Ash opened his eyes like a man waking from a drowning dream. Air filled his lungs too fast, too sharp, making him cough as his chest tightened. For a few seconds, he didn't know where he was. His hands grabbed the wood, his back pressed to bark, and his eyes caught the faint gray light that leaked through the branches above. The forest. The same tree. But something was different. This wasn't the same dream loop. This wasn't the endless nightmare.
He turned his head slightly and saw Ken sitting beside him. Ken looked tired, tense. His legs were drawn in close, arms resting on his knees, but it was his face, his eyes, that told Ash something was wrong. They were wide, watching him too closely, like he wasn't sure if Ash would ever wake up. There was a sharp fear buried just beneath the surface, but as soon as Ken saw Ash blinking up at him, a heavy breath escaped his lips like he'd been holding it in for too long.
"You okay?" Ken asked softly, his voice hoarse like he hadn't spoken in hours.
Ash nodded, though he wasn't sure if that was the truth. His body felt strange. Heavy. His limbs were sore, and there was still a ghost of that pain in his back.
"Where's Reaper?" Ash asked, already sitting up, ignoring the ache crawling under his skin.
Ken hesitated. "He went out. To check the area," he said, and something in his voice made Ash go cold.
"What?" Ash's voice cracked as he got to his feet, almost stumbling. "Ken, you've got to stop him. Now. Go after him! He can't be out there alone."
Ken flinched, eyes darting toward the direction Reaper had disappeared into. "Why? What's going on?"
Ash didn't even answer. He was already moving, forcing his legs to run even if they didn't want to. Ken was right behind him.
The forest around them hadn't changed. Ash's skin crawled with every step he took, like shadows were dragging their fingers across his shoulders.
The name came to him naturally now.
Dreamcrawler.
That's what he called it. That thing that stalked him, that lived in his head and refused to let him go. It wasn't clever. It wasn't some poetic name or cool title from a fantasy book. But it was what it was. A creature that crawled through his mind, fed on his fear, twisted his dreams into cages and loops and endless suffering.
It was the only name that made sense. And as they rushed deeper into the woods, Ash's breath caught in his throat. Footprints, from when they had first arrived in this wicked forest. Ash crouched, brushing his fingers across them. They weren't fresh. But they were here.
He looked around, heart pounding louder than before. Even though it had felt like months passed in that other world, here in this reality... barely anything had moved. The sun hadn't shifted much in the sky. The air was still cold. Not even a full day had passed.
More Dreamcrawlers could still be here.
They searched for nearly an hour, calling out for Reaper, splitting up only for seconds before regrouping. He kept imagining that thing crawling behind a tree, just out of view. Watching again. Waiting. He couldn't even tell if it had truly died in that other place. Or if killing it had just set it free into this world.
Eventually, they found him. Reaper was standing by a dead stream, his mask pulled up slightly, eyes focused on the water as if he was trying to find something that wasn't there. He turned when he heard them, his face calm, maybe too calm. "You okay?" he asked Ash, though his voice carried suspicion.
Ash didn't answer right away. He just grabbed Reaper's arm and shook his head, urgently. "No. We need to leave. Now. This whole place, this entire area, it's not safe. I don't care where we go. But we have to move. Get as far away from this place as we can."
Ken looked at Ash, then Reaper, then back at Ash again.
"What happened to you?" he asked, voice soft.
Ash looked down at his own hands. They still looked like his, but sometimes, when he wasn't paying attention, he swore he could feel those six arms twitching behind him.
He took a breath. "I'll tell you everything later," he muttered. "But right now, we've overstayed our welcome. The thing that lives here, it's not a ghost. It's not a spirit. It's something else. And I don't think it wants us simply dead."
"Then what does it want?" Reaper asked quietly
**
They ran, not even looking back to see what they were leaving behind. Whatever little gear or food or supplies they had gathered during their time in the forest was all gone now. None of that mattered anymore.
But fate, like always, had its own cruel sense of humor. They didn't get far.
The woods opened up just a little, revealing a clearing, silent and wide. And in that clearing stood a horde. At least two dozen of them. Dreamcrawlers.
Reaper stopped walking, his eyes narrowing as he stepped in front of Ash and Ken. "Are those... the things?" he asked without looking back.
Ash didn't speak. His lips moved, but the sound never came out. He nodded.
And he hated how hard he was shaking. These weren't like normal monsters. These weren't things you could just kill with brute strength. These were mental viruses, parasites of the mind.
He had told them about the dream. The endless loop. The slow transformation. The pain. The hopelessness. He had warned them. Repeatedly. But he didn't want to go through it again. God, no. He didn't want to close his eyes and end up back there. Trapped. Dying slowly over and over until death itself forgot him.
The creatures all tilted their heads at once, their mouths opening just slightly wider, exposing those sharp, uneven rows of teeth. And then, they smiled.
And in that moment, Ash's legs almost gave in. Fear ripped through him again like it did the first time, pure and choking. But then something strange happened. That fear, as raw and terrifying as it was... vanished. Gone. Like a breath he didn't take.
But it wasn't the same for the others.
Ken dropped to his knees like someone had shot him. His eyes were wide, too wide. He grabbed at his stomach first, then his chest, then his face. His fingers dug into his own scalp like he was trying to rip the fear out of himself. His mouth opened but only a dry sound came out.
Reaper stayed on his feet, but barely. His legs were trembling, his fingers flexing unconsciously. His eyes... they weren't blinking. They were frozen in place, as if he was watching something, something no human should ever see. And yet he couldn't look away.
The creatures took a step closer. Ash drew his sword. His hands were shaking so much he could barely hold the grip right. His eyes clamped shut, tight. He didn't want to see them again. He didn't want to fall. Not into another dream. Not into another nightmare.
But how the hell was he supposed to fight blind? He breathed in. And then he heard footsteps. Slow. Calm. Coming from his left. His heart nearly stopped. He shouldn't open his eyes. He knew he shouldn't. But he was human. And humans are weak. He opened them. And there he was.
A man, standing right beside him. Out of nowhere. Calm as water. Ash stared at him, sword trembling in his grip. The man looked young, maybe mid-twenties, with skin that almost seemed to glow in the moonlight. His hair was dark, brushed neatly back, and his eyes... they weren't glowing. They weren't mysterious. They were just sad. Deeply, painfully sad. Beautiful, but not in the otherworldly way like the first entity they had seen. No. This was a different kind of beauty. A quiet, human kind.
Ash could not be just lost in his beauty, in defense he rose the sword, now pointing it at the strange person instead. He held it there, frozen. But his hands were trying to lower down, resisting his own nerves. It was the first time he didn't feel the same blood lust aura from that sword.
The man looked at the sword, then at Ash.
A single tear welled up in the corner of his eye... and didn't fall. It just stayed there. Stuck in the pain. Like it was afraid to touch the ground. Or maybe it knew there wasn't time to cry. Then, finally, he smiled. Just a little. A tired, soft, lonely smile.
And then he turned his back to Ash... and faced the Dreamcrawlers.