Everyone was sleeping in this quiet, peaceful night. When their dream began, they were sound asleep. They saw people they cared about, people they loved, people they lost, or people they feared to lose. But... something was there.
Ash was in a peaceful, deep sleep in his dream. He saw his mother, who was holding his school bag and said, "Ash, come, let's go home." Ash looked at her with surprise, then looked around. He was on the exit of his school and saw other students leaving for home. He looked at his own clothes—he was in his school uniform. He felt that it was true, and the monsters were just a dream that he was imagining, and the death of his mother was his nightmare. Without thinking, he rushed toward his mother with a smile and hugged her. She just smiled and patted his head.
In real life, on the other side, Sheto was seeing a dream.
In the dream, he was in his home, sitting in a small dining hall with his parents and his sister, Sarah. His parents didn't look like greedy people. They were smiling kindly. And his sister was not in a coma or paralyzed—she was fine and smiling. And for him, it felt real. Not a dream. Then he hugged his sister and started crying. Then Sarah said, "Woah. Little brother, what happened?" But Sheto didn't respond. He didn't respond. Then his parents and sister patted his back, and his mother said, "Calm down, my boy. We are with you. You can tell us what's wrong." Sheto was still crying, and his father said, "If you don't want to tell us, then that's okay." Then Sheto closed his eyes and calmed down. It was the thing he wanted—love from his parents, and he wanted his sister to stay safe.
In the real world, on the other side, Rin was seeing a dream. In the dream...
He saw that he was in that room where Sarah was lying on her bed like a lifeless body—pale and weak. Rin sat on the edge of the bed, then slowly removed the strand of her hair from her face with his hand gently. He was just looking at her and said, "When will you become alright? When will you come back?" he asked, even though he knew she couldn't respond. Then... then a voice—"Rin." Rin was surprised and quickly looked at Sarah, who slowly faced him weakly, then sat up. Then, without a word, she hugged him, and Rin was surprised. He was still shocked and confused. Is this real? Then Sarah said, "I am back, Rin." She was crying, and Rin was still shocked. He didn't hold her—he didn't know why. He felt it wasn't real, just something wrong. Then he pushed her away... why?
On the other side, Ming, who was also in a dream, found himself on a playground. It was the same ground where he and his brother used to play basketball. Suddenly, a voice called him, "MING! COME HERE FAST! LET'S PLAY BASKETBALL!" He turned around and saw his brother standing there, holding a ball in his hands. His brother looked young, around 21 years old. Then Ming looked at his own body—he was in a high school uniform. Looked like around 18 or 19 years old. In this dream, he was confused. Then Ming stepped forward. When he looked at his brother again for a minute, he forgot about the real world like it never existed. And he kept walking toward his brother, who was smiling and waiting for him.
On the other side, in Akiko's dream, she opened her eyes. She found herself sitting on a chair in front of a table. She looked around—she was in her home, in her room. She was confused because she didn't remember the real world and got confused why she felt something was wrong. Suddenly, the door of the room opened. She turned. It was her brother. Straight silky black hair falling over his face, he was tall, his eyes were green-colored. He was holding a cup of coffee. "Akiko, here is your coffee." Then he put the cup in front of her on the table. Akiko thanked him.
"Thanks, big brother." Her brother Raium smiled at her. Then looked at the table, at her opened notebook. "How's it going?" her brother asked. "Did you finish your story?" Then Akiko looked at the notebook for a minute. She thought... she felt she was writing a story. She felt... yes, she was writing. She nodded at her brother with a smile. Then her brother looked at the notebook at the title of the story. He read the title: "Love and Kindness." Akiko nodded and said, "It's about love and kindness. About how a person falls in love because of kindness, and how a person becomes kind because of love." Her brother nodded his approval. "It will become a great story, Akiko."
Akiko smiled like everything was real.
On the other side, in Luca's dream, he found himself in his home with his family, friends, and parents. Father and mother were clapping and said, "Cut the cake, birthday boy!" He looked around. Home was decorated. He looked at himself—he looked around 10 years old. It felt so real. Even though he didn't remember the real world right now in this dream, he felt something was wrong. But when he looked at his parents, he forgot about everything and felt so relaxed, relieved when he saw the smile on his mother's face. He started cutting the cake. Right now... he was happy.
On the other side, in Sofia's dream, she found herself in her hometown, in her country Indora. She was standing outside her own home. Small and sweet for her. She looked around, she was holding a suitcase. It felt like she just came back to her country, to her home, after finishing her study from Turvya. She knocked on the door. Her elder sister and younger sister opened the door. Without wasting a second, they hugged her. Then her mother came from right behind them and hugged Sofia after her sisters released her. Her mother said, "You are back, my princess." It was a sweet, happy moment in her dream. Sofia hugged her mother tightly and said, "Yes, I'm back."
Her sisters just smiled.
