Edo shot up from the bed violently, as if possessed. Even after all these years, that dream still terrified him to the core. For nine long years, the dream had returned, always bringing with it the same feelings of fear and disgust.

"Again... How much longer do I have to go through this?" he thought, feeling growing frustration. The nightmare that had haunted him for so long always left the same bitter aftertaste. Every morning, he woke up with a sense of dread that stayed with him most of the day. Even after waking, the image from his dream still haunted his thoughts.

Edo shook his head, trying to regain control. "It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault..." he repeated to himself, though deep down, he knew that wasn't entirely true. Despite the mantra, he still felt the weight of responsibility pressing down on him.

After several minutes of intense struggle with his own thoughts, he managed to calm down. Once he regained his clarity, he realized something crucial. The recent events, those strange, supernatural abilities that had awakened within him, were real. He had ended up in another world, and he wasn't dreaming. It was all real.

Edo looked around the room he was in. It wasn't his bedroom. Instead of the familiar four walls, he was surrounded by a small, cozy space with wooden walls and floors. A lamp hung from the ceiling, with a live flame burning inside, lighting the room with a warm glow. Edo looked at the lamp with a mix of fascination and concern. "Something like that could start a fire in an instant. Do they not know how dangerous that is?" he thought. The room also had a small, handwoven rug and a bookshelf. The bed he had been lying in was in the left corner of the room, right by the door.

Edo's heart began to race when he realized he wasn't alone. In the corner of the room, to his right, sat a woman, completely absorbed in a book. She was a short, black-haired woman dressed in a white robe with black stripes, and her dress and light-heeled shoes matched perfectly. Edo quickly remembered who she was—the sorceress who had helped him fight off the bandits before he lost consciousness.

"Damn, did she see me panicking like a child just now? That must've been pathetic..." he thought in embarrassment. He tried to shake off the thoughts, but still felt ashamed of his behavior. "How could I have humiliated myself like that in front of someone who saved my life?"

The woman didn't even glance at him, still engrossed in her book. "Maybe she was so disgusted by my behavior that she decided to completely ignore me? Or maybe she just didn't notice I had woken up?" Edo wondered, trying to understand the situation.

"Umm... Thank you for helping me back there when they attacked. If not for you, things could've ended tragically," he said timidly, hoping his words would provoke some kind of response. But she didn't even look at him.

"Seriously?! I know I'm not lucky with people, especially women, but this is ridiculous!" he thought, growing irritated. He decided to approach her to better gauge why she was ignoring him. Even when he was close enough to almost touch her, she still paid him no attention.

"Hey, could you at least look at me or say one damn word!" he shouted in frustration, reaching out to snatch the book from her hands. But his hand... passed right through the book, as if it didn't exist.

"What the...?" Edo froze, unable to believe what had just happened. "Did my hand just pass through that book?"

In disbelief, he slowly reached out again toward the book still resting in the woman's hands. And again—his hand went through it, as if it wasn't material. Horrified, he looked back at the bed where he had been lying moments ago. And there, to his horror, he saw himself, lying motionless.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"You've got to be kidding!" he shouted. For a moment, he thought he might have died, but he quickly noticed that his body was still breathing.

"Thank God, I'm alive... But what's happening to me? Am I a ghost?" he wondered, trying to piece together what had just happened. "How do I get back into my body?!"

He approached the bed and tried to reenter his body, but nothing happened. He passed right through it, as if it were air.

"What the hell?! Why can't I get back into my body?!" he screamed in despair.

Suddenly, he realized that despite being a ghost, he wasn't passing through the floor or the bed, nor was he floating. As soon as he became aware that he was immaterial, it was as if his mere thoughts activated a new ability—his body began to rise into the air. It felt strange, but at the same time, pleasantly freeing.

"Well, look at that... That's how it works. My mind was blocking these possibilities," he thought with slight satisfaction.

Edo floated until he reached the door, which he passed through without any difficulty. He found himself in a narrow hallway where the travelers' rooms were located.

"So, this is where the room I was supposed to get from the bartender was... Too bad I didn't get the key myself because of all that chaos," Edo remembered. After a moment, realizing he didn't need to use stairs to get to a lower floor, he phased through the floor, landing on the level below.

The hall he found himself in was almost empty. By day, it bustled with life, but now there were far fewer people. Some of the tables were completely empty, which surprised him a little, as he had expected a place like this to always be crowded, even at night. However, he quickly realized that the adventurers' lives must have been exhausting, so most of them were probably resting in their rooms or homes within the town.

Edo landed on the floor, imagining himself walking on it. As he thought, his mind was the key here—by picturing himself as a ghost, he could actually step on the ground. He felt the coolness of the wood beneath his feet. He looked at the spot where the battle had taken place, the one that had knocked him unconscious. The marks of the destruction were still visible—splinters of wood, overturned chairs, and a dark stain on the wall from spilled soda.

"Damn, what was their problem? Why did they attack me?" Thoughts swirled in his head, and the memories of that moment came back like a nightmare. "I get the first guy... That's kind of my fault. When the can of soda exploded, it splashed his face, and he dropped his bag of valuable crystals. But the other three? What were they trying to achieve? Why did they call me a demon?"

Frowning, Edo tried to piece it all together. His memory was a bit foggy, but one detail bothered him. "Wait... When I first entered this place, one of the adventurers tripped me. He said something about demons. Called me a black-haired freak! Could that be connected?" His thoughts began to take shape. "What if everyone I fought thought I was a demon? Because of what? My hair?"

Edo couldn't calm down. He kept thinking, trying to understand the aggression of those people. "There are two options..." he thought to himself, trying to find some logic. "Either that tough guy with the bag of crystals was their friend, and they wanted revenge, or they were just looking for an excuse to attack me."

Suddenly, another crucial thought struck him. "Wait, something doesn't add up... Even though I'm a ghost, I still have my clothes on, the same ones I had before I blacked out. Does that mean I can bring objects into this world?" He felt excitement at this idea. "Could I test it now? I've got my phone and headphones with me!"

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone and headphones. To his surprise, these items had also passed with him into the spirit world, but now they were surrounded by a glowing blue aura, as if they were burning with a blue flame.

"So, I can keep objects as a ghost..." Edo thought, turning the phone in his hands. "But what can I use this for? I can't use them to hurt people. Unless... as a ghost, I can see other ghosts? Maybe there's some spirit world I don't know about...?" His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a deep, low voice.

"Boy, maybe you'd like to sit down and talk about some adventures?"

Edo turned around sharply. In the corner of the room, sitting on one of the chairs, was an old man. He had long white hair, a black pointed hat, and a green, dirt-stained robe. What caught Edo's attention, however, were the blue flames surrounding the old man. He immediately understood that he was dealing with a ghost. The old man looked friendly enough, but Edo knew better

than to judge by appearances.