began restructuring, and I began to understand all that I was feeling.
"Those dreams… they were all real?"
Yes.
Ever since I was ten years old, I kept having different dreams of things I wasn't supposed to be capable of producing. Dreams were manifestations of latent knowledge, dominant thoughts, or abstract ideas, but they still had to exist in the mind.
Despite that, I often had dreams of monsters, entities, events, knowledge, and certain people that I should not have known—or even had the capacity of knowing.
I kept journals to track so of the things I dreamt of. So dreams repeated themselves, while so only appeared once.
By the ti I turned fifteen, I began to have a lot of repeated dreams. That was because, on my fifteenth birthday, I had a rather peculiar nightmare.
It showed the end of the world.
"Haa… who would have thought that everything was real."
But, how could I be so sure? None of the things I saw should have existed in reality.
I only had vague recollections of those things, and my journals were nowhere to be found at this point. I could recollect so dreams that stood out, so it wasn't as if I knew everything. Even then, dreaming about monsters and so sort of apocalypse… wasn't that a bit too much?
"I must be going crazy… keuk!" My head hurt, causing tightly clutch it even more.
Yeah, I probably just needed to take my dications.
"There's probably nothing to worry about."
*****
I decided to defy my dream and go to the drugstore before heading to the gym that day. As expected, I was able to see the pharmacist who attended to .
He was a tall and lanky man, and while his very narrow gaze made a little uncomfortable, I could tell he was a good guy at heart.
After leaving the drugstore, I made my way to the gym. I arrived a little later than usual, but nothing much seed to change.
As expected, I was greeted by my gym buddies, and we had a wonderful ti together. I finished my sets a bit later than usual, thanks to my late arrival. It didn't matter much to , though, considering it was still bright out.
'I'll return ho and finish working on my project.' I thought to myself as I stepped out of the shower.
After cleaning up and getting dressed, I stepped to the major workout room to say farewell to my buddies. Unlike them, I couldn't spend too long training my body.
However…
"W-what…?"
… I found an empty workout hall.
No one was in sight.
"U-um… guys? Where are you? Is this so sort of prank?"
Flashes of my last nightmare began appearing in my head, and a feeling of dread slowly crept upon . And then—
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
{The realm of the gods, Paradise, will be revealed to the chosen humans. Overco the 99 Floors and reach the Final Realm.}
{Your mission is to survive the Tutorial so you can be qualified to enter Paradise. Ti Left until the end of the Tutorial: 168 hrs: 00 mins: 00 secs}
—It appeared again.
Just like before, a System Window manifested in front of .
"Haa… haa… it wasn't simply a dream." I could hear myself struggling to breathe already.
~FSHUUUUUUUUU…~
A low hissing sound slowly began perating the workout hall, forcing to look around . I began to see dark blots, like large puddles of dark mud, displaced in many directions within the room.
'RUN!' Sothing sharply whispered into my ears, but my body stood still for so reason.
Rising from the dark puddles of disgusting mud were the creatures similar to the one I saw in my dream. So of them had tattered vestiges of the vests and tight shorts that my workout buddies were known for.
I could even see the striped pink shorts of a particularly queer one.
Unfortunately, the beings who had these outfits on weren't the buddies I knew. Not anymore!
[SYSTEM WARNING]
'RUN!' I heard the voice again.
This ti I listened, swiftly moving my trembling feet as I rushed towards the exit.
Unfortunately…
~SQUELCH!~
Yes, that's right. I was pierced again! Not just once or twice, but in so many places that blood burst out of my body.
'Ah… haa… am I going to die?'
[SYSTEM WARNING]
{You will soon die…}
Looks like I had my answer. Death was waiting for .
'... Or is it?'
I hated the pain I felt. More than that, I despised the regret that lurked inside . I should have known better. I should have believed it wasn't just a dream.
'I-if there is a next ti… I will believe! This isn't just a dream. It isn't a dream! It is a…'
[You Have Died]
{Based On Exclusive Skill: The Drear, your recent experiences have been dissolved into a dream}
[You Will Now Wake Up]
******
[7:30 AM; Saturday, 29th of April, 2024]
"A-ahh…" I rubbed my head, feeling a mild headache. "... I guess I'll go check in with the drugstore later."
I rose to my feet and walked to the mirror in front of to begin my everyday ritua—
'RUN!'
My body froze mid-motion.
'RUN!'
I couldn't understand it, but the sound started getting louder and louder in my pounding head.
'... I will believe! This isn't a dream. It is a dream! It is a…'
The pain coursed through my head and I scread in horror and terror of the things I experienced, as well as the things I would yet see.
I didn't understand things back then… back when I was too young. Back when I was killed not too long ago.
But, at that point when it felt like my skull would crack open, and I would die due to the influx of the lives I had just lived and died, I was beginning to understand.
'I… I have been dreaming this whole ti!'
And the worst part slowly began to dawn on .
'The nightmares… they're just getting started!'
*
*
*
[A/N]
Thanks for reading.
Please be patient and keep reading until the 10th chapter before making up your mind.
Cheers!
Reviews
All reviews (0)