'I feel weird'

Feeling a weight on his chest, Kenki tries to shift in his bed.

He cannot.

'Kel…….ug, …. Tra-'

'I feel like I downed a bottle of vodka last night. Hangovers a bitch, hah! my head is pounding like there's gonna be no tomorrow.'

'I should go ahead and take a shower. I have a date with Ashoka Tano later in the day, can't make myself look like some bum.'

Ken tries to get up again but just like before he does not manage to move a muscle.

'Giro…….sira, kriit. Ul….saah'

'Ugh, why can't I move? And is that someone whispering Skyrim dragon tongue in my ear? Damn. I should cut down on the alcohol, I know the stuff can give you hallucinations but this is ridiculous.'

Kenki relaxes his body.

I'm so incredibly tired. Well, maybe I can sleep for five more minutes, it won't hurt. Right?

'..Wait!'

"Askriit, Kishara na gironoed rök…"

Why am I on a date with a Jedi from Star Wars?

Ken's eyelids snap open.

Spoiler :

[https://i.imgur.com/alNtgwv.jpeg]

Inches away from him he sees the face of a creature most frightening. Two large yellow eyes stare directly into his, he sees the grin filled with large misshapen teeth, the rotted lips, the missing nose. Ken doesn't scream, he doesn't freeze in horror, he barely even has the time to register what it is that he's actually facing.

Instead, his body moves on its own, having regained its mobility.

Ken punches at the creature with as much force as his small fist can generate. The blow connects, though surprisingly there isn't an impact, the sound of flesh hitting flesh is not heard.

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Ken's fist passes through the pale figure. He feels as though he's punched a very thick foam.

One moment the figure is there. The next, after a blink of the eyes, it's gone. As if it had never existed.

Jumping down on the hard wooden floorboards Kenki urgently surveys the room.

It's just as he remembers it. Several straw beds along with some toys and tools, one of which is the stick Ken uses to train for harvesting spiritual wheat. Yun, his younger brother, is still sleeping soundly and his older one is not present.

Walking to the open wooden window he looks outside. By the looks of things the sun had just lit up, lighting everything in a calming red glow.

Ken stands stunned in his place for quite a while.

'What the fuck was that?! I know that it was real, I'm not deluded enough to believe that what I saw was some dream.'

He surveys the room again.

Little bro is chillin, he's not too much of a heavy sleeper. He should have woken up if he heard that eerie speech, it wasn't exactly silent. Daiki wakes up early to prepare breakfast with mum.

Going over to his bed he moves the blanket covering it out of the way. Digging through the straw it doesn't take him long to find what he's looking for.

Grabbing the knife that had been hidden within, he examines it.

It is made entirely out of sheep bone, from the handle through the blade and all the way to the tip it is a single solid piece. It has a jagged edge and is surprisingly sharp.

Ken also fishes out a sheath. It is made from leftover wool all the way back from when his parents had been making him new clothes.

He gently wraps the sheath around the blade, careful not to cut it.

Strapping the knife to his ankle with a string, he hides it from sight with his pants.

'Right… I don't know how exactly this is going to help me against that horror but its better than nothing.'

Ken deliberates.

'Should I tell my parents? I'm not back on earth where things like this had no meaning and could be safely ignored. Magic and demons are a thing. They are way more experienced than me when it comes down to it.

For the moment let's assume that I'm back on earth. What could cause such a hallucination?

Alcohol? I haven't had a sip ever since I reincarnated, and you'd need to drink liters of the thing over the course of several days…

Food poisoning…?

Ken presses on his abdomen with a hand. He follows it by balancing himself on a single foot.

'Maybe food poisoning, I don't feel any stomach pains though. No headaches and my balance is alright.'

What else…

All of a sudden a thought strikes him.

Sleep paralysis. Yes - that could be it. I remember a friend of mine telling me how horrific it had been for him. I've never experienced one but the symptoms seem to match - inability to move, pressure on the chest as if something is standing on you…

And a sleep paralysis demon to tie things together.

Kenki violently shakes his head from side to side.

'Sleep paralysis seems like the most likely candidate. Anyways…'

Ken breathes in a large lungful of air, he recognizes the unmistakable smell of baked bread.

"Yun." He pokes his brother on the cheek. No reaction.

"Yuuuuuuuun. Breakfast's ready!" He pokes him several times in quick succession. Still no reaction.

'Yeah, no way in hell is he still sleeping after all that' amused, ken shakes his head.

'Let's see, how to wake him up? Should I do the standard pinching of the nose and mouth? Yell in his ear?' Kens eyes land on Yuns feet. It takes him just a single second to figure out how he wishes to wake his brother.

With a devilish smile on his face ken runs his fingernails along the soles of Yuns feet.

"Waa-"

Yun gasps out a response and twitches but goes limp immediately after, as if nothing had happened.

'Ohohoho. challenge accepted.' Ken gleefully rubs the palms of his hands together.

'Let's see how long this four year old brat will pretend to sleep.'