04 | A Dream? [I]

―-

Wha . . .

What happened?

Where am I?

My mind was a mixture of confusion and unfamiliarity.

I recalled something hitting my head, but I didn't remember anything after.

It was . . . All too confusing . . .

Aha! I remember.

With something akin to an epiphany, I remembered what had transpired.

The mission. The missing people. The zombie-like monstrosities. And then . . . Me being owned because of my foolhardiness.

Doryu was right, and deep down, I knew it. Maybe that was why I'd lashed out at him . . .

I sighed, rubbing my temples as I forced myself to stand up. It was strangely easy as if my body wasn't there anymore and I was nothing but the floating wind.

Just as my eyes opened, I stiffened.

Eh-what?

I struggled to form any coherent thoughts.

Where am I?

I gawked around like a country bumpkin; I wasn't inside the dark cave anymore, not even close to it.

A tall hall stood afront, so tall that I couldn't even see the end of it. Candles lined both side walls of the hall, shimmering with an ethereal amethyst glow.

The chandeliers were breathtaking, so clean.

I noticed something inside the chandeliers. Little specks of dust, glittering. They cast an amethyst glow.

Beyond the chandeliers was nothing, a void.

Darkness.

I felt so small in comparison. Even the candles appeared to be bigger than my whole body. Not to mention the hall itself. Just the mere size of it struck me dumb.

I'm dreaming . . . Right?

I was inside a freaking damp dark cave with disgusting monstrosities roaming around just a while ago, And this place was even cleaner than a noble's house!

There was just no way that this was not a dream. This had to be a dream.

I sucked in a sharp breath and gazed deeper into the hall, and squinted my eyes, trying to discern what was at the end of it.

I wasn't sure where I was, and my mind was in utter confusion.

Everything appeared to be just like a dream.

Especially since I'd been knocked out cold by something hitting my head.

As I walked forth, the sheer emptiness of the hall made me cringe.

Sure, I liked it.

But, the magnificent hall seemed a bit too empty, especially when there wasn't anything in between the walls. Sure there were some 'things' on the walls—like the painting of a white-haired, brown-skinned hot woman who seemed awfully familiar, which was creepy by the way as I'd never met her—but there was nothing on the floor.

As I was gawking around, my vision blurred and I stumbled, nauseousness taking hold of my senses.

My surroundings shifting and wobbling, I found myself standing in front of the largest throne I'd ever seen in my entire life.

My stomach churned, and I gagged. Strangely, nothing came out of my mouth.

There was a mask on the lower side of the throne: a black mask with carvings of white feathers decorating its surface.

As I looked above, the magnificent throne seemed too big. My gaze stopped on someone sitting on the throne.

The throne was probably over eight meters wide and faded in the void above. The young man sitting atop the throne sent chills through my entire being and my head lowered instinctively.

I couldn't even see his face, but I did catch a glimpse of his bright red hair, which seemed to glow on its own. But I didn't see how long his hair was.

The young man looked a bit comical—he was far too small for his throne.

I stared at his chest—for some reason, my eyes weren't listening to me, and I couldn't see his face even when wanted to.

Seconds passed but not even his clothes move, he was as motionless as a mountain.

I gazed around, a bit awkwardly—I mean, the f*cker wasn't even saying anything. If it wasn't for his chest heaving slightly, I'd have assumed him to be a statue.

Shifting in my place uncomfortably, I opened my mouth.

"Um, Hello?" I said softly, but strangely enough, my voice traveled across the large hall and resounded for a while.

There wasn't even an ounce of reaction from him.

Maybe he didn't hear me?

But, my voice was loud enough . . .

Oh . . .

Why was I even thinking about it? He wouldn't react, of course. This was a dream, after all.

Yes. This was obviously a drea-

An ear-piercing boom resounded, and I clenched my ears.

It was painful.

I felt something wet touch my hands. Was it blood?

I didn't know; I didn't have time as I was sent hurtling back more than a hundred meters. Luckily, I wasn't injured—which was strange.

"Every time," The man whispered.

"Every damn f*cking time!" He bellowed, his voice lacing with anger, restlessness, desperation, and a bit of madness . . .

Wait a minute. How could I read his emotions just from his voice? Strange, just like the fact that I was, somehow, not scared sh*tless and was somewhat calm. Strange as well.

"Every damn time!" The young man repeated.

"Calm down master Kismet, everything is fine. Nothing is wrong. You're eventually going to get what you desire." A monotonous voice resounded. Looking around, my gaze halted on a man. He seemed to lack any facial features. He was patting Kismet's shoulder, soothing him (?)

"Every time I construct one of you, you always think that it's a dream!"

I looked up at the young man—for some reason, I could see him now.

He was . . . Beautiful. That's the only word to describe his appearance. He was just too beautiful. I felt weird, even though I'm a man—no homo by the way.

"This is so boring, right? Mark?" Kismet blared, annoyance lacing his tone.

"How about, only for once, one of you guys just walk forward? And talk like a sane person? Just once??" Kismet asked, more like, said.

"Every time, you do the same f*cking thing!" Kismet shouted. He seemed to be having difficulty breathing—like he was an asthma patient . . . Ugh, is this the time for a new term to pop up? Huh??

