Because It's You

3.11 || My Dream, Your Truth

"How are you feeling?" Nathan asked the youth.

"Not dizzy anymore, I think... . Senior, are you really alright? Did you swallow any of it?" Ren's brows were knotted in worry.

"Nevermind... my stomach is stronger than most... ," Nathan sighed and wiped his lips of the sticky residue before closing his eyes. He had scouted the area where they had fallen; the cliff was pretty tall. Fortunately some thick bushes softened their fall; he had tried his best to shelter both Mary and Ren with his body, agilely positioning himself under their bodies while they were all falling. He had to use some of his inner energy to boost his reflexes, as well as to protect himself from possible fractures; thus, he felt absolutely fatigued at the moment. "I... let me just rest for a bit." Not long after he said that, his breath evened out in deep sleep.

In his dream, he was back to the bizarre muddy yet dry dreamscape; the big raven was still playing tag with black shadows. For some reason, this time the raven looked agitated, emitting a loud screech every now and then.

Nathan did not have any inclination to hunt for Daemons this time and chose to find a place to rest. From the looks of it, the raven, which he believed to be a dream representation of a person in real life, was already influenced by the black shadows. But at the moment, Nathan could really care less about the bird person. He knew if left as it was, the person would hurt people in real life, but he could hardly stand at the moment. If he were to fight that gigantic creature, he was afraid he would no longer wake up.

Thus, keeping an eye out for the raven's movements, he immediately sought cover under a jutted boulder, well away from the flying raven and the tailing black shadows. Who would have known the next instance he had just relaxed his vigilance just a bit, the boulder suddenly crumbled to dust. Whipping his head upwards, the raven had apparently noticed his presence.

This dreamscape was the raven's. A few weeks ago, the raven was still weak. This time, it was more than strong enough to be in full control of its own dream. It had noticed a stranger's appearance which was not supposed to be part of its dream, thus it immediately destroyed Nathan's hiding place.

"Shit!" Nathan had already prepared to crush his own heart to pull him out of this dream; then he heard the raven's voice. It was undoubtedly a man's voice, clear and mature, mixed with the angry howl of the black shadows fueling its power, "Return... her to me!"

Before Nathan could blink, the raven already swept towards him, its huge body flew impossibly fast.

"I've never died from being killed by a Daemon in a dream before, but if this guy killed me here... would I actually die in this world?" Such a mundane thought flashed across Nathan King's mind. Despite the danger, he was amused at his own calmness. Perhaps, it was because he had lived and died a few times before?

He did not quite notice the warmth abruptly pooling in his left wrist, as though he was being gripped tightly by someone at that very spot. However, he definitely felt the sudden warmth on his lips. It was a sensation of touch, a brush of skin, a familiar feeling of a person's existence.

He blinked again; a flash of black, then he woke up to Ren's face hovering close to his own.

In a blur mistiness between his past lifetime, his current fatigue, and his brush with death in his dream, he dazedly lifted his right hand and brushed the youth's stray hair from his forehead, the back of his hand touching the corner of Ren's eyes almost imperceptibly.

Then as though he was immediately hosed with a bucket of cold water, he pulled himself up, only to realize his left wrist was being tightly gripped by Ren. More than that, Nathan finally realized he had been sleeping on Ren's lap.