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Fried opened his eyes from a deep slumber, finding himself standing in a field made entirely of tall grass. It came as high as his hips. As far as the eye could see there was a massive movement of yellow, a gentle breeze blowing the grass like water in organised parallels right there beside him.

Was he dreaming?

He wasn’t sure but somehow he felt at peace, enough to close his eyes and simply feel the breeze. The wind suddenly stopped and he felt compelled to open his eyes once more. He was no longer standing in a field, but instead found himself standing next to a black barren tree. It didn’t seem alive, it had no leaves and its exterior was so dark Fried was having a lot of trouble making out whether the bark of the tree was smooth or simply looked fuzzy; it was particularly difficult to make out this trees finer details. As he was observing it the tree exuded a cold chill winds right into his face, after which the entire tree seemed consumed by the chill, small ice shards grew along its branches like fruit.

A voice hummed on the winds that permeated from the growing ice.

“It is not time yet!”

The cold and the noise of the winds became deafening and Fried woke up again.

This time he knew it was real, that he had really woken up, because he found himself in a bed covered in sweat. Neither the bed nor the room it was in were familiar to him. He got up out of bed and looked for the nearest window. What he saw out of the window left him amazed and in awe. He was in a tall tower of a large castle entirely surrounded by a city entirely covered in a thick and heavy mist. He had never seen anything like it.

He saw a door and approached it. Quietly and slowly he opened it, checking carefully if there was anyone guarding the door. To his relief there was no one in the hallways. He ran into the corridor looking for any set of stairs that could lead him down into the main body of the castle. Much to his dismay this proved rather difficult, as regardless of whether he took the stairs leading up or down, he always ended up back in the same place, in front of the same door each time; the bedroom he woke up in.

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He felt defeated, though the initial adrenaline of the nightmare was wearing off likely didn’t help, and he was beginning to feel unwell. He walked back into the room, intending on getting back in bed and gathering his thoughts.

To his surprise he was greeted by a figure standing in the middle of the room, a figure that had not been there previously. At first glance it seemed like a person, though without a face, its skin completely black and smooth. Something about the texture seemed familiar, though its shape did not. It had human qualities and features like arms and a head and proportional body ratios but it reminded Fried of a spinning top more than anything else. Fried had taken several moments now just observing it, once again it greeted him while remaining completely silent and still. Receiving no further reaction from Fried the creature bowed and headed over to a curtain on the side of the room. It pulled the curtain back revealing a rather large and rather comfortable looking reclining chair for him to sit in. The creature gestured silently for him to sit in it.

Fried just stood there, silently staring the creature down, focusing entirely on the area where it’s face would be if it had one. The creatures demonstrated it was well aware of this and exuded an aura of malice at Fried, its closest equivalent to a stare down.

In that moment a fear grew in Fried’s heart, the deathly gaze of this small and weak looking creature gave him a genuine fright for his life.

Reluctantly he gave in and sat in the chain. He felt not only defeated but now he also felt trapped. He leant back into the chair, closed his eyes and let out an extremely deep sigh. His illness was catching up to him now and he felt himself getting weaker.

“I’m going to call you Grumpy,” He said out loud at the creature that had returned to standing motionlessly in the middle of the room, “Because that’s how you make me feel.”

He felt his consciousness fading as he felt warm and cold at the same time. He wasn’t sure whether he was already dreaming or whether he was hallucinating, but before he fell back asleep he could have sworn he heard a loud and deep belching laughter echoing across the room, while Grumpy had seemingly disappeared.

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