Murdersphere Mosaic [ManXMan] [BoyXBoy]

Murdersphere Mosaic Chapter 1 Part 1

I do not normally dream within a dream. It usually happens when I am overly stressed, severely under-rested or very sick. 

In these dreams within dreams, my mind protects my body from the demands of a world that does not really care what happens to me as long I get up, go to work, and pay my bills. 

What am I hiding from today? Previously, these dreams within a dreams enabled me to ignore alarms; sleep through pain; or wake up when I am too tired to hear the alarm. 

Tonight, I am in a video game. Not playing a game, in a game. 

I am standing in the examination room of a clinic wearing a paper hospital gown and nothing else. It all seems terribly familiar. There is supposed to be something here to ask me questions so I can finish making the avatar I will use to actually play the game. 

If I am here, that means I have missed important cinematics 

My fingers twitch, looking for the keyboard commands to end the game. There is no keyboard. I am in the game. 

I say aloud in the dream. "At least give me a tutorial."

Ghostly letters in a graceful script appear in front of me. 

"Welcome, please follow the light."  The letters condense into a yellow, spectral sphere. 

I follow it out of the examination room and into an office, with a bulky device sitting on the desk that looks like a laptop with a massive cone glued onto the back, all painted a terrible green color with decals slapped on it to give it a wood-like finish. 

I look out of a nearby window. I see a pale sky, and tattered buildings. I suppress the urge to rail against the tackiness of it all. The computer screen is on. The lights are on, I could be standng here naked and in the dark. 

More letters unspool from the glowing sphere. "Please sit." 

I do, and the light sweeps out of the window and out of sight. 

I look at the computer and new instructions type. 

"Please answer these questions. They branch, depending on your answers. You may change your answers at any time. Please complete the survey to move on." 

"Oh." I mutter. "A social media game. Alright then." 

I get to work, and it is work, but because I am dreaming, I am honest, instead of being concerned how this is going to affect my profile and what advertising is directed towards me. 

There are an awful lot of comic book, fantasy novel, and comic book and fantasy movie question, along with pop culture and general knowledge questions interspersed with questions of what kind of fantastic things I would wish for if I could. 

The questions were not unusual: "if you could live in a fantasy world, what would it be?" Or " What fictional world do you belong in?" etc. I have done tons of these, but those were never to... responsive to my questions even the questions where I thought I was repeating myself seem to behave differentlly. 

Even though it was painful to go back, I did. I wanted to be more honest in my replies. 

"Why am I doing this?" I wonder. I had my answer though. I was dreaming it in detail, it could be important. So I start looking for hidden meanings. 

The sun outside of the window was setting. I felt myself start to wake up. I waited a few minutes to wake up fully, but I did not, instead, I was impelled to finish the quiz. 

The very last question is, "What is your name?"

I cannot remember my name. Try as I might, it just isn't there. I frown, staring at the the, blinking line... and then I type. "Exalt." It was a name I had not thought of in years.