Huff… Huff…!
Heavy, broken breathing echoed in rhythm and erratic with each pounding footsteps.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud…
A boy's figure bolted down a narrow, pitch-dark corridor,
panic gripping every inch of his movement.
One hand clutched at the hem of his shirt, while the other slapped desperately against the wall — searching, scrambling for an exit.
His heart pounded loudly — like it going to burst out from his own chest.
Sweat streamed down his face, blurring his vision.
And then—
A sound of something whispered,
close to his ear.
Soft… faint… but chillingly clear.
Yet the words were incomprehensible.
"...@|%(&-+#฿}}..."
"AaaAARGHH!!"
He collapsed to the ground.
Both hands flew up to cover his ears, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
His heartbeat pounding on — relentless.
"Who's there!?"
"…I… ++฿!!)@{{@฿#%..."
The voice answered, but it wasn't in any language.
It didn't come from anywhere around him.
It echoed from within.
From deep inside his skull.
It resonated in a way that felt both horribly near and impossibly distant all at once.
"Stop it!!"
His scream tore through the darkness.
The whispers continue.
"AaaaARGHH!! Just stop already…!"
He pushed himself up and kept running through the pitch-black corridor — but with each step forward, something changed.
The surfaces beneath his feet and the air around him — everything was shifting, little by little.
It was still dark and blur.
His eyes fixed on the ground.
But the ground… From metal...
First, it was turned to cold stone.
Then… creaking, rotting wood.
And next — soft, shifting sand beneath his feet.
Fwip…
A single grain of sand brushed against his cheek.
Ffff… ffffsssshhh… FOOM.
He continues on running, tried to kept himself on his toes.
His face — blurry, indistinct in the dream — twisted in confusion and fear.
The grains of sand followed him, catching the wind, spiraling around his path.
Then, a sandstorm hit.
Fierce –
Sudden...
He turned his face away instinctively, shielding his face —
And when he looked up again…
The hallway was gone.
Before him now stretched an endless desert.
Vast.
Desolate.
Unfathomably wide — as if the darkness of the world had opened its mouth to swallow him whole.
The wind howled.
Sand scoured his skin and stung his eyes.
The sky above turned a dull, burning orange.
Dust thickened the air, making it nearly impossible to see.
The sands didn't lie calm.
They raged.
Like the desert itself was screaming — howling in every direction and furious.
A strange, twisted crystal — dull-colored and malformed — burst forth from the barren desert.
It jutted out from the sand like a grotesque parasite clawing its way up after centuries of slumber.
Then another… and another.
A countless swarm of them emerged,
rising from the depths below,
as if the earth itself was infested —
choked by madness, spitting up its own nightmares.
And as the storm intensified —
the sky screamed.
CAWWW—!!
The shrieks of a thousand vultures pierced the burning orange sky.
They circled.
Spiraling upward like a dark halo above the boy's head.
whispers…
"T&_he!y ∆re w@tc##ng y¢u…"
He stood frozen.
Right in the heart of the desert.
His face unclear, half-lost in the dream's blur.
Confusion and fear swirled within his chest — but so did something else…
An unnatural pull.
A trance.
Something was crawling under his skin —
pulling his limbs into stillness.
Like the Time itself had frozen in that moment.
The world itself seemed frozen, wrapped in a suffocating cold that made the air around him feel brittle.
He tried to speak.
His mouth wouldn't move.
His blurred lips parted — but no sound came out.
His face blurred further, as if the dream no longer remembered what he looked like.
The whisper returned: the sounds that were once non-language gradually became more and more words, but they still could not be understood clearly.
"The $&(!_$... $uff&rs end/es#ly…"
Suddenly—
A cry.
A terrible, gut-wrenching scream echoed from all directions at once —
A howl of pain so distorted, it was impossible to tell: Where it came from.
The sky trembled with its agony.
The ground pulsed.
And the crystals… kept growing.
Followed by the growl —
the growl of a massive machine echoed across the sky and underground —
the harsh grinding of metal gears turning and moving...
Grrkk— Grkrrrk—
…layered with the screech of rust scraping against rust,
a sickening sound like something unknown was screaming from deep inside its own throat.
The countless dull-hued crystals jutting from the sand began to glow.
Not beautiful — but uncanny.
Their strange, shifting lights shimmered in colors that defied the eye,
sending chills across the skin,
so intense it made the body twitch —
a revulsion that nearly turned to nausea.
Then, the crying returned.
Faint.
Crooked.
Broken, like an old tape sputtering in a half-dead machine —
"...hhhk... h-hhhh..."
The boy, who had been frozen… finally moved.
One step, With each.
Then another.
Unaware, unresisting —
his legs walked forward,
as if lured by a mirage.
Tears began sliding down the featureless blur of his face —
dropping, one by one, onto the desert floor.
Each drop wet the sand,
making little clumps with no meaning, no reason…
Only confusion.
Above him,
the sky remained that dull gray-orange,
as if the entire world had fallen under a blanket of sorrow.
Then…
the whisper returned.
Soft.
But sharp — than before
clear through the haze:
"Đ0n't… )(]#% EnS3ri@… n0… ][฿|=%+& tRů$t… dOn't… lies##… ?!@| ¢an't…"
_______________________________
Fwoomp!
Hahh… hahh… hahh…
Gaia shot upright in his bed, eyes wide in panic as if he had seen a ghost.
Sweat poured down his face, his body trembling slightly.
His heart pounded in his chest — erratic and loud —
as he clutched at it tightly,
desperately trying to calm himself.
Jolt.
A chill ran down his spine as he felt a finger poke him in the side.
"Yo. You awake?"
A familiar voice came from beside him.
Gaia snapped his head to the side —
and saw Rain standing there, right next to his bed.
his face calm,
with just a tiny smirk curling at the edge of his lips.
Gaia let out a long, shuddering sigh...
and slowly exhaled in relief.
"Yeah ..." he replied softly, rubbing his face with both hands.
Looking around,
It was the dorm chamber—
still bustling with voices and movement, all students going about their morning routines as usual.
With a quiet exhale, Gaia let his head fall back onto the pillow in relief.
That was just a nightmare...