New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 805 Wake Up!

"More pancakes, please, Mom!" he joyfully exclaimed, his mouth full.

"Slow down, you animal, heh heh. You're wolfing down the food so fast you might choke on it. There's enough mix for everyone, so pace yourself, will you?" his mother laughed happily.

Alex's father joined in, mouth also full.

"But honey, your pancakes are so good! Lemme have some more, too!"

The woman shook her head with a giggle, but still put more mix into the pan.

Alex was busy shoving more food into his throat when a whisper rang in his ear.

"…up…"

"Hmm?" he hummed, turning his head to his father.

His father looked at him, clueless.

"What? Something on my face?" the man asked.

"No. I thought you had said something."

"Way too busy for that, son. I know your appetite. If I don't eat my fill now, there will be no more mix once you shovel all those pancakes into your face. Now stop distracting me, you rascal!"

His father resumed shoving the pancakes into his mouth, almost dumping the maple syrup in there, too, to save time.

Alex laughed it off, resuming his eating as well.

But the voice returned, a little louder this time, but still a distant whisper.

"… wake… demon… over… up!…"

Looking at his father again, he was sure it hadn't come from him. The old man was up to his elbows in syrup and pancakes, and his cheeks bulged like a squirrel's.

He glanced at his mother, who was turned toward the stove, and surmised it wasn't her either.

'Am I going crazy even in my dreams?' he wondered.

His subconscious was too focused on the happy memories for the words to add up in his mind. To him, they were just words drifting in the wind.

But they resounded again, even clearer.

"…wake up… demon…taking over… wake up!"

Alex frowned.

'Demon? Wake up? What the heck?'

He decided to go to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face. Maybe that would clear up his mind.

Excusing himself from the table, he walked toward the bathroom while his father chanted victory through a full mouth.

Once there, he opened the tap and started splashing his face.

The voices quieted down almost instantly.

But as he lifted his head, face still dripping with water, he jumped back.

In the mirror, his reflection was wildly different from usual.

He looked older, maybe ten years older, and his eyes glowed gold, with two large white wings on his back.

"What in tarnation?" he whispered, shocked.

But his reflection's lips didn't move.

Instead, the eyes went wide on it.

"You can finally see me! Alex, you have to wake up! The demon is almost done taking over! I went to your friend, David, but I don't know how long he can hold him back! Wake up!"

Alex's jaw dropped. His mind was still not computing the information it was seeing, his subconscious too deep within its blissful dream.

"What the fuck is happening?" Alex exclaimed, backing up to the door.

But the bathroom door was suddenly locked, and he couldn't get out of the bathroom.

"Alex, listen to me! This is a dream! You need to wake up! Wake! Up! Now!"

Alex was about to panic when his mother's voice echoed through the door.

"Everything alright in there, sweetheart?"

"No! Mom, I think I'm going insane! And why is the door locked from the outside!"

"Okay. Come back to the table soon, your plate is getting cold," his mother replied through the door.

"What?! No! Mom! Help me, I'm stuck in here!" Alex cried out.

But she was already gone.

Alex's dream was slipping into nightmare territory as the scenery started melting around him.

But that switch in sleep cycles also gave his brain a quick jolt, and the words from his reflection in the melted mirror finally made sense.

His face became serious as he stood and walked to the mirror.

His body had also grown back to its current age as he looked at Geminae.

"What's going on? Why are you in my dreams?"

"Finally! You have to wake up, Alex! The demon is done taking over. He's fighting your friend, David. But I don't know how long he'll hold out!"

Alex nodded his head, about to close his eyes and wake up, but something stabbed him in the back, making him gasp.

Turning around, the bathroom of his childhood was gone, and instead of it, a red battlefield surrounded him, and the person before him jumped back.

It was Jonathan.

He was looking at Alex with a mix of fear and rage.

"Why did you do it?! Why did you kill my grandfather?! Why?!"

Alex was momentarily confused until he realized his skin was red, and his vision changed to thermal vision.

'Fuck… This nightmare again?'

But it was different this time. It wasn't Kary in front of him, crying.

And he wasn't alone.

"Stand back. Focus on waking up, Alex. I'll defend you while you do," Geminae said, covering him with a wing.

Alex nodded, sitting right there on the ground and closing his eyes.

Sounds of combat started raging all around him, and he even felt something hot and wet splash on him a few times, breaking his focus again.

He could hear pained groans and whooshes of wind close to him but kept his eyes closed.

"Keep focusing! The sooner you leave, the sooner this nightmare ends! Wake up!" Geminae shouted at him.

Already, he was missing a wing and an arm, and his complexion had paled. He didn't know why the young man before him was so strong, but it didn't matter.

This was a dream. He couldn't truly die in here.

But if he did, Alex would fall to an onslaught, and he would never wake up.

He needed to hold his ground.

So he fought, losing more and more ground, until he finally fell.

The young boy walked over to Alex, who still had his eyes closed, and swung his blade toward his neck.

But the moment it would have hit, everything went white, and Geminae gasped up, searching for air.

Looking at himself, he noticed his body was whole again and sighed in relief.

"He woke up… Finally… Man, this mortal's dreams are too dark… I need a nap," he complained, lying down right on the spot and falling asleep.