Chapter 103: The Dream Entity
The classroom shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The blackboard continued glowing.
DILLAN.
SASHA.
AURELIA.
DANA.
Below the names...
ONLY THREE CAN LEAVE.
Dillan stared at the words.
Then slowly shook his head.
"...No."
The child’s voice giggled.
"You said that last time too."
Everything stopped.
Aurelia’s face turned pale.
Sasha looked toward Dillan.
"...Last time?"
Dillan frowned.
"What is it talking about?"
The classroom lights flickered.
For one brief second...
The room changed.
A hospital.
Smoke.
Fire.
Seven figures standing around three crying children.
Then...
The classroom returned.
Aurelia grabbed her head.
"...Stop..."
The child’s voice whispered.
"You chose before."
Dillan’s eyes narrowed.
"...I was eight."
"Yes."
"...I didn’t understand."
"And yet you chose."
The walls groaned.
A deep crack appeared across the floor.
Dana looked at Dillan.
"...This is about Aurelia."
"No."
Lyra’s voice suddenly echoed through the room.
Everyone froze.
Her voice wasn’t physically there.
It came through the Gate.
"Don’t listen to it!"
Dillan looked around.
"Lyra?!"
The Gate trembled violently.
Her voice broke through again.
"It’s manipulating the trial!"
Dana stepped closer.
"What do we do?"
"The Fifth Lock is not supposed to demand a sacrifice."
Dillan’s expression hardened.
"...What?"
Silence.
Then Lyra spoke again.
"It demands a decision."
The child’s laughter stopped.
For the first time...
The voice sounded angry.
"SILENCE."
The classroom exploded with sound.
BOOOOOOM!
Everyone was thrown backward.
Dillan hit the floor hard.
His vision blurred.
Then...
The System appeared.
[WARNING.]
[EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED.]
[FIFTH LOCK CORRUPTED.]
"...Corrupted?"
Dana whispered.
The System changed.
[ORIGINAL TRIAL: UNAVAILABLE.]
[CURRENT TRIAL: REWRITTEN.]
[ENTITY RESPONSIBLE: UNKNOWN.]
Sasha slowly stood.
Her face had become frighteningly calm.
"...Someone changed it."
Aurelia looked toward the ceiling.
"...The Seats."
Dillan turned.
"You think they’re behind this?"
Aurelia shook her head.
"...No."
Her eyes narrowed.
"...They would never be this direct."
The child’s voice returned.
This time...
It no longer sounded playful.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED FORGOTTEN."
Aurelia froze.
The classroom walls became covered in writing.
Thousands of sentences.
All repeating the same thing.
FORGOTTEN.
FORGOTTEN.
FORGOTTEN.
FORGOTTEN.
Aurelia backed away.
"No..."
Sasha immediately moved toward her.
"Aurelia!"
The writing began crawling across the floor.
Toward them.
Like living ink.
Dana raised her weapon.
"What the hell is that?"
Dillan stepped in front of them.
"...Everyone behind me."
The darkness stopped.
The child’s voice whispered:
"Choose."
Dillan clenched his fists.
"...No."
"Choose."
"...No."
"CHOOSE."
The floor split apart.
A massive black void opened beneath the classroom.
Dana slipped.
"DILLAN!"
He grabbed her wrist.
Dana dangled above the darkness.
Sasha grabbed Dillan’s arm.
Aurelia grabbed Sasha.
The four of them formed a chain.
The void pulled harder.
Dillan’s arm screamed with pain.
Dana looked up at him.
"...Let me go."
"No."
"Dillan!"
"I said no!"
The child’s voice laughed.
"There it is."
Dillan glared into the darkness.
"The same choice."
"...What do you mean?"
"The boy who wanted everyone."
The pull became stronger.
"But could only save three."
A memory flashed.
Young Dillan.
Crying.
Holding Sasha’s hand.
Holding Aurelia’s.
A fourth child was somewhere behind him.
A silhouette.
Reaching toward them.
Then...
The memory vanished.
Dillan’s eyes widened.
"...There was a fourth."
Aurelia stared at him.
Her grip weakened.
"...Don’t."
Dillan looked toward her.
"...Who was it?"
Aurelia’s expression became terrified.
"...Don’t remember."
Sasha’s eyes narrowed.
"You know."
Aurelia shook her head.
"I..."
Her voice cracked.
"...I don’t know."
The System suddenly appeared again.
[FIFTH LOCK RESPONSE DETECTED.]
[MEMORY SUPPRESSION WEAKENING.]
The darkness below them moved.
Something enormous shifted within it.
Dana stared downward.
"...Guys..."
Nobody answered.
Her voice trembled.
"...There’s something down there."
Two enormous eyes opened inside the void.
Not golden.
Not silver.
Crimson.
Dillan felt Sasha freeze.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
He looked toward her.
Her face had gone white.
"...Sasha?"
She wasn’t looking at him.
She was staring into the darkness.
"...No..."
Her voice barely existed.
"...It found us."
Dillan frowned.
"What found us?"
Sasha’s breathing became uneven.
The crimson eyes blinked.
Then...
A woman’s voice echoed from the void.
Soft.
Loving.
Terrifyingly familiar.
"Dillan..."
His blood turned cold.
He had heard that voice before.
Countless times.
Inside his dreams.
A woman laughing.
Holding him.
Killing him.
Kissing his forehead while blood covered her hands.
"I told you..."
The darkness reached upward.
A pale hand emerged.
"...you can never escape me."
Dillan’s heart stopped.
Sasha screamed.
And the classroom shattered.
The classroom shattered.
But nobody fell.
For one impossible moment...
Dillan floated in darkness.
No floor.
No walls.
No sound.
Only...
Breathing.
Slow.
Gentle.
Directly behind him.
