Author's Note: Hey! So, just some comments, please don't ignore it.
1. This story is really just my leasure, so please be patient with me, feel free to correct me if I got part wrong in the lore as its honestly a constant investigation into the wiki, but also know that some things I will change to write more fun stuff I think. Also I'll try to write it well but no promises
2. Its kind of like I'm really not a demon gods lackey but in LOTM context.
3. This will most likely have only Amanises as a love interest, also kinda lazy as always so I'm going straight ahead to their meeting, I usually struggle with introducing love interests later so here we go.
4. Also I won't bother to introduce the MC in the story right away as he'll find out whats happening as... well things happen, but like his name I mean, his names Theodore, Abyss incarnation, LotM fan who recently read the book but hasn't correlated it, kind hearted lazy guy like me (almost a self insert ngl... just not as much as I hope I won't be as clueless as him).
______________________________________
Theodore's POV
The ache in my back was getting ridiculous. I'd been lying on what felt like cold, hard nothing for who knows how long, and my spine was not appreciating it.
Could be a coma situation, or maybe I'm just dreaming after that car crash.
I stretched my arms above my head, feeling that familiar stiffness you get from sleeping on a terrible surface. The last thing I remembered clearly was headlights, screeching tires, and then... this endless darkness.
"Ugh, I really need a bed," I muttered, sitting up and immediately wincing. "This is the worst sleeping surface ever."
The moment the words left my mouth, I felt something soft beneath me. I looked down in surprise to find myself sitting on exactly the kind of comfortable mattress I'd been desperately wanting - complete with pillows and blankets.
I blinked hard, then looked around at the darkness surrounding me. "Okay... that's weird."
What just happened? Did I... wish it into existence?
Standing up from the bed, I stared at it for a long moment. It looked completely real, felt real when I pressed my hand against it. But it definitely hadn't been there thirty seconds ago.
"Let me try something else," I said to the empty darkness. I was getting kind of hungry, and right now I really wanted...
I focused on the thought of a sandwich. Not just any sandwich - a really good one, with turkey and swiss and that spicy mustard I liked.
A plate appeared in my hands.
"What the hell?" I nearly dropped it, but sure enough, there was the exact sandwich I'd been picturing, complete with chips on the side. "This is..."
I took a bite. It tasted perfect. Too perfect. Exactly like I'd imagined it would taste.
This has to be some kind of dream. But it feels so real...
I spent the next while - time felt weird here - experimenting. Every time I really wanted something, really focused on needing it, it just... appeared. A comfortable chair when my legs got tired. A lamp when I wanted to see better, even though the light seemed to come from nowhere and illuminate everything perfectly. A coffee mug that refilled itself whenever I wished it would.
Whatever this is, the tech is incredible - everything responds to my thoughts.
Wait. Tech? I paused, coffee mug halfway to my lips. Why was I thinking about technology? This didn't feel digital at all. It felt organic, responsive, like the darkness itself was alive and eager to help.
"This isn't a computer program," I thought aloud, my voice echoing strangely in the infinite space. "This is... this is a dream, isn't it?"
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. The way reality bent around my desires, the way time felt fluid, the way I could create anything just by wanting it badly enough.
I read something about this once. That guy who created Adventure Time - didn't he say the whole show came from dreams he had while he was sick? Something about being in a coma or heavily medicated and having these incredibly vivid dreams where he could control everything?
"I'm in a coma," I said, testing the words. They felt... right, somehow. "Car crash, hospital, and now I'm stuck in some kind of dream state where my subconscious is running the show."
It actually made me feel a little better. Dreams I could understand. Dreams had logic, even if it was weird dream logic. And if this was a dream, then at least I wasn't going crazy.
At least I can control things here. Might as well make it comfortable for everyone.
Everyone? I paused at that thought. There wasn't anyone else here. But something about the idea of "everyone" felt important, like my subconscious was preparing for something.
"Might as well set up a proper living space," I decided, looking around at what I'd started thinking of as my dream realm. "If I'm going to be stuck here for a while, I should make it less... empty."
I focused on creating a cozy living room, the kind of space where people could actually hang out and talk. Multiple chairs arranged in a conversation circle, because what was the point of having just one chair in a dream? You never knew who might show up in dreams.
A coffee table appeared, then a bookshelf. I concentrated on board games - chess, definitely chess. Maybe some others. A cabinet materialized, filled with games I was pretty sure I'd played before and some I might have invented on the spot.
"The subconscious is wild," I murmured, setting up a chess board just to have something to do with my hands. "Creating all this detail from nothing."
But as I arranged the pieces, that familiar loneliness crept in. Even in dreams, apparently, I was still just... alone.
Been alone too long in this place. Good to have some company, even if it's not real.
I moved a white pawn forward two spaces, then immediately moved a black one to mirror it. Playing both sides wasn't exactly riveting entertainment.
"Come on, subconscious," I said to the darkness around me. "If you can make furniture and food, can't you make some dream people to hang out with? I've got games set up and everything."
The shadows that I'd started noticing - they weren't quite darkness, more like living darkness that swirled gently around everything I created - seemed to respond to my mood. They moved more actively when I was focused, more sluggishly when I was bored.
Sometimes this feels too real to be a simulation... but what else could it be besides a dream?
I was considering whether to try creating a TV or maybe just a radio for some background noise when something shifted in the air around me. The shadows stopped their gentle swirling and started moving with purpose, gathering in one spot a few feet away.
"Okay, that's new," I said, sitting forward in my chair.
A tear opened in the darkness - not the responsive, flowing changes I'd gotten used to, but something that felt like it was coming from outside my dream. Through the opening, I caught a glimpse of stone corridors and flickering firelight that definitely hadn't come from my imagination.
Before I could process what was happening, something small tumbled through the tear. The opening snapped shut behind it immediately, leaving me staring at what was definitely, unmistakably real.
A wolf pup. Tiny, with dark fur that seemed to shimmer with the same quality as the shadows around me. It looked confused, frightened, and absolutely exhausted.
Was I yearning for a dog? Wolf pup actually? I know I missed company but I never knew that I was subconsciously inclining more to a wolf pup.
The pup struggled to its feet on unsteady legs, shaking from what looked like fear or exhaustion or both. Then it looked up at me with eyes that held an intelligence far too deep and aware for something so young.
We stared at each other across my dream living room - me in my comfortable chair, surrounded by furniture I'd wished into existence, and this tiny, very cute wolf pup that had somehow just crashed into my coma dreamland from somewhere else entirely.
The wolf pup continued to stare at me, those impossibly intelligent eyes wide with what looked like a mixture of terror and awe, as if it was seeing something I couldn't even begin to understand...
We just kept staring into each other like that... for a long while...