-Chapter Nineteen-

Unending Dream.

Hidden away from the cities, built into the nearby mountains with a long, windy road leading up to it, was a large homely building, stretching far across the rocks.

In some parts of the brightly yellow lit, carpeted halls, busy chatter could be heard.

But further down into the maze-like corridors, past the single rooms, all still and silent, at the end there stood one door. Beside it, the roomtag read, ‘Kyle’.

It led into a humble , silent studio suite where only the ticking of the clock could be heard.

Sitting atop a single, wooden bed was a young and somewhat unhealthily skinny black-haired man, who idly stared out the window.

After what seemed like an eternity, he suddenly inhaled sharply and flinched, before looking to the clock on the wall.

Dark circles brooded deeply beneath his eyelids, and in zombie-like manner, after surveying the time, he relaxed and leant back down onto his bed-dresser.

“Don’t…” he softly uttered as his heavy eyelids began to fall shut.

Don’t fall asleep, Kyle told himself.

Don’t do it.

He suddenly shook, his eyes shooting open again and he looked to the clock yet again.

It’s been seventy-nine hours since he last slept.

But he refuses to sleep.

Everytime he did, a dream awaited him.

A vivid, abstract trip. All vivid, except for the red-haired girl.

He could never see her face, and everytime he woke up from it, he would feel like his life was meaningless.

Quite an extreme jump in one night. He always felt like he would feel emotions that are not exactly his. Like, what causes so much grief and sadness in his heart, his whole life?

Because as far as he knew, he had never encountered anything significant.

Maybe that’s why he felt sad. He has never encountered anything significant, or related to this dream that haunts him.

He began to feel himself doze off again when he suddenly heard a knock, and glanced to the door.

It opened to reveal four shadows slipping in, before they drew closer.

“…Who are you?” Kyle asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Hmm…” the man leading them was surprisingly young, narrowing his eyes at him. “You haven’t slept for seventy hours, give or take. I don’t want to be having to deal with stress that puts on your body,” he ominously spoke.

“What- who the hell?” Kyle tried to scurry back but there was only a wall.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. I’ll see you in twelve hours,” the young man smiled menacingly and reached forward, forcefully grabbing Kyle’s temple.

He tried to struggle at first, completely blind, but from some sort of mysterious magic, he felt his body begin to lose its strength and his senses dull away.

Did he just fall asleep?

Kyle waited in the dark with anxiousness, when the world suddenly lit up around him.

He had never seen his dream this vastly before, as he gazed at his surroundings.

The sun was just almost beyond the horizon, casting it’s benevolent light across the land as it set.

Standing atop a green paddock, Kyle took in a wooden cabin fenced off close by.

And then he heard a whoosh, and turned back around to see the same girl floating before him.

As always, her face was still unclear, but her smile sucked him in.

He could never place it, but seeing her made his heart hurt horribly.

He would just wake up again, leaving this fantasy and being plopped back into the real world.

Nothing but torture.

The world faded away, back into darkness until Kyle’s eyes slowly plopped open, and with a yawn, he reached up to begin rubbing his eyes.

“Right on time,” a familiar voice snarkily said, and Kyle turned to see the four strangers still standing in his room.

Kyle’s eyes slowly wandered to the clock with a sharp, narrowed glare.

“Good, so firstly, we’re not here to hurt you,” the blonde-man said to him straightforwardly, pulling the nearby desk chair over and sitting down.

“You guys just keep vigilant nearby,” the man nodded to them, and two of them saw themselves out of the room, with one stepping closer to the window on the wall.

“What do you want?” Kyle sullenly asked, glaring firmly at his lap.

“Hmm,” the man raised an eyebrow as he closely examined Kyle, before a grin spread across his face.

“Dear me, that seal is really something, but it’s already significantly weakened after your sleep,” he said aloud.

“You don’t see any traces or threads?” the other darker-haired young man answered, gazing distantly out the window.

“Aside from the dream, I have no idea how we can go about this,” the blonde sighed.

“I have a theory,” his comrade spun around, and approached closer.

“You. Who do you love?” he suddenly asked Kyle, who raised an eyebrow at him in confusion.

“What? What sort of fucking question…?” his voice trailed off into bewilderment.

