.

.

.

Yep!

Definitely weird.

Absolutely, certified, insanely weird.

What the heck is this place?!

I am absolutely sure I'm dreaming.

I can even remember how the last thing I did was covering me with the sheet and closing my eyes.

However, I am distressingly clear right now.

I have no idea what of this stuff I will remember after waking up and this situation might be normal, yet it doesn't feel so.

I feel far too conscious of everything around me.

Is this what they call a lucid dream?

No idea.

Really.

So I should get an overview of everything that makes it this weird.

First, above me is no sky.

At least nothing one can call so.

Rather, it is an unsettling black void without any stars, lights, or anything at all.

Well, that isn't completely true, what brings me to the second point.

There are planets.

To clarify, I don't speak about celestial bodies in the sky.

I mean actual planets where I can see their surface close up.

That is to say, they aren't as big as earth.

Probably not even the moon.

Yet as I haven't the official measurements right now in mind this might be a stretch.

Even crazier, I seem to stand on one of them.

I can even see something like a horizontal curve as this thing is much smaller than earth yet has still the same gravity.

Weird!

And these planets aligned in the oddest way one could imagine.

To describe the arrangement: A necklace.

It's like someone threaded several planets on a string and now put them somewhere on some plane in a universe to stay that way.

They extend so far that I can't really make out those furthest away and eventually they come back, leading to the other side of the one I stand on.

Also, their surfaces change color the further it proceeds down the line.

How can someone come up with that?

How could I come up with that as this is apparently my dream?

I can clearly see this next planet as an existing object, despite the point that some universal forces would surely object against such an arrangement. Not to speak of seeing it with no visible light source.

But now to number three.

The planet I stand on.

It looks rather dull.

The rock formations, all unitary colored in some kind of purple, favor sharp edges, piercing ends, variations that just can be related to modern art, and a general aversion against the idea of an ebon surface.

To summarize...

Weird!

Everything is weird!

But what is even weirder, is that I am so aware right now.

I definitely can feel my body at the moment.

Looking down on me, I still wear the same casual clothes I had when I went to bed.

And the weirdest would be my sense of touch.

My naked feet feel rather bad on this surface.

And when I pinch my cheek it hurts a little.

Ouch!

However, I feel strangely fine.

First, this environment seems to know no temperature.

A rather convincing argument that I'm only weirdly dreaming things up.

Second, I am not tired.

A rather pleasant, but knowing myself, no natural condition of mine.

So a dream then!

It has to be!

Having no idea what I should do with this dream I simply get going.

The gravitation seems to be fine and lacking a target I just decide to turn in the direction of the next planet, simply to see what is holding them together at the place where they meet.

But soon I grow exhausted.

Not tired but exhausted.

This uneven surface simply takes its toll on me.

So at one point, I am forced to take a break.

"Skchchchch"

Promptly I notice this strange sound.

This is rather significant since until now this place was distressingly quiet.

Naturally, given a direction, I follow this sound.

I climb up a small cliff and find the source.

Well...

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!!

In front of me is something like a lake.

If it just would be a lake!

Yet instead of a single drop of water, I see...

Worms!

Or snakes, eels?

Something like this.

A whole lake, spreading beyond the borders of my vision, full of those creatures.

The elongated bodies of these things finish at one end with an eye and on the other with sharp circulating rows of teeth.

Iori, just what is wrong with you?!

To come up with something like this?!

I thought you were somewhat stable!

This wriggling mass of too many things I don't want to see is making me nauseatic.

I avert my gaze before I lose it and instead turn to my initial goal, unwilling to walk the same way back I came which would lead me in the opposite direction.

"Skcheeeh!"

I look alarmed in the direction of this sudden noise and find myself just in front of one of these things.

Startled backing off I lose my balance on this cliff and fall.

To my dismay the side with the worm-lake.

I come close to its edges to a stop.

Fortunately, there are no other worms outside the edges of that not-lake.

But unfortunately, this worm from before won't give up.

It somehow squeezes together...

and jumps!

At me!!!

I can barely roll to the side, but before I manage to stand up the creature jumps again.

It hits my torso.

"Aackh!" (I)

I feel for a moment a stinging pain.

Horrified I realize that this monster starts to crawl into my body, the rows of teeth driving it into the area short above my stomach.

I try to hold its body, but it's too slippery and glides through my hands inside.

Slowly it creeps forward and all my attempts to get a hold of it end in vain.

Despair overcomes me when the other end slips through my fingers and ultimately inside.

It only hurts for a moment and there's no blood.

I can't even see a wound.

Frantic I strobe my body but cannot make this creature out.

Where?

I can't see it!

I can't find it!

I know that it's inside me.

It just crawled there!

Where did it go?

I can't see it!!!

But I need to!

I need to find it!

I need to examine myself!

I need to see!

