Chapter 5
Late that night, Garrett listened to Ryns soft breathing, his mind running through the day. It had always been his habit to spend a few moments at the end of his day examining the choices hed made, and as he reviewed his day, he was once again struck by the absurdity of his situation. It was fruitless to dwell on the strangeness of his situation, however, and he soon turned his attention to a more profitable question. The soul spark he carried was shining once again, almost as brightly as it had been when hed first noticed it.
When I move around in the safe zone theres no change to my soul spark, but it clearly depletes as I move outside of the safe zone. There must be something in that haze thats depleting it. If I think of it as a battery, then its clear that moving around outside my room takes power, while being still recharges it.
Letting his mind sink into the soul spark, Garrett entered the Dream, appearing in the glowing chair once again. The first thing he did was check the room he was in. The table was exactly as he had left it, with the two account books sitting side by side and the inkpot he was using in between them. He had left the quill hed been given laying across the two books, its edge precisely aligned with the square bottom of the inkpot. Seeing it, an idea struck him.
Reaching out, he picked it up, watching as it turned from the dull gray that enveloped everything in the room into its familiar pale-brown color. Running his finger along the soft edge of the feather, he examined it, marveling at how real it felt. As soon as he touched it, he felt his soul spark starting to dim, but the glow from the throne seemed to sink into him, replacing the energy his soul spark was losing. Carefully placing the quill down next to the new account book, he turned his attention to Ryn, who was sleeping in the bed across the room. He could faintly see her laying in the bed, covered by the sheets, but she was dim and dark, looking more like a wax doll than a real person.
Curious, he walked over and tried to touch her, but before he could his hand encountered a firm obstruction and a window popped up in front of his face.
You have not yet unlocked the ability to enter other peoples dreams. Advance to level one to unlock this ability.
EXP: 3/10
Frowning, Garrett closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Remembering he had another skill he hadnt used yet, he activated Whisper of the Dream, his ability that was supposed to let him communicate with other people mentally. Yet just like before nothing happened apart from another window popping up.
This ability can currently only be used with those who are Awakened. Improve your skill level with this ability to pass messages to mortals.
This again. Does this mean I could have sent a message to Gorn or Obe, but not Ryn? And why is it using the term mortal? How do I increase my level? Wait, if there are personal levels and skill levels, do I have something like a character sheet? Hmm. How would I access something like that?
Looking like a hunched old man with wrinkled skin, the monsters vertical eye that covered its entire face glared at Garrett, a strange power making it impossible for him to look away. Desperate to blink and tear his eyes away from the terrifying sight, Garrett could feel the energy in his soul spark being drained away as he resisted the monsters gaze. This infuriated the monster, which suddenly screeched, causing its large eye to begin splitting down the middle, almost as if another eye was opening up in the middle of its pupil.
A trickle of blood ran down the window as its eye was ripped apart, an even stronger crimson eye appearing inside of it. Dreadful whispers started to swirl around Garrett, and with supreme effort he tore himself away, falling to the ground as he bumped into the desk. Papers scattered across the floor in his haste, but he didnt care one bit. Scrambling along the floor, he thought about hiding behind the desk, but as he caught sight of his hand on the wooden floor, terror raced through him. On the back of his hand he could see a strange bulging, as if something was pressing against his skin from the inside. A thin red line appeared in the center of the bulge and his skin started to rip apart, revealing a crimson eyeball underneath.
Fear like hed never felt raced through him and he lunged for the door. Pulling the door shut behind him, he crawled for the door to his room, doing his best not to look at bulges that were beginning to form on his arms. Pain coursed through his arms as the eyes that were beginning to open up stared wildly around, each trying to catch his gaze. With each crimson eye that appeared, he could sense himself losing control of his body, and soon a terrible pain struck his face, causing it to feel like it was about to split open. Blood dripped down from his chin as he got his hand on the doorknob to his room, splashing against the aged wooden floorboards.
Feeling the strength slipping from his fingers, he twisted the knob and pushed the door open, falling into the small opening. His body was still behind the door, but as he flopped forward his face fell into the room and the warm light of the throne washed over him. A faint sizzle covered him as the bulging in his face subsided, burnt away by the light. Yet even as the eye vanished from his face, the eyes on his arms blinked, glowing with crimson light. Completely outside his control, his hands gripped the floor of the hallway and tried to pull his body backward, away from the light of the throne. With a desperation that bordered on insanity, he opened his mouth and bit down on the edge of the door, preventing himself from being pulled back out into the hallway.
A vicious tug of war began as his possessed limbs tried to pry him loose and he tried to pull himself forward with just his teeth. Thanks to the light seeping into his head, his soul spark that was nearly completely inert started to glimmer again, and with excruciating slowness he began to regain some control of his body. Finally, after nearly twenty minutes, Garret gathered his energy and lunged forward, getting his torso into the room. Wiggling to the side, he bent himself around the open door before he could be pulled back out and the light of the throne began to burn away the eyes that had opened on his arms and hands.
It took him nearly an hour before all the eyes had vanished, an hour of a tortuous burning feeling as the presence of the monster that had possessed his body was peeled away. Even after the influence of the monster was gone, Garrett still didnt get up from the floor. His breath came in big gasps as he tried to calm his wildly beating heart. The only frame of reference he had for what had just happened was the horror movies hed watched back on Earth, but even those could never have prepared him for what hed just gone through. The only consolation he had was the window that floated in the air in front of his eyes.
You have survived an encounter with a Seeking Wraith, one of the low-ranked nightmares of the Dream. You have gained 3 EXP for avoiding complete possession.
EXP: 6/10
He had only gotten a single experience point for seeing the Seeking Wraith, but now after a direct encounter his experience had gone up by three points at once. The words avoiding possession gave him a chill just reading them, and the reality of the world he was in settled on him like a weight. Sure, his life on Earth had often been dangerous and hed been forced to scramble for his life, but this was an entirely different matter. It was one thing to contend with physical enemies, but another thing entirely to face down bizarre creatures that seemed more myth than reality. What had the system called it?
A nightmare.
Gasping for breath on the floor of his room, Garrett was convinced that truer words had never been spoken.
