A Dream of a Dead World

Aki’s eyes fluttered open.

The first thing he felt was warmth. A gentle, unfamiliar warmth from the early morning sun filtering through a canopy of green leaves, dappling his face in soft, golden light. The air didn't smell of sterile metal and ozone, but of damp earth, pine needles, and the faint, sweet scent of wildflowers. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves, a peaceful, lulling sound.

The second thing he felt was a soft, steady weight on either side of him.

He turned his head to the right. Mia was there, her long, dark hair fanned out across his shoulder, her face peaceful in sleep. She was hugging him tightly, her breath a soft, warm puff against his neck.

He turned his head to the left. Rika was curled against his other side, her small body tucked into his, one of her hands clutching a fistful of his tunic. Her expression was one of pure, innocent contentment.

His mind, for a moment, was a complete blank. Then, the memories of the laboratory came rushing back—a tidal wave of cold steel, poison, and the chilling, empty eyes of his clone.

“What... what happened?”

He tried to sit up, but Mia's grip on him tightened in her sleep, and she let out a soft, contented murmur. He froze, not wanting to wake her.

He looked down. Shika was curled up on his chest, a small, white ball of fur, rising and falling with his every breath.

He looked up. Kiro was sitting by a small, crackling campfire a few feet away, expertly skinning a rabbit for their morning meal. He saw Aki was awake and gave him a gruff, knowing nod.

"Morning, sleepyhead," the old captain rumbled, his voice a familiar, gravelly sound. "About time you joined the living."

Aki’s mind was rattling, a chaotic storm of confusion. The laboratory. The Doctor. Shika's terrified scream as she was captured. Where was all of that? If Kiro and Shika were here, safe, and Mia and Rika were... alive... then was it all just a dream? A nightmare?

“Is this real?”

"What is it bothering you, kid?" Kiro asked, his sharp eyes noticing the troubled, pale look on Aki's face.

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

Aki swallowed, his throat dry. "Nothing," he lied, the word a rough rasp. He looked at Mia's sleeping face, at the way the sunlight caught in her hair. He looked at Rika, so small and safe beside him.

This felt real. The warmth, the weight of them, the smell of the campfire—it was more real than the cold, sterile memory of the lab.

He convinced himself. That was the dream. The lab was the nightmare. This... this is real.

He reached out a trembling hand and gently brushed a stray strand of hair from Rika's forehead. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss there. Her lips curved into a small smile in her sleep. A wave of profound, overwhelming love, so powerful it almost made him dizzy, washed over him.

Mia stirred beside him, her eyes fluttering open. She looked up at him, a warm, sleepy smile on her face as she snuggled closer, hugging him tighter.

"What's gotten into you, Aki?" she murmured, her voice thick with sleep. "You woke up early."

"I had a bad dream," Aki said, the words feeling true and false at the same time. "A long, terrible dream."

Mia's expression softened. She reached up a hand and gently rubbed his cheek, her touch sending a jolt of warmth through him.

"Don't worry," she said softly.

"If you kill another monster today, it will all be okay. That's your favorite form of entertainment, right?"

Her words were a gentle tease, a familiar jab at his stoic nature. In the nightmare, the word 'monster' had been a weapon. Here, from her, it was a term of endearment.

Aki felt a genuine, warm smile spread across his lips. "Shut up, Mia," he said, his voice full of an affection he rarely showed.

"As if you know."

He saw Kiro watching them from across the campfire, a wide, lecherous grin on his weathered face.

"What's up, old man?" Aki asked, his good mood making him feel unusually bold.

"Why are you glaring at me?"

"Glaring?" Kiro let out a harsh laugh. "Kid, I'm not glaring. I'm fucking jealous! You're one lucky bastard, do you know that?"

He gestured vaguely with his skinning knife. "Seeing you like this... it makes me remember. Once, in my prime, I had my own harem, you know. A girl in every port from here to the sun-scorched lands. Ah, lovely old days..."

Mia sat up, her eyes flashing with a protective fire. "Kiro! Don't be a pig!"

Kiro just laughed louder. "Alright then, lad, since you're so popular, let's see what type of girls you like." He leaned forward, his expression conspiratorial.

