Reality

Chapter 2 - The Dream...

I pause for a moment to examine the room, It had dark grey walls without any windows, there were shelves with things that resembled books, many of them for that matter. I turn around, a bright light coming from the doorway ahead, the door in said doorway partly open. The room isn't dark however, a few candles have been already lit around me, one on the floor next to me and one next to the wolf. I slowly stand up, forgetting that the wolf is right there. "Please, stay seated, relax with me for a minute," the wolf says intently. I sit back down after remembering that there is a literal talking wolf directly in front of me. "Oh right, sorry" I apologize. "What is this place? Where am I?"

I begin to question.
"And that's eight," the wolf says, not answering my questions. He gets up, the candle next to him going out as he does so, letting off a somewhat potent but nice-smelling smoke into the air. He walks over to the shelves and pulls out a book. He looks at it briefly before opening it up. "Hey, what are you doin-"
"Please be quiet for a moment" He butts in. I look down, the candle wax on the candle next to me slowly melting onto the wooden floor from the bright flame. "Alright," He says before slamming the book shut and slowly putting it back on the shelf. "I forgot to introduce myself formally, my name is Kiba, you teleported here correct?" He asked.

"I, no I found myself in a dream and I found a door and-"

"Let me stop you right there for a second, so, you're telling me that you didn't teleport here and you actually went through the dream?" He questions me again.

"Yes, that's all I remember, I opened up the door and got knocked into by a bright light, now all of a sudden I'm here" I reply.

"Interesting, the procedure worked differently," Kiba says

'Procedure? What the fuck does he mean by procedure?' I say to myself.

"What? Procedure? I don't understand" I say, eager to know more.

"Look, I'm trying to figure something out so can you just give me a minute?" He replies angrily. I stop questioning him and look at the candle next to me again, the bright glow from the fire seemed so peaceful, so calming. It was like watching a beautiful night sky, only this one would hurt if touched. There was a long pause, the silence in the room piercing my eardrums. I look at the wolf who is now deep in thought, his nose twitching from the flame smoke next to him. The fact that an anthropomorphic animal is directly in front of me makes me question the world, I mean, animals shouldn't be able to talk. after a moment, he speaks up, "there Is this..." he pauses for a minute "procedure that we do that sends humans to our world, we have only allowed a limited amount of people here because we have had past mistakes." I take a moment before replying,

"I'm sorry but past mistakes? are you meaning-"

"yes, the very first human we allowed here went on a murdering spree, he took the lives of 47 civilians, 5 of which were just children..." he says. I notice his voice began to get shaky so I look back up, the wolf's back facing me. "all of those lives lost..." he stalls "because of me." this time I could really tell that his voice was shaky. I walk up to the purple wolf, trying to look at his face, as I do so he looks away, clearly trying to hide something.

"hey, Kiba was it?" no response... "look at me" I say. again, no response. I hold the side of Kiba's muzzle and move his face towards me, feeling a wet patch on his soft fur as I do so. I look up at his face, seeing tears falling down his face past his muzzle, onto his chest.

"Please... stop looking at me, I don't like people seeing me like this," he says. without hesitation I grab him and pull him in for a hug, wrapping my arms around him.

"it's in the past Kiba, think about it, the past 7 people have been successful so far haven't they?" I ask him

"what about you? what if you turn out like him?" he asks, completely ignoring what I said.

"I doubt I'll be like him, considering I'm hugging you right now without even thinking about the consequences" I reply, trying to calm him down.

"thank you human, I mean it I really appreciate it," Kiba says to me, clearly starting to cheer up.

"Matts the name, and please, no need to thank me, I'm just doing what I feel is right," I respond again.

"you know, you have a really good name, it's quite rare for our kind to have those names," he says.

"wait wait wait, there's more of you?" I ask, eager to know more.

"yes, this whole city looks like me... well, not exactly like me. look ill show you around soon." Kiba replies. We both stand up, looking at each other for a moment before Kiba speaks up, "come, I'll show you the city, but you'll need this" he says as he throws a hoodie at me. I catch it, losing balance slightly. "it may not be the right size, seen as I am taller than you," he says.

"oh don't worry, I prefer baggy clothing anyways" I reply.

"I see, well then that won't be an issue then," he says "hurry up, there is someone I'd like you to meet"