The rain had stopped.
Kai sat in the quiet café, his fingers tracing the rim of the still-warm coffee cup. The world outside shimmered like a faded memory, but this place—Café Somnium—felt undeniably real. Too real.
But it was the voice in his head that disturbed him most.
> [SYSTEM NOTICE]
Status: Dream Walker – Soul Type: Undefined
System Integration Level: 2%
Core Functionality: Awakening…
This system is bound to you. No other soul is authorized.
"A system…?" Kai muttered, narrowing his eyes.
He'd played enough games to recognize the format—but this wasn't a game. There were no pop-ups, no menus he could tap. The words simply appeared in his mind—like thoughts, but not his.
He focused.
> [STATUS WINDOW – Locked]
[INVENTORY – Locked]
[DREAM CODEX – 1% Loaded]
[Connected Realms: 1]
Waking Realm – Anchored via Café Somnium
The system pulsed faintly in his mind, like a second heartbeat. He could feel it, living inside him, humming just beneath the surface of reality.
No one else saw it. No one else even knew it existed.
And yet… someone—or something—had built it. For him.
"Why me…?"
> [SYSTEM RESPONSE]
You answered the Dream Call.
You are the First Dream Walker in 999 cycles.
The world is incomplete. The gods are gone.
A Dream Walker must choose:
Restore the Balance. Or Rebuild the Dream.
Kai stood slowly, heart pounding.
He wasn't just in another world—he was something new in this world. A glitch in fate. A wildcard.
A being chosen by a force no one remembered.
He walked to the bookshelf behind the counter, letting his fingers brush the old spines. They were real—some in languages he didn't know but could now somehow read.
His thoughts wandered back to the summoning.
> "Please save our village from the Mist Wolves…"
He hadn't even tried. He was just there. And the power answered him.
That orb—The Flame of Velkan—still burned faintly inside his palm. Not as fire, but as potential. Power that wanted to be used.
> [Skill Unlocked: Infernal Touch – Lv. 1]
Burn targets with soul fire. Damage scales with user's Emotion Resonance.
Passive Effect: Immune to Sleep, Fire, and Dream Corruption.
"Emotion Resonance…? So it's not based on strength, but how I feel?"
As he puzzled over that, something shifted behind the counter. A glimmer of light pulsed from beneath the floorboards.
Kai moved to investigate.
He knelt down, fingers tracing the edges of a hidden hatch.
Click.
It opened smoothly, revealing an old trapdoor and a spiral staircase descending into mist.
> [New Realm Detected: Realm of Forgotten Wishes]
Danger Level: Unknown
Entry Conditions: Dream Walker Only
Quest Generated: Touch the Forgotten – Explore the Source Below
He swallowed hard.
He wasn't ready. Not yet. But this world wasn't going to wait.
He closed the hatch gently and stood. His reflection stared back at him from the polished counter—same dark hair, same tired eyes. But now, there was something else inside them.
Fire. Mystery. Madness. Power.
This wasn't Earth. There were no gods here. Only broken realms… and dreamers begging to be saved.
And somehow, for reasons even he didn't understand yet, he had answered the call.
---
> [SYSTEM NOTICE]
Title Acquired: Dream Walker
World Authority: Hidden
Origin: Unknown
You are outside the Balance.
You are not supposed to exist.
---
Kai stared at the message.
Then he exhaled a slow breath and looked around the cozy café once more. No staff. No customers. Only him—and the void beneath.
He grabbed a towel and wiped the counter like a proper shop owner.
"If I'm not supposed to exist," he whispered, smiling slightly,
"then let's see what happens when I start making my own rules."
Outside, the clouds were clearing. But far away, something in the Mist stirred—howling.
The Dream Walker had awakened.
And the world was already beginning to dream again.