“Argh. I mean,” the young tall man scratched his head for a second. “There is a woman out there who has your heart. Describe her to me,” he elaborated.

“What…?” Kyle sat forward, intrigued. “Who the hell are you guys and why are you asking me something like that?”

“It doesn’t matter who we are, answer the question,” the blonde said lowly.

“Okay…? Well, I don’t really have anyone like that. I don’t even have friends,” Kyle responded, looking down at his lap.

“You do. Deep down. And you know something about her. Anything. Anything works,” the lankier man assured Kyle.

Embarrassed, Kyle looked away with a pout.

“R-red hair… she has red hair,” he uttered.

“That one is…” the lankier man looked to the blonde, who sat forward with a grin.

“I like your thinking, Taylor.”

“What are you going to do with this information, Taylor?” Kyle asked with a squinted gaze.

“How do we get them to meet?” he asked, looking to his friend.

“Wait. You guys know who I’m talking about?” Kyle asked, leaning forward.

“Oh yeah,” the blonde nodded. “We know fully-well who you’re talking about. As for how to meet… heh, timeshift.” The blonde clicked his fingers, leaving only silence ring out in the room.

Kyle remained quiet, as did the other two, and for a moment, only the ticking of the clock could be heard, before Kyle finally broke out.

“What was that? Are you guys scammers? Timeshift?” he repeated dumbfoundedly. “How did you even get in here?”

“Huh… it should be any second now-” the blonde frowned when they suddenly heard a knock at the door.

“Come in,” the blonde cleared his throat and called, and the door slid open to allow a red-haired girl wearing the staff uniform to push a tray in.

“Hello? Sorry for disturbing, I’m here for routine check-up?” she looked to the blonde man, then to the lanky man, and then to Kyle, before she gasped at seeing him, and stumbled a step backward.

“Whoa. In the flesh,” Taylor remarked.

“You… can’t be…” she gasped, looking dead into Kyle’s eyes.

He also felt the moment his eyes locked onto her sky blues’, something rushed forward inside him.

“How… is this… happening?” Kyle asked, pushing himself from the bed, and approaching the girl, reaching forward.

She also instinctively responded, and their fingertips almost touched when suddenly Taylor jumped in between them, stopping them from coming into contact.

“Whoa, hold on now. Not the best place, haha,” he wryly laughed. “So, Kyle meet Rachel, and Rachel meet Kyle,” he said.

“Hmm…” the blonde hummed, gazing into nothing but space. “Taylor, come here and have a look at this,” and Taylor joined him, closely examining nothing as well.

“ I can see a correlation here. This X-factor here is most likely to do with the Mana… If this is the case then… we round up all six?” Taylor asked.

“We round them up and deliver them to the medium. Levi’s journal spoke of it. Either way, find the ritual circle or the palace. We’re headed back to Africa. Go get the other two, we’ll move separately to save time. Go find the rest,” the blonde rose to his feet and turned to face Kyle as his friend disappeared out the door.

“You two will be coming with me,” the blonde reached forward and took hold of both of their arms, and Kyle suddenly felt his stomach lurch as the world blurred in front of him.

By the time his vision returned, he found himself on his feet standing somewhere completely different.

Beach-side, near a villa.

“This way,” the man spoke as he lead them toward the wooden porch. The girl looked at Kyle with worry, before she began to follow him.

“Firstly, my name is Jason. I’m only telling you for convenience's sake, okay? Ideally, I’d like to not get involved as much as I can. Secondly, Magic exists in this world,” Jason said with a raised finger. “Thirdly,” he raised another finger. “This Universe is about to die. And fourthly, you two are the key to saving the Universe. You are not human, but reincarnated beings of divinity and supreme power. There, I think that’s about enough,” Jason sighed.

“What?” Rachel uttered in utter confusion.

“That’s… what?” Kyle repeated as well.

“I’m just telling you so you know. Now, get inside the villa. Everything here is autonomous, it can provide you with whatever you need. I’ll be back in a day or two, maybe less, maybe more. Just stay here and relax until then,” Jason flicked his hand and a golden circle appeared in the air briefly.

“Whoa… seriously? Magic?” Kyle regarded it.

“Do you find it interesting? This is your power. A mere fraction, that is,” Jason spoke.

“Right…” Kyle blinked. “But I can’t do that,” he responded.

