There is Power in Death

Chapter 11

Mr.Silvia calls my name to the stage. This is the best day of my afterlife. He hands me the pin that signifies my new rank. I'm finally a full fledged Phanter! I look into the crowd to find my friends' faces. I see them, but something's wrong. They begin to transform. Their skin turns into an inky black. Their eyes begin to turn red. Their bodies grow and they start attacking. I look around for help but everyone is gone. I'm alone. My magic won't work. The room is getting corrupted by darkness. Benji is the last to change as they look at me with tears running down their face.

"I'm sorry, Alex. You were too late," they smile through their tears as the demon completely takes over.

"Benji? Benji! No! Don't go! Don't leave me alone!"

My eyes snap open as I wake up. My body is covered in sweat and there are tears running down my face. I look around. I'm still in my room at HQ. I haven't been here a year yet. My friends are still alive. I look at the time and see that it's eight. I begin to get ready and start heating up some leftovers.

My door swings open and Benji marches in. As soon as they see my face they hug me.

"W-what's this about? And how did you get in?"

They look at me with tears streaming down their face, "I-I had a nightmare. You and Maddy and Talan. Y-you all turned i-into demons. I was all alone. It felt so r-real. I'm so glad that it wasn't."

"Take deep breaths. It's okay. I'm here, I'm alive. You don't have to worry. Come, sit down. Tell me about your dream."

Benji is still in their pajamas, which means that they probably ran here as soon as they woke up.

They sit down in a ball on the couch and explain their dream. We both had the same dream, but our roles were switched. When I tell them that I had the same dream they look somewhat relieved.

"I'm sorry that I barged in like this."

"It's fine. You needed someone to talk to, and I'm here to listen. The dream might mean something, so we should as Talan and Maddy. You should probably get dressed. Come over here and we can go together. You'll be fine."

"Okay. I won't take that long."

I sit down and wait in the living room. Benji was definitely more shaken up from that dream than me. I wonder if it meant anything. My aunt once told me something about dreams. I forget what it was though. That's weird, I can't remember her name or the saying. She would say it all the time how can it be so hard to remember? It's most likely nothing.

I make myself a coffee and a few minutes after I finish it Benji knocks on the door. I grab my bag and open the door.

"Let's go. Maddy is probably still in her room."

"And Talan's most likely heading out about now. We should hurry."

"Right."

Benji still looks a little shaken. I wonder if something similar to the dream happened while they were alive. I shouldn't ask them though, especially now. Benji is very quiet, but that's expected after the dream.

We knock on Maddy's door and she immediately asked Benji what was wrong.

"That's what we came down for, but I'm going to get Talan first."

"What do you need from me?" Talan appears behind me.

"Gah! What the hell? I've been frightened enough today."

"Sorry. So, what's up?"

"Let's go into Maddy's room first. This might be weird."

We all head into her room, which is pretty plain, except for the clothes scattered on the floor. Talan looks at the mess as if he wants to clean it all, but it looks like he's restraining himself.

"Sorry about the mess. Anyways, tell us what happened."

"Benji and I had the same dream, except our roles were switched."

 Talan and Maddy glance at each other worriedly.

"Please tell us that it was a good dream," Maddy say, starting to look more worried.

"It wasn't. It was quite the opposite." I go over the events of the dream.

At the end of the explanation, Talan and Maddy look at each other again with worried looks on their faces.

"So this is a partially good thing. You and Benji are linked, basically by fate. You two will have a strong bond, whether it's a friendship or not. The bad thing about this is the visions. Very few Phanters are linked. Whenever they shared a dream it would happen. They could see the future, but the roles in there visions were never reversed," Maddy explains.

"Why must my afterlife be so complicated? This means that we have to train together from now on. And we should talk to Mr.Silvia about this, he might know something."

"Why do we have to train together?" Benji asks curiously.

"Because if you and Alex are away from each other for too long, then one of you will die. Maddy and I are your mentors, so we have no choice except to train with you," Talan says, obviously too tired for this.

"That means that in a year, that dream will become reality."

"Not necessarily. You and Alex's roles were switched in the dreams, so it would be impossible for both dreams to happen. For now, we have to tell Mr.Silvia."

"Okay."

Benji and I get up and wait by the door.

"I'm coming in here and cleaning your room later, whether you like it or not. Unlike you, I can teleport into other rooms," Talan says to Maddy as we're leaving.

We make it to Mr.Silvia's office and Talan knocks on the door.

"We have something to talk to you about. It's very urgent."

"I see, come in."

We sit down and I go over what happened once again, hopefully for the last time. Benji adds some stuff in at certain times.

"This is very good! We can stop this from happening! We just need to figure out how to do so. We also need to find the source of whatever happened."

"That's great! We can do something!" Benji exclaims.

"We need to start planning first. Talan and Maddy can help me with that. You two can go stay safe. Go to Benji's sunflower."

"Right!"

Maddy and Talan follow Mr.Silvia as Benji and I head outside to their flower.

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