"We're talking about personality, or...?"

Rika, waking up from the noise, rubbed her eyes and immediately joined in. "Oni-chan likes girls who have long hair and beautiful eyes!" she chirped happily.

"And who are especially taller than him!" She beamed, describing Mia perfectly.

Mia's face turned a brilliant shade of red, and she let out a flustered laugh.

"That's just fantasy stuff!" Kiro roared, waving his hand dismissively. "Aki, you know what I'm asking. Man to man. The important stuff."

Aki, caught in the moment, feeling a rare, uncomplicated happiness, grasped the old man's meaning. A wide, mischievous grin spread across his face.

"Big—"

He didn't get to finish the word. Mia's hand shot out and clamped over his mouth, her face a mixture of embarrassment and mock fury.

"Don't you dare answer him, Aki!" she hissed, though her eyes were laughing. She glared at Kiro.

"You old bastard! Don't you spoil my Aki! I'll feed you to the fucking nightcrawlers!"

Shika, disturbed by the commotion, suddenly popped her head out of Aki's tunic.

"Why are you guys disturbing me this early?!" her voice complained in his mind, grumpy and sleepy.

"Let me sleep!"

Rika squealed with delight. "Shika! You're awake!"

She scooped the protesting creature up and ran towards their tent. "Come on! Time to get you cleaned up!"

"Oh, this again? I am tired, Ri-chan! Let me sleep!" Shika's telepathic pleas faded as Rika carried her off, deaf to her protests.

Aki watched them go, a feeling of pure, unadulterated peace settling over him. He looked at Mia, at Kiro, at the warm sun and the green trees.

Maybe I'm overthinking things, he thought. This is real. This is the life I wished for. The life I'm fighting for.

And then the world ended.

The forest around them was on fire.

One moment, there was sunlight and laughter. The next, there was only the roar of flames, the smell of burning pine, and the coppery tang of blood.

Aki was on his knees, his body a canvas of agony. He was covered in blood, his own and someone else's. His clothes were torn, and a deep, searing pain radiated from his side.

Rika was limp in his arms, unconscious, her face pale and smeared with blood.

A few feet away, Kiro lay face down in the dirt, a pool of crimson spreading around him. Shika was next to him, her massive, six foot tall beast form still and broken, smoke rising from her grey fur.

Defeated.

A shadow fell over him. He looked up.

A stranger was standing before him, a tall, imposing figure wreathed in an aura of calm, absolute power. The man held Mia by the neck, lifting her effortlessly into the air.

Her feet dangled uselessly, her hands clawing at his iron grip. She was choking.

"Let her go!" Aki screamed, the words tearing from his raw throat. He tried to move, to stand, to fight, but his body wouldn't obey.

He was paralyzed.

The stranger's face was hidden in shadow, but Aki could feel his cold, analytical gaze. He dropped Mia to the ground like a discarded doll.

She fell in a heap, gasping for air.

The stranger headed towards Aki.

"Aki!" Mia choked out, pushing herself up. "Take Ri-chan... and run! Protect her... please!"

The stranger didn't even turn. He backhanded Mia without looking, a casual, contemptuous gesture. She flew through the air and hit a tree with a sickening crack, then fell silent.

He was in front of Aki now.

"Subject Esmos," the stranger said, his voice a low, commanding whisper that held no emotion.

"You are not complete yet. Reconstruct yourself. Become whole."

"Why...?" Aki snarled, his voice thick with hate. "Why are you doing this?!"

The stranger reached down and effortlessly lifted Aki by the front of his tunic, as if he weighed nothing. Rika's limp body slipped from his grasp and fell to the scorched earth.

"You don't know what you are capable of," the stranger said. He leaned in close, and for a moment, Aki saw a flash of a familiar, predatory smile in the shadows of his hood.

It was the man from his vision. Greed. "If you want to take revenge... if you want to protect what is yours... become stronger."

He drew back a fist.

"Become what you were born to be."

The blow was not just physical. It was an explosion of pure, crushing power that shattered Aki's consciousness. The last thing he heard was the sound of Mia and Rika screaming his name.

And then he woke up.

Aki’s eyes shot open.

