Am I Dreaming?

I opened my eyes slowly. There was no ceiling, just a sickly purple and green sky. I must have fainted when I passed through. I say passed through because my surroundings were clearly not Japan anymore. That isn’t to say that it didn’t vaguely resemble Japan, but there was no way that giant, pulsing grey vines would be wrapped around houses in Japan.

Even more importantly, Akane was nowhere nearby. I wondered how long I was out. The houses around me looked like they had been decaying for years. In several cases, entire sections of wall were crumbled away. I looked around, but could not see any anomaly that would take me back home. Was it a one-way trip? No, it didn’t matter. I needed to find Akane and soon.

I looked around the alley and in one direction, I saw a straight path with no end in sight. The other direction, I saw a crossroad. Given the options, I made my way towards the crossroad and looked around. In one direction, I saw a large open space, going forward would take me to more crossroads, but most importantly, turning to my right, I saw a strange figure hunched over.

I started to make my way towards the figure when I saw a pebble drop in front of me. I took a step back to look up—and good thing I did too as a mass of rubble dropped where I was about to walk. Scary. And so dusty. I coughed a little and grabbed my shirt to cover my mouth as I squinted to look for a way out of the cloud that surrounded me. After a few minutes, or perhaps just a few seconds, I managed to escape.

I warily watched my surroundings while I waited for the dust to settle and once it did, I noticed that three of the routes were blocked now. I was still curious about the figure and tried to climb up the rubble, but after a rock crumbled away from the pile and I slammed into the ground with a rather sharp piece of wood slamming down next to my ear, I decided that it wasn’t worth the risk.

Instead, I sat down where I felt it was safe and waited for my heart to settle down. While waiting, I took my backpack off and rummaged through it until I found a plaster to put on the cut on my cheek. That was honestly way too close of a call. I felt like I now understood why Touka had told us to stay put and just hide, but I still couldn’t stay put until I found Akane.

I unsteadily pushed myself off the ground while I put on my backpack. I took one last glance at the rubble before I continued to move on to the open space. As I approached, fantastical sights awaited me in the form of giant, dandelion-like trees, huge clusters of oddly shaped stone objects—including some that looked like remnants of toriis aged so much that only weathered stone remained—and even odd creatures that I lacked the words to properly describe.

Ever seen a creature whose head was a spiral shape like a spring? Or what looked like a person, but their face was on their appendages? By appendages, I mean the mockery of arms and hands that sprouted from their sides. I doubt anyone has, but they stood around a puddle, bending over to consume the liquid that looked like water, but I suspected that liquid was anything but.

Speaking of, I was a little bit thirsty. Not that I’d drink some unidentified liquid just because I was a little thirsty, but I definitely needed to get past these creatures and my throat felt dry. Not knowing whether these creatures were aggressive definitely made things difficult for me. Looking around the opening, I saw a path leading past a set of gate-like objects as well as one leading into a forest of fantastical trees.

As I decided which path to use, a crack came from behind me, like a twig breaking, despite the rather straight path. Nervously, I glanced behind me to see a strange man in a black tuxedo and top hat approaching me. Strange because a large scar ran down from where his nose would be to somewhere in his chest. Alarm bells started to ring for me just before the scar split open revealing that the tuxedo was also part of the creature. I couldn’t tell you what was inside that scar, just that even looking at it for a moment caused splitting pain like being torn apart. Did I scream? I don’t know. By the time I realized what I was doing, I had already sprinted towards a path. Which path? I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t stop though.

Whether or not I managed to stay on a path or if I strayed far from it, I dashed with all of my might. What the heck was that? No way, no way, no way. I lacked the resolve to look behind me and just kept running. At least, until I tripped on a root and crashed to the ground. I looked back behind me to see the approaching figures like monsters in a nightmare.

Strange trees surrounded me and I lacked the ability to tell where an exit might be. I forced myself to get back up despite a throbbing in my ankle and kept running despite the pain. Even if each step made the pain progressively worse, it seemed far better than the alternative of letting the creatures catch up. My heart beat quickly as I felt the creatures steadily approaching behind me. I could practically feel their breath on my neck.

I eventually collapsed as I stepped just a bit too low and my foot caught another root. I could hear the group’s shambling approach. The strange sounds being uttered by them. Despite my fear, I turned around to see the distance growing steadily shorter. I looked around for anything usable and found a branch, which I quickly brandished at the creatures.

“Stay back!”

My attempt at self-defense ended futilely as the top hat creature easily pulled the branch from my hands—a sharp pain came from palms as the branch cut into them.

“This can’t be happening. This is a dream, right?”

“Leech Meat Hot.”

The creature spoke, or at least, I think it did. Maybe in my desperation, I was just hearing the words where there weren’t any. Either way, my heart sank in despair as the hand approached.

“This has to be a dream. This can’t be real. Go away!”

I shouted desperately even knowing that it would be to no avail. Several seconds passed before I finally opened my eyes. The creatures… were gone, as if a dream. What happened? I pinched my cheek and it hurt, although the pain in my ankle already made it obvious. Even so, the mysterious disappearance led those unbidden words to fall from my lips.

“Am I dreaming?”