Daniel rarely dreamt. Perhaps it was his lack of imagination, or his uneven sleeping schedule, but nights passed by in an instant. When he did dream, it was often a nightmare. At night, his anxiety about the future would conjure dreadful images and scenarios, which would wake him up in a cold sweat. Tonight, it was not one of those. At least for now.

He found himself staring at a furry creature, a mockery of what a cat was supposed to be. Its fur, grey with blue stripes, was spiky and uncomfortable. Two massive green eyes with slitted pupils stared him down, daring him to move. A toothy grin ran across its entire face, arrogant and mocking.

The Cheshire Cat was judging him.

“Have you lived a good life, Daniel?” it asked him, chewing on something he didn’t want to know about.

“Yes? No?” he said after an infinity of rummaging through his thoughts.

“I’ve had a nice life, but if I were to die now, I’d still have regrets. Isn’t it so with most people?” he asked the cat.

“I’m just a cat. What would I know?”

Daniel did feel a bit silly now that it was pointed out.

“Instead let’s talk about you. Be a dear and show me what you talked about with the witch,” it said to him in hisses and purrs next to his ear. The Cheshire Cat had at some point wrapped around his neck like a scarf, its head rotating 180 degrees.

The landscape around them morphed. Instead of perpetual darkness, they both found themselves inside the witch’s hut, staring at a memory playing through his eyes. Despite the scene being familiar, he felt like a stranger in his own body. At least this time, he wasn’t insane. Was he?

Moments passed. The memory continued with him galloping away into the swamp. The cat further curled up, squeezing his neck tighter and tighter. A moment of panic shot through Daniel before he realised he didn’t need to breathe here. They both observed his talks with the family head, his descent into the underworld, and his hasty promises to help.

The longer they stayed here, the more he noticed how weird the whole situation was. Why was he showing a stray cat his precious memories? Why was it judging him so? He met the cat’s eyes, and then he remembered a simple fact. None of this mattered. He was in a dream - so what if he revealed a few secrets?

“Know the sorceress from somewhere else?” it asked as the memory of him exiting the mansion came to an end. “Let’s check, just in case.”

“No,” he said, waiting for something else to appear. Seconds passed like days, but the darkness never changed.

“Memory is a tricky thing. It’s easily manipulated by your psyche. Adding in magic to that mix always makes it damned difficult,” it said, licking its massive paws.

“Well then, last question before you forget all of this. Why are you trying to help the Steelfords?”

Daniel’s mind conjured a memory he remembered well. It was the conversation with Xaviar after Morvina’s assault. They found themselves staring at a chess match, which was decisively one-sided.

“Initially, I wanted the opportunity to learn more about the world from Xaviar. He was strong - an important person back in the day. With his teachings, I thought I could excel here,” Daniel said and then sighed.

“There’s also my job. As a Soul Reaper, I can’t just leave his last request unanswered. It’s his deep concern for his family that wouldn’t let him join Ashkarn’s legions back then. It’s the obsession that won’t let him reincarnate now.”

As the conversation between him and Xaviar ended in Daniel’s memory, he added one last thing.

“Well, I’m also not heartless. I’m not the kindest or the most generous, but I try to do the right thing whenever I can.”

The cat sat in silence for some time. He wondered if it had fallen asleep from the memory, or if it was simply thinking.

“You’re deceptively interesting for someone who looks so simple. I changed my mind. Let’s go through your memories one more time. Show me everything about this “Soul Reaper” job.” It said, a hint of curiosity appearing in its voice for the first time.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

It was interesting how darkness could be so different. The change between the dream and limbo wasn’t noticeable in terms of colour. It was the emotions. The previous was full of anticipation and possibilities - a key to unlocking any memory in the brain. The latter was cold, emotionless, and uncaring.

“You could say it all began when I met Death,” Daniel began to say, but before he could continue, he heard the cat around his neck begin to hiss.

The grim reaper he was familiar with was nowhere to be seen. Despite that, the Cheshire Cat’s fur was standing on end. It was violently shivering.

“Stop the memory. I don’t want to see any more!” it yelped and howled, scratching the darkness with its claws. Try as he might, Daniel could not get rid of the limbo.