The first thing he felt was cold. A deep, biting cold that seemed to seep into his very bones, radiating from the thick, metallic cuffs binding his arms behind the steel chair.

The second thing he smelled was the familiar, sterile scent of the laboratory.

He wasn't in the forest. It was all a lie.

"Aki! Aki, wake up!"

He looked down. Shika was on the floor in front of him, her small form looking lost in the dark room.

"Shika...?" he croaked, his voice rough.

"Wake up! What is happening to you, Aki? Your mind is confused... your eyes are full of tears!" her telepathic voice was frantic with worry.

"This feeling in you... it's new. I've never experienced this. It's... chaos."

A heavy metal door hissed open, flooding the room with bright, white light.

The Doctor walked in, a data pad in his hand, his face a mask of smug, clinical curiosity. "Ah, the asset is awake," he said, tapping the screen.

"Fascinating. The cerebral activity is off the charts. The emotional trauma seems to have triggered a significant episode."

He looked directly at Aki, a cruel, analytical smile on his face.

"Subject Esmos," he said, as if reading a diagnosis. "It seems you have a rather severe case of Aura Instability."

Aki ignored him, his mind focused on a single, burning purpose. He pulled against his chains, his muscles straining. He tried to form a weapon, to turn his hand into a blade.

Nothing happened. The poison in the chains was like ice in his veins, nullifying his power.

"Don't bother with that," the Doctor said with a bored sigh. "Those restraints are laced with a neurotoxin I designed specifically for you. You are powerless."

Shika let out a low growl. "Let him go, you bastard!"

The Doctor’s smile widened. "Ah, and the beast speaks." He looked at Aki. "She has a fascinating empathic link to you. She feels what you feel."

Suddenly, Aki felt a new, alien presence in his mind. It was cold and sharp. Shika was connecting them.

"Now you can hear him, Aki! Hear the truth!"

The Doctor's thoughts flooded Aki's mind—a stream of cold, clear data.

Subject Esmos's condition, 'Aura Instability', is a unique psychological and physiological phenomenon. The subject's immense divine power is directly linked to his emotional state... When subjected to extreme emotional triggers, the containment fails. The subject's psyche attempts to protect itself by creating a powerful, hyper realistic hallucinatory state... a 'waking dream.'

Aki’s vision blurred. The Doctor's voice seemed to come from a great distance. A wave of vertigo washed over him, and the room tilted. Every thought unraveled into static. The warmth of the dream... Mia's laugh... Rika's hug... it was all a lie.

A weapon.

"Lies!" Shika screamed in his mind. "He's lying, Aki! Don't listen to him! It was real!"

The Doctor let out a soft, amused chuckle, his head tilted. "Ah, the mind's fragile architecture. How amusing." He watched Aki's trembling form with the detached pride of an engineer watching his machine perform perfectly.

His thoughts continued to pour into Aki's mind, now laced with a sarcastic, mocking pity.

The trigger for this recent episode was the capture of the Myth Beast. The resulting hallucination was a projection of the subject's deepest psychological desires. The dream is not a bug; it is a feature. A tool for psychological torture and reconditioning.

"You fucking monster," Aki snarled, the words a guttural growl.

The Doctor just smiled. "Monster? Look who's talking. I'm a scientist. I'm a creator. You... you are just a broken tool that I am going to fix."

He became aware of the link. His mental voice was sharp with surprise, then cold with anger.

The beast. It's connecting us. How primitive.

"Get out of my head," the Doctor said out loud, his smile gone. He raised a small, rodlike device and pointed it at Shika. "I warned you about being a pest."

He pressed a button. A bolt of blue electricity erupted from the rod and struck Shika. She yelped in pain, her small body convulsing on the floor.

"SHIKA!" Aki roared, pulling uselessly against his poisoned chains.

The psychic link was severed, leaving only the echo of Shika's pain in his mind.

"Now, where were we?" the Doctor said, his smug composure returned. "Ah, yes. Your reconditioning."

Suddenly, the air in the room grew heavy. A shimmering distortion appeared in the empty space in front of them.

A portal.

A figure stepped through.

It was a tall, imposing man, wrapped in shadows, his face unseen. But his structure, his aura of calm, absolute power...

It was the stranger from his dream, Greed.