“Haha, not yet. Anyhow, enjoy yourselves, you two,” and as quick as the wind, Jason disappeared in a flash, leaving Kyle standing alone with Rachel.

As Rachel quietly ascended the steps, Kyle took a moment to scan around him.

It was incredible. The endless sea, span of mountains and trees behind them went on far beyond what his eyes could perceive.

Could this place be a completely remote, uninhabited island? Well, uninhabited, save for this single villa.

What was surprising was that the instantaneous teleportation didn’t phase him. Nor did the magic Jason used earlier. Instead, at the forefront of his mind was the girl. Her name was Rachel.

Kyle, taking a deep breath, followed after her shadow up the steps and to the door.

She reached out to open it, but stopped for a moment, and turned to look at him instead.

“Have we met before?” she asked him.

Kyle remained quiet for a moment before he answered.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

Her gaze remained on his before she looked away, back into the villa.

“I read your file. Too bad it didn’t have your picture on it. I was meant to be assigned to you as your nurse. How funny. It said you often refuse to sleep because of hallucinogenic dreams. It never clicked to me it was the same thing I experienced…” she softly spoke.

“You have dreams as well?” he asked her hesitantly.

“Mmhmm,” she hummed, closing her eyes and picturing the serene scene. “Dreams of a beautiful forest, meadows, a large lake… and always, a man I don’t recognise. Except I do. Yet I don’t.” She clutched her hand to her chest tightly. “This thing that I’ve kept so close to me, a secret tied to my own life almost… I’ve never spoken out of my lips before.” She looked at him again. “But it’s okay for me to tell you. Because we share the same secret.”

She pushed through the door, quickly scuttling off into the building, forcing Kyle to speed up to keep up with her as she began to tour the interior.

“Wait, hold on. If you have the same dreams… how come you… you know, I was in that psycho-ward ‘cause I couldn’t lead a normal life. That dream made waking up, it made reality… horrific. How come you were fine? Even able to become a nurse?” Kyle asked.

“Well… I cut my heart off, I guess,” Rachel shrugged, taking a seat at one of the sofas, looking out across the waters. “When I was in my teenage years, and was still learning to live with seeing this dream every time I slept, I… I had a bit of an incident with some of my peers. I ended up really isolated. I was really confused about who the person was in my dreams. It drove me to desperation, and I ended up making some mistakes. From that moment onward, I gave up expectation on everything. Whatever happened in reality didn’t matter to me anymore. I would just savour the dream each night. I was fine with it. Fine with this little world I could run home to every night. I never thought it would turn out real…” she wryly chuckled.

For a moment, Kyle remained silent, standing still before her, until he sighed.

“I guess… both of these dreams took away our ability to lead a normal life,” he shrugged, taking a seat nearby.

“I’m concerned about what those guys said,” he spoke with a grunt after a few idle seconds of silence passed by.

“About us being supreme beings or something?” Rachel tilted her head to the side. “I don’t quite buy it. Just because we see this weird dream means we’re gods or something? I don’t know how it works but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t work like that.”

“Mmm. We can only wait, I guess,” Kyle leaned back.

“Yeah…” Rachel hummed, turning away with her back facing him. “Those weird Magic users, they somehow made us meet completely through coincidences, by the looks. All this time I was living my life, I thought I was at least walking in the direction I chose for myself. Nursing was meant to be the first step into other things. Somehow, I ended up being assigned to you so I would be entering that room at that exact moment that day,” she said.

“Speaking of that, Jason also said something weird. It was ‘time shift’, or something. He clicked his fingers and suddenly you appeared, like magic.”

“Like magic,” Rachel agreed, reaching up and tucking her hair behind her ears. “About the dream… what do you think it means? I’m assuming you see me in yours,” she shyly asked.

“I…” Kyle took a deep breath. “I felt like reality lost meaning in the face of my dreams. In order not to fall into pure nhilihism, I would try to stay awake. Because every time I saw your shadow, and woke up in a world without you… I can’t explain it. My heart shatters like glass,” he admitted with a red face.

Rachel remained silent for a while.

“I also feel like I’m drawn to you,” she softly admitted.

Kyle stared up at the ceiling, cooling his head down with calm thought.

“Whatever we are, we’re clearly involved in something. I hope those guys don’t do anything bad to us.”

