Dreamland Awakening

Arven

"Time heals all." Charlie said.

Slinx squeezed out a smile, he barely had energy to wake up for school. After what happened last night it was almost impossible for him to sleep again. And those painful words lingered in his ears:

"Not good enough for her." Slinx said depressingly.

Charlie snapped back, "Hey don't you say that! My buddy is the best man anyone can ask for. Kind, empathetic, creative... And besides, this girl you're obsessing over probably isn't even real! I don't care how real your dreams seem but no reason for you to feel butthurt all because a figment of your imagination rejected you!"

"I guess... I do have a tendency to get attached to things easily..."

"Anyways..." Chris sighed, " Don't hold any of this to yourself again okay? You know how emotional you can get dealing with these issues."

"Hang in there bud, I'll be here the whole day as long as you need me alright?" Chris patted Slinx on the back showing his support. Slinx smiled and thanked him, he was glad to know he had someone to rely on even if the sky fell down.

。。。

It was half past midnight, Arven had just finished his work. He stretched out his arms and let out a yawn, but before he could let his body end its shift, he picked up his phone and scrolled. He didn't really want to, his body definitely didn't want to, but his mind insisted that and ruled with an iron fist. He went through his social media feed casually scrolling through the dozens of people that he met once or twice, he really did not need to know what they ate for lunch today. Despite knowing the meaninglessness of his actions, he carried on almost ritually.

He saw a story with someone who was wearing a ring. It was an ordinary ring except for the fact that there was a beam of green light coming out of it. It was an account under the name of "Slinx Wilt".

"That's a cool effect" He thought. He gave it a like and decided it was probably time to sleep.

He laid on his bed and turned his brain off.

There was a small barn not that far away from him. It was a place he had heard of many times from his grandpa. He walked towards the barn and reached for the door, he remembered opening the door before he was teleported to this large room modernly designed with marble and quartzite. There was hardly any furniture in the room, it made Arven feel like he was a tiny little fish in a massive glass tank.

Arven walked around for a while, at first he just walked in circles close to where he believed he spawned, but then something in the distant corner caught his eye: A man. Although scared, the curious Arven approached the figure with caution. And as soon as the man was within a talking radius, Arven immediately recognised who he was.

"Grandpa!" Arven cried.

It was not often that Arven would dream of his grandpa. For the longest time his grandpa had stayed in a care home far from his residence. Arven visited him occasionally in spite of the warnings his parents gave him. Unlike his parents, Arven adored the old man. He was a mysterious figure who always had captivating tales from the past to tell. Oftentimes Arven would spend the whole afternoon with him just to listen to how he and his friend used to plan on making a utopia. His grandpa would speak with such passion that sometimes he would find himself out of breath.

The fragile man turned his back, and on his face was an expression of worry and fear.

"Arven! Oh dear grandson! I missed you!"

"I missed you too, gramps!" Arven replied.

"I didn't want to do things this way, but you're my only hope to stop him!"