Another loud explosion rang out, but this time, I managed to remain on foot.

I saw what was the cause behind the explosion. It was the young man: he lifted his leg and slammed his foot on the throne.

"And then you always say the same f*cking words! You always say 'um, Hello?' Can't you say something else for a change??" Kismet glared at me like I'd committed some type of crime—swear enough for execution.

"Like, 'Good afternoon' 'excuse me'!" Kismet slammed his hands on the throne's armrests, he seemed to be a man-child as he was whining.

The throne shook and then slumped onto the floor, but what was even more ridiculous was Kismet himself.

I mean, just imagine a man in his early twenties, whose beauty could surpass any girl you've ever seen, whining like a toddler . . .

Yes. This is definitely a dream. Period.

Suddenly, with a resounding whipping sound, I found myself being hoisted off the ground and then in front of Kismet.

"What did you just think? I dare you to repeat!" He growled, his eyes narrowing.

I stiffened, not daring to move a single muscle.

My mouth opened on its own—as if it wasn't in my control.

"I thought that you're beautiful than any other girl I've seen," I said. "Which is weird since you're a man and I'm definitely straight." I clarified.

Kismet stared at me for a moment, then, he cleared his throat.

"Well, that's new. But that's not what I meant. I mean what you thought after it." He said. "Thank you for the compliment, by the way." He added.

Is telling a man that he's beautiful, considered a compliment?

I thought, scratching my cheek before I found myself speaking again, without wanting to.

"Oh, I thought that this is definitely a dream"

"Ho," Kismet exclaimed and smiled as though he'd found a new toy after breaking the previous one.

"What made you think this is a dream?" he asked, amused.

This was the first time I saw something different from his fiery red eyes. But even that was weird.

Why could I even understand or comprehend his emotions? How could I read them?

"This hall is big. Too big" My lips moved on their own. "And that weird wobbly feeling earlier. Just before I met you."

He squinted his eyes.

"Oh, that." He slammed his hand lightly on the throne's armrest again, as though he'd realized something.

"That was just me teleporting you near me. Nothing much." He said, low-key bragging. "And this place is big because I made it big. I like it big, you know." He said, enthusiastically.

Noticing the weird look I was giving him, he cleared his throat. "Not in the weird sense. I'm straight. Thank you very much."

I cocked my eyebrow.

"Teleportation? Made it big? Are you, what, a God or something? Things this big aren't easy to make, if possible to make at all." I asked, suspiciously.

He smirked and raised his hand.

He did nothing too special: he just snapped his finger. The action was anything but special, but what happened afterward was. The whole place started breaking apart.

Piece by piece, the blocks, the crystals, the bricks, the glasses.

Everything broke apart, then restructured into something even bigger.

If before, I could see the side walls of the hall, now they were way out of my sight, and the throne, it was even bigger.

"wh-what?!" I blurted, dumbfounded at the whole situation.

Even more surprising was the fact that he used two sparks, If what he said was correct, he had a teleportation spark, but he reconstructed the whole hall too.

Did he have two sparks??

"I have countless sparks," Kismet whispered in my left ear.

I bolted, turning around to see him, but he wasn't there. He was still sitting on his throne with a smug smirk on his face.

This, this was just ridiculous. Not possible.

"Definitely a dream . . . " I muttered in disbelief. Countless sparks? Pffft! You can only have one! And even that, isn't your own choice!

Suddenly, the hall stopped shifting, and everything returned to normal—my normal.

I couldn't help but knit my brows, something was amiss, I just knew it. And if the bulging veins on Kismet's forehead were of any indication, something was going to happen.

"Alright," he muttered, but his voice boomed around. "You, of all people, shouldn't believe that a person can only have one spark. Heck, even you have two." Noticing my surprised expression, he cocked his eyebrow. "What? Did you think that you'd be able to hide it forever? Or did you believe that only you had multiple sparks?" He stated, his eyes shimmering a dangerous fiery red hue.

"Titan is far bigger than you think kid."

I wanted to say something, anything. But before I could even part my lips, everything quietened down.

My vision spinning, It was as if time had slowed down, I saw my headless figure one moment, and the next moment, it was torn into countless shreds.

With a resounding thud, my head rolled on the ground, before everything went blank.

***

My eyes shot open, sweat dripping down every pore of my body.

My body convulsed, falling to the ground.

Feeling the sudden sensation of overwhelming pain, I clenched my head tightly.

"AAAAARGHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. For some reason, an unimaginable amount of pain coursed through my body. even though I'd trained myself to be strong in front of pain, this felt different than any type of pain I'd felt.

"See!" Kismet's cheerful voice resounded.

"This is re- " he continued, but his voice got cut off because of my screams.

"Aaaaarghh!"

"This is-"

"WHAAAA!"

"Shut UP!" Kismet shouted. I stiffened, my pain vanishing as if It had never existed. My lips shut on themselves.

"You're fine." He grumbled.

Hearing the tipping sound of footsteps, I forced my eyes up, staring at Kismet's walking figure. Stopping before me, he squatted down, pulling me up with my hair.

"Now, let's get down to business, shall we?" He whispered eagerly, a smile evident on his face.

**

**

**