On the other side, in Kenzo's dream, he found himself sitting on the couch in his home in the hall and doing drawing. He was an 8-year-old kid in his dream. He drew his father, mother, and himself holding hands. The drawing was messy and childish. His mother called him, "Kenzo, my boy, come here. It's time for dinner!" He quickly looked up and saw his parents were waiting for him at the dining table. He ran towards them, holding the drawing in his hand.
"Mom, Dad, look at my drawing!"
His parents looked at the drawing he was showing them.
"It's beautiful, my boy," his mother said, and then he looked at his father hopefully—
Who wasn't cold or distant. He was not focused only on his work. His father closed his laptop, looked at the drawing, and said,
"It's amazing, my boy." Then they patted his head. He smiled happily and sat on the couch at the dining table and started having dinner with them.
Everyone was seeing a beautiful dream. But then suddenly, in everyone's dream, something happened.
In Ash's dream, his mother pushed him away. Sheto's sister pushed Sheto away. Ming's brother pushed him, making him fall and said—
Akiko's brother slammed on the table, making the cup fall on Akiko's diary. She looked at the coffee that had fallen—it became red, like blood. The title of her story changed from Love and Kindness to The Blood of Humanity.
In Luca's dream, his mother threw the cake. The writing on the cake—"Happy Birthday"—changed to "Die." And his mother said—
In Sofia's dream, Sofia's mother pushed her away.
Everyone was shocked by the sudden actions in their dreams.
In Kenzo's dream, his mother cut his drawing, and his father slammed the table.
And in everyone's dream, they found themselves in a destroyed place, blood all around, and Ash's mother, Sheto's sister, Ming's brother, Akiko's brother, Sofia's mother and sisters, and Kenzo's mother and father looked at them and said—
"Why didn't you save us?"
Some said, "Why did you leave us?"
Some said, "Come. We are waiting."
Ash's mother said to Ash, "Come to me. I'm waiting."
Sheto's sister said to Sheto, "You couldn't even protect me. It was your fault."
Then Rin, in his dream, looked at Sarah and she said, "You didn't save me when you could have saved me. It's your fault!"
Ming's brother said to Ming, "I didn't die because of a heart attack. Why didn't you come to save me?"
Akiko's brother, with anger—his one arm was cut—said, "I died for you!"
Luca's mother shouted, "I died because of you!"
Sofia's mother said, "We will die because of you if you don't come back!"
They were in their real bodies now. Their clothes were bloody.
In Kenzo's dream, he was standing on thousands of dead bodies. He just stared at it without any expression. Then a voice said from behind,
"Welcome, Kenzo."
Then he looked behind and saw a man with a covered face. Black suit.
Then Kenzo woke up.
And in others' dreams, they saw their hands covered in blood. Then everyone woke up with fear. Everyone was sweating—Ming, Luca were sweating, and Ash started crying. But Kenzo was calm and in deep thought.
Ming looked at Luca and Ash's condition, then Ming understood...
That they also had a nightmare. But he looked at Kenzo—who was calm. Ming didn't suspect him, because he wasn't reacting or afraid. It was obvious to Ming that maybe he didn't have a nightmare. But Ming was looking at him because Kenzo was in such deep thought that he didn't even ask Luca, his best friend, why he was shaking.
Before he could say anything or ask anything—
Suddenly a scream.
"Helppppppp!!!"
It was coming from the fourth room that was on the same floor, the first floor. Everyone looked at each other, then got up and quickly rushed toward the room.
As they arrived, Akiko, Sofia, Amaya, Rin, Hikari, Daisuke, Fubuki, even that old lady and other members arrived, and they saw the panicked faces of that room's members.
They pointed toward something. And everyone turned in that direction.
They saw some soldiers trying to do something. As they stepped forward, they saw a soldier—his neck was cut. A deep cut. He was holding a broken mirror piece from a window. It was covered in blood.
It was a horrifying thing because it had never happened before.
The soldiers around him were trying to stop the bleeding, but he had already died.
Ash hid behind Luca in fear.
Then the room members said, "We don't know why. But when we woke up, we woke up from the noise of the broken mirror. We saw he was panicked and blaming himself for his family, who became creatures. He was saying that it was his fault, that he couldn't save them."
Everyone listened as they continued.
"We saw the broken mirror piece in his hand, and before we could react, he cut his neck. It was that deep. He died."
They almost cried. Even Rin didn't shout at them for crying.
They said, "We don't know what to do and why it's happening. And we also saw the same kind of dream. We don't know what this is."
Hearing that, everyone was shocked.
Except Kenzo.
He was still in deep thought.
Ming now understood—that the dream he saw, he was not the only one who saw those dreams. There were many others who saw similar dreams that brought fear and unwanted guilt.
And the game of death had already started.
But the real game was starting now.
Because the person who was doing this...
He was playing with their minds now.
...
End of the chapter 13.