Chapter 5: Bad Dreams

In the darkness, Cal drifted, unsure if his eyes were open or closed. It felt like he’d been there forever, suspended in a void with no sense of time or space. The silence was oppressive, a weight that pressed down on him, making it hard to breathe. He reached out, but his hands grasped nothing—just emptiness.

“Hello?” His voice echoed back at him, distorted and distant, as if the void itself mocked his cry. The sound bounced around, fading into the blackness, leaving him more isolated than before.

He tried again, louder this time. “Is anyone there?”

The echo returned, lingering a little longer, but the response was the same: silence. Cal’s heart raced, the panic rising in his chest. He was alone, truly alone, in a place where even time seemed to have abandoned him. The void felt endless, stretching out in all directions, a prison with no walls, no escape.

He started to walk, though he wasn’t sure where his feet were taking him. Each step felt heavy, like he was moving through thick sludge. The darkness was absolute; he couldn’t see his own hands in front of him, couldn’t tell if he was moving forward or just standing still. The only thing that proved he was still in motion was the echo of his footsteps, a dull thud that came back to him delayed, warped.

“Please… anyone…” Cal’s voice cracked as he called out again. The echo that followed was softer, almost pitying.

Time passed—minutes, hours, maybe days. The concept of time dissolved, leaving only a crushing sense of eternity. Cal felt his sanity fraying at the edges, the darkness creeping into his mind, twisting his thoughts. Was this real? Was he still alive? Had the fight been a dream, and this the reality? He couldn’t tell anymore.

He stopped walking, his legs giving out beneath him as he sank to his knees. His hands clenched into fists, the nails digging into his palms, a desperate attempt to feel something—anything—in this void. But even pain seemed muted here, dulled by the overwhelming emptiness.

“Why am I here?” His voice was barely a whisper now, swallowed by the darkness before it could echo back. He was losing himself, his thoughts spiraling into the black abyss, swallowed by the nothingness that surrounded him.

In this place, he was no one, just a flicker of consciousness lost in an endless sea of dark.

Cal's despair was broken by a faint, soft glow in the distance. A small, red light, barely visible at first, shimmered in the vast darkness. It was the first sign of anything different in what felt like an eternity. He blinked, unsure if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the light remained, steady and inviting.

With nothing else to guide him, Cal pushed himself up, his legs shaky beneath him. He started toward the light, each step slow and uncertain, as if the darkness itself resisted his movement. The journey felt endless, every stride seeming to carry him no closer to his goal. But the light persisted, a beacon that beckoned him forward, promising warmth in the cold void.

As he drew nearer, the light grew stronger, illuminating the surrounding darkness with a soft, reddish hue. The source of the glow became clearer—a large, familiar gem, suspended in the air. Cal’s heart pounded as he recognized it. It was the same gem he had swallowed, but here in this dream, it was enormous, towering over him like a monument.

The gem wasn’t whole. A jagged hole marred its surface, and from that wound, red liquid and smoke seeped out, spiraling into the void. With each drop that fell, the light from the gem dimmed, flickering as if struggling to stay alive. The sight filled Cal with an inexplicable sense of urgency and sorrow, as if something precious was slipping away from him.

Then, cutting through the silence, came a voice—soft, familiar, and undeniably feminine. The same voice that had whispered to him before, the one that had told him to stay alive.

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“Rebuild it " the voice urged, echoing gently in his mind. “Fuel it. This was a gift, given to you. You must use it.”

Cal stared at the gem, feeling a strange connection to it, as though it was a part of him, something vital to his very being. The liquid that leaked from it looked like blood, thick and red, vanishing into the darkness below. He felt the weight of the voice's words, the responsibility it carried.

“How?” Cal’s voice quivered with a mix of fear and determination. The darkness around him seemed to press closer, as if eager to hear the answer.

The voice responded, calm and unwavering.

“By taking, Devour the strength of your enemies, consume the essence of your rivals. As long as there are those who stand against you, you will never stop growing stronger. But beware, for the gem must never be allowed to empty. If it drains completely, it will leave you weak, powerless. You will become nothing.”

Cal felt a chill run through him at her words, the weight of what she was telling him settling heavily on his shoulders. The voice offered no comfort, only a grim truth that left him grappling with the implications.

“But... how do I—” Cal began, his voice breaking, but the voice did not respond.