Huh?

M-my hand twitches!

Feels weird and...

What goes on here?!

There is a completely strange sensation in the palm of my hand.

Carefully I raise it to take a look.

Open it.

And look in my eyes!

Why the hell do I look into my own face?

"IEEEHHHK!" (I)

I-I can see an eye!

I can see an eye in my hand!!!

A normal human eye with a red iris.

And at the same time, I can see with this thing!

How?

How is that possible?

A dream!

I'm dreaming!

Best explanation available!

The reason why I need to have an eye in my hand in this dream eludes me.

Seriously, I don't know!

But now please, please go away!

This is just a little too much for me.

Please, end it!

The eye in my hand closes, then the lids merge, and soon I cannot make it out anymore.

Just my imagination!

Everything is fine!

But it hurt a little and these sensations are somewhat present, despite being so strange.

And this unmoving planet necklace above me does not help to ease my mind.

This is truly a nightmare!

But why can't I wake up?

There's no helping it.

I should just keep going.

Maybe it will end at my destination where those planets touch.

I try to stand up and even though my legs feel like butter after this experience, I can manage.

Heaving my body I start moving, set on avoiding this now even more terrifying lake with those eel-monsters.

"Gruuuuhhh!"

But as soon I get started I hear this strange sound from opposite the direction of the lake.

I look...

And see a monster.

A real one.

It is larger than me and consists apparently just of one giant maw with two tiny eyes on top while walking on scaly, bend dinosaur legs.

On its sides sprout two clawed arms, which look as if they only have the purpose to shovel whatever inside.

How can this be?

Such a structure couldn't even be able to live, lacking the necessary organs.

But now just this thing stares at me, licking several rows of teeth with a far too large tongue.

It's gonna eat me!

M-maybe I should let it happen?

Then this dream would end and I wake up after another, not the slightest bit relaxing night.

This leads me back to that thought I had when I slept in.

If I dream such stuff and forget it afterward this might be the explanation for my tiredness.

But concerning the contents, this might be for the better.

So I should cut it short, die here in this dream, and just wake up to another tired day.

Yet this resolution dissipates into thin air as soon this aberration decides to slowly come closer.

Instinctively I move backward.

With each step it makes I make one of my own to retreat.

One more!

Another one!

It's so close!

And...

Promptly I realize...

I am at the border of the lake!

One more step and I will fall into the eels.

With this frightening prospect, I grow stiff.

This monster doesn't seem to like these worms either but finds me appetizing enough to overcome this.

When it is only ten meters away it abruptly starts into a sprint.

I don't want to get eaten!!!

Terrified as I am I don't manage to dodge away and can only lift my arms protective in front of me.

It shouldn't do anything, considering that the maw of this creature might just swallow me whole.

Suddenly I feel another shift on my arm, like with the eye.

Yet this time it is some weird tendril that extends from it, ending with something sharp.

It pierces an eye of the monster and throws it off balance.

"KREEEHHHH!"

Like this, I don't get caught by the teeth.

Still, its body hits me. I lose my ground and together we fall into the lake.

The drop only leaves me enough time to squeeze some panicked tears out.

I will die now!

While this creature plunges into the mass of horrors with an audible splash I am barely recorded.

On the borders of my vision, I notice how these eel-monsters are shredding the maw-creature.

It falls into a death struggle, which it obviously loses. Getting mutilated by the forcefully added holes the eels gnaw inside.

I cannot think about this, as my situation is exactly the same.

I know it's futile.

I am slowly sinking down.

No!

I don't want this!

I don't want to die!

"AAAAHHHHHH!" (I)

The first one is piercing inside me.

Like before it hurts, but for a death experience, this isn't this much agony.

Soon I feel the next one.

Then another!

More! More! More!

Make this stop!!!

They keep coming and I drown below the wriggling surface.

Despite knowing that I'm already lost I struggle, twist, and try to move in any way, but have not even a direction.

My movements are just an expression of my panic.

It feels strange.

The pain isn't even this present but also, I don't feel ripped apart.

I thought after seeing this creature next to me die, that it would feel more... forceful.

That doesn't mean it's pleasant.

Every single one makes me crazy, creeps me out while wriggling itself deeper inside.

I scream in terror but the moment I open my mouth one wents inside.

And more follow behind!

Then I feel how also my eyes and ears get pierced and they enter through these holes.

This is something like the proof that this is a dream.

I should be dead by now.

But I still can feel them squirming at me.

They keep coming.

They keep on entering my body.

This is just too much!

At some point, I start to wonder what they are even entering.

I cannot feel my body anymore.

Just some crawling where it's supposed to be.

But more still add to this.

And strangely my awareness of this crawling extends along with the newly entering.

The mass I feel grows.

Losing it completely my consciousness drifts away.

Finally, it does end!

Finally, I can wake up!