Red didn't know for how long he traveled. The Spiritual Energy in his body started to evaporate even more quickly and weakness returned to his steps. His vision began to blur and the heavy sounds of the flowing stream became distant. Pain and feeling over his weak body reappeared.

He looked at the stone in his hand. The red traces had almost completely vanished from the object's surface and the aura had withdrawn into less than a meter in diameter. For the first time, Red was able to see what the 'thing' looked like from outside - a formless crimson aura that tapered off into the open air and didn't have any defined boundaries. The smell of blood he had become used to was extremely faint now, and the youth was able to constantly feel it disappearing.

'There's no point.'

The boy knew that he would need to get off his high, and he doubted the Spiritual Energy in the stone was enough to provide him with a significant boost. Thankfully, since Red entered the passage, he had not seen or heard any monsters. However, he wasn't sure whether that was due to his weakened senses failing to spot them or because no creatures were living in this tunnel. Both options worried him in different ways.

Scanning around, Red searched for a proper place to hide, but even that seemed like an arduous task as lethargy took over. The boy had hit a wall with his physique multiple times that day, only being able to push past it due to sheer adrenaline or unnatural means. Now, though, it didn't matter how close he was to his objective or how strong his will to move forward was - his body was shutting down and he knew there was no delaying it this time.

His legs abruptly stopped listening to him, and with a false step, Red saw the world spinning around him as he crashed to the ground. Pain and other sensations started to become indistinct, and the boy had never felt his consciousness fading so clearly than at this moment. There was only one thought that came to his mind as the world became dark.

'I have to get through this...'

...

The boy sensed his mind being pulled into a dream. There were no colors, no noises, no warmth, nothing but the feeling of weightlessness and movement as some part of his being was dragged through an endless path. Red tried to fight back, to resist this pull, but he couldn't feel his own body.

There was only awareness and his thoughts somehow made to experience a process the youth couldn't possibly understand. He didn't know how long this trip took - passage of time seemed hard to measure in his state - but eventually sensation started to slowly return to him.

Red didn't know why, but this time his senses were able to quickly adapt to his surroundings. He was in a small room, roughly ten square meters. The walls seemed to be worn down, made up of grey stone bricks, and as the boy's gaze wandered up he could see the arched ceiling composed of red wooden tiles. The place was dimly lit by a handful of candles on the far side of the room, all spread around a simple table, on which a small white slab was raised. Something was written on the surface of the object - a line of unfamiliar symbols the youth could only guess formed a word.

Examining the object, Red thought that he recognized a few of these letters from Viran's pages. However, he was abruptly interrupted when he felt another presence in the room. The boy turned around and saw a man standing in the doorway with his back to him. This individual sported the same armor he had become so familiar with throughout these dreams, indicating his occupation quite clearly. A soldier, except this armor looked similar to the one of the burly man he had met in his last dream, radiating the same pressure which made it hard for him to breathe.

The youth thought that maybe he had met the same person again, but the hair of this individual was blonde and he didn't look nearly as big. As the man slowly turned around, Red could confirm this was someone different. He looked to be far younger, with a clean-shaven face and refined and elegant features, a stark contrast to the boy's killer in his previous vision. He imagined if the legends about handsome heroes slaying horrible monsters on the surface were true, then this man would probably be the protagonist of one of them.

Hero or not, Red still didn't let down his guard. If his previous experience told him anything, then this man would probably be the one to kill him and send him back to the real world. He needed to learn as much as he could before that happened.

However, the soldier's face looked puzzled as he stared at the boy, or whoever he was passing off as at the moment. Red immediately knew that something was wrong. The man's confusion gradually turned to suspicion after a few seconds.

"Who are you?" He asked in an authoritative tone. His voice was clear and imposing as if he expected anyone who heard him to obey his orders. This was a man used to command.

In fact, the youth felt strangely compelled to answer his question, like it was only natural. Yet, something else snapped him out of it.

Familiarity.

Red didn't know why but he felt as if he recognized this voice. He searched his mind trying to recall where he might have heard it before. However, he was ultimately unable to remember.

The man's expression contorted in anger.

"I asked you a question." His tone started to become impatient. "What did you do to my body?"

A golden mist of energy began to circle his body. Abruptly, though, his face twisted in surprise and the aura around him slowly came to a standstill. Confused, the soldier started to look at his surroundings with a bewildered gaze. The walls, the white slab, the outside world, even at his own hands.

Eventually, his eyes came back to Red, except this time there seemed to be apprehension in his looks.

"Where are we? How did you bring me here?" His tone changed and the boy had the impression that the man was slowly transforming into a different person.

The youth thought about replying, but the development in the conversation made him more cautious. Although these dreams were special, they always seemed to be disconnected from reality. However, for the first time since Red started to have these visions, someone was able to recognize he didn't belong here, and it happened without him having to say or do anything. Not only that, but this same individual had started to act strangely, and he couldn't wrap his head around the meaning of his words.

The possible consequences other than death from these interactions put the boy on guard and made him consider his next words more carefully.

"I... don't know. I just appeared here." Red decided against giving out any precise information.

"Just appeared?!" His words, however, seemed to anger the man even further. "Then you can only blame fate for what's about to happen."

