"Tch, I thought you were going to explore more, you useless bastard."

Startled by the voice, Tibaut tried to get up but felt his entire body paralyzed. He looked around the space with his peripheral vision but saw nothing but darkness. He couldn't tell how far it went and felt nothing below him as he lay on the floor of whatever this space was. He felt like he was floating. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold here. He could hear footsteps approaching him.

"That exploration the other day made me hopeful but you really are the same in this life as the last." The unseen voice said before sighing.

He scrambled his eyes around but it seemed the bearer of the voice was just out of his sight.

"I had high hopes since you had managed to get in contact with Gabriel's Saint but it seems she's hopeless in a sense different from you. By the time she'll have gained use, you'll probably be dead."

("What an odd dream") Tibaut thought to himself as he pointed his eyes towards the source of the voice.

A figure soon walked into his vision. Even though he was on the ground he could tell they were shorter than he was. They sat on his chest.

"Keep thinking that."

("What a shitty little bastard")

"Aren't you fearless? But no matter, there's no point feeling insulted by an existence like you." They replied.

("Am I going to have to listen to you drone on and on? Why the hell couldn't I have gotten a dream like the one I got the other day?")

"What a lustful man. Anyway, the only reason I came here was to introduce myself but I suppose that can wait until you prove yourself useful."

A thought then ran through Tibaut's mind before he said his next words. Could this be real? This conversation was a bit too coherent and as much as he tried to take control of this dream, he couldn't find the reins for it. But where could they have brought him?

"Well, this conversation is real but this space is in your subconscious." The short figure on him replied.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

("What the hell are you? How did you get in my mind?")

"Isn't that funny? Would you also ask a shepherd how they were able to enter their own pen?"

("?")

"Adventurers I've heard, explore the world and discover its mysteries yet you waste away at this home as if you're crippled."

("It's not my fault we're not good enough to go exploring.") Tibaut tried to lighten his tone as he didn't want whoever this was to decide to kill him.

"Then get at it better already. It's annoying having only one eye on the ground and that bastard has only given me one hint in his years alive."

("What do you mean by that?") Tibaut did not like what the figure was suggesting. ("Don't tell me!?")

"Yes, I can see everything you do."

("Everything?") He cautiously thought.

"Do you want me to list every day at the exact time and place you masturbated in this world?"

Tibaut felt his mind and dignity crumbling but tried to hold on.

("You monster, what's your problem!? Haven't you ever heard of privacy you pervert?")

"At the scale I exist on, I couldn't care less about that sort of information." They had now taken a lotus position on his chest. Why they chose to do this on him was anyone's guess.

"Though if you aren't able to prove yourself useful, I might have to consider reusing your soul for another experiment."

Tibaut tried his best to start moving but he was still stiff as a cinder block.

"Would you please stop grunting? You're reminding me of all those memories of yours I looked through." The figure giggled.

Tibaut's self-esteem was now at an all-time low and he decided to stop struggling.

("What do you mean by 'reusing my soul'? I'm not some glass bottle that can be turned into a vase!")

"If you don't find any useful information you will find out." They responded.

Some time had passed and the figure had been quiet for a while.

He still wasn't able to discern the figure's features but he could tell they were looking at him directly in his face. They shaked their head and a click of the tongue was heard. Were they thinking about something?

And before he knew it he was in his bed looking at his ceiling. His face was covered in sweat and he could feel his heart pumping fast.

"What the hell was that? Dammit, I didn't even get their name!"

As he lay in his bed, he thought about it logically.

"Ugh, it's probably because I saw Louise in a dream recently."

After seeing her and being reminded of his previous life he had been contemplating a question he brushed off soon after being brought into the world. Who had brought him here or why had he been brought here? It had been weighing on his mind recently.

"Tsk, it was probably my mind just making up nonsense. I remember once, I was so stressed about a test I kept dreaming about doing it for a whole week. It's just that again isn't it?" He tried to convince himself.

He wiped the sweat off his face and got out of bed.

"I probably shouldn't take that dream too seriously. Besides, there was a distinct lack of things with words on them there plus it seems my mind couldn't visualise someone who would bring me here so it probably just left it blank."

He then did some stretches, tried not to think about the dream too deeply and started his day.