“Please,” he pleaded, desperation creeping into his tone. “Tell me what to do! I don’t understand!”

Silence.

Cal’s words echoed into the void, fading into the darkness with no reply. He was alone again, the soft glow of the gem before him slowly dimming as the red liquid continued to seep from its wound.

Suddenly, the darkness around him shifted. Shapes began to emerge from the void—vague, shadowy figures moving silently through the blackness. Cal’s breath caught in his throat as he watched them draw closer. Each one had a small, glowing gem inside them, shimmering with different colors: blue, green, yellow, and more. These gems were much like his own, pulsing with a strange, alluring energy.

As the figures approached, Cal could feel something deep within him stir—a hunger, primal and insatiable. The gems within these shadows called to him, their light a beacon of power that made his own gem burn hotter with need. He realized with a start that he could sense the strength each of these beings possessed, and he hungered for it. The voice’s words echoed in his mind: Devour the strength of your enemies, consume the essence of your rivals.

The shadows moved closer, and Cal’s hunger grew, an overwhelming urge that gnawed at his insides. He wanted—no, needed—their power. He needed to keep his gem from emptying, to prevent himself from becoming weak, from fading into nothingness.

His eyes fixed on the glowing gems within the shadows, and he could feel the desire to reach out, to take what was inside them. It was as if his very survival depended on it. The figures grew clearer as they surrounded him—some were monstrous, twisted in ways that defied logic, while others appeared almost human, their eyes gleaming with the light of the gems they bore.

Cal’s heart pounded as the hunger consumed him. He reached out, his fingers trembling, and the dream began to collapse around him, the shadows surging forward, drawn to his need. The last thing he saw before the darkness swallowed him was the gleam of those glowing gems, their light burning into his soul.

And then, Cal found himself standing in a familiar place—his old room back home. It was small, cramped, and devoid of color, much like how he remembered it. The once vibrant posters on the walls were now faded, the corners curling, and the bed he’d slept in for years was unmade, the sheets twisted and bunched up as if he’d just rolled out of it. A single, dim light bulb hung from the ceiling, casting a weak glow over the space, barely illuminating the clutter that littered the floor.

Cal walked through the room, feeling an odd sense of detachment, like he was watching someone else’s life. He picked up a photo frame from his nightstand, wiping off the thin layer of dust that had settled on it. The picture inside was of him and his sister, Abby. She was beaming at the camera, her arm thrown around his shoulders, while he managed a half-hearted smile. He stared at the image, a pang of guilt gnawing at him. Abby had always been the bright spot in his life, but he had never been able to match her enthusiasm or drive.

The dream shifted, and suddenly, he was in the living room. The television droned on in the background, filling the silence with mindless noise, just as it had countless times before. Cal saw himself slumped on the couch, eyes glazed over as he mindlessly flipped through channels, seeking something—anything—to distract him from the emptiness he felt. The days had bled together in a monotonous routine of nothingness. He would wake up, go to his dead-end job, come home, and repeat the cycle. There was no purpose, no drive, just an overwhelming sense of stagnation.

"Cal?" A voice broke through the monotony, and he turned to see Abby standing in the doorway, her brow furrowed with concern. She looked just as he remembered her—confident, determined, with an energy that seemed boundless compared to his own lethargy.

"What are you doing?" she asked, crossing her arms as she watched him. "You’re wasting your life sitting here, doing nothing. Don’t you want something more?"

Cal didn’t respond. He didn’t have an answer, just the same empty feeling that had been eating away at him for years. He watched as his past self shrugged, a noncommittal gesture that seemed to frustrate her further.

"Cal," she said, her tone softening as she stepped closer, "you need to do something with your life. You can’t just fade into nothing. Please, don’t let this be all there is."

He felt a lump form in his throat as he watched the scene play out, knowing that in reality, he had never truly listened to her. The memory twisted with regret, and he found himself wishing he could go back and change things, to find the strength to do more, to be more. The dream began to dissolve, the walls of the room crumbling into darkness. As the world around him faded, Cal felt the same gnawing emptiness that had plagued him for so long. It was the same feeling he had when the gem began to drain in the previous dream—the sense that something vital was slipping away, that he was on the verge of losing everything.

But as the darkness closed in, he heard Abby’s voice one last time, echoing through the void. "Don’t fade away, Cal. Do something with your life. Make it matter."

Cal woke up, but he was no longer the same.