In Somnium

Chapter III - I Am Immortal / I Am Dead

Just as Hollis had predicted, no wake up ever came. Having focused on the dreams that ran through his room, he attempted to discern the most likely locations on Earth they had originated, but in the end failed. While doing this, he practiced controlling the aspects of this world that the strange boy Ambrose had discussed with him. He improved his pajama appearance, though did little to his actual form. If he truly was dead, would it matter if people find out he was doing something that was apparently illegal? It wasn't his own choice that he was stuck here.

"Y-yeah. That's my excuse..."

How much time had passed while he was doing all of this, he was wholly unsure. He had no clocks, no timers, no way to gauge the passage of time in any form.

At first, he hadn't minded it, but after a while, loneliness began to creep in.

When he had first woken up, after all of his worries had gone away, he had felt no real desire to seek out companionship. He didn't have any memories to miss and thus, was mostly fine being alone. But after having gotten a small taste of it, he missed being able to share his thoughts with others. He missed being able to have someone who had answers to his questions.

As long as it was anyone but that boy. For some reason, that one rubbed him the wrong way. He felt like he shouldn't trust him.

"Well, these thoughts are hopeless." With one, two taps against his head, he pushed himself up from his crouch.

Thinking these things was only going to dampen the mood.

He took a couple breaths, then walked along the rows of visuals—those dreams—with the least amount of interest in his gaze. He had begun to wonder, as he jumped from dream to dream, why he wasn't particularly interested in them. Some seemed so grounded in reality that they were boring and uneventful, while others were so nonsensical that they would give any sane person a headache. Yet Hollis found no true interest in any of them.

If none of these interest me, does that mean I'm looking for something specific? His curiosity was more or less his driving factor at this point. If he really was dead, he had no chance of getting out of here, and if he did get out, well...

Would my existence just...disappear?

His eyes dropped.

It was a depressing thought.

Returning his gaze to the dreams, one in specific caught his attention. Bright orange and red were the first things he saw, but upon a more careful inspection he recognized the litter of maple leaves and the large machiya buildings.

That one again?

With the amount of dreams that come through daily, he had few chances to ever visit the same dream more than once. This was interesting.

Curiosity piqued, he pushed his way into the dream once again.

The sounds of cheering and chattering immediately hit Hollis's senses as he woke up. Well, he was awake to begin with having landed in a crouch, but he wasn't fully aware for a moment of where he was.

Just as he had mastered in the weeks or however long before this, he changed into clothing much more fitting of this dream than his usual hood and jeans.

Pajamas, huh? He pondered to himself as he blended in with the crowd in front of him. Who came up with that? It sounds needlessly silly.

He followed the gaze of the crowd and saw they were watching some commotion on the rooftops. Just like the first time he visited, there were two men up there, though this time, their swords were still sheathed.