The golden mist abruptly lurched towards him, too fast to follow, and the boy braced himself. But death didn't come. Instead, Red felt the energy wrapping around his entire body and dragging him up into the air, towards the soldier. He found himself unable to move.

"Whatever accursed mortal put you up to this must have thought themselves brilliant to come up with this scheme..." The man waved his finger in the air, and a strange mystical symbol formed out of the golden mist. "But I can reach you even through this illusion."

The youth felt alarmed at these words, but in front of someone so powerful, there was nothing he could do. The incantation shot into his body and the boy didn't know what was about to happen. Yet, even after a few seconds of silence, nothing happened. At least, nothing that Red could feel.

The soldier looked surprised.

"Your soul..." He muttered in puzzlement.

The youth felt just as confused, but unexplainable conviction started to form in his mind. The man couldn't touch him in this dream, no matter how powerful he might be.

A moment passed as the noble warrior stood silent in thought, but eventually resolve came over his expression. A vertical slit formed in the middle of his forehead and Red saw something stirring around from beneath his skin. It started to force its way through the opened passageway, and an eye slowly came into light.

The orb was bigger than the average human eye. It had an unnatural pitch-black sclera and dark blue iris. What the boy thought was an irregularly shaped pupil at first, became a much more terrifying sight upon closer inspection. There were countless black dots clumped together, forming a large uneven circle from afar, but the longer one looked into them, the more the minuscule delineations between each component became clearer.

It was as if thousands of eyes were staring at him at once. Red felt dread from the deepest part of his soul, but he couldn't avert his gaze no matter how hard he tried. Eventually, silver-colored threads started to emerge from the man's third eye and make their way forward, seeping into the youth's own orbs.

This time he felt something, an intrusive sensation reaching inside of his mind. It wasn't painful, but it left the boy feeling utterly powerless and exposed. However, the sensation disappeared abruptly, and the tendrils extending into his eyes were cut off. Red was able to move his gaze again.

The soldier appeared to be in shock trying to process what had just happened. Moments later, the man's expression twisted. Hatred started to leak from every pore of his being. The golden mist around began to spin faster and faster, expanding until it clashed with the walls of the room. The building offered no resistance and got torn into shreds in an instant.

"Cursed animal!" The warrior roared at Red, and the boy felt his body being lifted into the air.

With no roof over his head anymore, the youth was greeted with the same eternally golden sky. Down below, he could see hundreds of buildings, all intricately constructed and beautiful beyond words, raised around the place he had just been in. But this image remained only for an instant, as even these structures started disintegrating as the whirlwind of energy continued to grow and occupy everything in sight.

"Your existence is an affront!"

The mist started to change color, transforming into the same dark blue of the third eye Red had just seen.

"I will find you and the ones responsible for this!"

The boy was no longer able to see the ground and the cloud of azure destruction expanded into an enormous storm, upheaving even the very earth from beneath it.

"And every one of you will pay for what you have done!"

The youth was finally able to see the soldier's figure again.

He grew larger, far bigger than a human, tearing apart his armor and his skin was in the process of changing into a blue pigment. Illusionary images beyond Red's comprehension started to appear and disappear around the man's figure. Creatures were born, lived up their entire lives, and were killed faster than an instant. Empires were formed and collapsed. Worlds were created and consumed.

An endless cycle of creation and destruction.

The boy tried to resist his restraints with renewed energy

"You can't escape." The voice changed, and it seemed to be coming from all around him. "Not anymore."

The youth struggled and gazed at the man again. The being wasn't even looking at Red anymore, and instead was doing strange signs with his hand while all three of his eyes were closed. Magical symbols started to form around him out of thin air, built out of blue light. They seemed to be ever-changing, and any time the boy felt as if he could see their true form, the shape would transform into something completely different.

He could only watch helplessly as the process continued, and soon the sky around them was filled with such symbols. Only after a few minutes had passed did the azure being come to a stop.

Opening his eyes he looked at Red again.

"I won't allow you to leave, not until I can find you mys-" His words were cut off abruptly.

Suddenly a thunderous boom echoed out.

A bolt of energy struck the being's back. However, instead of an explosion or injury, the force was completely absorbed into his body. The man looked confused, but shortly after he roared in agony.

A green radiance appeared from under the man's skin. Like snakes, the pale energy began to spread and coil around his body. In a few seconds, they started to stretch up towards his face and became closer and closer to the being's third eye.

The man held his head in pain, but he swiftly reacted. Azure energy shone from his forehead, and the invasive force's progress slowed down as the two powers fought each other. Under extreme strain, he tried to fight back against the glowing energy, but to no avail. Red was able to see the green light advance slowly but surely towards his center eye.

The symbols around him started to change even more frantically, and the destructive vortex below began to lose its form, like something was draining its power.

Beneath the man's anguished expression, fear started to appear.

"C-cursed mortal..." The azure being struggled to get his words out as he looked back at the boy. "I won't let you succeed..."

The man's body started to glow. Growths began to appear beneath his skin as if something was threatening to burst out. Energy accumulated with the giant as the center.

The world went silent.

Somehow, Red knew what came next.

An explosion. And then complete darkness.