We were back at home. After that small incident, Alina lost her mood to play around. So, we came back a bit earlier than expected. We all had dinner together before I locked myself in my room.
I lay on my bed thinking about everything that happened today.
'Everything felt too coincidental, from me finding those things in the museum to meeting Iris, then the appearance of Verina, and lastly that old man. Like everything is happening too perfectly. So, many oddities at the same time. Making it hard to digest for me.'
After contemplating for a while, I concluded that the only thing I could do was that step into the 8th stage of the nightmare realm.
I lay on my bed silently, slowly closing my eyes. Letting my body fall into the dream world. Instantly, everything was replaced by darkness, and the next second, I found myself surrounded by darkness with a thousand insects crawling over my body.
I savour this pain thoroughly before glancing at the sky filled with darkness.
'This would take me another step ahead in suffering. Even as a seer, you need to live through destruction, and have to be strong enough to fulfil your role.'
After a few random thoughts, I closed my eyes, letting the darkness expand. Suddenly, the darkness surrounding me started moving like a storm had appeared in this dark world. In a few minutes, darkness settled again, and the two voices came from the void.
"Who will you choose, Lucian?" These voices echoed in the surrounding like slowly turning raving, messing with my head with passing seconds, they became more and more berserk, almost bursting my head.
In a minute, when I was almost at the limit, two figures appeared in the darkness. Asking me to choose between them.
"Choose me, choose yourself, this world doesn't need passivity, you're the hero, so what, you made a mistake in the past, who didn't just accept them and move on. The world will still accept you." The one in the right spoke with a calm voice.
"Choose me, that's what you want, don't you deny yourself. The world is destined to end; no matter what you do, everyone will still die. So, why not watch it and understand why this is happening? Stop fooling yourself, just let go of this pain and save yourself.' The figure from the left spoke in an almost satanic tone, hiding under calmness.
These two shadowy figures looked at me eagerly, waiting for an answer.
'The easiest way to step into the 8th stage of the nightmare realm is to choose one and move on. Unfortunately, I plan to do it the hard way.'
"I don't plan to choose. So, you guys can leave now. Let the third one come." I said to them. As the words left my mouth, both figures vanished, and the third one appeared in the darkness.
"I had always known you would be here. The path can't be given away; the path you should walk is yours, not others. Now, you're here, it means you are ready to accept yourself; most people can't" The figure spoke in a calm, patient tone, like it had been waiting for me.
"No, I am not accepting anything," I replied to this figure. Absolute silence… filled the world.
"Well… It's your choice what else I can do. Have fun…" Leaving behind these words, the figure vanished.
What came next was no torture, no raving, nothing, just darkness and me. Slowly, darkness started to vanish. I came back to my room, a faint moonlight coming from the window beside me, lay a girl. The faint moonlight illuminated her face as she slept without any worry, maybe having a good dream.
I let her sleep, covering her with a blanket before looking at my shadow, which was standing in front of my bed with crimson eyes and a slight smile. The price I paid for not choosing anything.
'From now on, it will have its own sentience, not just basic ones like food and fear for survival. Now, he can actively try to replace my real self.'
I gave him a long look before he shrank back into the shadows. I lay on my back staring at the ceiling.
'College will start from next week. I can't really leave any oddity behind, or it would be disastrous.'
Suddenly, a hand came to my mouth, lying leisurely, giving Alina a glance, who was still sleeping peacefully. I closed my letting the darkness take over.
The next morning, everyone sat together planning the day. Mom and Dad are going to meet some old friends, while Verina also needs to meet someone regarding her work. Everything was fine until Alina told us that her friend Alice is coming home, who most likely will come with Iris.
After everyone left, I remained alone at the house because Alina had also gone with Mom and Dad to get a new phone and would come back with Alice.
I sat on the sofa as the shadow was standing in front playing its staring game.
'From now on, it will become more and more real with each dream it consumes. Now it is an intelligent creature, no longer just a beast.'
Time continued to pass, silence filling the almost empty house. Suddenly, a doorbell rang, breaking the silence. I stood up and went to open the door. Outside stood Alina, Alice and Iris. As I had expected.
"See my new phone. Isn't it good? Hehe…" Alina quickly jumped in, showing off her new phone with a big smile.
"Hm". I nodded, letting everyone in.
After serving them some snacks, I left them alone and went into my room. I sat on my and looked at shadow strange reaction. This time, when Iris came, he didn't try to hide, as he no longer took her for a threat.
When I was sitting alone, contemplating the shadow's strange behaviour. A loud sound came from the ground floor.