A Nightmare

The rest of the day followed to prove me wrong, from the arguments going nowhere, to losing our best lead for the research, to the pressure of the council… As the cliff collapses, rocks and boulders roll towards us followed by the menacing dragon landing on top of it all. Initially, I’m stuck between the crumbled mineral blanket on top of me, but when he finally lands, the impact pushes a rock onto my stomach and head, knocking me out on the spot.

As quickly as I pass out, I wake up, jumping from the bed surprised and scared, out of breath and confused as just now I was buried between stones… but now… Comfort… My shaking hand grabs on the soft blanket underneath me, until I look swiftly to the side, to see Hero, passed out like a hibernating bear. My eyes open wide and I tremble on the spot as I stare at his back by my side, shirtless.

I shake and quiver, my head overflowing with thoughts trying to piece out how we got put here and what I actually did last night. I look down and notice my almost complete lack of clothes and I cover myself in despair. I look to the side noticing where my prosthetics are and how they're so different...

“Where are we…? Is this reality?”

I quickly move myself to put them on, Hero doesn’t move. While I’m strapping my leg on, I look around the room, and suddenly, my soul jumps out of my body and I tremble in place.

A beautiful photograph of us both smiling and kissing at the altar… Dressed so beautifully... Framed in gold… For a second, I sigh, feeling the happiness of that day as if it were real… Immediately followed by immense disgust at myself for even thinking of it.

It takes a while, but as I’m able to get up, I look around at that oddly charming room.

"I got it! It's a dream!" I finally realize, slamming my fist against the palm of my hand.

"...I need to… Get us out… Of here…" He turns around in bed, mumbling something very lowly like he was in pain. I freeze and shiver looking at him even though he’s clearly still sleeping.

"Thank God."

I take one step forward and I almost fall, having to hold on to the bed so I wouldn't go straight to the ground… “This will be harder than I thought.”

I slowly walk around, not only to see the place but to get used to the new leg. For the new arm, I try grabbing a book, a magazine, a pen…

“What is this little black rectangle?” I take it, accidentally pressing a button on the side and a screen lights up. My eyes shine…

“I see…” I chuckle, taking it with me. It's a beautiful place, but very different from what I'm used to in a house. The couch seems so comfortable, the kitchen chairs and hanging lamps are so smooth and the view is… Like nothing I've ever seen… But I don't get why only the orange floor and the coffee table get to be wooden and the rest have to be gray and black and white. My eyes turn back at the view… It's like a shining stone forest, with buildings reaching the clouds. It makes my stomach turn cold.

I walk back into the bedroom, going to the bathroom, grabbing a towel. As soon as I see the bench under the shower, I stop.

"...Oh god these were so hard to put on…"

I chuckle. Brings me back to when I was young, before I built mines, such journeys and years to develop the most advanced possible, and here I am… Back to the beginning. I take another look at the arm. Reminds me a lot of it… Everything here, actually, reminds me of that time. I close the bathroom door, taking one deep breath before I do anything else.

After the bath, I finally head to the kitchen to make breakfast. If the leg is still taking me some time to get used to… The arm, especially the hand, will take me double. Maybe I can adjust it later, but the difference from the ones I've been using for a decade is jarring and impossible to ignore for now. I compensate with care and patience, and as I finish placing the omelets on top of each one of our plates, I look at them with a proud smile.

An idea comes and I quickly grab the ketchup, drawing a sword on one of them and a dragon on the other. I don't think much about it, but every other thought was cut short by a cat rubbing against my feet. I gasp, moving my eyes off the sink and towards the little fur ball staring up at me.

"TOMO!!! How I've missed you! Oh my God, good morning!" I cry while lifting him up. Staring at his pretty green eyes as I try not to tear up more.

"You're looking amazing, what did they do to you? Are you this healthy in real life too?" I take a minute to take a look at a fully alive happy little Tomo. Last time I saw him, he was a zombie, and didn't look nearly as lively as he does now. The only thing that stayed the same was the cutesy bitten off right ear. I pet him again and again as he purrs on my arms like he has missed me too, and then I put him down to wash my hands.

He follows me as I take the plates on a tray to the bedroom, but as I smile feeling he rub against my legs once again, I see him rushing inside the bedroom for something… "Hero probably woke up–"

My thoughts and my smile are cut by the sight of him, standing up right in front of our portrait, staring at it in awe just like I was before.

I freeze, trembling and about to jump out of the window, cheeks red, trying to speak during the silence but only stuttering air.

"My darling, you didn’t have to do that for me, thank you so much.” He says quickly approaching as I feel my soul jumping off my skin. He places one hand on my back and the other on the tray, my entire body shivers. “Have you been awake for too long? Had anything to eat yourself?” I can barely look at him with these tears threatening to fall, but when I do turn my face, he's looking straight into my eyes, worried like he had seen a ghost.

“N-n-no!! At all… I… I was going to eat with you now, that’s my omelet along with yours, darling!” I say slapping my mouth as I say the word darling, but I quickly try to act calm.

“I can’t believe you were up making me breakfast when you didn’t even eat…” He chuckles. “You’re the best.”

My eyes shine, I look up at him smiling and a happy sigh follows. He smiles back, and slowly kisses my head. My mind and eyes go blank, I tap on his arm, asking for him to let me go.

“The… Best…” I chuckle nervously trying to process that. Red and dizzy, I sit on the bed next to him. So embarrassed, confused and overwhelmed that I just couldn't stop smiling.

The fact it was a dream slowly drifted away from my mind and faded, just as if everything I've ever known was but a nightmare I'm starting to get over. Through the rest of the morning, I lived it like it was true, but with a weird taste in my mouth that something is wrong, thinking about it again and again and trying to figure out what exactly changed.