Dillan didn’t turn around.
He already knew.
The System exploded across his vision.
[WARNING!!]
[ONEIRIC MALFORMATION DETECTED.]
[HOST HAS ENTERED AN INTENSE DREAM STATE.]
[DANGER LEVEL: CRITICAL.]
Another notification appeared.
Larger.
Red letters shaking violently.
[ONEIRIC MALFORMATION: HOST IS IN HYPER STATE NOW.]
[WAKE UP!! DILLAN!]
"...I’m awake."
His voice echoed into the darkness.
The breathing continued.
"...I’m awake."
A woman’s laughter answered him.
Soft.
Beautiful.
Wrong.
"Are you?"
Dillan slowly turned around.
She stood there.
Several meters away.
Her face remained hidden beneath long dark hair.
A white dress covered her body.
Bare feet rested against nothing.
Yet she stood perfectly still.
Waiting.
Watching.
Dillan’s heart began pounding.
"...Who are you?"
The woman tilted her head.
"You always ask me that."
Dillan froze.
She took one step closer.
"Even after everything..."
Another.
"...you still pretend you don’t know."
Her hair moved.
Just slightly.
Dillan caught a glimpse of glowing eyes.
Crimson.
His breathing stopped.
"Sasha..."
The woman smiled.
But she didn’t answer.
A voice suddenly echoed through the darkness.
"DILLAN!"
Dana.
He spun around.
"Dana?!"
Nothing.
Then Sasha.
"Dillan!"
He turned again.
Nothing.
Then Aurelia.
"Don’t listen to her!"
The darkness rippled.
Dillan clenched his fists.
"...Where are they?"
The woman continued walking toward him.
"Far away."
"...What did you do?"
"Nothing."
She smiled.
"Yet."
The darkness changed.
Suddenly...
Dillan stood inside his apartment.
Morning sunlight entered through the curtains.
Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
The notebook sat on the table.
The pocket watch beside it.
His phone began ringing.
He looked at the screen.
SASHA CALLING.
Dillan hesitated.
The phone continued ringing.
Finally...
He answered.
"...Hello?"
Silence.
Then Sasha’s voice whispered:
"...Don’t trust her."
Dillan froze.
"...Who?"
The call ended.
Immediately...
Someone knocked at the apartment door.
Three knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Dillan slowly approached.
His instincts screamed at him not to open it.
The System appeared.
[WAKE UP!!]
He grabbed the handle.
Opened the door.
Sasha stood outside.
Her clothes were soaked with blood.
Not injured.
Just...
Covered in it.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes wide.
"Dillan."
He stepped backward.
"Sasha?"
She grabbed his wrist.
"Don’t let her see you."
"...Who?"
Sasha’s grip tightened.
"Me."
Dillan stared.
Before he could answer...
Her face changed.
Her smile widened unnaturally.
Crimson light filled her eyes.
"There you are."
Dillan ripped his hand away.
The apartment vanished.
He was back inside the darkness.
The woman stood closer now.
Only a few steps away.
Her face remained hidden.
"She’s scared of me."
Dillan glared at her.
"...Who are you?"
The woman raised her hand.
Slowly brushing her hair away from her face.
Dillan’s eyes widened.
For one second...
He saw Sasha.
Then...
The face changed.
A stranger.
Then Sasha again.
Then Aurelia.
Then someone else.
A fourth girl.
A face Dillan almost recognized.
Almost.
Then...
Nothing.
The darkness swallowed her features.
Dillan stepped backward.
"...You’re not Sasha."
The woman smiled.
"No."
His heart pounded.
"...Then why do you look like her?"
Her glowing eyes narrowed.
"Because..."
She leaned closer.
"...you dream about her the most."
The darkness trembled.
The System began malfunctioning.
[ERROR.]
[ERROR.]
[HOST DREAM CONSTRUCT BREACHED.]
[UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY DETECTED.]
Dillan stared at the woman.
"...You entered my dreams."
She laughed.
"No, Dillan."
Her voice suddenly became serious.
The darkness behind her opened.
And thousands of versions of Dillan appeared.
Sleeping.
Crying.
Running.
Dying.
Waking up screaming.
"You entered mine."
Dillan’s blood turned cold.
A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
He screamed.
The darkness vanished.
"DILLAN!"
His eyes snapped open.
Dana was shaking him.
Sasha stood nearby.
Aurelia looked terrified.
They were back inside the Gate.
Or...
What remained of it.
The classroom was gone.
Only broken fragments floated in a black void.
Dillan gasped desperately.
Sweat covered his entire body.
Dana held his shoulders.
"You’re back."
Dillan stared at her.
"...Am I?"
Dana frowned.
"What?"
The System appeared again.
[ONEIRIC MALFORMATION: HYPER STATE TERMINATED.]
[HOST VITAL SIGNS: UNSTABLE.]
[WARNING: DREAM CONTAMINATION REMAINS.]
Dillan looked toward Sasha.
She hadn’t said a word.
Her eyes were fixed on him.
"...Sasha."
She slowly looked up.
"...You saw her."
Dillan nodded.
Sasha’s lips trembled.
"...Then it’s too late."
Aurelia stepped forward.
"What is?"
Sasha’s expression collapsed.
Not into anger.
Not obsession.
Fear.
Real fear.
"...She knows how to reach him now."
Dillan frowned.
"Who knows?"
Sasha looked directly into his eyes.
For the first time since he had met her again...
She looked completely helpless.
Then she whispered:
"The girl in the dreams isn’t me."
Silence.
Dillan’s heartbeat stopped.
Sasha continued.
"But she’s been using me..."
Her crimson eyes began trembling.
"...for a very long time."
Somewhere inside the darkness...
A woman’s laughter echoed.
And the Fifth Lock began ticking again.