“Ishbula! Why isn’t Mike breathing! You were supposed to save him, why did you have to let him die!”

“▓▓ke ▓▓”

He cried on his knees over his friend’s body, the tears fell on his lifeless chest, which Jake hit over, and over, and over again in the hopes it’d start beating once more.

“He told me you could reverse time, then do it! If you can’t be the one to save him, I will be the one! Ishbula! do it, before it’s too late!”

“▓▓▓▓, ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓”

“No, no, no, this can’t be happening, you can’t leave me, brother, you were supposed to be there for me at my wedding, to godfather my child. You can’t do that from the grave, Mike! I’m speaking to you!”

“JAKE!”

Covered in sweat, Jake opened his eyes. The sheets were strewn over the floor, and the shirt he’d slept on was ripped in half. He had tears streaming down his face, yet he couldn’t remember what he’d just dreamed of. In front of him, Mike looked with a worried face. He heard thrashing and muffled screaming coming from the visitor’s room, and he found Jake like that once he opened the door. It had taken ten minutes for him to wake Jake up, who was struggling around and wouldn’t stay put.

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He held Jake’s head with both hands, staring him square in the eyes. He looked shaken, still anxious about whatever he’d just dreamed of. With a shaky voice, he asked his best friend, “Jake, what happened? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Mike looked confused, but before long his eyes regained their shine, and he focused his gaze on his friend. His eyes drifted for a few seconds, as he tried to remember any detail about what had just happened, to no avail.

“Just a bad dream, must be a side effect of Ishbula-na’s naming”

Neither of them believed this statement, but both silently agreed to put the matter the rest for the moment, as no clear answer would be found out of the blue. Jake stood up before he felt dizzy and sat back down on the bed. His eyes became extremely sensitive to the daylight, and he could feel as if ten lightbulbs were pointed at each of his eyes. This feeling lasted for a few seconds, and it was gone as Jake shook his head from one side to the other.

“I’ll go take a shower, I still need to go to class”

Mike looked at him worried, he really seemed to want to say ‘Are you sure that’s the best idea?’, but decided against doing so, as he knew Jake could be a real pain once he decided on something.

“Just, be careful alright? Do you want me to join your classes incognito in case something happens?”

Jake smiled faintly, before shaking his head and standing up, before moving towards the door to the room. “It’s fine,” he said, "I'll be alright on my own".