The Disparate One

Chapter 16 - Dream

"It's nice to see you too, Ray.", the man turned his face to Ray.

"H-Have we met?", Ray questioned with a squint.

"Of course... not.", said the man who is now walking towards Ray.

Ray stepped back a little as he stared at the man who is just inches away from him. His eyes are red like he is staring at a blood moon. He also noticed that the man is holding a red staff with his left hand. The man smirked at Ray as he placed his right hand on his left shoulder. Ray's heartbeat began to raise and adrenaline is slowly kicking in the more he stared at the red eyes.

"How do you know my name?", Ray questioned while trying to avoid eye contact with the man.

"Does it scare you?", the man began to question too as he wrapped his right arm around Ray's neck, moving him closer to the man. Their chests touched and quickly the man started to strangle Ray with all his might. Ray didn't react as fast as him, he is now trying his best to escape his grip.

"Calm down.", said the man with a soothing voice near Ray's right ear.

Ray can hardly breathe as he tried to calm down, thinking that the man might release him, but soon he didn't so he decided to use desperate measures. He struck the man with a punch to his face, but it was not enough for the man to release him from the pain. Ray began to feel his neck crushing from the intense pressure. At this moment, Ray is now helpless. It will be a miracle if somehow he escaped from his death.

"AH!", screamed the man and also releasing Ray from his arms.

Ray dropped to the floor like a rock, gasping for air as he looked back and saw the man, impaled with another staff, this time colour black. Ray started to crawl away from the man who is wearing a red general uniform. The man turned around and is now face to face with another man, this time wearing a black general uniform.

Ray crawled out of the room since he was still recovering his strength. He was greeted by another man, this time wearing a green general uniform. The man helped Ray to get up on his feet gently.

"You better run.", said the man before rushing into the room where Ray was.

Ray couldn't agree more with the man's suggestion. He started to run back to his room as fast as he can. He remembered that it was only just two intersections away from the room where he saw the ten podiums. After two intersections, he couldn't believe that the metal door has disappeared. He began to panic as he looked around, thinking that maybe he made a wrong turn, so he went back to check each intersection when suddenly he heard a loud deep bang echoing around the gothic hallway.

"You can run, but you can't hide Ray."

Ray heard the voice of the man who tried to kill him for no apparent valid reason. He was running as far as he can away from the man when suddenly the hallway began to change, it didn't change to the hallway that Ray was expecting, instead its height didn't change, but only its colour and appearance. The gold hallways have evolved into a simple and an elegant hallway. It is now colour white, like Ray's uniform.

Ray was about to turn right but out of nowhere a red staff glided through the air and made contact with him. He slipped and crashed on the ground as he screamed in pain while staring and trying several attempts to remove the red staff. Ray's hand began to shake intensely as he wrapped them around the tip of the staff, pulling it out with all his strength, but it was wedged in.

In the distance he saw a man, who is wearing a red general uniform, walking towards him with a death smile on his face. Ray tried to stand up but he felt the staff keeping him down on the floor, like a magnet. Ray began to cough blood as he sat up and keeping his eyes on the incoming man. The man soon arrived near Ray and kneeled down closer to him, with a smile still on his face.

"You're such a disappointment.", said the man before he sat down on the floor, next to Ray and wrapped his left arm around Ray's neck, again started to strangle him.

Ray was so weak that he couldn't defend himself any longer. In just seconds, he cannot breathe completely and started to feel his neck crushing in to pieces. He felt some of the bones of his neck protruding out of the skin. In just minutes, Ray's vision turned opaque black.

"Ray?!"

Ray abruptly woke up from his sleep and saw Oxford sitting on the bed next to him. He was staring down at him with a concerned look. Ray's eyes continued to saccade, gathering information about his surroundings, making sure that what just happened it just a dream. Without hesitation, he sat up and hugged Oxford tightly. Oxford became more confused about what Ray is doing right now. He figured that he just had a bad dream.

"Bad dream?", Oxford questioned.

"Yes.", Ray answered as he moved away from the man.

"Well today, we have a lot of time to talk about it, just tell me when ok?", Oxford said before he stood while keeping his eyes on Ray.

"I'll remember that.", said Ray.