A day passed, allowing Kyle and Rachel to settle down in the villa, and with each other, much more comfortably.

The Magic was true. Whatever they wanted, it would simply appear out of thin air.

Food, drink, furniture, anything.

It was another sunny day overhead, beating down on the waves.

The ball of infernal sat directly above in the centre of the sky, being noon.

Rachel laid in a bikini under a parasoul, sun-bathing alone, gazing absently out across the light blue ocean waves with her emerald eyes.

Kyle was off exploring parts of the island, and testing if there were any magical boundaries set up, yet to return.

She gave a sigh. Maybe he was off having fun, but suddenly for some reason, left all alone now, she felt like all the vitality had left her soul.

Could it be she missed him? She wondered with a sigh.

Only a few hours had passed, but she felt overwhelmed with boredom.

She had expected it to be like this the whole time at first, but unexpectedly, with Kyle around to talk to, she was actually enjoying herself.

For the first time in a long time.

As Rachel laid on the beach-bench, there was a sudden flash of light off to the side, and the sound of some magical whooshing.

Squinting, Rachel sat up and turned, to see what was going on.

Four figures stood on the sand closeby.

Taking a breath, Rachel rose to her feet and began to approach them, drawing closer to see out of them, only the tall, lean young man she recognised. The one named Taylor.

Standing beside him was a girl with twin blonde-tails, and on the other side were two casually dressed strangers she didn’t recognise either.

“You look like you’re living quite cozily,” Taylor remarked as Rachel drew closer.

She silently nodded before looking down at her bikini, and willed a bathrobe to appear over her shoulders.

In accordance with her thoughts, a luxurious, silken red gown morphed out of nothing, covering her up.

“These three are?” Rachel curiously looked at the others.

“I’m Diana! Hehe~,” the blonde girl cheerfully jumped in. “You must be Rachel right? Wow, your long red hair is so pretty,” she clapped her hands together at the sight of Rachel’s long crimson hair.

“Diana,” Taylor groaned in frustration, before he sighed. “We’re not here to get along with them or make friends.”

“But I want to. I believe in what you said about them,” she turned to him with a sweet smile. “I believe in the power of compassion and love! May love come and dispel away all of our nightmares and suffering! You don’t get it, Taylor,” Diana clicked her tongue. “These guys are our golden eggs. They’re our benefactors. You remember what Jason said, right?” she raised a menacing eyebrow at Taylor, who uncomfortably averted his eyes away.

“Man, I could never win against you anyways. Fine then, do what you want,” he gave in. “I’m gonna go find Andrew and Jason-” in the middle of Taylor’s sentence, there was another whoosh and another four people appeared out of thin air.

“No need,” Jason’s voice responded.

“You guys were quick,” Diana remarked. “Now we’re all here! Yay!”

“These people all are…” Rachel looked over at the other pair. Three pairs of two.

What was so special about them?

“You should all introduce yourselves to one another. Where’s Kyle?” Jason asked, looking around.

“He went to explore the island,” Rachel responded.

“Eh? You guys weren’t staying that long though?” Jason turned to face the island and clicked his fingers.

For a moment, nothing happened, until they heard a shouting from afar, and a black speck appear in the sky, growing larger and larger until Kyle hit the sand, throwing a cloud up.

It quickly settled, revealing that he was perfectly fine, and he quickly sprung to his feet.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Jason,” he sighed, slapping sand off his calves.

“Sorry. Couldn’t be bothered scouring the island for you. Hope you don’t mind,” Jason answered with a chuckle.

“Well, whatever, I guess,” Kyle turned to eye the other pairs. “I didn’t know there were more of us. Whatever we are,” he narrowed his eyes at Jason.

“You’re quite the sharp one,” Jason remarked.

“Jason, now that we have all six of them together, we should test to see if they retain their human memories or not,” Taylor turned to Jason to say.

“What?” Some of them turned in horror.

“No need. I already know that they do,” Jason responded. “So, we’ll give you a night in this villa to settle down. In that time, get familiar with one another. We’ll be back in the morning to depart straight away,” Jason said sternly, turning around.

“Let’s go,” he said and along with Diana, Taylor and the man named Andrew, the four disappeared, leaving Rachel and Kyle with the four newcomers.