Albin awoke in his bed. It was midnight. For the past week he had been having a reoccurring dream.
Albin's Dream
Leah collapsed onto the floor, in defeat. She had failed to beat Sadiyya. The audience cheered as Sadiyya delivered the final blow to Leah. It was over. As the song came to an end, the CRS slowly regained control over their bodies. Albin's eyes met with the body of his fallen comrade. Sadiyya laughed mockingly.
Albin slowly made his way to the stage, his anger reaching a fever pitch. He brandished his weapons, menacingly. Sadiyya stared back in surprise.
"An encore?" Sadiyya said as the music restarted.
-------------------------------------------
But he always woke up before anything else could happen. Albin sat in the darkness of his room, the light of his phone illuminating his face. Albin wanted answers. He recalled something the author once said to him long ago.
'Google is your friend.'
The words echoed through his mind.
His fingers moved at the speed of sound, as he typed hundreds of queries into the search bar. Minutes passed and Albin remained answerless.
His fingers moved at an above average speed, as he typed multiple queries into the search bar. Still no answers.
Albin's fingers moved at a sluggish speed, as he typed a single query into the search bar. Nada. And now his fingers were tired. He sighed a sigh of sadness, as he turned off his phone, reluctantly. His eyes met with the ceiling, as he pondered solutions.
...
"Oh, I know what to do! I'll ask Leah." Albin said to himself in the silence of his bedroom.
...
"So let me get this straight..." Leah said to Albin, half asleep. "You came all this way to ask me about a dream you had, despite knowing there is not a single way I can help you considering this is YOUR dream and not mine.
"Yeh?"
Leah closed the door on him, abruptly.
"Go bother the author!" She yelled from the other side of the door.
Albin stared intently at the fourth wall... Don't you fucking dare...
"Author, please." Instantly the fourth wall shattered.
"...can't I just go a single week, without having to pay for repairs."
"Sorry, but this is urgent. You see, I keep having this dream where-"
"I'm the author, you don't need to explain it to me."
";-;"
"The dream you keep having isn't some prophecy or some shit... you're just jealous."
"Oh." Albin was clearly disappointed
"But since I'm a nice Author, you can have your 5 minutes of fun."
Before he could say anything, Albin was dropped into the shadow realm. Equipped with his weapons once more.
"So, who do I have to shank?" He asked, polishing his kunai.
Silence followed, as the shadow realm's mist grew thicker.
...
"Me." I said, appearing in physical form once more.
...
"You're kidding right?" Albin said, his eagerness slowly shifting into worry.
"You'll know when I'm kidding."
"No I won't... you're really hard to read."
"...Your task is to defeat me... but first a little wager." I said, removing my hood. "I'm a gambling man."
";-;" "continue..."
"If you win, you'll become a transcended being. Someone even more powerful than I."
"Cool."
"And if you fail... your soul is mine."
Albin stared at me blankly.
I disappeared into the mist, trying my hardest to act mysterious.
Albin stood in the silence and cold of the shadow realm.
"Well, I'm screwed."