An ever-so-familiar scene played out right before his eyes. One moment, there was nothing but darkness. The next, a paler than white hand pulled out a scythe carved from human bone. There was a certainty in its movements - nothing in the world could stop it at this point.

The Cheshire Cat put up a valiant effort. It surrounded itself with a thousand different barriers conjured from vagrant nightmares, teleporting miles away each time it blinked, but none of that mattered here. No defence was good enough. No distance was far enough.

“Your time has not come yet. Instead, I shall leave you a parting gift. Have fun!” a cold but playful voice resounded through the darkness as the scythe descended on the dream creature, splitting it down the middle. The corpse exploded into a thousand different butterflies, colouring the darkness for a brief moment. There was something unsettling about how casually the cat died.

“As for you - we shall be meeting properly very soon. I look forward to that fateful day.”

With that, the darkness shattered into countless pieces, falling away like pieces of a mirror.

Daniel found himself staring at the world sideways. He quickly shook his head and wiped off his drool, picking himself up from the table. Everything around him was hazy, but even still, he noticed a pool of red on the ground. It was then that his mind snapped into focus and he realised Melissa was lying on the ground, shouting in agony as she clutched her right eye! Blood was rapidly flowing through the cracks of her fingers.

Two thoughts passed through his head. The first was to help the woman - she would die from blood loss if this continued. The second was less prominent, coming from depths he didn’t know he had. It screamed at him to silence the woman before she told everyone who he was. She was at her weakest. It would be so incredibly easy.

He shook his head and ran up to the woman. The first thought had won out, but even so, he had no clue on how to stem the bleeding. There had to be a healing potion somewhere in here.

“AAAGH! It burns! It burns!” she yelled in anguish, rolling around in her blood. Daniel scrambled around the shop, reading label after label of useless products. None of this was of use. Finally, after what felt like minutes, he saw a small vial titled the “Potion of Recovery”. He hastily uncorked it.

“Drink!” he said, holding her down with one hand. She was thrashing around too much to feed it to her, and in such pain, she likely wasn’t thinking straight. It took the better part of a minute to get it in her mouth, but as the first drop hit her tongue, a wave of calm washed over her. She was still shivering, and her hands were still clenched in pain, but it must have reached a bearable level.

He spent the next few minutes in silence as she recovered, thinking about what Melissa had just done. If Death hadn’t taken action, she would’ve been able to learn his deepest secrets and erase the fact that it had happened in the first place. The more he thought about it, the more he was filled with rage.

“Why? What made you go through my memories?” he said, kneeling beside her, his voice quivering.

“It was L-Lucy,” she said, wincing. Her wound was slowly closing, though the potion wasn’t strong enough to regrow an entire eye. Besides, Daniel didn’t think there was magic strong enough to counteract the grim reaper’s “gift”.

“She was suspicious o-of you. That’s what the brown package m-means.”

“You saw enough, but then you decided you wanted to know more,” Daniel said, holding back his anger.

To that, she didn’t respond. Despite his emotions, he waited a few more minutes to see if Melissa was fine. Although she had invaded his mind, she didn’t deserve to die.

“W-wait. Don’t leave. With your class and your backer, we can find out who the sorceress is. Lucy is also suffering from her,” she said, feebly reaching out a hand as Daniel turned to leave.

In all regards, he should’ve turned her to the guards, but he wasn’t familiar with the law enforcement system here. Considering she mentioned Morvina, he would report the matter to Tavian later and seek his guidance.

“I can make you my apprentice... The art of dreams is powerful. Think about what you can do if you combine it with your legendary class.”

Considering both Vael and Death could manifest through dreams, he didn’t hold it in high regard. The latter part, however, made him stop.

“If you say anything about what you’ve seen today, I will find you,” Daniel said, putting as much malice as he could into his words. He felt uncomfortable, and he doubted he would actually do much if it came to it, but the information couldn’t be allowed to spread.

As he opened the door to the outside, he heard one last yell from behind him.

“I know you will come back, begging for me to help you! You know too much to be safe from her! When that day comes, I will welcome you with open arms!”